My Favorite Books.... A List

I'm a crazy reader.  I will read almost anything.  This is a list of books I adore (not a complete list, will add as I think of them) and why I love them.  These are not in any particular order.

1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  This book warms my heart, although the subject matter is hard.  I found it super comforting that after people die, they might go to their own ideal heaven and keep an eye on us.
2. Lucky by Alice Sebold.  This is Alice's true life story about a horrible thing that happened to her when she was in college and how she's come through it, good and bad.
3. The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer.  Okay, I admit it, I'm a nerd.  I'm being brutally honest.  The books are so much better than the movies.  
4. Frugal Luxuries by Tracey McBride.  This might be out of print, but it's a great book about simple living.  
5. The Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  Maybe my all-time favorite book.  Just a great story, with everything you want in a book.  
6. The Quarter Acre Farm by Spring Warren.  A woman decides feed herself and her family from her yard.  And her chickens.  Her goal was to provide 80% of their food by weight.  What's not to love about that?
7. Little House in the Suburbs by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskin.  This is a book about backyard farming and home skills for self-sufficient living.  Love this book.
8. The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather.  A woman loses her job and her marriage within two weeks and moves to a rural cabin.  She decides to eat locally and writes about her year.
9. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.  Another one of my very faves.  It's exactly what it says it is.  Very believable, it's almost difficult to think a man wrote this--is that sexist?
10. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.  Great book.
11. Wicked by Gregory Maguire.  What's not to love about flying monkeys and defying gravity?
12. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.  Great book about how we are all connected.  The funny thing is that I didn't think I liked it very much as I was reading it, but it comes to my mind all the time since then (maybe ten years ago).
13. It by Stephen King.  Pennywise the clown.  Need I say more?  Stupid movie, but the book is scary as crap.  I used to read this now and then when my ex-husband was in the field or deployed, and I'd have to stash it in the freezer so I could sleep.
14. The Kite Runner  by Khaled Hosseini.  Awesome book.
15. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  It's just a great book.
16. Mind in the Making by Ellen Gallinsky.  This explains the seven life skills that children need to learn, but it's pertinent to adults as well.  VERY interesting.
17. The Help by Katheryn Stockett.  If you've seen the movie I don't need to explain.  
18. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  This author took a year to explore various myths and ideas about what makes people happy and kept stringent records (which is fascinating in itself, worth reading the book to figure out how she did this) about what worked and what didn't.  For example, does money make people happy?  She concentrated on one thing at a time and has some interesting things to say on the subject.