Saturday, 06 June 2009

• Fifteen Books That Have Stuck With Me

  
     
  
  Heidenkind recently posted this challenge to list fifteen books that have really stuck in your mind. Not necessarily the best 15 books you have ever read... but the ones that stuck. Oh, and the kicker is, you can't think about it too much. Just the first 15 that come to you.
  
  These are mine:
  
  What's Eating Gilbert Grape- Peter Hedges. I first read this one when I was fifteen. It is the book that made me truly, truly want to be a writer.
  
  Bridge of Sighs- Richard Russo. All of Russo's books stick with me, but this one will forever have me in awe of both its intricacy and breadth. A friend and I ended up discussing it for weeks.
  
  Plotting the Novel- Michael Legat. Honestly, this book is dry and sort of stinks. But decent plot is a concept that I have serious issues wrapping my head around in completion. All of the things I had read or heard about the three acts or that pyramid of rising action, conflict, etc etc had a habit of freezing me up in frustration. There is a passage in this book which says plot is the movement of a problem that needs to be solved. And I had one of those Oprah-esq Aha moments. So it wins.
  
  Peace Like a River- Leif Enger. This book is seriously and beautifully wrought from people and landscapes that are familiar to me. There is something about a good book, written about a world that is tangible to what you know, that makes writing one yourself, seem a more feasible act.
  
  The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck. Um, cause it's just one of the most powerful books in all of book history.
  
  Second Glance- Jodi Piccoult. Very commercial, yes. But I am still in love with the way it wove ghost story with such a rich history, detailing human rights and eugenics.
  
  The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven- Sherman Alexie- This book has some of the best short stories I have ever read. Especially, This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona... which, yes is the basis for one of my favorite movies, which I have a habit of quoting a lot around here.... but I read and loved this book way before  Smoke Signals came out. Heh.
  
  Field Book of Natural History- E. Lawrence Palmer- I wrote an entire post on why this book makes the list, HERE.
  
  All Harry Potters, but especially 4-7. So what if I am a grown up. All people should have books they love enough to read over and over and over, just for the joy of being taken to a world of magic. The end.
  
  On the Road to Patsy Cline- John Reinhard. I am biased, slightly because John was my advisor in college, but even if I had never met him, this book has poems that break your heart and make you happy to be alive all at the same time. It is an inspiring combination to me.
  
  This Much I Know to be True- Wally Lamb. So the ending was sorta cheesy and tied with a bow... but over all,  the premise captured my imagination to this day and probably more.
  
  Human, All too Human- Friedrich Nietzsche. This book has started more good conversations in my life than any other.
  
  The Shipping News- E. Annie Proulx. This book lives in my heart. Every damn thing about it.
  
  
  The Rose- Li Young Lee... I could read every one of those poems a thousand more times and still have my breath taken away atleast twice.
  
  So, what are yours?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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