Okay, Nathan Bransford said this was hard, and I believe him. But it was also fun. It has made me very clear that there are some books I want to go back and reread and some books I should be putting on my never-read-and-whyever-not? list.

Nathan had his caveats, and I’m going to have mine. They are:

1. The books will be ones I’ve actually read, all the way through. There are probably many books out there that I have never picked up that would totally qualify.
2. Some of these books I literally haven’t read in decades and are on the list because of the impact they had on me when I did read them. If I reread them today, they might not make the list. Others are recent reads that are foremost in my memory–in 10 years, they might not be here. Some are books that I know I won’t choose to read again, because they were brilliantly written, but I don’t want to repeat the experience of being in the world they portray.
3. As I look at the list developing, I realize that it is a very white, heterosexual list. I am working on this, trying to read more widely and more diversely. But these are still books I fell in love with or was at least blown away by, so–for now–they make up my “best.”
4. They are in alphabetical order, obviously, not order of favoritude.
5. I’m not going to argue about this list. I welcome all comments and discussion, but I won’t be defending anything I’ve put here. That’s why it’s my list. You should definitely make your own and, if you want, leave a link in the comments!
6. Because some of my favorite books are memoirs, I’ve included some of those. And I cheated a couple of other times, to get in some other books that are short stories or, in one case, long essays. Because these books are The Best.

Here we go.

NOVELS

1. 84 Charing Cross Road
2. All Creatures Great and Small
3. Anne of Green Gables
4. The Ark
5. Artemis Fowl
6. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
7. Between, Georgia
8. The BFG
9. Bitterblue
10. Ms. Bixby’s Last Day
11. Breakup
12. The Brothers Karamazov
13. Bluecrowne
14. The Bluest Eye
15. Busman’s Holiday
16. Caddie Woodlawn
17. Captains Courageous
18. Charlotte’s Web
19. Cheaper by the Dozen
20. Cloud and Wallfish
21. The Color of Water
22. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
23. The Flame Trees of Thika
24. Flygirl
25. Frindle
26. A Good Man is Hard to Find
27. Great Expectations
28. Half Magic
29. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
30. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
31. High Hearts
32. The Haunting of Hill House
33. The Hobbit
34. Holes
35. A House with Four Rooms
36. I’ll Give You the Sun
37. Inkheart
38. Island of the Aunts
39. Jo’s Boys *
40. The Jungle
41. The Left-Handed Fate
42. Life of Pi
43. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
44. Lionboy
45. Little Men *
46. Living with Jackie Chan
47. The Long Winter
48. The Magician’s Elephant
49. Matilda
50. The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
51. The Metamorphosis **
52. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
53. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
54. My Antonia
55. My Father’s Dragon
56. My Most Excellent Year
57. Not a Genuine Black Man
58. Okay for Now
59. The Only Ones
60. The Boy Most Likely To
61. Persuasion
62. The Penderwicks
63. The Penderwicks in Spring
64. Perverse and Foolish
65. The Phantom Tollbooth
66. The Picture of Dorian Gray
67. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
68. Pippi Longstocking
69. Pride and Prejudice
70. The Princess Bride
71. And Quiet Flows the Don
72. Reflecting the Sky
73. A Ring of Endless Light
74. A Room of One’s Own 
75. The Scarlet Pimpernel
76. The Secret Garden
77. The Shepherd’s Crown **
78. Speak
79. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
80. Tea with the Black Dragon
81. The True Meaning of Smekday
82. The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode
83. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
84. Travels with Charley
85. Villette
86. War and Peace
87. The Water is Wide
88. The Watsons Go to Birmingham
89. We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea
90. The Wee Free Men **
91. When We Rise
92. Wintergirls
93. Winnie the Pooh
94. Travels with Charley
95. The Water is Wide
96. The Wolf Wilder
97. The World According to Garp
98. A Wrinkle in Time
99. Wuthering Heights
100. Zooman Sam

* Little Men and Jo’s Boys reach “best” status when you read them both, in order.
*** Make sure you read all the Tiffany Aching books after The Wee Free Men BEFORE you read The Shepherd’s Crown (the last in the series).