Recently I talked about books that have haunted me, in a bad way. Today I want to flip the table and talk about books that have stayed with me in a good way.
I started thinking about this after a friend tagged me on Facebook to name 10 such books, but not to think too long about the list. For once I decided to abide by the rules, and immediately started typing out books that deeply touched me throughout my formative years, as well as ones in recent memory.
Much like everything on Facebook, this was a surface meme, so I posted the list as is.
Nearly instantly I had the urge to edit it, to pull some out in lieu of others that were starting to pop into my head. But after sitting on this list for two weeks, I’m starting to see the beauty in it, and I know why each of these books lives within me.
Which 10 books would make your list, off the top of your head?
Did you do this meme on Facebook? Paste your answers into the comments so I can see what books have stayed with you!
10 Books That Have Stayed With Me (and Why)
1. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
I read this book in elementary school, and it was a wonder to me that it took place in Kansas (where I lived). Imagine looking around you and trying to picture the scene on the cover while you’re living in 1980s suburbia!
2. The Story of My Life, Helen Keller
In the first grade, I was bored with the classroom books and asked my teacher if she had anything else to read. She pulled this thick (nearly 100 pages!) book out of her own stack and lent it to me. Besides being a personal milestone in length, the subject matter really got to me. It was the first time I had truly put myself in someone else’s shoes and tried to imagine what the world would be like if I couldn’t see or hear or speak.
3. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
When I read this book in high school, I got it, man. It speaks to every kid who is stir-crazy and ready to flee wherever it is they are.
4. The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker
Even though I just read this book last year, I catch myself thinking about it from time to time. I can’t think of a better narrative for describing the abrupt descent from childhood to adulthood. It really does feel like the world is ending and everything is changing.
5. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
This book has started so many conversations about life, death, reincarnation and What It All Means. When I first started reading, I was certain it was going to go a different direction. It’s nice to be surprised by literature, and when it pushes the reader to think outside all of his/her self-drawn boxes, it’s safe to say that this book stayed with me.
6. Franny and Zooey, F. Scott Fitzgerald
I appreciated this book, about the search for meaning and self, while I was in college.
7. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
This was my entry into Hemingway’s work, and thank goodness. I still think it’s his best, and most “true” thing he ever wrote. I was transported into a time and place totally foreign to me, and it opened up my interest in the ex-pats of the Lost Generation.
8. Confessions of a Hitch-hiker, Adrian Reid
I found this book in high school, hiding in the storage room in one of the many boxes of my mom’s old books. I found so many gems from the 1970s there, but this was my favorite, and I like to re-read it on occasion. It’s a candid tale of two hitch-hikers in Europe who live a wild, carefree life that is so fascinating to watch … from a distance.
9. A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of The Beatles, Mark Hertsgaard
I have a lot of Beatles books, but I dogeared this one the most. It was my constant friend and companion while I was writing my senior thesis paper on The Beatles in high school. I think at one point I almost had it memorized.
10. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
If this book doesn’t stay with you, you are a robot. I am not ashamed to say that I curled up in the fetal position and sobbed like a baby when this book ended. It’s so heartbreaking, so hopeful, so beautiful. It’s almost painful.
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