Books... my house is all about books.
There is a story about a girl who loved books so much that she filled her house with books. Soon, she had so many books that she opened a library, what other choice did she have? She just loved books. My house is similar to the point that we are seriously going to have to start donating books to libraries and book drives because, there just isn't enough room for the books we have and the books that we buy.
I love books - I read numerous books at one time. I read serious books and fluffy books; chick lit (from time to time) and history books; books that are well written and those that... well, just aren't. I love books.
A few weeks ago I listened to a panel discussing Anne of Green Gables. I read Anne though I can't recall how old I was at the reading and I don't remember falling in love with it as some of the women did. For many, it was a book that they read time and time again, never getting tired of the words or the story.
The discussion has stayed with me. I now find myself wondering about other people and their favorite books. I find myself asking friends and acquaintances about the books that they loved as kids; the books that touched their lives.
For me, I loved To Kill a Mocking Bird. I also loved Little Women but wasn't really excited about Jo not marrying Laurie so, it wasn't a book I read over again! (I do love the book though) Another childhood friend remembers The Bridge to Terabythia as being her childhood favorite while another read horror books in high school but doesn't remember any book in particular. Having just returned from Asia, another avid reader had to add The Secret Garden (one of the Diva's favorites) to my list though she can't really say why the work enchants her. Still another responded:
"I really loved Little Women. And I remember saving my money to buy Judy Blume's books. The Ramona ones were my favorites. As for books that I could read over and over again and that really touched my life, I'd say Fahrenheit 451, The Chocolate War, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. I was obsessed with Ayn Rand for quite a few years."
I read all of Ayn Rand back to back which was an interesting experience by the end and not one I want to repeat any time soon, but I did enjoy her books. I tried to read John Stienbech - is it just me or are those books meant for men? I don't know a man who doesn't love his works and yet, I didn't find them to be the classics that they are. Give me a Russian, French, or Italian classic any time.
Books, I love them and consider myself not only a voracious reader but an enthusiastic reader as well. I not only read adult books, but have found myself loving the process of finding and sharing books for the Diva. Who knew that kids books could be so great - like Because of Winn-Dixie, our favorite!
And now, dear reader, I pose the same question to you that I asked of my friends - What are your favorite books from childhood or the present? Were there any that you read time and time again? Any that had an impact on your life?
27 August, 2008
Those Amazing Books
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
One of the very first books I remember reading as a child was Black Beauty. I love animals!! I still have my copy of that book. I also remember one of my favorite books that I obsessed over was The Outsiders. Then I saw the movie! I think it was the first time in my life where I noticed the book was better than the movie. But I did love the eye candy in the movie. :)
I loved the classics in school. My favorite is still Shakespeare. Though I also have a weakness for Poe. I've always loved poetry too. I also adored A Tale of Two Cities. Late into my high school years, I began reading The Vampire Series by Anne Rice. I read her way into my 20's and I still pick up her books. Her latest topic is Jesus and its very interesting the way she portrays his innocence, in her own unusual way.
I've become a fan of spiritual books in the past few years. Starting from Conversations with God all the way to A New Earth. I, too, usually read several books at once. Forget it, I'm weak in a library or bookstore. Lately... it seems all that I'm reading is blogs!! Ha!
Enid Blytons - The Magic Faraway Tree is my all time favourite!
I loved Anne of Green Gables too - I still have a book that I got given when I was about 11/12.
And The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe has also always stuck with me!!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has always stayed with me - particularly how she read a page of the bible and a page of Shakespeare to her kids every night! Getting educated was important to her - its a stunning book.
I must say I havent read anything in recent years that has touched me as much as any of these!
I was an avid Madeline L'engle follower. We were read "A Wrinkle in Time" in school, and from there I read just about everything she wrote. The year both my grandmothers died, when I was 13 years old, I re-read "A Ring of Endless Light" and wrote about it in school, drawing parallels to life lessons learned in dealing with death for the first time in my life. That was my first real writing and the first award I won with my writing.
