Snapshot of Some Favorites - Books Part Two

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    I hope you have seen Part One, since this is the continuation.  I wished to give just a few more in order to complete the "Top 10" I promised some of my followers.  So here we are!

     ~ Bleak House by Charles Dickens
I cannot begin to describe how lovely I find Dickens writing to be.  I greatly enjoy the flowering sentences, and the in-depth description.  However, I know that americans are more about coffee, so it's okay if its not your cup of tea.  This book contains Esther Summerson.  She is my all time favorite female character.  Besides her lovely self, each character is intricately detailed, known, and highlighted.  This book also examines some interesting aspects of life which should be thought of more.  Some of these being what is true service, what is the essence of love, and what difference it makes if one is kind.

     ~ The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
What joy fills my heart when somebody mentions this book.  All of these books define different moments in my life, and realizations of some sort.  This book was my realization of childhood.  I was in a land of my own for a bit there... and this book speaks to that.  Light, yet heavy it follows the adventures of a lovely little mouse with ears that make him a social outcast.  Yet, he is full of hope, light, and love.  This book is simply delightful, and if you missed out on it during the first 12 years of life, I would highly recommend visiting it now.

     ~ The Giver by Lois Lowry
This book was originally meant as a stand alone, but has grown into a series.  I cannot say how it thrills me that there is more.  However, this book in of itself is simply wonderful.  It asks you to think about what defines humanity.  It calls into account things like the value of a human life.  Plus, it makes you wonder what would be lost if emotions were less.  Being a rather emotional person, I found it fascinating to think about what I would be if I felt less, and acted less.

     ~ The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak
I was honestly surprised by this book.  It is pure poetry.  When I say that... I mean that the phrasing is spectacular, the feelings are gifted, and the story pulled at my heart.  I think it redefines historical fiction.  It doesn't simply add a bit more understanding of the past.  This book wraps up emotions that we should learn to empathize with and gifts it to you in glowing lines of beauty.  Told from the perspective of death it was innovative, creative, refreshing, and yet had a strange feeling of deja vu.  I could praise the freshness of its antiquated feelings for many paragraphs yet.  So, I'll just leave it at that. 

     ~ Joan of Arc by Mark Twain
Later in his writing life, Mark Twain published this book.  "Mark Twain" had become a name that people would buy from simply because it was him.  Interestingly enough, this book wasn't published under that name.  He published it anonymously because he wished it to be judged because of it's quality, not because he wrote it.  Twain dedicated this work to his wife, and considered it one of his best works.  Honestly, I disagree with him.  It isn't "one of his best."  It is his best work.  Having read all of Mark Twain that I can lay my hands on, this is by far the most well done.