…next time won’t you read with me?

First we learn our ABCs, then we learn to read. When we are little, we read books like Dr. Seuss and See Spot Run, and when we are older we move onto all of the other fiction and non-fiction on our planet.

So why not put the two together?

Meri’s ABCs for Grown-up Readers

• A is for Anais Nin, who did whatever she pleased and then documented it.
• B is for Bridget Jones, one of my favorite fictional heroines
• C is for coffee, which goes wonderfully with a book!
• D is for the Da Vinci Code, the ultimate airplane read.
• E is for Edgar Allen Poe
• F is for Federico Garcia Lorca. I’m sorry I read your classic play, Bodas de Sangre, in English when I couldn’t get through the Spanish. Meri Fail.
• G is for Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin. I love this book.
• H is for Hemingway, who I love despite feeling like I’m not supposed to.
• I is for “Into the Wild,” which has some of the best descriptions of nature, as haunting as the novel is.
• J is for Jack Kerouac. Because didn’t we all have a beat phase?
• K is for Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most creative but readable authors there is. Start with “Galapagos” and tell me you don’t love it.
• L is for Les Mis,  I’ve seen the play but never read the book. I should. One day, I will.
• M is for Mooncake, my favorite children’s book
• N is for (Pablo) Neruda, and his beautiful Spanish poetry
• O is for  (George) Orwell, for giving us “Animal Farm” and “1984”
• P is for the Produce Bible, the best “cookbook” I’ve found yet.
• Q is for Queeny Peavy, this weird book my sister used to have that she or I never read but made fun of for years. The girl on the cover was pretty pathetic looking.
• R is for JK Rowling, for giving us Harry Potter, the greatest gift an author could give…
• S is for Shakespeare, whom admittedly I really enjoyed reading for school.
• T is for Twain, one of the best satiricists I’ve read yet
• U is for Ursula Leguin, who wrote the story about “Omelas” that used to haunt me in college.
• V is for the Velveteen Rabbit, which I loved when I was little
• W is for Water for Elephants, the last good book I read
• X is for “I am Madame X,” a book I read entirely in Barnes and Noble back in high school, latte clutched in hand.
• Y is for Yummy Yucky, wise beyond its’ years. It’s never too early to teach kids to be picky.
• Z is for Franny and Zooey. I had a distinct JD Salinger phase.