Ten Books You Have to Read (I should know...I'm an English Major)

One of the first things most people say when they learn that I am an English major is, "You must really like to read."  I do love to read, and I am of the opinion that people who say they don't like to read are either lying, incredibly happy being ignorant, or have just not found the right material to read yet.

One thing I love about English and literature is that there really is something out there for everyone.  I have friends who believe that Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is the epitome of what great literature is supposed to be, while I struggled through the first two chapters and used SparkNotes and watched the movie to see what happened because I just hated it.  Have you ever read that book?  There is absolutely NO action in it at all.  Nobody moves.  It was the most boring thing I have ever tried to read.  And I really tried to like it.  I really did.  But I just didn't.  That doesn't mean that I'm not a good English student.  I can appreciate Austen's work, and I can learn from it, but I don't enjoy it.  And that's fine.  Because there are tons of other books out there that I do enjoy.

Here are my top 10 favorite books.

1.  A Time to Kill by John Grisham

2.  To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3.  The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

4.  Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin

5.  The Giver by Lois Lowry

6.  The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

7.  The Call of the Wild by Jack London

8.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

9.  For the Roses by Julie Garwood

10.  The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien