Top Ten

The reason I didn't link to anyone of the other reading lists that I'd found online was that I couldn't remember where I'd seen them. Someone wrote last night and asked me something about a list they'd seen on one of the knitting blogs, and I went there and saw that the writer had compiled a Knitter's Reading List, made up of the "top ten" lists that her readers had sent in.

I like lists (obviously). I like "top ten" lists, but I usually like WAY more than ten things, particularly when I'm talking about books, so coming up with just ten seems too hard. But I guess by limiting it to ten, I don't have to feel like it's comprehensive . . .

My Top Ten Books of All Time, So Far:

• American Gods - Neil Gaiman
  
• Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delaney
  
• Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
  
• Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
  
• Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler
  
• Memoirs of an Invisible Man - H. F. Saint
  
• Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
  
• The Stand - Stephen King
  
• Timeline - Michael Crichton
  
• War for the Oaks - Emma Bull

That was really hard. In making the list, there were, of course, a few that probably should be there. But if I start adding, I'll end up with a "Top Fourteen," or "Top Twenty-One," or even "Top One Hundred," so I should probably just leave it at that.

But then what about the authors that I truly love, but can't quite say that any of their books are among my top ten? How about a Top Ten Authors:

• Kage Baker
  
• James P. Blaylock
  
• Michael Crichton
  
• Charles DeLint
  
• Nina Kiriki Hoffman
  
• Stephen King
  
• Madeleine L'Engle
  
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch
  
• Anne Tyler
  
• Connie Willis

That was difficult, too, maybe even more difficult than the Top Ten books, because of course there are dozens of writers that I love. If I start, I'll never stop, and then I'll worry that I've left someone out.

I'm not sure how it works out that I have favorite authors whose books don't make my favorite books list. "Memoirs of An Invisible Man," for instance, is one of my all time favorite books, but as far as I know, H. F. Saint didn't write anything else (although I've seen rumors that "H. F. Saint" was actually a pseudonym for another well-known author, so who knows?). And "Dhalgren" has been one of my favorite books for decades, but I never really liked anything else by Delaney. I love pretty much everything that Charles DeLint writes, but would be hard-pressed to name a favorite. The same way with Kage Baker. Or any of the ones on the "Top Ten Authors" list, really. It's interesting, anyway.

I read a comment on that entry that I linked to above, where Iris said the "Great Books" lists were "Mostly books you *had* to read. These are books you *want* to read," and Greta wrote: "The Other List just made me feel like I'd overslept and missed a critical assignment and forgotten to brush my teeth."

The books that make my favorites list are fun to read, or at least I thought they were. Books that make you think, spark the imagination, touch you in some way. As all good books do, I guess.

Great books? Maybe not. But my favorites, and the ones I'll re-read, which is saying a lot, since I almost never re-read anything as a matter of principle. I don't feel a bit guilty that I haven't read most of the ones on the college lists. Life's too short, you know?