From my Facebook profile…the fifteen books that have touched my life and shaped my character, mind, and heart.
1. Cinderella – ah, the timeless tale of the elusive and oh-so-fragile glass slipper…
2. National Velvet by Enid Bagnold – I was blown away by Velvet Brown’s pluck. What a great role model for girls!
3. The entire Trixie Belden mystery series – I read twelve of them between Christmas and New Year’s Day when I was about nine. Another plucky gal.
4. A collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories – I read Poe while sequestered in my mother’s office at the college where she taught English when I was about ten. I love the memory of those summer days I had to go to work with her and read all day, but, geez…shouldn’t I have been reading Nancy Drew?
5. The Diary of Anne Frank – this world can be so hideous.
6. The Miracle Worker – and the people in this world can be so resilient.
7. The Grapes of Wrath – Junior High English requirement that made me realize how much the course of our lives depends on the time and place in which we’re born…
8. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams – I know…this is actually a play, but I’m slipping it in. I was/am Laura in so many ways.
9. She’s Come Undone – amazing coming-of-age story by the brilliant Wally Lamb. Dolores Price is an absolute train wreck. I’ve read this book at least four times…not sure what that signifies…
10. Breathing Lessons, A Slipping-Down Life, The Tin Can Tree…just about anything by Anne Tyler. She’s my literary hero.
11. Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live – changed my life forever. I’m thankful every day for the prof who gave it to me.
12. Party of One: The Loners’ Manifesto. An enormously validating read.
13. The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – your heart will ache for Golyadkin as he unravels. Dostoyevsky was a literary god.
14. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen – I don’t give a hoot about the Oprah controversy. This man is a genius. I’m reading his provocative How to Be Alone essays on the social alienation of postmodern America now. I’m officially a geek.
15. I’m keeping this spot open for the one I write someday…
I’ve read a couple of those (sorry, I’m nothing if not defiant–remember, Mr Helms once had to down-grade me because I turned in my own substitute report for the one I was supposed to write about some “good” book. I wrote my report on, “Mack Bolan: The Executioner #1″) but I’m especially interested in the last one. When? Will you sign one for me?
By the way, cool blog. I was a little hesitant to respond, but that I say your original invitation, thought it was junk that slipped in and deleted it without another thought. When I saw your message on fb, I felt crummy. I’ve been doing that a lot lately (jumping to the wrong conclusion) and discovered it’s a great exercise in humility.
Ah, Michael…no need to apologize. When I sent the test invitation to myself, I feared it may end up in everyone’s junk mail. Everyone is on FB and has work and personal e-mail addresses, so I know some may be hesitant to post here, as well. But this could be a wonderful forum for us “writer types” who want to bounce ideas, ramblings, chapters, etc. off one another. I can make it invitation only, I think. I’m still reviewing all the features. Is this a place you would feel comfortable sharing? I have so many ideas for this blog…