Valentine's Day Special

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! In honor of this occasion, I've decided to take stock of my love affair with books and list the three books I can't live without.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. My senior year of high school a friend of mine suggested I read this for a project, thinking that I'd like it. The first sentence of her description sealed it. "It's about this guy who is wrongly accused of a crime, thrown in jail, and switches places with dead guy who's going to be thrown into a river in order to escape." She didn't even get to the parts about love, betrayal, and sweet, delicious revenge. I've been in love with this book ever since. Side note: I pretended to be the character Valentine for the project's presentation and got an A. Thanks, Danielle!

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Santa purchased the series for me one Christmas, and my mom exclaimed, "Oooh! Chronicles of Narnia! You'll love that series!" I had my doubts, but a child such as myself with an overactive imagination couldn't help but revel in Lucy's discovery. I was thrilled when they announced the movies, and I have not been disappointed, except by the all too frequent appearances of the White Witch. Seriously, that woman is NOT in every book, only two. A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: If you choose to read these, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read them in the order Lewis wrote them. You are not doing yourself any favors if you pick them up in the order his family decided on after he died (they put them in chronological order; not cool). No matter what anyone tells you, LWW is the first in the series, not The Magician's Nephew. Thankfully the movies are in the correct order, so far.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I borrowed this from a friend when I was in 5th grade. I was already a mystery buff and had burned through all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys I could find. TWG was the first intellectually stimulating mystery I read. Though it's a short book (it weighs in at 192 pages), it packs quite a bit of punch. Every time I read it I find a detail that I never noticed before and one more plot twist finally makes sense. A few months ago I discovered this website. Raskin donated her drafts of the book to the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Not only are they an in-depth look into the writing process, but it's amazing to see how the characters evolved over the many drafts. Fascinating.

And there you have it, folks, my timeless book affairs. What are some of your favorites?