It’s my 27th birthday today! Woo hoo. Birthdays are big for me, probably because my sister’s is the day before mine and my Dad’s is the same day as mine. So I “shared” my birthday growing up, which isn’t a bad thing, but it does make you want to carve out some space for your own little b-day.
My poor husband knows that I get a birthday “week,” (which I would highly recommend by the way). Instead of just celebrating for one day, I get to do fun stuff for a whole week (my sister does this too)! It’s not about presents (though yay for presents), it’s about spending time with the people you love and celebrating your life in different ways. One night I’ll have dinner with a good friend or something like that, then the next I’ll watch my favorite movies at home with the Huz, but the best part is saying, “but it’s my birthday (week)” everyday. Want to have your favorite thing for dinner or get control of the TV remote… it’s your birthday!
Anyway, to celebrate I decided to make a list of 27 of my favorite books. It sounds incredibly easy, 27, there should be plenty of room on that list for everyone, right? Apparently not, I traded a few on and off and found in the end I still didn’t have anything by Neil Gaiman or P.G. Wodehouse or Roald Dahl on the list. My list is also sorely lacking all my favorite books I read as a kid/teen and some great dystopian novels, etc.
That’s ok, here’s the best I could do with fitting them all on there…
27 of my Favorite Books
1) The Book Thief
2) Jane Eyre
3) The Shadow of the Wind
4) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
5) Persuasion
6) Ender’s Game
7) A Moveable Feast
8) Hamlet
9) The Harry Potter series (yes, I’m including all 7 books in one slot)
10) Me Talk Pretty One Day
11) The History of Love
12) Catch-22
13) Maus
14) Nine Stories
15) I Capture the Castle
16) Empire Falls
17) Travels With Charley
18) The Importance of Being Ernest
19) The Time Traveler's Wife
20) Great Expectations
21) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (all 5 books)
22) To Kill a Mockingbird
23) Howards End
24) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
25) Tuck Everlasting
26) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
27) And Then There Were None
What are some of your favorites?
p.s. The photo is of the giveaway books I won from the wonderful Ruby at BookQuoter. I got the box on the first day of birthday week (yes people, it’s a real thing), and it felt like a birthday present! I’m so excited to read them all, especially The Weird Sisters.
p.p.s. I got a haircut! Haircuts are not news, but I felt like sharing anyway... and it's birthday week so I can (see how that works). I've had short hair for years. Then I grew it out in'09. I always think I'll love long hair, but it inevitably ends up looking like it does in the first picture. And why go to all the trouble of keeping you hair long if it's always up? So it went from the length in the second picture to the third picture. I'm happy and love it.
Photos by moi.
25 comments:
Happy birthday(week) Melissa! You'll be happy to know I only haven't read 7 (7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17) and many of your choices would also be in my top-27.
Love the new look :)
Yay! Happy Birthday, Melissa!! That birthday box and the hair look wonderful :)
I'm also pretty excited seeing your list. I have read most of them except 4, 7, 16, 17, and 27! The rest I LOVED!
I have never read The Weird Sisters. Have you? I might look into that.
Happy Birthday again!
Happy Birthday; your haircut looks great on you.
I have been away so calling my to catch up on your recent posts. Happy Birthday to another May Birthday Girl! We have family birthdays close together as well but not as close as yours are. I like your list, difficult to choose so few, mine would be more than twice as many :)
Well, Happy Birthday!!! Good Lord, I could almost be your mother. I feel old! I'm all about the birthday week (a friend of mine does birthday month!). We definitely have alot of favorites in common. And I love your hair. I wish I could grow mine longer, but it is so damn humid down here, and when I was younger and had the longer hair, it was always always up off my neck.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, you young avid reader!!
You are so correct about long hair being up all the time anyways. It's always nice to have short hair in the summer too. You look so happy!
Thanks for adding books to my TBR:) The list is a grwat idea!
Happy Birthday! I love your idea for a birthday week. I'll have to establish that in my house.
Love the favorites list. You have some great ones on there.
I love the haircut too!
Happy birthday! Short hair suits you well.
I enjoyed the list, especially 18 and 21.
