20 years ago in August 2001, I began writing Sonderbooks!
I’ve been celebrating by posting highlights from each year of my website, but now I want to celebrate one more way. Since I’ve been looking over and remembering favorites, I decided to make a list of my 20 favorite books I read for the first time over the last 20 years.
This was possible only if I split it up between Fiction and Nonfiction, so expect a Top 20 Nonfiction Books post next. I also did my best to let first books represent their whole series.
You’ll see that I’m a big fan of fantasy. These are all books that still warm my heart when I think of them. Almost all of them I’ve read more than once or plan to read more than once, because they’re that good.
I couldn’t bring myself to rank them, though, so I will list them in alphabetical order by author. Click on the titles to read my reviews.
20 Novels I love which I met in my last 20 years of reading:
The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
The Sand-Reckoner, by Gillian Bradshaw
Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card
The Truth As Told By Mason Buttle, by Leslie Connor
The Hollow Kingdom, by Clare Dunkle
Enchantress from the Stars, by Sylvia Engdahl
Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale
The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale
Midnight in Austenland, by Shannon Hale
Grave Mercy, by Robin LaFevers
Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier
The Flight of Swans, by Sarah McGuire
For Darkness Shows the Stars, by Diana Peterfreund
The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
Crown Duel, by Sherwood Smith
Beyond the Limit: The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya, by Joan Spicci
The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater
The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud
The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein