There was a Facebook prompt at least a year ago that asked for you to list out your top ten books that you’ve read. You were to not to think about it, just cough them up. Well I thought about it and totally decided that my reading list was unworthy of all the real readers in the world.I stayed right away from that challenge.
But recently I started to remember some of the great books that made such a difference to me in my life. And I thought that I’d share them. Yes, I haven’t been reading anything but blogs since I had Fiona. Yes one day I hope to reunite with my old friend Reading. Until then, here’s the 11 best books I can remember reading. The ones that I remember and am grateful for making me fall in love with reading, and writing, as a young adult and an adult.
- To Kill A Mockingbird – read in 8th grade and became my favorite movie too
- Catcher In The Rye -Holden how I get you
- 1984 -That hair across the diary page, ahhhhh
- The Hobbit – Tolkein (read this twice) and yet never read the rest of them
- The Secret Life of Bees – Just such wonderful characters and storytelling
- She’s Come Undone – Wally Lamb (read it twice too)I couldn’t believe a man wrote this
- On Writing – Stephen King’s raw and honest book about his demons and his passion
- If You Want to Write by Brenda Euland – She was ahead of her time and so empowering
- Prodigal Summer – Barbara Kingsolver’s writing made me feel the Summer heat and lust
- Paradise Alley – Who knew historical fiction could be this fabulous. Character development galore and a great twist.
- Eat, Pray, Love – The beginning of my spiritual journey
I have read many books over the years. I was a huge Stephen King fan for a while. I’ve read fantasy and YA books. Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel series, the Sandman, as well as all his novels and kids books. I miss reading and so I’m ready to attempt reading this year again. That it’s a form of meditation itself that my brain desperately needs to make me feel whole again. Would you share with me your most influential books and why ?
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3 Comments
I’d like to say the most influential books I’ve read are all high-falutin’ reads, but they’re not. Anyway, here, in no particular order, are the books that have stuck with me the longest:
Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” – I’d never read anything that wasn’t American or British, but this grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. It was a stunning intro to an undergrad class on African lit.
Joanne Harris’s “Blackberry Wine” – I love well-written dual timelines. The ending was so satisfying it actually made me cry. It taught me a lot about what I like in a novel, and what I want to incorporate in my own storytelling.
Susanna Kearsley’s “The Winter Sea” – a dual timeline/historical romance. Re-reading it right now.
Gene Farrington’s “The Blue Heron” – Another dual timeline/historical without the romance. Deep, universal themes woven within a fantastic text. A postmodern opus in a can’t-put-down package.
Apparently you like the dual timeline historical romance genre. So is that what you are drawn to write? Thank you for reading anything I write Donna.
Love,
Shalagh
Yes! I am intrigued by the interplay of two well-written timelines. The connections we can make between generations show universal aspects of human nature — our struggles, our triumphs — there’s no escaping the repeating loops between past and present even though, on the surface, our lives look so different from those of our forbears.