My Favorite Things

There's a book out called The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, by J. Peder Zane. It is exactly what its title suggests: Famous writers listing their top ten favorite books. (HT: Conversational Reading.) Most of the selections aren't that interesting, which just goes to show that accomplished people often have boring tastes. An exception is Richard Powers, who chose a different favorite book for every five years of his life. His list, and a good list it is, includes Harold and the Purple Crayon (age 5), The Lord of the Rings (age 15) and Ulysses (age 20).

Here's my own list. Except that I will have to mix up the age intervals a little bit since I can't remember reading anything when I was 15. I also may not be able to resist listing two or more books at a time.

Age 5:

L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz

Age 10:

Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl

Age 12:

William Sleator, House of Stairs

Age 17:

Barbara Brandon, The Passion of Ayn Rand

Age 20:

The Sound and the Fury

The Aeneid

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Age 25:

Pride and Prejudice

Adam Thorpe, Ulverton

Age 30:

?????