What memories. I am re-reading Pippi Longstocking with my rising first grader and both she and my pre-school son have fallen in love with her. The Steven Cosgrove books, with their gentle illustrations and their fabulous morals are classics.
Thank you for making me stop to remember! What fun! Now my childhood reads will be on my mind for the rest of day.
Be well.
When I was younger I really loved Watership Down and all the James Fenimore Cooper Books The Deer Slayer, Last of the Mohicans and The Prairie being some examples of the Leatherstocking series.
I know it is so cliche to include them, but I really enjoyed the Tolken books The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings series.
I read and really enjoyed the Ayn Rand books too. Atlas Shrugged is one of those books that changes lives.
As I got older and had children of my own I discovered that bedtime story time was one of the best things about being a parent. I read all the Harry Potter books to my kids. I read the classics from Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to Treasure Island.
My children have grown past the bed time story years. But they still read every night before bed. By that measure alone I count myself a successful dad.
Lately, I've not read all that many books just for pleasure. I'm too busy reading the professional journals and formulating my own book(s). I know, dull dull dull. What can I say. Us turtles gotta keep moving to keep up with the rabbits of the world.
TAG
All right, I'll admit it - the first book I stayed up all night to read was Bambi. (Not the Disney thing, but the original story). I even cried.
I went through an Ayn Rand phase in college and ate her up. Now I think she's totally wrong. I think the Dalai Lama got to me a bit.
Anna Karenina made me want to be a writer - I remember a scene where they are scything wheat, and I was totally immersed, like I was there.
Are you on Good Reads? I have a profile there. We could be friends (a link to my profile is on my blog)
The very first book I love was The Owl and the Pussy Cat. I was four years old when my mother would read it to me so much that I memorized it. Then I could sit by myself and go through it, "reading" it out loud, word for word.
As for now, there are many books that have impacted my life. But I was just thinking this morning about writing a blog based entirely on the statement that no one ~ not a single literate person alive ~ should go any further without reading The Princess Bride.
As a kid I loved the Dr Seuss books and then graduated to Ramona...I remember loving the entire Anne series as well as really enjoying the Little Women series. I can read Atlas Shrugged and Tara Road over and over again...as well as Harry Potter.
My most favorite book as a child was "Jennifer, Hectate, Macbeth, William McKinely and me Elizabeth" by E.L. Konigsburg. That book started me on a path to reading that I still walk. (And I've read that book several times as an adult).
Books I've read over and over, "The Stand" by Stephen King. My most favorite book ever.
"Harvest Home" by Thomas Tryon
"A Girl Named Zippy" by Haven Kimmel....too funny every single time.
"Ellen Foster" by Kaye Gibbons
Some Favorites of mine that I intend to read again are "The Time Travelers Wife" and "Love Walked In"
A book that changed my life? Most definitely "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
Some of the books I loved sharing with my kids were the Indian in the Cupboard books and a darling little book titled "I Houdini" about a hamster who is an escape artist. My kids also loved "Charlotte's Web" and absolutely anything by Roald Dahl. (His daughter wrote a really cool picture book entitled "The Minpins" too).
Unlike you, I do have to admit I love Steinbeck. The only Ayn Rand book I've read is "Atlas Shrugged" and while I enjoyed it, I wouldn't want to repeat the experience.
Oh, I love this! I have literally piles of books next to my bed, they are overflowing from my bedside table. I read books with essays (Anne Lammott) and books that are complete fluff (old Evanovich) and books with meaning (MLK Jr.) and, and, and. There are books that I read over and over when I am sad (The Hobbit and Jane Eyre) and authors I read when I don't want to think (Grafton).
My older daughter is old enough now for us to read together, and we've read my favorites over again (Ramona, The Mouse and the Motorcycle) - but we've also discovered some great new books together (The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo).
I know that Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl may not be glamorous, but her awesome collection of book recommendations, Book Lust, made her a hero in my book (no pun intended).
