Tour: Melissa Jensen Shares Her Favorite Book Picks

We are happy to have Melissa Jensen on our blog today. Julie really enjoyed the YA contemporary romance The Fine Art of Truth or Dare. You can read her review here. Without further ado, let’s get to Melissa’s book picks.

Well. Asking me to talk about my favorite books is like asking me to list the things I love about my husband. At first you’ll think, “Aww, isn’t that nice?” Then, after a while, it’ll be, “Hmm. That’s a rather lengthy list.” Which will eventually turn into, “Will she shut up, already???”

 
But, then, you did ask…

 
So. I’m in the early stages of planning a move to Ireland. If we actually make it happen, I don’t think we’ll stay forever—probably just a year or two. Not long enough for anything but the very basics to come with us. Of course, books are basics (so, my daughter will no doubt argue, is every single My Little Pony toy). But books are heavy (read: crazy expensive to ship across large bodies of water). So, what if I had to winnow it down to one box, maybe twenty books to bring…

 
Can’t be done…

 
Oh, okay. If I have to…

1.The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The first book I teach every year and the first YA novel I recommend to anyone 11 to 111.

2. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Arguably the first novel written solely for the enjoyment (not education) of children, certainly the great- (and great) grandmother to A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games…

3. The Arrival by Shaun Tan. I never know quite how to describe this book, other than to say it’s probably one of the best stories-without-words I’ve ever known.

4. Tales from Outer Suburbia also by Shaun Tan. A mind-       bending, disbelief-suspending, completely wonderful and charming          combination of weird art and bizarre stories.

5. Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole. Anansi to Cinderella to Senor Coyote, Grimm and funny, 200 of the best tales ever told.

6. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. The very best kind of true-love story. (They don’t have to be romantic.) He’s a really nice guy. She’s a writer.

7. The Complete Calvin Hobbes by Bill Watterson. My son’s pick. I’m delighted to add it, but since it’s three huge volumes, it can go in his suitcase.

8. Eloise: The Ultimate Edition by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight. Sklathing at the Plaza with Skipperdee and Weenie. I still want to.

9. The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chris van Allsburg. I never get tired of reading this book about magic and a naughty dog.

10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. After some struggle, I got it down to three HPs. Essentially beginning, middle, and end.

11. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. My personal fave.

12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Made me cry so hard in            a few spots that some of the pages got stuck together. Made the re-read interesting. Then I cried again. Same places.

13. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. For my husband.

14. Jane Austen’s Letters. Funny, sharp, occasionally lethal. Peerless.

15. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Loneliness, passion, ambition and a little madness thrown in for spice. What’s not to like?

16. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Most people don’t know he wrote thirteen more Oz books after the first. They’re all better, too. This is the very best. Followed closely by:

17. The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

18. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Yes, there’s Darcy. Oh, Darcy. But even better, there’s Lizzie, IMO the coolest, real-est Great Literary Heroine ever. I wanna grow up to be Lizzie or, barring that, just hang out with her.

19. A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky. A book about baboons and neurobiology. Yes, really. One of the best books I’ve ever read. Three times.

And tied for 20:

-The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I still like trying to poke my fingers through the fruit. They don’t fit. I figure I can squeeze this book in because it’s small.

-Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher. No one does teenage outsiders like Crutcher, master pen-dissector of the human heart.

Two more great faves can stay behind. They’re Irish. Piece of cake to pick up a copy there.

-The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. Magic and revolution and love and Ireland. Incomparable combo.

-Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes. To call it the Devil Wears Prada in Dublin is only half the story, and not even the better half.

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