Over the last year, I’ve recommended dozens of children’s books for you and your children to enjoy. But I realized I haven’t shared too many of the books I read on my own! If you want to stay updated regularly, be sure to check out my Goodreads page. But for today’s post, I thought I’d share a few of my favorites.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.

What truly stunned me about this story was the way the author gets into the mind of a boy with autism, and explains an emotional tale from his emotionless point-of-view. It’s an easy but remarkably written read that I’d recommend to anyone. Especially those who know or are the family members of an autistic individual.

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

This is a classic you can’t help but come back to. The characters are pricelessly eclectic and always interesting, and the writing is as sincere as it is beautiful. If this is your introduction to Dickens, you’ll have chosen a good place to start!

In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson.

This is a fascinating story about a character named William Dodd, who becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. It goes through the exciting beginning of the Third Reich, and shows how easily people became enamored with Hitler’s Germany—until it was too late to turn back. This is a book you won’t want to put down.

Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck.

You can’t pick this book up expecting a whirlwind of a plot, but once you get past its unusual literary style, you’ll fall in love. The story is a picture of a town, the cannery district of Monterey, CA, and all the people within it. Told through a series of vignettes, it is a masterpiece of literature that not enough people have read!

Have you read any of these? Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!