Favorite Books This Year

The Shelf is a special bookshelf in my room which holds only my all-time favorites.  There aren't that many (maybe about ten, tops) because I'm extremely selective about which books get to live on The Shelf.  Some long time residents include Tess of the D'Urbervilles, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Water for Elephants.

Because of the selectivity, it's not every year that a book gets added to The Shelf, but this year, TWO books made the cut.  These are books that blew my mind, that haunted me long after I read the final sentence (and to a certain extent, still haunt me).  So, applause for:

• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - I read this book during the summer, and my goodness, what a book!  It's funny, tragic, heartfelt, romantic…And mmm, Rhett Butler.  I'd sure like to meet him under the mistletoe :)
• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner - It's not an easy read, nor are the characters particularly likable, but the story is absolutely mind-blowing.  More than once I shot up and started screaming "WHAT?  WHAT?"

Hmm, I'm sensing a theme here: both my additions are about the South during and after the Civil War.  Both involve struggling families, ruthless gentlemen, unfortunate marriages…Should I be concerned?  Nah.  They were both great, that's all.

All right, time for some honorable mentions.  I loved these books--and I mean really loved them--but even so, they didn't quite make it onto The Shelf.  Some of them are still under consideration for the honor (it takes me a long time to decide), so one day, they could be.

• The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel García Márquez
• The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (re-read) (under serious consideration)
• Holes by Louis Sachar (re-read) (under consideration)
• Native Son by Richard Wright
• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (under consideration)
• The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
• The Fault in our Stars by John Green (under consideration)

Hoorah!  Goodness, I love to read.

What were your favorite books this year?  Of all time?