Why am I passionate about this?

As someone who grew up way too fast (don’t we all!) I was an avid reader of books about out-of-the-ordinary young people, the more eccentric or challenged the better. Every day I saw acts of violence committed in my neighborhood but I also saw how much people can help each other in times of crisis. All the books on my list speak to this contradiction in human nature. If you have already read some of them, I hope you decide to revisit a few of them as I have. Creating this list has brought many memories to life and deepened my understanding of why I became a writer. 


I wrote

Sandstorm

By Joyce Yarrow,

Book cover of Sandstorm

What is my book about?

“Readers seeking solid urban fiction settings and the spunky but struggling character of a young adult who changes immensely through…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Catcher in the Rye

Joyce Yarrow Why did I love this book?

This novel made a lifelong impression on me when I read it as a teenager growing up in New York City. The descriptions of the underbelly of the city along with Holden Caulfield’s deep alienation spoke to me because here was a person from an upper-class background whose estrangement and distress resembled my own. Up until that point I had thought that only economically disadvantaged people had problems. This was my first experience with how reading could expand my worldview.

By J.D. Salinger,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Catcher in the Rye as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

After leaving prep school Holden Caulfield spends three days on his own in New York City.


Book cover of Siddhartha

Joyce Yarrow Why did I love this book?

As someone who was raised in the “religion of atheism” by two cynical parents, I was at first resistant to reading this book that was so popular with the spiritual crowd. However, after reading Siddhartha, I changed my mind entirely. Here was someone who walked the walk with very little talk, forsaking a privileged lifestyle to take a journey into the unknown on a quest to find life’s meaning. There were no easy answers or formulas given and after reading the book twice it dawned on me that the search itself might be the answer. What better lesson could be absorbed by a future writer? I will always be grateful to Hermann Hesse for opening my mind.

By Hermann Hesse,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked Siddhartha as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Here the spirituality of the East and the West have met in a novel that enfigures deep human wisdom with a rich and colorful imagination.

Written in a prose of almost biblical simplicity and beauty, it is the story of a soul's long quest in search of he ultimate answer to the enigma of man's role on this earth. As a youth, the young Indian Siddhartha meets the Buddha but cannot be content with a disciple's role: he must work out his own destiny and solve his own doubt-a tortuous road that carries him through the sensuality of a love…


Book cover of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce Yarrow Why did I love this book?

It gives me goosebumps to remember reading this book, caressing each wondrous page before turning to the next. The innocent anguish and confusion of Joyce’s language captured Stephan Dedalus's tormented yet profoundly beautiful childhood so perfectly that it made me feel like the book had been written especially for me! Many passages were pure poetry, yet so earthy I could smell the streets and playgrounds of Dublin. This was unlike any of the novels we were reading in school and I made sure to lend it to as many friends as I could – I was that sure they’d love it too. 

By James Joyce,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A masterpiece of modern fiction, James Joyce's semiautobiographical first novel follows Stephen Dedalus, a sensitive and creative youth who rebels against his family, his education, and his country by committing himself to the artist's life.

"I will not serve," vows Dedalus, "that in which I no longer believe...and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can." Likening himself to God, Dedalus notes that the artist "remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails." Joyce's rendering of the impressions of…


Book cover of Little Women

Joyce Yarrow Why did I love this book?

It was no accident that after reading Little Women I started to go by the nickname “Jo,” inspired by the rambunctious tomboy in this beautiful story of love, laughter, and sisterly quarrels set during the travails of the Civil War. With no biological sister of my own, I was deeply attached to my best friend Daria, who lived across the street in the Bronx. We walked to school together every morning and even wrote some stories together that in later years provided some good laughs. We also shared books, and Little Women was a favorite.

By Louisa May Alcott,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked Little Women as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

Louisa May Alcott shares the innocence of girlhood in this classic coming of age story about four sisters-Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy are responsible for keeping a home while their father is off to war. At the same time, they must come to terms with their individual personalities-and make the transition from girlhood to womanhood. It can all be quite a challenge. But the March sisters, however different, are nurtured by their wise and beloved Marmee, bound by their love for each other and the feminine…


Book cover of A Little Princess

Joyce Yarrow Why did I love this book?

I read A Little Princess when I was only ten, with no idea that it was a classic. All I knew was that I totally identified with Sarah, the protagonist, as she was buffeted by the vicissitudes of fortune. The issues of class portrayed in this book were already on my young mind, since I grew up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Bronx but also spent a lot of time in the wealthy environs of Manhattan and the contrast was immense. I was impressed by Sarah’s resilience and her ability to empathize with others in spite of the awful hand that had been dealt to her.

By Frances Hodgson Burnett,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked A Little Princess as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

'Whatever comes,' she said, 'cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside.'

'A Little Princess' tells the story of Sara Crewe, beloved daughter of the revered Captain Crewe. Sent to board at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, Sara is devastated when her adored father dies. Suddenly penniless, Sara is banished to an attic room where she is starved, abused, and forced to work as a servant. How this exceptionally intelligent girl uses the only resources…


Explore my book 😀

Sandstorm

By Joyce Yarrow,

Book cover of Sandstorm

What is my book about?

“Readers seeking solid urban fiction settings and the spunky but struggling character of a young adult who changes immensely through her experiences and choices will find Sandstorm worthy and intriguing..." Midwest Book Review

Sandstorm is entertaining every step of the way. Yarrow places her reader right in the center of quippy, fast-paced, and oftentimes dark action, making this novel a must-read…” Independent Book Review

You might also like...

What You Made Me Do

By Barbara Gayle Austin,

Book cover of What You Made Me Do

Barbara Gayle Austin Author Of What You Made Me Do

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Barbara's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Willem and Jurriaan have a miserable childhood thanks to their cruel, controlling mother—Louisa Veldkamp, a world-renowned pianist. Dad turns a blind eye. One day, Louisa vanishes without a trace during a family vacation.

Adoptee Anneliese Bakker survives a toxic childhood and leaves home, vowing never to return. While searching for her biological mother, she meets the adult Willem, and they fall in love. Pregnant and engaged, she moves into the family mansion, wanting nothing more than to create a loving family for her child. But the Veldkamps are cold and distant. And why is Louisa a taboo subject?

As Anneliese…

What You Made Me Do

By Barbara Gayle Austin,

What is this book about?

An expectant mother gets more than she bargained for when she marries into a seemingly perfect family in this gripping debut novel–a must read for fans of A. J. Finn and B. A. Paris.

After surviving a nightmarish childhood, Anneliese Bakker is on the mend and searching for her birth mother. But when she meets Willem, she falls madly in love and finally finds a safe place to land. Engaged and expecting her first child, she moves into the Veldkamp mansion on a stately, tree-lined avenue in Amsterdam. And yet, nothing about Willem’s family is as it seems. Instead of…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in New England, orphans, and Buddhism?

New England 114 books
Orphans 178 books
Buddhism 294 books