Tammy Armstrong's Top Ten Books

These books are sort of more in the order I thought of them rather than in a "top 10" order. 

1. A Separate Peace by John Knowles

I grew up just 3 miles away from the private boarding school I ended up attending for 11th and 12th grades. For most of my childhood it seemed like this distant, unknowable entity - from the main road the only part of it that's visible is the tallest spire of the Gothic-style chapel peeking through the tops of the trees (yep, the very chapel where Mike and I were married). I've read this before, during and after attending Mercersburg and it's one of those books that grows with you. There's a lot more to it than that but I think it sticks with me because of my own school experience.

2. Dragonriders of Pern Series by Anne McCaffrey

I would say that Anne McCaffrey is my favorite science fiction writer, but that implies that I've read any other author in the genre and I can't think of any right now. I tried one book from the series - Moreta - at random at about age 12. It was the first and only book that has ever made me cry. I loved everything about the complex world created in the series and read every one I could get my hands on.

3. Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

What's not to love about Gatsby? This is perhaps one of the only books I've ever appreciated more for the writing style than the plot itself.

4. Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan

This book represents a lot of what I love about economics - it presents the discipline as a lens through which to view the world, and an enjoyable/intuitive one at that.

5. Borgel by Daniel Pinkwater

A little kid gets to go on a space adventure with a long-lost relative and things go crazy about every other minute. I remember something about a massive double-stick popsicle at the end of the universe, and I believe space is described as "an elliptical bagel with poppy seeds on top". Daniel Pinkwater's style is something like Douglas Adams' but directed towards 5th graders. This was one of the only books my brother and I agreed on as children.

6. Matilda by Roald Dahl

Every little girl should read this book and try to move chalk with her mind.

7. Acorna series - by Anne McCaffrey

Yep, let's go ahead and have another Anne McCaffrey series in here. This one is about a "unicorn girl" (horn and possibly hooves for feet but otherwise human-ish) who is separated from her home planet as a baby and is then found and raised by some space miners. 

8. La Monja Alferez (or: "The Lieutenant Nun") by Catalina de Erauso

This is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. I took an oddly specific Spanish class in college to satisfy my minor requirements, and this was on the reading list. Basically, this 17th-century Spanish woman escapes her convent at age 16 by cross-dressing and hopping a boat to the New World. She generally ends up being the coolest lieutenant ever, outliving everyone around her in the most unbelievable of situations - and this is allegedly a true autobiography. I'm pretty sure she wrote her biography as a way of convincing King Phillip III to give her some money for being so awesome. She also got permission from the Pope to dress as a man. 

9. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I resisted reading these books at first because of the fanaticism that surrounded them, and though I'm still a little embarrassed to like them (but not as embarrassed as I am  by the fact that, occasionally, I feel like re-reading the Twilight books), they are definitely some of the most entertaining books I've ever read. I'm happy to have started reading them while they were still coming out one-by-one, to feel that sense of anticipation as you waited for the next one to come out, then stayed up all night reading it trying to savor every page. I wonder what my generation's children and grandchildren will think of these books, movies, etc.

10. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

These books were really fun and, after an initial slow start, sucked me in pretty deeply. I was very impressed with them as young adult literature - they have a sneaky way of teaching vocabulary to tweens - and also a little horrified at times. I'm curious to see what they do with the movies.

Honorable Mentions: Golden Compass, Scott Pilgrim, Muppet Babies, Pride and Prejudice, Hitchhiker's Guide