My dear friend, Emily, tagged me
in the “Ten Meaningful Books!” post on Facebook.
This is excellent, as I couldn’t decide what to blog about (plenty of
things to write about, just couldn’t choose) and now I have something! Yay!
(Harry Potter is my absolute
favorite, but aside from that, the rest are not in any particular order.)
1. The Harry Potter books by J.K.
Rowling, of course. I didn’t read much
when I was little, and I struggle with it now.
Don’t get me wrong – I love reading.
But it’s hard for me. That said,
the Harry Potter books got me started on reading. They’re the first books I remember being
excited about and I absolutely love the stories and the characters. I read these books about ten times a year,
which is admittedly absurd. But
what-eva. I love the portrayal of evil
in the series – it’s made, not born. I
love the stories of redemption we get from death eaters turned good. I love the triumph of good and the power of
love in the stories. And any and every
scene with the Weasley family makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside,
which is saying something as I generally hate or at least pretend to hate
anything having to do with family.
2. The Hobbit by J.R.R.
Tolkien. I loved the Lord of the Rings
books, but for me, The Hobbit was the best.
No joke, while I was reading The Hobbit, I’d have dreams that I was
going out on adventures every night. I
read before I go to bed often, but aside from nightmares of Voldemort trying to
kill me, it’s not often I have such vivid dreams of the stories.
3. A People’s History of the
United States by Howard Zinn. I read
this book in high school and it was hella uncomfortable at first. It really sucks to find out that your history
isn’t quite as nice as it’s been made out to be and even worse to realize that
your country STILL isn’t what it ought to be.
But it was important to read and I think I’m a better person for
it. It was pretty much the gateway drug
to information about the less than stellar reality of things. It made me think more and question more.
4. In the Time of the Butterflies
by Julia Alvarez. I love me some
history. This was one of the first
novels I read that wasn’t based in an environment or sound I’m familiar
with. It’s a story about the Mirabal
sisters, four women who fought against the dictatorship of Trujillo in the
Domican Republic. It shed a light on the
struggle of trying to balance family and political action, it showed how
different personalities could be helpful to a cause in their own ways. It was a really exceptional book.
5. Imagined Communities by Benedict
Anderson. This talked about people and
nations and movements and it was great and things are a little clearer to me
now when I’m reading about struggle or wars, etc. It wasn’t necessarily a pleasant read,
because I suck at reading and it was really difficult. Worth it, though.
6. Catherine the Great: Portrait
of a Woman by Robert K. Massie. I loved
this book. As maybe you could tell from
my HP description, I’m a fan of the whole good and bad thing and of the
complexities of humans. I like reading
about people (or characters) who we think are bad, but see that there’s still
good in them. Sometimes down deeper than
others…….
7. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by
Ayana Mathis. I wrote a whole post on
this so it’s clear I loved it. Let’s
just say the writing was incredible and rocked my fucking socks. And I want to write, so it’s
helpful/inspiring to see good writing.
8. A Child Called It by Dave
Pelzer. Reading this sucked. But I mean, like, yeah. Glad to have read it when I did.
9. The Giver by Lois Lowry. I re-read this the other day, and I didn’t
enjoy it quite as much as I did when I was 11.
BUT. I still like it and I
remember enjoying it as a kid. Not on
par with HP, but it was another book that pushed me to read more.
10. The Outsiders by S.E.
Hinton. I read this in school and as far
as I can remember, this was the first book that I read that dealt a bit with
class. I remember being able to relate
to some of the stuff I read for the first time and that was cool. I also only recently learned that it was written by a woman, and that's pretty awesome. (Though I'm ready for an end to so many women using initials instead of their names so that their books will sell.)
I’m sure I’m missing some, or
that later on I’ll be pissed because I’ll remember one that should have been on
this list. But all of these come to mind
when I think of the books I’ve read that stick with me the most, and I think
when (if I ever) I write, I’ll be able to take stuff from each of these. I also very much look forward to the day when
I have an eleven year old I can send a Hogwarts acceptance letter to.
Reading is fun.
_
Charlotte
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