A few days ago, I received the following challenge from a good friend:
List 15 books you’ve read that will always stick with you — list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don’t take too long to think about it.
So, here is the list I created. They, largely, are not in any order, although the first few are of particular importance to me:
1. Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The – L. Frank Baum – Not only did I read this story when I was, maybe, 4 years old, but considering the impact the movie version, along with the retelling Wicked have had on my life, it simply must top the list.
2. Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf – I’ll readily admit, when I first read it, at 15, I had no clue what I was reading, but I knew it was beautiful. I have since reread it, several times, and find it to be the most accurate portrayal of what it means to simply be alive in print.
3. Picture of Dorian Gray, The- Oscar Wilde – I first read it around the same time I first attempted Mrs. Dalloway. I really don’t remember, specifically, why I picked it up. I think I may have heard tell of its “perversions” and wanted to see for myself. Yet, I found something so much richer, about the very nature of truth and authenticity, and the costs of avoiding it.
4. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen – It was early high school, there was an ice storm and the power went out. As everyone else piled into the car to get across town to watch a big basketball game on television, I sat with a few candles reading about truths, universally acknowledged.
5. Midsummer Night’s Dream, A – William Shakespeare – Spring, Sophomore year at Ball State, the book that made me love Shakespeare. After suffering ill-teachings of Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, and Macbeth in high school, I found myself, halfway through Midsummer, laughing out loud. In that moment, I fell in love with Shakespeare.
6. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling– I didn’t want to like it, I really didn’t want to like it! I resisted reading it for a very long time, even as everyone else who read took it in. Then I read it, I loved it, and somehow, years later, I found myself outside Borders, at midnight, buying the 7th book!
7. Revolutionary Road- Richard Yates – This is a more recent read for me (before the movie came out), but, it really does impress upon you the importance of making the right choices, and living the life you truly wish to live.
8. Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare. The critical interest in sexuality in the Renaissance had to start somewhere! Although, I will admit my personal interest is slightly broader than just the Renaissance, but encompasses more how sexuality, specifically homosexuality is found in literature in general.
9. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia – Marya Hornbacher – I carried this book around a lot in high school and reread passages of it routinely. In the clutches of an eating disorder myself at the time, I found some twisted understanding in it.
10. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury – For a person who loves books, few books can be more genuinely frightening than this, especially as we see schools banning it; schools banning a book about book banning… only in America.
11. Capitalism and Freedom- Milton Friedman – Absolutely changed the way I look at the world economy, and my bank account.
12. Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography-Christine Jorgensen – I give more credit than anything to those people in the world who have the courage to say, “This is who I am; deal with it!”
13. Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell– The film may be a Hollywood classic, but the seldom read book (if only because of it’s girth at 1,036 pages), is a classic in itself; by the end of a single read, my copy was in tatters.
14. Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger – The first time I read it, I loved Holden, I could really identify with him. I was about 16 at the time. The second time I read it, I hated Holden, and thought he was an immature bastard. Perhaps another read is in order?
15. Woman in White, The – Wilkie Collins – One of the best early sensation novels. A novel that can honestly keep me gripped for north of 700 pages, deserves a mention!
I challenge anyone and everyone who reads this to create their own list, I find it interesting to see the books people consider so very special. Who knows, it might give someone else an idea of something to read!
