Why Do You Read?

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I'm a reader.

I always have been.  In fact, I can't think of a time where I didn't have a book on the go.  Perhaps that's why majoring in English was never a question.

I'll admit, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to literature.  While I understand the desire to escape to an easy-read from the grocery store paperback selection where the author's name is bigger than the actual title of the book, I don't often do it.  I like good writing - writing that swirls around in my head creating the most vivid of pictures; writing that makes me think long after I've finished the book; writing that makes me question life, the world & myself.

While I do occasionally enjoy a feel-good book, I'm often most drawn to those a little darker.  My husband thinks it's a little morbid but I think it's realistic.  I was lucky enough to grow up in a lovely but uneventful and completely normal childhood where I didn't have to face a lot of the much more difficult circumstances people live through all over the world.  I'm constantly trying to understand humanity and I think to understand it, I have to look at all aspects of the world which includes those that are less pleasant.

I love books about other cultures, I love historical fiction but most of all I just love good writing.  I've compiled a list of some books that have resonated with me - ones that still have me thinking about them months or even years after first picking them up.

The Glass Castle {Jeanette Walls}
A Long Way Gone {Ishmael Beah)
Push {Sapphire}
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn {Betty Smith}
Sarah's Key (Tatiana de Rosnay}
Behind The Beautiful Forevers {Katherine Boo}
Beyond the Sky and the Earth {Jamie Zeppa}
Tisha {Robert Specht & Anne Purdy}
The Kite Runner {Khaled Hosseini}
A Thousand Splendid Suns {Khaled Hosseini}
Room {Emma Donoghue}
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time {Mark Haddon}
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas {John Boyne}
The Giver {Lois Lawry}
The Five People You Meet in Heaven {Mitch Albom}
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society {Marie Ann Schaffer & Annie Barrows}
In the Garden of Beasts {Erik Larson}
Harry Potter - all of them {J.K. Rowling}
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks {Rebecca Skloot}

While this list certainly isn't extensive, (it would go on for days if it was) they are books that pop into my head on random occasions; books that have taught me something.  They've inspired travel or further research.

I read to be inspired.  I read to learn & grow.

Why and what do you read?

Any must-reads to pass along?