I could never, ever, do this challenge in real life. My wife and I own so many books that nine bookshelves aren’t enough to house all of our hardcover and paperback treasures. But we thought it’d be fun to do so here we are with my 30 book challenge inspired by Marie Kondo of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. On her show she said that she would never have more than 30 books. The internet, being the way it is, decided to make it a thing. What if you could only keep 30 books? What would you choose? Well here’s my answer. If you want to read Anne’s version of this you can find it right here.
1. Wizard for Hire by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Omnibus 1)
Am I cheating? Yes. Yes I am. I need the whole Dresden Files series in my collection. I need it in my life. This isn’t even a question. Dresden before Potter, Dresden before Shannara, Dresden before all. This series is the most well written and most engrossing series I have ever read. The first book Storm Front was great and it just gets better from there. Each book in this thirteen (and counting) series ups the ante then becomes my favorite book in the series. This first omnibus includes the first three books Storm Front, Fool Moon, and Grave Peril. I didn’t use the picture of the omnibus collection because it’s ugly. So sue me.
2. Wizard by Trade by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Omnibus 2)
Still cheating? Yes. Yes I am. I’m serious, I need the Dresden Files in my life. contains Summer Knight and Death Masks
3. Wizard at Large by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Omnibus 3)
Just keep scrolling to the next one. This is more Dresden. contains Blood Rites and Dead Beat.
4. Wizard Under Fire by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Omnibus 4)
Yup. Even more Dresden. contains Proven Guilty and White Night
5 – 10. Even More Dresden
I decided to group these up so we can move on to something out of this series. My 5th through 10th selections include Small Favor, Turn Coat, Changes, Ghost Story, Cold Days, and Skin Game. These six books round out the series. Skin
11. Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
You should read my review of this book (find it here), and since I already wrote a review I’ll keep this short. This is hands down a great book with amazing characters, a realistic story that takes on a different view of a familiar topic, and a charm that stayed with me long after I closed the book.
12. Jurassic Park and The Lost World (omnibus) by Michael Crichton
Cheating again. Yep. Get off my back about it. Stop yelling at me! You’re not my Mom!
Jurassic Park is the quintessential non-space oriented sci-fi book. It’s an amazing story thought up by one of America’s best story tellers who was taken from us too early. But he left us with a number of great works including what are probably his two greatest works. Two well written, expertly plotted, and enjoyable books. Not only was Jurassic Park great but the sequel was just as good, if not just a smidge better. This, like The Martian is a great example of book that can be loved by science fiction fans and non sci-fi fans alike. Read these books.
13. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
What? You mean that book that was turned into a Hulu original mini-series? Yes. That book. I’m surprised too. I’m just as surprised that when I looked back at all the Stephen King books I’ve read and loved that I think this book
14. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
This is on my short list for favorite books of all time. Easily in the top five. The movie is one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. Easily in my top ten. This is a very good story. Interesting an
15. Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone
This is a self serving pick. I could claim that this is because it’s one of the best (if not THE best) book written about the Japanese interment during WWII. I could claim that it’s because it’s taught me stuff that I never knew about the camps. But the real reason is that Monica Sone was my great aunt. Her story is my story. This may have been on of the biggest government sanctioned violations of human rights in recent history, but without this even so many of us Yonsei (4th generation Japanese) wouldn’t exist.
16. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is the first of three classics on my list and they’re also the three required reading books from grade school that I liked the most. Also, this book gave us one of Gregory Peck’s best roles.
17. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
I decided I could only have one. Either Frankenstein or Dracula and I decided that Frankenstein has the highest re-readability and is also the better of the two books. I think this should be required reading for life. If you haven’t read this book, then pick it up. You may know the basic story, but you don’t even know the half of it.
18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This book isn’t just a classic. It’s a class that well deserves it status as an all time great. There are so many other classics I’ve read that I don’t think deserve their status, but this one does. It has stood the test of time and will continue to stand tall for as long as people still read. I think both versions of the movie are great. Both the 1974 Robert Redford version and the 2013 Leonardo DiCaprio version. Read the book then watch both.
19. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is one of the world’s great storytellers. I’ve never read anything of his that I didn’t, at the very least, enjoy. Quite a few of his books I loved, but this was what introduced me to him and it’s also been my favorite of his books. I liked American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Sandman, and everything else of his, but all of them fall just shy of the greatness of Neverwhere.
20. The Martian by Andy Weir
You probably saw the movie. If you have taste, you enjoyed the movie. The book is just a better version of the movie with more humor and more Mark Watney. You even have the benefit of picturing Matt Damon in the role! So long story short, the movie was great, the book is legendary.
21. Winnie The Pooh by A. A. Milne
I love Winnie The Pooh so having the collected stories by A.A. Milne is a must. The Pooh movies are fun and everything Disney did on their own is enjoyable, but nothing beats the original stories and the origins of some of our favorite characters. Eeyore for the win!
22. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
This is also a book I reviewed (check it out here) so I’ll keep this short too. This is a must read for any fan of science fiction and
23. The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks
Quintessential fantasy. In my most humble opinion, Terry Brooks is more of a must read fantasy author than Tolkein is. The Shannara series is, so far, twenty-nine books long. But the good news is that they’re broken into two to four book series with huge time gaps between them.
24. Less by Andrew Sean Greer
I almost took this book off the list in favor of The Perks of Being A Wallflower but when I went to officially take Less off the list, I couldn’t. I just loved it too much. I was going to take this off the list because it was too recent and I was thinking that the reading high I was experiencing would wear off, but I just know that this will always be one of my favorite. Charming, funny, well written, amazing.
25. 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal
I’ve never been a huge fan of non-fiction. I prefer to watch documentaries if I want something that’s not fictional. One day I found this book on sale at my local (now closed) bookstore and picked it up on a whim. When I eventually read it I fell in love with the amazing life of Billy Crystal. The premise is simple. His father died when he was young and each Sunday was their day together. So Billy only got to spend 700 Sundays with his father. This story dives not only into the relationship between the two, but also Billy’s father’s history in the world of jazz. One of my favorite things in this book is young Billy’s friendship with the legendary Billie Holiday. Read this book, even if you’re not a huge fan of Crystal’s. It’s worth it.
26-29. Harry Potter 4- 7 by J. K. Rowling
I’ve read the Harry Potter series so much that I don’t really need the first three books anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I still love them and if I had more room on this list, I’d gladly put them on there, but choices had to be made and I’d much rather have all of the Dresden books than all of the Harry Potters. That being said, I think that the final four books are when the main story really gets going. Books one through three are great, but it’s during four that the main story really takes off. It all starts with the return of Voldermort and it all ends with his defeat.
26-29 includes Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princes, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
30. Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka
This one was hard for me. There are other books I think I love more but they’re all part of long series and thus, couldn’t fit here. But don’t let that detract from this book. It was a really well written and enjoyable piece of historical fiction. While this book does have a sequel, the first in the series can stand on its own, which is how it made it on my list.
Well there you have it. The 30 books I would keep if I had to follow the example set by Marie Kondo. Like I said, in her defense, she said the 30 book limit was her own personal rule. It just made for an interesting exercise. It easier and harder to do than I thought. Easy to begin with but harder after I got it started and neared the end. Once again, if you want to read about Anne’s 30 books you can find it here. The good news is that we don’t cross over much so since we’re married we get a total of sixty books, right?