+JMJ+
Happy Birthday! Your haircut looks great. =D
Birthweek celebrations sound like a fun idea! You and your sister are definitely on to something . . .
Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel, while Jane Eyre is my favourite Bronte novel. (Isn't it sad that I lump all three sisters together like that?) I'll also always love Howards End for shocking me awake with its beautiful prose and getting me started on E.M. Forster.
There are so many great books on this list that I haven't read yet but have heard fabulous things about and have a pretty good hunch I will love. I hope to get to them soon! =)
OK a couple of things.... One HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I do a birthday week as well and it's fantastic.
Two, I just added Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil to my TBR.
Three, There are some GREAT titles on your top 27 and now I'm even more excited that I bought Howards End this week.
Four, I like your haircut! I grew out my hair really long and donated it back in January. I prefer medium length because like you, when I have it long it is just up most of the time.
Have a great birthday week, Melissa :)
Thank you guys so, so much for the b-day wishes. You're just awesome.
Alexandra - You have such good taste!
Jillian - I haven't read The Weird Sisters yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
LindyLouMac - It was so hard to narrow it down to 27! Happy May b-day to you too!
Sandy - You're only as old as you feel and you definitely aren't old. As you know, the Indiana humidity is awful too, so long hair just won't do.
BookQuoter - Thank you for adding to my TBR with the books you sent!
Kristi - Definitely get on the b-day week train. It makes it all so much more fun.
Jeanne - I so value fellow Douglas Adams lovers.
Enbrethiliel - I tend to lump the Brontes together too. Unfair, I'm sure, but they seems to be a group.
Brenna - I really can't wait to hear what you think of Howards End. It's just really beautiful. Also, I read Midnight in high school and it's the book that introduced me to the brilliant genre of creative nonfiction. Loved it.
Happy birthday! Your hair is adorable, and I love so many of the books on your list. In fact I am just about to reread Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. :)
Happy, happy birthday! I also partake in a birthday week, and I agree! Everyone should do it!
Happy Birthday week! I'm also 27 (plus 11, but we won't talk about that). :)
Happpppy birthday! I've read and loved most of the books on your list. :)
Birthday weeks are the best! Mine has included pedicures with my sister, sushi dinner, birthday pie, seeing Water for Elephants, a jazz club, a birthday breakfast and more. Life is very sweet.
Belated happy birthday! Your haircut looks great and your list gave me ideas for new things to read. Yay!
Happy belated birthday! If I get married, I'm definitely referring to my husband as "the Huz." I Capture the Castle and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn would be on my list of favorites, too. Also I Am the Messenger. And your haircut looks great! It looks like you're having an awesome birthday week!
Happy Birthday Week! Love your sassy hair!
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Hamlet, The Harry Potter series, The Time Traveler's Wife, and To Kill a Mockingbird would make my favorites list too!
I have The Book Thief, Catch-22, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on my tbr list already for this year. Thanks for pumping me up!
You have recommended Me Talk Pretty One Day and Travels With Charley to me before so maybe I should try to make time for them this year too!
P.S. Also Water for Elephants is one of my favorites too! I hope you enjoy it!
Happy Belated Birthday!! I love the idea of a birthday week. I'm going to have to lobby for that. I love the idea of doing your favorite books ... and you have some of mine on there too. And I love your hair! I've always had short hair and I've decided to try (once again) to grow it out. I bet I cave though ... I always do during the "growing out" stage.
Charley - Oh, I loved I Am the Messenger too!
Captain - I read Water for Elephants a few years ago and loved it! I'm excited I now have my own copy to re-read and loan out to others.
Jenners - I think it's that whole concept of always wanting what you don't have. I only want long hair when I don't have it.
Happy belated b-day :) I love the idea of pampering yourself all week, especially revisiting favourite books & movies. I tend to do that around Xmas time, too. Love the haircut!
Your 27-book list is great -- I appreciate your reading tastes.
Great haircut!
Teacher/Learner - I do that around Christmas too. It's comforting to read/watch old favorites.
Unruly Reader - Thanks! I wish I had more time to re-read my favorite books.
Post a Comment