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The Ten Best - Ever (Post one of ten)
May. 6th, 2015 09:09 pmTHE TEN BEST - EVER
I’ve been doing Book Reports for a long time because I like taking a minute to reflect on what I read, but I’ve never stepped back to write about the books that influenced me the most over the years. So for a while now, I’ve been thinking about this subject and wanting to do a Top Ten. I’d say these are a cross between the books that influenced me the most and the books that I’ve simply enjoyed the most. Doris saw what I was doing (since I’ve been writing this post with copies of the books stacked around me, for days), and she summed it up by saying that this is a list of how to understand who I am.
Most of these books I read a long time ago, but that makes sense. It’s much easier to say that I was influenced by something I read 10 years ago and had a decade to think about rather than something that I read 3 months ago. You also won’t find any books that are considered traditional classics on here. I’ve enjoyed many a “Jane Eyre” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” over the years, but they didn’t speak to me as much as these did.
To keep from having a mega-long post, I am instead going to do 10 separate posts. The books will be listed in no particular order.
Oh, and I did cheat since I sometimes counted a few related books as one. (Such as here, with my very first post).
1. The Mists of Avalon and The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Even though my list isn’t in any order, the above two by Marion Zimmer Bradley might in fact be my all-time favorites and that really says a lot given the sheer volume of how many books I knock off in a year. They are just perfect works of fiction. In both cases, I became engrossed in the worlds that Bradley created and I cared deeply for the characters. I’ve read these novels at least three times each, and each time I see more layers and depth in them. Each time I’ve also spent the last 100 pages or so crying – not necessarily out of sadness but more because of the culmination of emotions that I got swept up in.
The Mists of Avalon is a re-telling of the King Arthur legend but from the perspective of his sister Morgaine who is part of a goddess-worshipping tradition, a place which is literally and figuratively slipping into the mist as patriarchy and Christianity overtake the land.
The Catch Trap takes place amidst a traveling circus and stars two men who have fallen in love with each other. If others find out, their careers will be over and their families will reject them. Some folks say that straight authors should never try to tell gay characters’ stories, but I totally disagree. If the writer is good, she can and should write about all of humanity.
I’ve been doing Book Reports for a long time because I like taking a minute to reflect on what I read, but I’ve never stepped back to write about the books that influenced me the most over the years. So for a while now, I’ve been thinking about this subject and wanting to do a Top Ten. I’d say these are a cross between the books that influenced me the most and the books that I’ve simply enjoyed the most. Doris saw what I was doing (since I’ve been writing this post with copies of the books stacked around me, for days), and she summed it up by saying that this is a list of how to understand who I am.
Most of these books I read a long time ago, but that makes sense. It’s much easier to say that I was influenced by something I read 10 years ago and had a decade to think about rather than something that I read 3 months ago. You also won’t find any books that are considered traditional classics on here. I’ve enjoyed many a “Jane Eyre” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” over the years, but they didn’t speak to me as much as these did.
To keep from having a mega-long post, I am instead going to do 10 separate posts. The books will be listed in no particular order.
Oh, and I did cheat since I sometimes counted a few related books as one. (Such as here, with my very first post).
1. The Mists of Avalon and The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Even though my list isn’t in any order, the above two by Marion Zimmer Bradley might in fact be my all-time favorites and that really says a lot given the sheer volume of how many books I knock off in a year. They are just perfect works of fiction. In both cases, I became engrossed in the worlds that Bradley created and I cared deeply for the characters. I’ve read these novels at least three times each, and each time I see more layers and depth in them. Each time I’ve also spent the last 100 pages or so crying – not necessarily out of sadness but more because of the culmination of emotions that I got swept up in.
The Mists of Avalon is a re-telling of the King Arthur legend but from the perspective of his sister Morgaine who is part of a goddess-worshipping tradition, a place which is literally and figuratively slipping into the mist as patriarchy and Christianity overtake the land.
The Catch Trap takes place amidst a traveling circus and stars two men who have fallen in love with each other. If others find out, their careers will be over and their families will reject them. Some folks say that straight authors should never try to tell gay characters’ stories, but I totally disagree. If the writer is good, she can and should write about all of humanity.
