Here’s another top 40 list to celebrate our 40th Anniversary. This is from Alison Kothe-Nihlean, the very capable and lovely head of marketing and events at BookPeople:
When trying to pick my 40 favorite books, instead of going with “literary merit” (although many of these are considered to have a lot of that), I went with the 40 books that made the biggest impression on my life. I split my list into two groups: the books that have moved me as an adult, and the ones I read as a child that made me who I am. In no particular order…
Books from my childhood:
1.The Baby-Sitters Club series, Ann M. Martin
2. ‘Little Women,’ Louisa May Alcott
3. ‘The Monster at the End of this Book,’ Jon Stone
4. ‘From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,’ E.L. Konigsburg
5. ‘The Secret Garden,’ Frances Hodgson Burnett
6. ‘Trumpet of the Swam,’ E.B. White
7. ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends,’ Shel Silverstein
8. ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ Eric Carle
9. ‘A Wrinkle in Time,’ Madeleine L’Engle
10. ‘The Lorax,’ Dr. Seuss
11. ‘The BFG,’ Roald Dahl
12. ‘Where the Red Fern Grows,’ Wilson Rawls
13. ‘The Call of the Wild,’ Jack London
14. ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ L. Frank Baum
15. ‘Jurassic Park,’ Michael Crichton
Books from my adulthood:
1. ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany,’ John Irving
2. ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ Jane Austen
3. The Harry Potter series (especially ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban’), J.K. Rowling
4. ‘Watership Down,’ Richard Adams
5. ‘The Last Temptation of Christ,’ Nikos Kazantzakis
6. ‘The Story of Forgetting,’ Stefan Merril Block
8. ‘Welcome to the Monkey House,’ Kurt Vonnegut
9. ‘The Passage,’ Justin Cronin
10. ‘The Book of Lost Things,’ John Connolly
11. ‘Delicate Edible Birds,’ Lauren Groff
12. ‘Wuthering Heights,’ Emily Bronte
13. ‘I’m Pregnant,’ Lesley Regan
14. ‘Wilco: Learning How to Die,’ Greg Kott
15. ‘Water for Elephants,’ Sara Gruen
16. ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,’ Rebecca Skloot
17. ‘Love Stories in This Town,’ Amanda Eyre Ward
18. ‘The Invisible Bridge,’ Julie Orringer
19. ‘Jane Eyre,’ Charlotte Bronte
20. ‘A Yellow Raft in Blue Water,’ Michael Dorris
21. ‘City of Thieves,’ David Benioff
22. ‘A Canticle for Leibowitz,’ Walter M. Miller, Jr.
23. ‘The Little Book,’ Selden Edwards
24. ‘The Thirteenth Tale,’ Diane Setterfield
25. ‘Wonder Boys,’ Michael Chabon
BookPeople 
An excellent list.
I like this list better! 🙂 I’ve read 15 of them, and have several of them in my TBR pile.
I need to read “City of Thieves”
kester, yes you do.
I love that Henrietta Lacks made the list! I passed it to my Mom and sister after reading it last spring and we are still talking about it.
A Good read.