A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

For some reason, I'd never managed to get my hands on this book and really read it until I was 24 years old and well past the age that I probably should have read it the first time – undoubtedly I'd have identified even more with Francie Nolan as a young adult. A bookish, clever girl in a poor family in Brooklyn, growing up as best she can with what she's got. It's a story about family, about love and loss, about triumph and heartache. It broke my heart more than once and actually reduced me to tears more than once.

I'm pretty sure it clawed its way into the ranks of my Favorite Books of All Time. I can't believe it took me this long to read it. I'm so glad I did.