We just had Thanksgiving and it got me thinking about books and being thankful. If you're visiting this blog, you're obviously a book lover. Books give us SO much. I honestly can't imagine my life without reading. But there are books that are good and books that are incredible. Books that can be life-changing. Books that no matter how many times you've read them, they never get old. You can get something new from them with each read.
That's what I'm curious about today. What are your MUST READS? The fiction book that you think ALL YA readers should read (or adult book)?
Also, if you had to pick one book you're thankful for. A book that pulled you out of a hard time, that changed your life, helped you find your love of reading or writing. Whatever the reason may be, what is the one book you're thankful for?
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There are so many books I feel are a must read, and so many I am thankful for. Reading has saved my life and my sanity time and time again.
ReplyDeleteBut the two books that come to mind as the absolute must reads are The Sky is Everywhere for the beauty and lyricism of the language, and The Outsiders because it was the book that changed my life and made me a writer.
White Cat by Holly Black. Totally changed the way I write and the world building is amazing!
ReplyDeleteKate, THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE is incredible. Such beautiful writing. Can you believe I haven't read THE OUTSIDERS?
ReplyDeleteSharon,
ReplyDeleteThat is a great series!!
THE GIVER by Lois Lowry was such an important book for me to read. I think I read it for school two different times (and of course a few times on my own). Also, NIGHT by Elie Wiesel. It really opened my eyes to suffering, in the Holocaust and elsewhere, better than anything before it.
ReplyDeleteMy second-favorite writer, Hermann Hesse, wrote three of the books that most changed and influenced my life. Demian was the first real adult book I read, at age fourteen, and introduced me to so many interesting concepts, like the idea of a deity (Abraxas) who's half good, half evil, and the idea that the Mark of Cain isn't a bad thing, but the mark of a proud noncomformist, someone people stay away from because they don't go along with the status quo.
ReplyDeleteSteppenwolf, which I read shortly before I turned 20, helped me see I needed to start trying to change my own life the way Harry begins trying to change his. It's good to be serious and an intellectual, but you can't be that way all the time if you want to make a lot of friends.
Narcissus and Goldmund, among other things, opened my eyes to the idea that agony and ecstasy are closely intertwined. I'm still struck by Goldmund's epiphany when he sees a woman in childbirth and finds her face extremely similar to that of a woman in the throes of sexual ecstasy. And as it says in The Tao Te Ching (another very important book for me), how can we really know anything unless we've also known the opposite? If you've never known sadness, for example, then how can you be so sure you're really happy? Nothing exists without its closely linked opposite.
There are so many good books out there. How can I start to name all of them?! I loved reading Tamora Pierce's books in middle school and am looking forward to reading MASTIFF. I love Sarah Dessen's works.
ReplyDeleteSome other recent reads that I really enjoyed are THE DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONES by Laini Taylor, TOUCH by Jus Accardo, and SAVING JUNE by Hannah Harrington.
I'll always be thankful to the Harry Potter books for renewing my appreciation of imagination and storytelling.
ReplyDeleteAs far as life-changing, I think of two Holocaust stories - Night (as mentioned by krisatkins above) and The Hiding Place. Both opened my eyes in huge ways.
PEERSUASION by Jane Austen is definitely my must read. I've learned different things from different books, but there's something about Austen's love stories that fill me up completely. Her characters are well-drawn and the plots are so perfect that they constantly inspire imitations and spin-offs. Austen is a huge part of why I enjoy love stories so much.
ReplyDeleteI have a TON of must-reads. My most recent are:
ReplyDeleteHUSHED by...well, you know.
DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver
BEAUTIFUL CHAOS by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
DON'T LET ME GO by J.H. Trumble (actually, I was told that it is being published as an adult novel, but the MC is in high school.)
INCARNATE by Jodi Meadows
Yeah, those are all really great.
This is such a hard question, because there are just so many books and stories out there that I'm thankful for. Harry Potter for sure, my love for that is just enourmous. This year the book I read and gushed all over was Starcrossed. But there are so many, I would be here all day.
ReplyDeleteActually one more I must mention I recently read was, My Sister Lives On The Mantlepiece.
Harry Potter; Hunger Games; Jellicoe Road and anything else by Melina Marchetta; Legend by Marie Lu (I'm loving it), any book by Markus Zusak (especially The Book Thief)
ReplyDelete