Ten Books That Have Stayed With Me

ahef1963 (1): This book was seminal as it awoke stirrings of social justice in me, and made me realize how much I take for granted.

Marissa_Doyle (1): One of my top books of all time. I am in awe of the world she created.

ahef1963 (6): I just read this a couple of months ago, but it's a work I will never forget. Both brilliant and devastatingly sad.

Marissa_Doyle (8): Haunting.

imyril (9): I think I mostly just loved the idea of Jesuits in space, but I also loved the characters and the prose. Knowing it will end badly just added to the bittersweet pleasure.… (mais)

imyril (1): Haunting and horrifying.

imyril (5): Enlightening, enthralling and inspiring.

jillmwo (2): His beautiful creation story -- I just love it.

imyril (6): The only Tolkien I still dip back into. It shaped so much to follow, and shaped so many of my preferences.

SylviaC (10): Provides some insight into our role and effect on the planet.

imyril (7): My Latin teacher made us read it. We were all deeply grateful, and then teased him mercilessly. Wonderfully dark, angst-ridden, alienating and alluring. Such prose and singular characters.… (mais)

imyril (10): This stays with me for its haunting implications. Sad, sentimental, yet satisfying.

ahef1963 (2): Pride & Prejudice is the first classic novel that I really enjoyed. It was the cross-over from childhood reading to adult reading.

thorold (1): Needs no explanation

SylviaC (1): This was the book that I asked everyone to read to me, before I could read it myself.

SomeGuyInVirginia (1): My grandmother gave me this book for my birthday when I was very small. I was disappointed it wasn’t something more interesting, but it awakened my passion for books.… (mais)

thorold (2): A book that makes you think "If everyone read this, we could be sure it would never happen again"

imyril (2): I read this very young and it introduced me to the concept of satisfactory but unhappy endings. Also, the Earldelving. Gah.

SomeGuyInVirginia (2): Elegant running commentary on life.

SylviaC (2): A childhood favourite. The wonder of that first pair of glasses, after years of being labeled as slow and clumsy.

Marissa_Doyle (2): I read this when I was a young teen, and it has profoundly affected how I write.

thorold (3): The literary equivalent of an earworm: you know it's a bad book, but you can never get it out of your head...

SylviaC (3): Made me look at listening in a whole different way.

jillmwo (3): The idea of setting aside the culture and treasures of the ages so that they don't get destroyed.

SomeGuyInVirginia (3): Même chose.

ahef1963 (3): The first fantasy novel (I read the trilogy in one volume) that I ever truly, deeply loved.

Marissa_Doyle (3): Retelling of the classic of Welsh mythology. Just beautiful.

Marissa_Doyle (4): Haunting as well, but in a very different way from the Ishiguro.

jillmwo (4): Two stories in this collection, April in Paris and The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

imyril (4): This could as easily have been Triffids. Wyndham introduced me to apocalypse fiction, and I love both books for their evocative descriptions of a ruined London.… (mais)

SomeGuyInVirginia (4): Scared me to death as a kid.

SylviaC (4): A protagonist I really related to.

ahef1963 (4): Started my life-long fascination with all things African.

SylviaC (5): I like epidemic books, and this one was pretty comprehensive at the time.

ahef1963 (5): Explained to me, in layman's terms, the science of paleontology and awoke in me a love of the subject matter.

jillmwo (5): She explains some things so well. From Elfland to Poughkeepsie is an essay that has stuck with me.

Marissa_Doyle (5): One of the truly happiest books I've ever read.

jillmwo (6): It's the lifestyle as much as Norris' writing.

Marissa_Doyle (6): Wonderful, spooky, truly captures the "otherness" of the Fae in folklore.

SylviaC (6): My grandmother survived the Halifax Explosion, and this was one of the books that she kept in a special collection on her shelf.

jillmwo (7): I reread the Christmas chapter almost every year. I got this book as a gift on my 8th birthday before we moved to Bangkok.

ahef1963 (7): My favourite book as a young teenager. As an adult I took my children to the museum a couple of times a month and we would figure out where we would live if we ran away to a museum.… (mais)

Marissa_Doyle (7): Not the funniest Heyer, but the transformation of Freddy from foolish fop to true romantic hero is just a delight.

SylviaC (7): I want Elfrida to be a real person.

SylviaC (8): Took me to a different time and place, with a resourceful heroine.