Essential Book Meme

This idea comes from PaperMenagerie, by way of the High Desert Diva:

List the following:

(a) Fiction book

(b) Autobiography

(c) Non-fiction book

(d) A fourth book of your choice from any genre

Explain why the books are essential reads in no more than 30 words per book.

This is an agonizing task for any bibliophile! Choosing favorites is tough, if not impossible, for me. I'm having difficulty refraining from listing runners-up in each category!

A. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffeneger

It's contemporary, original, well-written, complex example of magical realism. The emotional context and content are so strong I feel like I live the story rather than read it.

B. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Newer memoirs and autobiographies are affecting, but not nearly so much as (all versions) of this well-known slave narrative.

C. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Barbara Kingsolver's fiction is superb, but this account of her family's endeavor to be locavores for a year is informative, entertaining, and a text-book for changing unhealthy habits.

D. Tramps Like Us, by Barbara Morgenroth

It has long been out of print, but I own two copies. Though an avid reader, this was the one book I could fully relate to as an adolescent. I ended up living out my own version of this bildungsroman.