My 10 Favorite Books From the Last 10 Years

Well, happy May then. Can you even believe we've got four months of 2025 under our belts? And yes, I missed another whole month of blogging. This year has been a tough one so far, and things that happened in my personal life last month made it difficult to even read, much less blog. But I did have an idea pop into my head to go over all the books I've read these past ten years and pick my personal top ten favorites. So that's what I'm sharing with you today.

As I thought about the books from the past decade of my reading life that rocketed onto my personal list of All-Time Favorites, it actually wasn't too hard to come up with the ten best. 

These are not ten brand new books. But they are books that I read for the very first time over these past ten years. Some of them are books I had never heard of, some I'd been meaning to get to for ages, some are books that I knew would be good for me to read but didn't realize how much would move me or completely delight me. Without further ado: My 10 Favorite Books From the Last 10 Years (in the order I originally read them, not ranked in any way).

To Kill A Mockingbird 

First Published: July 1960

My First Time Reading: January 2016

This Southern classic by Harper Lee is often assigned reading in school, but I missed out on it during my growing up years. Wise Atticus Finch and his two children Scout and Jem, their cook Calpurnia and mysterious neighbor Boo Radley: these characters immediately embedded themselves in the hearts of readers the world over, leading to a Pulitzer Prize and an Academy Award winning film (which I still have not seen). It's about time I picked To Kill A Mockingbird up again and give it another read. 

The Hiding Place

First Published: November 1971

My First Time Reading: August 2017

I grew up knowing the story of Corrie ten Boom's family and their work to hide Jews from the Nazis during World War II, but I didn't get around to reading her book for myself until 2017. It is now the first book I recommend to anyone regardless of age, gender, personal reading preferences, or any other factor. Everyone should read this book. 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

First Published: July 2008

My First Time Reading: August 2018

I stumbled across this title by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows browsing one of my favorite secondhand bookshops and ended up reading it right away thanks to the encouragement of a fellow reader I had befriended over the internet. What a serendipitous jumble of events. This epistolary novel set right after the German occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey during WWII is an ode to book lovers. Instant favorite. 

Tuck Everlasting

First Published: 1975

My First Time Reading: March 2020

I'm not sure if I even knew Disney's 2002 film was adapted from Natalie Babbitt's thoroughly charming children's novel when I watched it in high school, but upon discovering it was and then coming across a copy in a secondhand shop, it ended up being one of the first books I read after COVID-19 caused a global shutdown. I remember feeling so regretful about missing out on this book for so much of my life. And I blame Disney for part of that because the movie is entirely forgettable and certainly didn't inspire me to seek out the brilliant source material. 

The Penderwicks

First Published: 2005-2018

My First Time Reading: June 2021

Technically, this first book by Jeanne Birdsall is meant to represent the five book series in its entirety so I guess this list is actually my favorite fourteen books from the last ten years. Semantics. I immediately fell for the Penderwick sisters, their lovable dog Hound, and the lonely boy Jeffrey whom they befriend. This series is a delight from beginning to end.

The Secret Garden

First Published: August 1911

My First Time Reading: September 2021

I read Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic when COVID-19 finally caught me in 2021. The story of neglected little Mary Lennox and her awakening to childhood and joy and friendship and nature utterly captivated me. This book is just lovely.

Gone With the Wind

First Published: June 1936

My First Time Reading: October/November 2021

Gone With the Wind is one of the books on this list that I had been meaning to get around to reading for ages but was daunted by the sheer size of Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece. I needn't have worried. I was swept up in the saga of Tara and its young mistress Scarlett O'Hara as she faced the onset of the Civil War, then had to pick up the pieces in the aftermath during the Reconstruction. An epic, for sure.

Cold Sassy Tree

First Published: November 1984

My First Time Reading: May 2023

I grew up in ignorance of the existence of Olive Ann Burns' Southern historical novel, but it didn't take me long to realize it would be a treasured favorite. Will Tweedy's coming of age in 1906 small town Georgia stole my heart and took me straight back to my own teenage years, sprawled across my grandmother's bed listening to my own family history. 

Dandelion Wine

First Published: 1957

My First Time Reading: Summer 2024

Not only is Dandelion Wine now one of my All-Time Favorite books, but Ray Bradbury is quickly becoming one of my All-Time Favorite authors. This interconnected collection of short stories centered around the Spaulding boys is a pure hit of nostalgia, summertime distilled into a novel. Dandelion Wine should be savored slowly and stretched to its absolute limits. 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

First Published: 1972

My First Time Reading: November 2024

Are you kidding me? Barbara Robinson and her awful Herdman kids teaching their small town the true meaning of Christmas when they hijack the annual pageant is an absolute gem. I will be reading this every Christmas for the rest of my life. 

My All-Time Favorite books can be characterized like this: they make me laugh and cry, I'm sad when I get to the end and want to start over again immediately, and they are the books I reach for when everything else in life is too hard to face. Discovering the charms of these books over the past ten years has been a boon to my soul, and I look forward to what the next ten years of reading will unearth for me. 

What are some of your All-Time Favorite books? Have you discovered any new ones in the past ten years?