It can’t be Friday without a Friday Fifteen, in which I review fifteen books in fifteen words or less. Onto the books!
1. Alaska ABC Book by Charlene Kreeger
Gifted when I was 7. Loved the art. Still makes me want to visit Alaska.
2. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
Read for high school psychology. Lots of interesting stories about brain functions and damage.
3. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Like Anna Karenina: glad I read it, wanted to care lots more than I did.
4. Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery (Baby-Sitters Club #17) by Ann M. Martin
My shoutout to Friday the 13th. But come on, Mary Anne–seriously?
5. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hester is pretty cool, but I really wanted her to call out Dimmesdale.
6. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Exciting sci-fi/dystopian novel. Still can’t get over Manchee.
7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A classic for a reason. I loved how Mary is petulant, not the perfect child.
8. The Partly-Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
More great essays on history, politics, and media with a dash of memoir by Vowell.
9. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Another gorgeous work by Woolf. Love the passages about time.
10. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Being a preteen military genius is hard, especially with siblings taking over the world.
11. The Bridesmaids by Cherie Bennett
Very fluffy MG novel. Features characters named Juliet, Paris, and Fawn.
12. Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
It’s Shakespeare via the Saw series. Glad I read it, but nothing compared to later works.
13. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
I didn’t like eggs or ham as a child, so this was a tough read.
14. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
Literary and steampunk-y. It’s like a graphic novel gift meant especially for me.
15. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
I was obsessed with this play in middle school. Witty and tragic with cavalier costumes.