Oh, the pressure – how can one possibly narrow a list of must-reads to only five? There are so many. Today I happen to feel moved by the Southern women writers I’ve been reading recently, short stories, and books I read in high school which have stayed with me as life-long favorites or literary influences:
1. The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers
2. Don’t Look Now (short stories) and Rebecca (novel) by Daphne DuMaurier
3. 3 by Flannery O’Connor (short stories/novellas including Wise Blood and A Good Man is Hard to Find)
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
5. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (I know, I know. I’m sorry, I can’t help it. I loved it then, and still do.)
Great lists!