Books that made me who I am

Big words, I know. And yet, the truest I have ever spoken. Books don’t raise you, some people say. They can’t influence you that much. Those people clearly don’t read much, because books have taught me more than I can put into words. Books have shaped me; have given me ideas, desires, passions. (And better grammar and vocabulary, but that’s neither here nor there). Some books have influenced me more than others. They’re not the most beloved, nor, perhaps, the most important books I have ever read. But without these books I would be…well, someone else entirely. And since I quite like who I am, I think that’s to be celebrated.

So, without further ado:

1. Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne taught me the wonders of being different. She taught me to love words, to appreciate the beauty of a perfect line of prose. Maybe I was meant to be a writer; perhaps I would have fallen into it anyway. But as it stands, I owe a debt of gratitude to Anne, for the words.

2. Harry Potter Series, J.K Rowling. The words are one thing, the idea is another. Harry taught me, in a way that perhaps no other book has before or after, how you can love a book, how you can drown in it, discuss it for hours, obsess over it, understand it, live it. It also, in a very roundabout way, taught me how to be brave, how to speak up, how to think for myself, and how to make friends.

3. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. My first experience (and to date the most harrowing) with the idea that a book can break your heart, and then heal it all over again, just like life.

4. The Gospel according to Jesus Christ, Jose Saramago. I had a hard time choosing between one Saramago book, because I think if this post were called authors that made me who I am, he’d be the first on the list. This book earns its place mostly because the lessons were harsher than in other books, what I got out of it more important. Because this book was a master class in asking questions, in challenging the status-quo, in not believing everything you see or hear.

5. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Probably the first book of all the ones on this list I ever read, and one I re-read constantly. I wish I could say it taught me to think like a child (a tall order), but at least I can say it taught me to think outside the box, to see with the heart, in a way. To feel.

6. The madman, Kahlil Gibran. I first encountered this book many years ago, when I was young, and insecure, and terrified of being different. It’s not Gibran’s best known work, or its most renowned, but for me, it will forever signify acceptance, understanding, and maybe even permission to be who you are.

7. The Bicentennial Man, Isaac Asimov. My dad used to read me Asimov as a bedside story, and of all the stories I ever heard, this was the one that stuck with me, the one about changing, about being better than you are, about not accepting fate, but making your own.

8. In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez. Reality is sometimes worse than fiction. It hurts just as much, if not more. And if we tell it, if we make it mean something, then, sometimes, we can change the world.

9. A time to Kill, John Grisham. Life is not fair, and fair is sometimes unfair. At the age this book fell into my hands, I couldn’t understand this concept, even though it was clearly outlined, but I’m still glad Grisham tried to teach me before it was time for life to do so.

10. The Perks of being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky. This book, I think, has influenced a lot of people, in a multitude of different ways. I re-read it recently, and the thing I can remember getting out of it, and it is a big thing, a life changing thing is this: Life goes on. You can get through it.

These are not the only books. I think every book you read leaves a little in you, even the books you hate.  But these are the ones I could write down without thinking, the most important ones, or perhaps, just the ones that better encompass this particular time of my life. I’ll keep reading. I’ll find more. Books are always there, and books will continue to help me become more of who I am. A better version of me. Maybe they’ll help me find the me inside the shell that is …well, me. That’s what they do. Even when you don’t want them to. 

My favorite books of the year

Sometime choosing a favorite book is like I suppose choosing a favorite kid would be. (And yet I don’t have kids, and I’m perfectly capable of choosing a favorite book, so maybe it isn’t like that). I read exactly 100 books this year, because that was my goal, and I’m big on goals and things like that (though I do have a few days to go so, who knows, maybe the round number will go up). Here are my Top 5 books of the year, and I swear, the order was harder than it was to wilt down the list to five.

South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami. The kind of love I have for Murakami defies explanations, so part of me thinks I shouldn’t even try, but I persevere, mostly to say that everyone should read him. There is something there for everyone. Most people I know who love Murakami have found something different to love about him. The language. The hidden messages. The subtleties. The directness. The evasiveness. I contradict myself, I know. That’s what Murakami does. That’s what he makes us do.   

This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz. I discovered this author by chance, and if you discover him because of this list, then I will have done you some good. Come back and tell me so, if you can. I have gone on to read another one of his books and to purchase one of his novels, which I have just started reading and I can unequivocally say I haven’t enjoyed a new (FOR ME) author as much as him in years. Sometimes I don’t like his characters. Most times, in fact. That’s probably what makes him such a great writer. Because those characters you don’t like, they’re real people. You recognize them. You know them. That’s precisely why you don’t like them.

