Book Reviews

We are bound together by our love for books.

Several years ago, I hit a roadblock in my writing, so I read a book. A thought in my brain told me to read a book, but not just any book, a good classic book that everyone had read but me. So, I did. I enjoyed it so much I read another one.

The old classic books are actually pretty good. Why had I never read any of them? All I had ever done and ever wanted to do was write. I write all the time, from morning to night, about anything and everything. But somewhere along the path, I had forgotten to read.

I searched classic books to read and found several lists from other people and other websites telling me what classic books I should read and why I should read them. None of the lists contained the same books. Everyone had a different opinion and a different list of classic books that were worth reading. Eventually I just created my own list. I started with names of books and authors I knew, or should know, and recognized. I wrote down my list of 100 classic books I wanted to read before I die. It soon grew to 200. Eventually I just stopped writing them down and decided to start reading them.

A few of them were already on my bookshelf so I started with those. I quickly became addicted and have been devouring classic literature ever since. Listed here are my reviews of the many books I have read. Not all of them are classics.

My writing has never been better.

• 1984 by George Orwell
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Candide by Voltaire
• Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
• Common Sense by Thomas Paine / Glenn Beck’s Common Sense
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
• King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
• Living Free by Joy Adamson
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Stuart Little by E. B. White
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
• The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• White Fang by Jack London
• Yuck, Stuck in the Muck!

My favorite author to read over and over again is Mark Twain. I wrote an article titled “Reading Mark Twain Again and Again.”

NOTE – All book reviews are the opinion of the writer. All content, photograph and written, is copyrighted by Julia A. Keirns.

Always Read to the Kids – or Grandkids

I always loved reading to the kids a lot more than they enjoyed sitting still and being read to. Now I have grandchildren that I try to read to. They don’t seem to really enjoy sitting still any more than my own kids did, but I will still continue to keep trying. I buy them books and make them sit down and let me read them to them at least once. Nothing like forcing a love of books onto your kids and grandkids. Maybe someday one of them will enjoy books or reading as much as I do. 

I have quite an extensive library of books – classic and modern. It contains a little bit of everything.

Someday in my old age when I am lying on my death bed, I hope my children and grandchildren will sit by my bed with a book in their hand and just read to me.