I’ve sauntered down the dusty abandoned shelves of my memory to comprise a list of some of the books that I remember reading. Here they are – in no particular order other than being categorized by genre:
Young Adult
The Twilight series
The Outsiders
The Babysitters Club series
The Hardy Boys series
The Nancy Drew series
Fantasy
The Harry Potter series
Neverwhere
Stardust
The Wheel of Time series
A Wrinkle in Time
The Sookie Stackhouse series
What Dreams May Come
The Chronicles of Amber series
Mystery
The Stephanie Plum series
The Da Vinci Code
Dystopian
1984
The Hunger Games series
The Divergent series
Memoir
The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying
Romance
Pride and Prejudice
Religious/Spiritual Fiction
The 10th Insight
Autobiographical Documentary
Tuesdays With Morrie
Children’s Poetry
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Graphic Novels
The Walking Dead – Book 1
I feel the best place to begin is at the earliest books I can remember. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein is where my love for poetry was born. That short lived romance also died with the turn of the last page of that book. It was a brief infatuation with rhyming words and short sentences, but powerful nonetheless. I remember the feeling of awe I had for his wonderful combination of wild pictures and poems. The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series were the first novels I can remember reading. I couldn’t get enough of their wild mysterious adventures. They were groups that stuck together and always stood up for what was right. I couldn’t tell you the first name of the main character of The Babysitters Club, but I do remember wishing I could be part of their organization. They were, again, a good group who tried their best to be upstanding people. They watered my mind which in turn blossomed the ideas for many different clubs I created as a child. Some lasted weeks, some only a few days, but the inspiration lasted a lifetime. I think there will always be a part of me that wants to fit perfectly into the do-gooders club.
If you look to your right in the next era of my life, you will see books such as A Wrinkle in Time and The Outsiders. It was my 6th grade teacher who moved my reading choices to a new genre by assigning Madeleine L’Engle’s book. My insatiable desire for fantasy novels began with A Wrinkle in Time. I had never known such foreign worlds existed. The pictures were so vivid in my mind – I had no idea I could imagine these nonexistent places that were entirely fabricated from this creative genius’s head. I was completely amazed by what imagination and storytelling could do. The Outsiders opened my eyes to a world I was unfamiliar. The thing I remember most about that book, though, is I read my first curse word. I’ll never forget the feelings of injustice and sadness that came over me when Johnny died. This was also the first book I read that I also saw done as a movie. I loved watching these characters that I had grown to understand and relate with on the television screen.
The transition to middle school and high school did not go as smoothly as I would’ve liked and there were some dark years when I don’t remember reading at all. It was 2001, the year I should’ve graduated from high school, when I came across a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone lying on the coffee table. I have no idea whose book it was or why it was left in my home. Nobody ever asked about their missing book. In retrospect, it seemed to have appeared at a time when I really needed books back in my life. I’ve chosen to believe it was a sign – fate, if you will. It was close to midnight when I sat down and picked up the book. I always liked fantasy novels in the past and I had heard about these books so I got comfortable against the plush arm of the sofa and started reading. I read for hours until I fell asleep with the book in hand. I finished the book the next morning. Thankfully, I had a couple more in the series ready and waiting for me because I was enthralled by this detailed world of magic and mayhem. Finding this book was a chance encounter I feel lucky to have had.
After reading the Harry Potter books that were out, and while waiting for new ones to be released, I started my endless search for alternate worlds I could get lost in. A friend told me to read Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and that’s when I became a fan. His world seemed so close to home, yet so unimaginably far. There was a certain realism in how these people from the underworld could come above ground into the normal world. It made me think of the different groups of people and how they live in the real world. His ability to make fantasy seem so realistic was fascinating to read. His novels didn’t satisfy me for long so I searched out longer more epic novels and series. I found an older series called the Chronicles of Amber which had the theme of time and alternate dimensions like I loved so much in A Wrinkle in Time. That gave me a love for novels from another era. A time when light came only from the sun and fire. Where the fastest mode of transportation was horses. This book started me on the journey which led me to The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. These novels were so long that he died while writing the 12th novel. His life’s work was continued by another author who finished the series. I saw firsthand what dedication and hard work can create – an in depth world full of fantastically evolved characters and plot. I’m sure I will cherish having these books to read for many years to come.
I got caught on the dystopian wave and read popular series like The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. I loved the underlying themes and messages that they portrayed. I’ve started branching out and reading books like I’ve never read before. I read my first graphic novel, The Walking Dead, in a couple of hours. I recently picked up some classic literature from the library. I’m hoping to find more inspiration for my own writing in the words written by Hemingway and Tolstoy. It’s a bittersweet feeling when I walk down the shelves of the library. I’m excited by all of the books available for me to read. Simultaneously, I’m saddened that there are so many I won’t get to crack open in my lifetime – but I know I’ll die trying.
reading4awesome 