Five Books

My friend Pam shared on her blog the five books that changed her, and asked for ones that had changed her readers. I shared mine, and now I want to go into detail about them.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin This book was read in my sixth grade class, and I can still hear my teacher Ms. Gillespie reading it aloud to us when we were doing art time. I immediately got caught up in the mystery of who was Mr. Westing and how the tenants of Sunset Towers were connected. The writing was funny and clever, sometimes breaking that fourth wall and talking to the reader. I loved it, and still do--I own this book and try to read it once a year.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte I think I've already professed my love for this book and Mr. Rochester a couple times. The story of plain Jane who sticks to her morals and still gets everything she wants in the end--love, fulfillment, stability, independence--just hit me when I read it. Lots of times people don't get everything they want, but why should we strive for anything less?

John Adams by David McCullough  I got this book from the New York Public Library and couldn't put it down; early American history and the Founding Fathers has always been fascinating to me. I was amazed at the amount of research that went into the book. John Adams was stalwart in what he believed and was truly integral to the building of America in the early years. The author describes events so beautifully that it was like poetry. The letters written between John Adams and his wife, Abigail, are lovely, and makes me wish that we still wrote letters.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee I don't know how anyone can not love this book. I had seen the movie first, in a Film and the Law class as an undergrad, and just loved Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. It was a few years later when I picked up the book and realized that the source material was beautiful. Atticus, Gem, Scout, Boo Radley--wonderful characters. Such an excellent portrait is drawn of the South, families, learning, and understanding others that it should be a must-read for everyone.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck My first brush with Steinbeck was ninth grade honors English when we read The Pearl. My fourteen-year old self didn't really get Steinbeck. Then, while at Snow College (in another film class) I had to read Of Mice and Men and then compare it against both move versions and the play that the theater department was putting on that semester. Even at eighteen, I don't think I quite got Steinbeck. Then, while waiting in Port Authority for a bus to Washington D.C., I read it again. It's a short book and I read it while waiting all morning for the bus, and was so caught up in the tragic tale of Lenny and George. Now, I think I get Steinbeck.

Honorable Mention: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Not because I liked the book, but because it was the book that introduced me to Pam.

All but one of these books was read while I lived in New York. I don't think that's a coincidence. It was a time when I felt like I was discovering who I was, so the books I read while there influenced me a lot.

What are the books that changed you?