It's the blog chain! Yay!Kate started this round and she asked:
What books have influenced you? This can be books that influenced you as a writer, or simply books that touched you as a human being. If you want to talk about one book, a top three, ten, or even twenty go right ahead.
You can read Christine's post before me.
Well, I could go on for days about this, but I'll try not to. I'm going to present a laundry list of my favorite books because all these drove my desire to write. I have so many memories of lying on my bed, reading the day away! In other news, I wasn't very good at sports.
I seem to remember these books as I read them during the periods of K-8th grade, high school, college, and now, after college.
My parents read us picture books when we were really little, but I didn't learn to read till I was 6, when I started kindergarten. I actually remember learning how. I remember sitting at the kitchen table trying to read this enormous-print, fat cardboard book about a groundhog, and I kept having to ask my mom what GROUNDHOG spelled, because it was such a long word. I remember feeling frustrated but also determined, and once I got reading down, I was hooked.
The first chapter book I read in 1st grade was Charlotte's Web, and then I was just reading constantly: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, all the Ramona books (it was during a Ramona book where I paused and realized I wasn't concentrating on the words, but seeing pictures in my mind. I thought, I really can read now!), Where the Red Fern Grows (I got to read the end of this one to my 4th grade class because the teacher was crying so hard), Half Magic, Just as Long as We're Together, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Bridge to Terabithia, The Little House on the Prairie series, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Harriet the Spy (which really made me want to be a writer), The Face on the Milk Carton, My Side of the Mountain, Homecoming and everything by Cynthia Voigt, The Grapes of Wrath, A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill a Mockingbird, Flowers for Algernon, and Sphere and Jurassic Park.
Some favorites from high school include: Wizard's First Rule (which was really the first fantasy I got into), Wonder Boys, White Oleander, Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Slaughterhouse Five, Strangers and False Memory by Dean Koontz, The Poisonwood Bible, Bridget Jones's Diary, and The Fountainhead. I also got into David Sedaris, Stephen King, and Chuck Palahniuk, all of whom I still read today.
In college I took many literature and writing classes, exposing me to more books and authors, and these are some of my favorites: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The English Patient, Dracula, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral," (which you can read here), Grendel, Ghostwritten, The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter and his short stories, everything by Lorrie Moore!!! especially Self-Help. (If you like 2nd person POV, she's the one to read. You can read "How to Become a Writer" here. It's freaking awesome.), The Corrections, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Beloved, Prodigal Summer, many of Shakespeare's plays (I love Hamlet and Othello), Native Son, Lolita, and Close Range: Wyoming Stories. If you have not yet read yourself some Annie Proulx, I really recommend it.
I don't read much since I graduated college (for shame), but here are some of my favorites of the last 5 years: The Keep, We Were the Mulvaneys, Grab on to Me Tightly as if I Knew the Way, You Remind Me of Me, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Housekeeping.
And finally, some of my favorite writing books of all time are: Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, King's On Writing, Margaret Atwood's Negotiating With the Dead, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, and James Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist.
Whew! Wow, all this reminds me of how much I love to read. If I had the time, I'd read all these again. And there are so many new books to check out. I need to stop watching TV!
Check out Abi tomorrow in the chain to see the books of her life.
My parents read us picture books when we were really little, but I didn't learn to read till I was 6, when I started kindergarten. I actually remember learning how. I remember sitting at the kitchen table trying to read this enormous-print, fat cardboard book about a groundhog, and I kept having to ask my mom what GROUNDHOG spelled, because it was such a long word. I remember feeling frustrated but also determined, and once I got reading down, I was hooked.
The first chapter book I read in 1st grade was Charlotte's Web, and then I was just reading constantly: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, all the Ramona books (it was during a Ramona book where I paused and realized I wasn't concentrating on the words, but seeing pictures in my mind. I thought, I really can read now!), Where the Red Fern Grows (I got to read the end of this one to my 4th grade class because the teacher was crying so hard), Half Magic, Just as Long as We're Together, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Bridge to Terabithia, The Little House on the Prairie series, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Harriet the Spy (which really made me want to be a writer), The Face on the Milk Carton, My Side of the Mountain, Homecoming and everything by Cynthia Voigt, The Grapes of Wrath, A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill a Mockingbird, Flowers for Algernon, and Sphere and Jurassic Park.
