This entry’s for Mark who dropped in with a request for a top ten list of books read, five posts ago. I’ve separated my favourite ten books of all time from my list of top 10 romance novels read, and here they are:

Top 10 Books Read:

1. The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough
2. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
   I went on to read The Priestess of Avalon and Lady of Avalon
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy – it remains one of my favourite series since I first read them in my early teens
5. The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M Auel – part of another series I’ve been following
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – it’s one of the most intense novels ever written by an author
7. Kingdom of Gold by Susan Wiggs – I’ve listed this here as it has a focus on historical events than romance
8. Lady of the Forest by Marion Zimmer Bradley
9. War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
   I read this in my teens, reread in my 20s, so it’s about time I read it again. I finally got around to watching the movie starring Audrey Hepburn – she is ever so ethereal – on video recently.
10. All Creatures Great & Small by James Herriot
    In fact I love all four of them (the other three are: All Things Bright & Beautiful, All Things Wise & Wonderful, and The Lord God Made Them All)

I was in town late last week, and decided to drop by Borders on a whim. After some 90 minutes, I emerged with more than just a few books on my list, starting off with the one that snagged the judges’ attention at the recent Quills Awards.

That’s right, I’m referring to ‘44 Cranberry Point’ by Debbie Macomber. The cover art looks downright homespun — but that’s the charm of Debbie, I’m told. So let me find out what makes this a winner.

It is indeed heartening to see my favourite genre — Romance included as a category in this newest literary awards, and a timely tribute to romance authors all over. The winners of the first annual Quills Awards were selected based on consumer votes and are therefore a reflection of popular tastes.

Debbie Macomber, whose ‘A Season of Angels’ had me laughing and shedding tears in parts, is the proud winner of the ‘Best Romance Award’ for ‘44 Cranberry Point’. She beat Nora Roberts, a women’s lit powerhouse, Janet Evanovich and MaryJanice Davidson to the title honour, and will be receiving the award from Candace Bushnell (’Sex and the City’) in a glitzy award show to be aired on NBC this 22 Oct. Too bad we won’t get to see that here at this little red dot on the earth.

For a list of the winners in other categories, visit the official site. I’ll be going through that list to see which books to add to my reading quest, and for sure Debbie’s is one of them. Now this is another award that I would love to see one of the Squawkers similarly honoured next year. Go, Eloisa, Teresa, Christina, Lisa, Connie and Elisabeth!

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.
~E.L. Doctorow

I was falling asleep midway through my last post on the 50 books to read before I pass on, for I neglected to add in some links. AND boy some the titles sure looked wacky!!! It just goes to show … the importance of spell-checking.

I’ve to add the following books to the list to be read again:
The rest of the Anne of Green Gables Set:
Anne of the Island, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne’s House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside
Incidentally, this book series by Lucy Maud Montgomery has been made into movies as well as an animated series, and Amazon stocks both the videos and books. This classic series is so successful that the setting which inspired the book has been turned into a tourist shrine of sorts! Don’t believe me? Go check out the virtual tour site.

Also, I couldn’t possibly not consider adding the other three books related to Little Women, so here they are: Good Wives, Jo’s Boys and Little Men.
Two other of Alcott’s books that I have not read before but would like to are Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom.

Hmm …. that brings the grand total of the book list to 55, so I’d better stop while I can.

Just in case I ever get diverted from my reading list, here then are the 50 books read and to be read:

Currently reading:

1. Emma by Jane Austen
2. An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England by Venetia Murray
3. Horrible Histories: The Gorgeous Georgians and The Vile Victorians by Terry Deary and Martin Brown
4. God’s Hand on My Shoulder for Women (Bordon Books)
5. Buzzmarketing with Blogs for Dummies by Susannah Gardner
6. Four Great Beauties (in Chinese)

Constantly reading or on hold:

1. The Bible – NIV
2. Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman

To be read:
Romance on my watchlist

1. The Marriage Trap by Elizabeth Thornton
2. It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
3. The Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
4. My Fair Temptress by Christina Dodd
5. Some Enchanted Evening by Christina Dodd
6. After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros
7. One Night of Scandal by Teresa Medeiros
8. Lie By Moonlight by Amanda Quick
9. Falling Awake by Jayne Ann Krentz
10. The Indiscretion by Judith Ivory

I have to agree with Julia Quinn that “Nothing gets me to a bookstore faster than a new novel by Eloisa James.“ 

This latest effort by Eloisa, ‘Much Ado About You’ is partly inspired by Louisa May Alcott, best known for her ‘Little Women’, and launches what she calls the Sisters quartet. Obviously it’s about four young women facing one of the most important decisions of their lives — marriage. Or rather, they’re left with no choice but to find themselves husbands to support them since their improvident, horse-mad father left them without two pennies to rub together but horses (and magnificent ones, at that) as dowries.