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn. With all the hype surrounding this book, you’d think I would have read it before. But not, I’m contrary like this. I refused. I caved in just before the movie came out, mostly because I like to know things before I go see movies, and boy, am I glad I did. Reading the book is always a completely different experience than seeing a movie, and I’m glad I got all the twists and turns and the WTF and SERIOUSLY and, ARE YOU KIDDING ME’s are out of the way while reading a book. And whether I’m in the minority or not, as far as I’m concerned …the ending? Brilliant stuff.

Fear and Trembling, Amélie Nothomb. I love the title in Spanish much more, and I read the book in Spanish, but since we’re writing this in English, writing the title in Spanish did not make much sense. I contemplated leaving this book out of the list, since it seemed a little out of place, but the book has earned its spot. The author has earned its spot. There’s a certain sense of being out-of-place in the novel as well, that I could relate to. I guess, now that I think about it, we can all relate to it, one way or another.

Love Letters to the Dead, Ava Dellaria. I’m still not quite sure if this is a brilliant book or I read it in a sensitive time and it spoke to me, but the fact remains that it not only spoke to me it screamed, LOUDLY. And, what else do we ask of literature if not that?

                                          And, that’s me? What have you got? 

Dr. Seuss, Magic and the ghost of bad days…

I was looking up some children’s books today, and though few things have made me feel better in the past few weeks, somehow, those books did the trick. Maybe it’s because lately I’ve been dreaming about going back to more innocent times. Maybe it’s because they’re simple. Straightforward. Perhaps they remind me of my dad, of easier times, of being happy.

Or maybe it’s that there’s magic in there. Real, undeniable magic. The kind you feel even though it makes no sense, the kind that lifts your spirits, brings a smile to your face. The magic of belief, of possibility, of hope. The magic of dreams.

Big words for simple books.

As kids, those are the things we learn. As adults, though, isn’t it true that, from time to time, we need a reminder of those lessons we learned when we were little? As toddlers we learn to dream and hope, and yet, sometimes, when we grow up, we lose sight of that. We lose sight of a great many thing.

I grew up surrounded by books, and yet I don’t remember reading most of the stereotypical children’s books till I was older. If I’m to be honest, I grew up surrounded by mostly age-inappropriate books, because my parents believed reading was good, and most things could/should be explained if kids were curious enough to ask.

There were a lot of questions.

Dr. Seuss might not seem like the most suitable reading for my age-group, but today, it brought a smile to my face. Considering how hard that’s been lately, and how today feels like an ominous day no matter where you happen to live, it was just what the doctor ordered. So, yes, it’s September 11^th, and thirteen years ago, bad things happened. And they keep happening. Every day. Some are violent, some are cruel, and some are public, but others are private. They don’t hurt any less because of a lack of publicity, though. We all have our secret sorrows. 

Sometimes the questions are complicated, and the answers are simple, Dr. Seuss said. But maybe that’s not the quote we should remember. Perhaps it all comes down to this:

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...” 

We all knew what was coming on #GOT ...and yet it still killed us.

We should be used to this by now. Aren’t we used to this by now? Some of us should even be prepared (We’ve read the books, after all). If GRR Martin has done anything for our general consciousness as readers, it’s been make us tick-skinned. Strong. Nothing should surprise us. Nothing should crush us. And, of course, nothing, ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY NOTHING should make us go:

HBO / 7seven-hells.tumblr.com

But, of course, we haven’t learned. We never learned. We fell in love with Ned Stark first. Oh, Ned. How we loved you. You were the hero of the story. The good guy among the snakes. And, well, this was fantasy. We knew the rules of fantasy. Things were going to get crappy, but …rules were rules …the good guys always win.

Then this happened.

Image via Screen Junkies

And, we screamed, we cried, we were shocked, amazed, MAD, but …after a while, we got it. This was not the story we thought we were reading/watching. This was a story of rising from the ashes. This was a story of a family who overcomes. This was Rob’s story, not Ned’s.

Yeah, we all know how THAT turned out.

HBO / shammathegreat.com

But, at this point, we thought we were immune. After Ned, after Jory, and Septa Mordane, Lady and all the Baratheons (well, most of them), after Maester Luwin, and, of course, after the Red Wedding, we were immune. We didn’t love the characters with so much passion. We liked the show/books, yes, but we did so in a detached way.

Then came Oberyn Martell.

