Got tagged in a book meme today on Facebook, and since I had nothing else to post today, I’m replying here.
Rules: In your status line, list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take more than a few minutes and don’t think too hard – they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag 10 friends, including me, so I’ll see your list.
First off, ten? Are you kidding me? I read more than 120 books a year! I’m 42 and a half years old, and I’ve been reading since I was four! Just ten?
So, screw your ten. These are the books that have been important to me, and had an affect on me, since, say, I was a teenager.
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkein
This is the first non-kids book I remember reading, and until college, I read it at least once a year. I read my first copy, literally, to pieces.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This is the second non-kids book I remember reading, and this book to I read almost every year. This book set the bar by which most other mysteries fall short, because no other detective is Sherlock Holmes. It’s also the book behind my love of the historical English setting for books.
The Mirror Crack’d – Agatha Christie
My other favorite mystery author is also English, but although I read many (perhaps even most) of her other books, it is only Miss Marple that I love. Her mind like a sink. Her gentle inquisitiveness. Her patience and willingness to listen that were the key to solving so many mysteries. I want to be a woman who wears purple when I am old, but I’d settle for being Miss Marple.
This particular story has parts that have always stuck with me–the woman, staring, struck as if by some terrible fate. The secretary and her nose drops that she realized, and instant too late, smelled of bitter almonds. This is what I want cozy mysteries to be, but they never are.
The Belgariad – David Eddings
I ended up with this series as part of a Christmas gift exchange at a restaurant where I worked in college. I hadn’t read any fantasy since my usual re-read of The Hobbit, and I devoured this series, falling in love with fantasy all over again, and I haven’t stopped reading it since. I particularly loved Polgara, how she fought the restrictions placed upon her, solely because she was female.
On a Pale Horse – Piers Anthony
I’ve always been slightly obsessed with death–the rituals, the pageantry, the ceremonies, but even more, the many ways that people deal with loss. This story of a man who becomes death resonated deeply with me, as did the many deaths he (as Death) witnessed. It’s perhaps what started my obsession with Good Death–for individuals at the end of their lives to spend their last days in comfort and love.
These Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
I haven’t read this book in years, partially because it’s a tome, and I don’t want to hold it, but also because I fear it won’t have held up to what it is in my memory. This book kindled my love of strong, female leads in fantasy. It also caused me to have little patience for shallow, one-sided villains. Every is the hero of their own story, and I don’t believe in the existence of evil for the sake of evil.
Good Omens – Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
This book introduced me to both Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. And it’s hilarious. And marvelous. I’ve spent many many hours lost in stories written by these authors, but somehow, together, they managed to be greater than the sum of their individual parts, and I love this story better than any single book either had written alone.
Best-Loved Folktales of the World – Joanna Cole
This is another book that is worn, the dust cover lost decades ago. It’s also the reason I have two shelves of folk and fairy tales and mythology. I remain fascinated by the themes that crop up time and again in stories from different cultures. And it delights me to see these ideas and themes pop up in books.
Rising Stars – J. Michael Straczynski
This was the second comic series I read as an adult and I was completely blown away. I ended up reading it through twice, and have to be careful when I’m going through my comics, because if I flip through any one of the books, I’ll end up reading them all again, in one sitting, usually on a cold floor, because I can’t be bothered to move somewhere comfortable.
Small Vices – Robert B Parker
I picked this up as an audio book, narrated by Burt Reynolds, to listen to while I was doing cell culture. It was an enlightenment. Spenser is almost killed in this book, and instead of shrugging off the injuries, he spends months recovering. Spenser’s first attempt at the hill was as gripping and thrilling as any shoot out or chase. That might sound stupid, but it’s true. For me, the mystery has always played second fiddle to the time they spend in California, but never fear, the mystery is also top notch, and between the two, I can read this book time and again, and fall in love with Spenser just like I did the first listen.
Swordspoint – Ellen Kushner
What I find fascinating about this story is that it as classified as a fantasy, even though there is not one drop of magic in the pages, besides the magic of the story itself. It’s what I read when I want to lose myself, and completely disappear into a world that never existed, but very easily could have. This story is not action and adventure, but instead a long slow soak in a gorgeous setting with fascinating characters.
The Fencing Master – Arturo Perez Reverte
I picked this book up and discovered that, “Hey! Books that are translated into English from another language aren’t all boring crap read by pretentious assholes!” Yeah, that was a revelation to me, and led me to discover many authors who don’t write in English, whose stories I love. (See Andrea Camilleri and Sergei Lukyanenko)
Dreams Underfoot – Charles de Lint
This was the first Charles de Lint book I read, and it was adoration from the start. He writes novels, and I like those novels, but I love his short stories more, and eagerly snatch up any anthology he puts out. These are stories filled with bad things happening to people, but they are not in any way dark, and with very few exceptions, I always feel better after reading his stories, no matter how equivocal the story itself may be.
