A Few Books I Always Retreat To (And Some New Ones Too)

By: Ebonye Gussine Wilkins

I like reading new works (sometimes) but when I am really feeling like I want to get back to my love of reading, I go to my tried and true list of books. There are a few authors for different moods, but every once in a while I find a book not my my favorite authors that happens to do the trick.

Here are some of my favorites:

Escaping to a world of love, hope and independence: Betty Smith
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Joy In The Morning

Escaping to a reflection of the world as it is: Khalid Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Kite Runner (Not read yet, on my list)

Escaping to a long-gone America that still somehow mirrors today: John Steinbeck
Cannery Row
Sweet Thursday
The Grapes of Wrath
East of Eden
In Dubious Battle
The Wayward Bus
Travels with Charley
The Winter of Our Discontent

Escaping to a world of deep, personal reflection: J.D. Salinger
A Catcher in the Rye
Franny and Zooey

Here are some other works that are my favorites, but are from various authors:
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
This Is Not The Story You Think It Is – Laura Munson

I’m preparing to put myself on a reading vacation, so I’m compiling a new list that I plan on reading. In an ideal world, I’d just read for eight hours a day where someone just brings me latte after latte, but I don’t live in that world…yet.

Some books that I’ve had for a while but haven’t read yet are:

The Children of Wasafa – Jacqueline Pitts
The Sons and Daughters of Ham (I) – Petra E. Lewis
If You Could Be Mine – Sara Farizan

Two of those books are indie, and one is traditionally published. These books are the products of three very different women, and I’m looking forward to reading some books that are likely very different from my favorites.

What would you put on your reading list? Are they indie or traditional?