Some favorites from high school include: Wizard's First Rule (which was really the first fantasy I got into), Wonder Boys, White Oleander, Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Slaughterhouse Five, Strangers and False Memory by Dean Koontz, The Poisonwood Bible, Bridget Jones's Diary, and The Fountainhead. I also got into David Sedaris, Stephen King, and Chuck Palahniuk, all of whom I still read today.In college I took many literature and writing classes, exposing me to more books and authors, and these are some of my favorites: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The English Patient, Dracula, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral," (which you can read here), Grendel, Ghostwritten, The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter and his short stories, everything by Lorrie Moore!!! especially Self-Help. (If you like 2nd person POV, she's the one to read. You can read "How to Become a Writer" here. It's freaking awesome.), The Corrections, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Beloved, Prodigal Summer, many of Shakespeare's plays (I love Hamlet and Othello), Native Son, Lolita, and Close Range: Wyoming Stories. If you have not yet read yourself some Annie Proulx, I really recommend it.
I don't read much since I graduated college (for shame), but here are some of my favorites of the last 5 years: The Keep, We Were the Mulvaneys, Grab on to Me Tightly as if I Knew the Way, You Remind Me of Me, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Housekeeping.
And finally, some of my favorite writing books of all time are: Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, King's On Writing, Margaret Atwood's Negotiating With the Dead, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, and James Gardner's On Becoming a Novelist.
Whew! Wow, all this reminds me of how much I love to read. If I had the time, I'd read all these again. And there are so many new books to check out. I need to stop watching TV!
Check out Abi tomorrow in the chain to see the books of her life.
9 comments:
There must be something in the air ... my latest post is about my favorite and most meaningful books : )
http://philosophyofklo.blogspot.com/2009/04/five-best-books-ive-ever-read.html
Bird by Bird was a great book, wasn't it. I loved your list from high school...I read many of the sme ones. Nice job - hope your writing is coming along!!!
It's so much fun to remember the books you've read, isn't it? I loved The Time Traveler's Wife too!
Oh, love your list! I remember The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - I think I bought it at a school book fair.
And *slaps head* how could I forget Cynthia Voigt - I've read pretty much every book that she's ever written.
Thanks for the great linkage - I'll have to especially check out the short story and writing article you linked to!
Great list! A book that I'd bring up is "Kitchen" by Banana Yoshimoto. It's completely easy to read and full of quirkiness and emotion. It seems very simple but I've never been able to figure out how she makes it so effective.
Holy linkage Batman! And wow, another post that puts me to shame. I haven't edited mine. And you know what? I'm sticking to my original lameness. You'll see what I mean on Friday. What a great post!
Ah! *slaps head too* I read all of the Little House on the Prairie books, and A Wrinkle in Time books - I loved LOVED those. I'm going to have to go reread those now.... :D
Oh, yes. Bird by Bird.
Anne Lamott's books are incredible.
And Flowers for Algernon really takes me back. A student had given my high school English teacher (a guy) this ugly stuffed doll that my class named "Algernon." That's the book we were reading in class at the time.
Someone "murdered" Algernon. They tore a hole in his belly and pulled out his innards. So, someone else decided to be funny and bring a shoebox and have a "funeral" for Algernon.
Before the mock service took place, I stole Algernon, sewed him back together and placed him on the teacher's chair with a note saying he'd been happily resurrected.
I never told anyone I was the one who sewed him back up. So, to this day, it remains a mystery to my classmates.
It's really amazing that I learned anything in high school. :-)
KLo- Thanks for visiting. I'll have to check out your blog. Maybe it's the weather, inspiring us all to remember summer reading, or something.
Christine- I need to read Bird by Bird again soon. And the writing is not coming along, but I'm not beating myself up about it this week.
Sandra- Yeah, TTW was awesome. I read it a few years ago and still think about it a lot.
Kate- Ooh, I found so many great books at school book fairs. And I really hope you check out those links, especially Lorrie Moore. She is really wonderful. She's sarcastic and sad.
Davin- I will definitely check out "Kitchen." Your description sounds like it's my kind of story.
Elana- Yeah, it took me like an hour to do all those Amazon links. And no shame! This is why there are so many books, because we all enjoy different reads.
Michelle- If you have time still to reread books, I envy you! There are so many new ones to read. But I think the ones I read as a kid had the biggest impact on me.
Kat- That's a great story about Algernon! Too funny that you've kept the secret all this time!
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