Drop and give me five!

Five of my favorite books.

When I woke up this morning, with my brain still foggy from sleep, the little writer-elves in my head yelled out, "Drop and give me five!" What the heck? Where did those words come from? Why?

Now let me explain that I am not one of those people who hop out of bed bright-eyed and full of energy. I don't drop to the floor and do five push-ups, or ten or whatever. If I do five of anything in the morning it's to take five more minutes to doze before I even contemplate getting out of bed. Then I slowly sit up in bed and think about getting up and facing the day.

So why did those little writer-elves, the ones who are supposed to work on great stories during the night, telling me to "Drop and give me five!?" Five what? Well, because I happen to be addicted to books, my not-so-instant response, still being sleepy and all that, was "Five books." Yep, those writer-elves must certainly have been referring to five books and not five push-ups.

Five more of my favorite books.

As I got out of bed, slowly mind you, I started putting together groups of five books. Five books I could read over and over again. Five favorite childhood books. Five classics I've always wanted to read and haven't. Five all-time favorite authors. Five new favorite authors (mind you, I have bunches and bunches of favorite authors). Five favorite romances. Yep, I can do this five-thing with no problem at all.

So I hopped out of bed, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out to the patio with my dog, Dude. I needed to think on this a bit. I don't rush into anything without downing at least one cup of coffee.

Now I need to back up a minute here. Today is the official first day of fall. As I was falling asleep last night, I remember thinking that I needed to write a new blog post today about the beginning of fall. So I guess my writer-elves did sort of follow my advice. But I certainly didn't expect them to come up with "Drop and give me five!"

Well, here goes. Lists, lists and more lists. I absolutely love making lists of books. This is where I point out that when I have a problem falling asleep at night, I count books instead of sheep.

Five Favorite Books When I Was A Kid:

Savage Sam by Fred Gipson
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Five Favorite Books I Could Read Over And Over Again:

The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Five All-Time Favorites:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Five More All-Time Favorites:

The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell
Lady of the Glen by Jennifer Roberson
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Five Books I Recently Read That Were Simply Awesome:

The Monmouth Summer by Tim Vicary
Wool (Omnibus Ed.) by Hugh Howey
Golden Boy by R. G. Lawrence
The Hunger Games (Trilogy) by Susanne Collins
The Righteous (Righteous Series, Bks1-3) by Michael Wallace

Five Classics I've Been Wanting To Read:

Middlemarch by George Eliot
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Five Favorite 19th Century Authors:

Jane Austen
Thomas Hardy
Henry James
James Fenimore Cooper
George Eliot

Five Favorite 20th Century Authors:

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ernest Hemingway
Edith Wharton
Zane Grey
Louis L'Amour

Five More Favorite 20th Century Authors:

D. H. Lawrence
John Steinbeck
Willa Cather
Ayn Rand
Ray Bradbury

Five Favorite Contemporary Authors:

Luanne Rice
Alice Hoffman
Ann River Siddons
Bernard Cornwell
Daniel Silva

Five Favorite Romantic Suspense Authors:

Suzanne Brockmann
Carla Neggars
Karen Robards
Stella Cameron
Karen Harper

Five Favorite Romantic Comedy Authors:

Janet Evanovich
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Jennifer Crusie
Rachel Gibson
Emily Carmichael

Five Favorite Historical Romance Authors:

Marsha Canham
Linda Lael Miller
Catherine Anderson
Candace Proctor
Kat Martin

Five Favorite Contemporary Romance Authors:

Mary Alice Monroe
JoAnn Ross
Jodi Thomas
Jill Marie Landis
Sharon Sala (aka Dinah McCall)

Five New Favorite Authors:

Jan Romes
Maureen A. Miller
R. G. Lawrence
Tim Vicary
Barbara Freethy

Five Indie Authors I Think You Should Try:

Molly Greene
Christine Nolfi
Ellis Vidler
Benjamin X. Wretlind
Michael K. Rose

Five More Indie Authors I Think You Should Try:

C. L. R. Dougherty
Pete Palamountain
J. D. Currie
Carmen DeSousa
Jinx Schwartz

The above lists of books and authors are by no means all of my favorites. As I've said many times before, I'm passionate about, in love with, addicted to books. Please feel free to comment below and add your favorite authors and books.

NOTE: In the right hand column toward the bottom of my blog you'll find "Indies Rock!" which is a link list of Indie authors you really ought to check out.