At first, he was merely funny. He wanted dead Lannisters, we wanted dead Lannisters, so we had  things in common. And Ellaria Sand was pretty and he clearly loved her. Enough to always included her in his orgies, at least. And, well, he wasn’t a hero, but he was charming, and a bit nasty, and, in the end, he was going to save Tyrion, of course he was, and he was going to get his revenge, he was Inigo Montoya and the Mountain better PREPARE TO DIE and …and …

Yes …and.

HBO / Via jamieclements.tumblr.com

So, thank you, GRR Martin. Thank you for crushing our collective souls once again. I wish I could say we’ve learned our lesson.

Until next time. 

Top 10 most read books in the world

I saw a graphic today, about the Top 10 most read books in the world. It’s actually a funny list, which truly expresses that people read for a lot of different reasons. Yes, the Holy Bible is in first place, and that was to be expected. School will do that to you. I had religion lessons every single year I was in school. This is probably true of a lot of people. We read the Bible. Buy it, keep it in our house. A lot of hotels buy The Bible to have and place it in their rooms. People are born, they grow up, and they read it, and so on. (Mind you, most of us don’t read the WHOLE Bible, of course, but still, since we buy it, it will remain number 1).

Number Two, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung is actually kind of surprising (For me, western education and all). But, all in all, it shouldn’t be. There are a lot of people in China. 

Harry Potter comes in at number 3. Can’t say that surprises me either, especially since there are seven of them, and I was one of those people that stood in line for hours at midnight to get the sixth and seven books. (There were a LOT of people there. A LOT). It’s actually pretty amazing how many people have read it. But I’m happy with its place. It’s a wonderful book. Many other wonderful books are not in this list, but at least one of my favorites is.

LOTR comes in at number 4, and to be completely honest, that one blew me away. It’s a really long, complicated book, and it’s kind of awesome that so many people have read it (or, at the very least, bought it). It sets a high standard for fiction, and for writers, and for creating your own world, and all that. And, yes, it was published a long time ago, but still …all of you people who bought LOTR, did you really finish it? (I did, though I will admit I skipped most of the long winded descriptions of trees. And the songs. I skipped all of those too.) 

Number 5 is where it gets semi-depressing, because number 5 is Paulo Cohelo. Now, let me preface this by saying I’m not a Cohelo fan. I’ve read about 5 or 6 of his books and I’ve found each more contrived, filled with clichés and, frankly, absurd than the last.  The Alchemist (which I read), follows that pattern. It’s filled with “pretty words”, and so called deep advice, but as a work of fiction, it fails miserably. It’s the most boring trek through the dessert in the history of mankind.

Then we come to Number 6, The Da Vinci Code, (Read it. Also not a fan), a book that sold as many copies as I did because of the controversy surrounding it. Or at least I assume that’s the reason, because Dan Brown cannot do research to save his life and his writing isn’t that coherent. That is to say, he has a good idea, he builds a good plot, but he is not a master of suspense and his endings leave a LOT to be desired. 

But even that is way better than Number 6, which, it pains me to say, is Twilight. Yes, that one. The one with very unhealthy relationship ideas, sparkling perfect vampires and the worst excuse for a Mary-Sue heroine that has appeared in literature in many, many years. Escapism at its best, I guess. 

Eight is Gone with the Wind, a long, long, long, beautiful, brilliant, amazing book that everyone should read if only because “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” is much more painful when you read the book, and because Scarlett O’Hara is the heroine everyone who has ever thought about writing should want to put into paper: Perfectly flawed, and completely unaware of it, till the very end. 

Our first motivational/self-help book (unless you want to count Cohelo in that category, and I often do, since it makes it easier to stomach), is Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, which is number 9. It’s been around since 1937, and a lot of people have read it (I haven’t), a lot of people still swear by it (some of my professors, for example), and some people will go on reading it. (But I don’t think that if we look at this list in 10 or 20 years we’ll still find it here…it’s got stiff competition from new, similar books).

To round of our list we have, at number 10, The Diary of Anne Frank. (Have you noticed that most of the fiction books in this list are dramas? Apparently comedy is not as popular). I, like most of you, read this book when I was too young to understand what the ending was going to be like, and it broke my little heart into a gazillion pieces. It’s still a book that should be read, and will probably be read, not only because of literary methods, but also because it’s a heartbreakingly accurate description of a time and place that we might never get to know otherwise, for  most of its protagonists are not around to tell their own story. 

So, there we have it, my opinions on this wonderfully brilliant and absurd list. What do YOU think?