I've been an avid reader for many, many years -almost 6 decades as a matter of fact. My Grandfather -who loved books -introduced me to reading before I started school. By second grade, I was bringing the Reader's Digest to school and reading from it. Fourth grade saw me reading "Not As A Stranger" -a book probably way too large and deep for a 9-year-old but I read it anyway and then re-read it at age 13 and yet again when I was around 17. Amazing how much more of the story I understood with each reading. My absolute favorite book though was "Jonica's Island" and I can't remember with certainty the author but I think her name was Gladys Malvern (or close to that). It's out of print -has been for many years now I gather but I'd love to have a copy of it to give to Maya, my granddaughter, in the hopes she would read and comprehend it as I did -and love it as I did too!
Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Boxcar Family (or is it Children?), Charlotte's Web -all childhood favs of mine. Gone With The Wind, Catcher in the Rye, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, To Catch a Mockingbird became favs too in time. Today, I am a huge fan of Jodi Picoult -along with many other authors to numerous to name and besides, when I try to think of things like that my brain freezes on me -goes into a dead zone there. Books are just such a beautiful investment though. Today I give my grandson (age 11) books for his birthday, Christmas, any other special occasion -no toys, very few clothes from Grammy to him as we struck a bargain on this about 2-3 years ago and he loves getting new books. One of the books he will be getting for his birthday is "Cheaper By The Dozen" a book I totally enjoyed reading when I was about his age and I hope he loves it as much as I did.
In first grade I used to love to read the Children's Encyclopedia, Ranger Rick, etc.
In third and fourth grade we had these reading / testing books I used to read voraciously.
In Fifth and Six grade I read several of the Judy Blume books, and discovered Science Fiction and Fantasy with the Wrinkle in Time series. Hardy Boys and Nacy Drew.
In Eighth grade we read Dracula for school. I LOVED it. Not the first part of the book, but the rest of it.
While I read many things after that (practically the entire science fiction section of any book store), some of the things that have struck me the most are:
Dune (the series)
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Lord of the Rings
Tom Clancy (anything)
The Stranger
Merry Hall
A Walk in the Woods
Da Vinci Code
Blackhawk Down
Whoever Fights Monsters
I have lived in the Monster
Harry Potter
Ender's Game
I generally only read them once though.
I'm a huge voracious reader of books as well! My tiny NYC apartment is crammed from floor to ceiling with books.
My dad gave me Anne of Green Gables for Christmas when I was 12, and I was addicted from that point on.
I should have posted a picture of our house - books scattered everywhere! Thanks to everyone for sharing. I like the book suggestions and love admitting that there are some on this list I have not read!! Yea, more to add to my list!
I will be changing formats over the weekend and using this post on its own page so come back as often as you like to add and enjoy!
Growing up I loved "Call of the Wild" "Where the red fern grows". But my absolute favorite was "My side of the mountain."
Oh goodness, I love to read and always have. My first memory of books is of my grandmother reading me The Owl and the Pussycat too, Teri.
I loved the Little House on the Prarie books, the Anne of Green Gables books, The Secret Garden, and Little Women when I was younger. I actually reread in for an american lit class and wrote a paper on it. It was interesting to see how my views on the book had changed over time. I also loved the Sweet Valley series, both when the twins were younger and the ones were they were in highschool.
I loved all sorts of fantasy — "The Hobbit," "Chronicles of Narnia,"
"Dune" — and when I was a teen, the Carlos Castenada books opened me up to new ideas, as did anything by Kurt Vonnegut. But as a kid, one of my favorites, and still favorites today, was Antoine De Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince." It has many wonderful themes on love and life, and has a lovely, simple message: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
OMG, am I the only one who thinks Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle is the greatest work of fiction ever? ;) It does stand out as one of my favorites.
As an adult, I discovered Hemingway and still think A Moveable Feast is one of the best of the early 20th century for non-fiction.
Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections is a great work as well.
Post a Comment