top 5

i love to read. everyone that knows me know this. when it was nap time in our house growing up, mom and lindsey would actually lay down and sleep... i would lay down and read. i get so excited going into a library or a bookstore that i have to visit the bathroom first just to calm down. i am so fond of reading that at times i find it difficult to articulate the reason why. i'll simply say this...

• i will sometimes sit and stare at my books remembering their stories & characters
  

• i have spent (almost) as much money on books for wil as i have spent in diapers

• i can tell you what time of year and at what age i've read most books

• i currently have 11 books in my nightstand and 5 large magazines on the floor next to it
  

reading is my addiction, my passion, my distraction and my friend...and this time, the subject of my top 5.

betsy's favorite books...thus far

1. disgrace ~ j.m. coetzee
2. the thorn birds ~ colleen mccullough
3. bel canto ~ ann patchett
4. youth in revolt ~ c.d. payne
5. clowns of god ~ morris west

this is a difficult task for me. even as i write this i believe the list could look something like this instead:

1. gone with the wind ~ margaret mitchell
2. the executioner's song ~ norman mailer
3. native son ~ richard wright
4. unless ~ carol shields
5. fall on your knees ~ ann-marie macdonald

and i hate that i am leaving out: death comes for the archbishop, lucky, the corrections, white teeth, little women, a heartbreaking work of staggering genuis, a separate peace, the color purple...and on and on and on.

ps: also, a lesson before dying (thanks mom!) which i read long before oprah even had a bookclub. i cried so hard reading the last 10 pages that i could barely see....like i say...it's almost an impossible task.

pss: apparently no one cares that this is an impossible task and everyone has a top 5. here are some that i feel need a mention (this is the last time): lonesome dove & i know this much is true (thanks emily!) and memoirs of a geisha (thanks shara dee!)

so grab a book...or try one of these. maybe it'll make your top 5!