Ahh..my birthday, now that I am an old lady, and I forget things a lot quicker than I use to, I had to refer back to my GoodReads account. Sure enough, I was surprised I read half of these books. As I stared at the computer screen my memory came flooding back to me in a quick succession.

Now in honor of my birthday, since I’m lazy, I will list my 10 favorite books I read at 26 by giving you some quick opinions and thoughts.

Enjoy and make sure to wish me a Happy Birthday in the comments (jk, you don’t really have to, but it would be nice!).

1. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan-It was so good, I actually bought this book so I could have my very own copy!

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coleho-The Alchemist makes me feel not so bad about my life and for once I didn’t question my life choices! Yay!

3. The Prophet by Kahil Gibran-Probably, the most underrated book of poems, I’ve ever come across. Hipster friendly!

4. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See-Sometimes a mother just has to manipulate situations so her daughter can get ahead in life. Then, said daughter marries a rich man and has a complicated relationship with her friend.

5. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury-I liked how it made me question how children could make complex life choices. Not! It’s still a good Halloween story!

6. The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova by Anna Akhmatova-In my opinion, the best book to read after a break up!

7. Hyperbole and Half  by Allie Brosh-Hyperbole and a Half almost covers my life story minus the dogs.

8. A Place Beyond Courage by Elizabeth Chadwick-Some of my ancestors going around being bad asses and others screwing things up. Kind of like my modern family except without you know causing a civil war or losing your head (literally) if you make the wrong choices.

9. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White-It’s the best book about a friendship between a pig and a spider I have ever read.

10. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay-This was as hard choice, I liked a lot of books equally. So I did an imaginary book death match in my head, I’d like to think this book would have won.