If you follow Primitive Roads regularly, I bet you’ve noticed I’m a bit of a bibliophile. My cookbook collection is monstrous and I’d say half the boxes my husband and I moved from California were filled with books.
Curling up with a good book – alone with the pages – is my idea of a perfect evening, but I also love that reading isn’t just a singular pursuit. Some of my favorite conversations with friends have been about books we both have read. My childhood memories are peppered with hours spent reading aloud. Mouse books at Gramma’s house. Bible stories with mom before bed.
I’m linking up with Katie of Cardigan Way (you all know how much I like her!) with a list of books that have changed my life. This is by no means an exhaustive list and I’m sure I will forget some super important ones, but these are the books that popped into my mind first.
Enjoy and keep reading!
The Secret Garden and The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (just now realizing they were written by the same author…) and Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt are old-fashioned coming of age stories that I read with my mom.
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins are both phenomenal young adult/adult fiction crossovers that made me think more deeply about good and evil.
I think The Nancy Drew mysteries by Carolyn Keene (a pen name for multiple authors) contributed to my sense of adventure growing up. I feel like Nancy, Bess, George and I are all chums. I always hoped I came across as spunky and smart as Ms. Drew.
The works of C.S. Lewis and Jane Austen were formative. I dissected both while studying abroad in Oxford – which was, in itself, life changing.
My definition of a Christian was challenged by Lauren Winner in her memoir Girl Meets God.
I will never look at excess, in any form, the same after having read 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker or on a more practical level, Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider.
Redeeming Love was profound, but Francine Rivers‘ Mark of The Lion series gave me a beautiful example of a gentle and quiet spirit in it’s grace-filled heroine Hadassah. She is my fictional standard for memorable Christ-like humility.
The Giver by Lois Lowry (Gathering Blue and Messenger, too) was a poignant look at pain versus perfection and which one is necessary to live a complete life.
Life changing authors: Brennan Manning, Ann Voskamp, and L. M. Montgomery.
I know I will instantly regret leaving a certain book out when this goes live. Maybe a second addition will be coming soon. In the meantime, ask someone at your Memorial Day BBQ what books they have read that have changed their life.
I would love to hear some of the books that have changed YOUR life.
Emily C Gardner 
Hey Em. The only book that I ever read that changed my life was the bible, and it has been a work over many years, with many re-readings and study groups. You know of course I love history, but not sure any of those books have been life changing. I finished Bleak House not long ago. The story lines in Dickens are good, but the painting of the characters is what I like about him. In the book there were good examples of love. A love of a mother for daughter, and for the mother’s lost love. The love of the mother’s husband even after he learned of her past. The love of the guardian for the story teller, and his willingness to give her up for her happiness. The love of her life for the doctor that found her still attractive after her disfigurement. Also the story tellers love of people even though some had many faults.
So, so, so good!! I smiled all the way down your post. :) I wanted to say “yes” to almost every one. I will totally have to go find Up A Road Slowly…Irene Hunt wrote something else, didn’t she? {Across Five Aprils, maybe?} And do you know, as much as I adore The Giver and Number the Stars, I have not read her others, so now I will totally, totally have to!
Thank you, thank you, for posting a list. It made my day. :)
What a wonderful list!! I found your blog through Katie at Cardigan Way (she’s such a kindred spirit!). I too am a serious ‘book-list junkie’ (its probably become my favorite kind of post to read). So many of these I loved as well, and I loved being reminded of titles past that I enjoyed. Thanks for your words – you have a wonderful blog!
Thanks Sarah! Please pass along any good book lists you find :)
Emily, if you have read the three Giver books, make sue you read the 4th? It is called “Son” and it is a great wrap up to the first three books! :)
I haven’t read Son yet! It’s on my list…