Some of the My Favorite Books and How they Affected Me
Hi! I am so excited to be featured on Beth’s wonderful blog. She’s my blogging sensei (wax on, wax off), and a great friend. I don’t know if this post will be up to the incredibly high standards that are present on her blog, but I’ll do my best. (Beth note – pfft)
As all book-lovers know, choosing favorite books is a painful process. I can’t narrow it down to just one favorite, but there are a few that I turn to time and again. Seeing as I tend to reread in the Fall, I’ll share a few of my “absolute favorites” (don’t tell the other books; I don’t want to make them jealous).
Here Are My Favorite Books
The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern
This book centers around Celia and Marco, two magicians that have been pitted against each other in a battle of survival. Their mentors are basically at odds to see whose methods are best. While the story itself is fantastic, what drew me- and keeps me rereading- is the Circus itself, which is the venue for their battle of magic. It’s a fully developed character in its own right, gorgeous and mysterious. The prose in this book is nothing short of exquisite and reading this book is like entering the best kind of dream. I’ll actually be rereading this in a week or so, prior to picking up my most-anticipated new release of 2019, which is Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern’s second novel. It’s not in any way related to The Night Circus, but I want to experience the magic again before diving into her newest book.
The Dragonlance Chronicles
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
I love, love, love this trilogy! A group of friends return home after spending years apart, only to find evil on their own doorsteps. They are thrust into an adventure, but they also have to fight battles with themselves and each other. I go on and on about this trilogy and I don’t think that’ll ever change. I first read this years ago, and it sparked my love of fantasy. I reread it every year. In fact, I’ll be taking part in a readathon that offthetbr will be doing in November. I’m incredibly excited to experience it again with others who love it, or are being introduced to the world of Krynn for the first time.
An Unquiet Mind
Kay Redfield Jamison
This nonfiction is about Kay’s own experiences with having bipolar disorder. I was diagnosed with bipolar 1 about eighteen years ago and, while I am doing well now, it took a long time to get to where I am. This is the first book where I felt that someone really understood how it felt to live with bipolar. It’s an amazing feeling to know that someone else gets it.
The Three Musketeers
Alexander Dumas
This book is fantastic! I think many people don’t give it a chance because it’s a classic, but it’s so much fun. It’s a rollicking good adventure, full of buckling of swash. I love the relationships between the three musketeers and D’Artagnan. The plot is actually quite nuanced, despite how boiled down all of the many movie adaptations make it.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chobsky
This book is sad, harsh, honest, and ultimately, full of hope. It’s written in the form of diary-like letters, told simply, which adds to the emotional realism of the book. This is one of the few books I’ve read that makes me cry. I’ve reread it many times and I bawl at the end every single time. It’s actually rather embarrassing.
Those have been my top five books for several years so I feel pretty comfortable listing them. I do have a favorite poetry book, which is The Beat Book: Writings From the Beat Generation, edited by Anne Waldman, foreword by Allen Ginsberg. It’s a fantastic collection of poetry from the Beats, including Amriri Baraka, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg,William Burroughs, and others.
This book is doubly special because it was a gift from my amazing husband, who knows me very well. I also love A Diversity of Dragons by Anne Mccaffrey, which is an amazing history of dragons in literature and legend. It has illustrations by John Howe, and the artwork is fabulous.
These books explain a lot about who I am, because the books I read and love are a big part of me. So…nice to meet ya!