As a reader and complete bibliophile, I can say choosing five favorite books was difficult. And I'm sure these might change in the next month or year or ten years but for right now, I wanted to remember the books that inspired, beguiled, and enamored me beyond all of the other books I've read or am reading. So here it goes:
1.) Harry Potter
Harry Potter...enough said. This series sums up my childhood perfectly. I remember days spent imagining what it would be like to receive my Hogwarts acceptance letter (and I did ten years after the fact)! I have so many versions of this book and yet, my original, tattered, and yellowed copy is the most meaningful. J.K. Rowling gave me a childhood filled with magic and it is these books, more than any other that made me believe I could do whatever I wanted and become whatever I dreamed, which led me to right here, writing this blog post and clinging to the beauty of words filling an empty page. And most importantly, this series reminded me of the importance of friendship, love, and happiness. After all, "happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." Thanks Harry and Jo for something I will love always!
2.) The Giver
This too is a book I often associate with childhood because I read it for the first time during middle school in the back of the school bus and the real world just sort of disappeared. I've read it countless times since and each time I find something new. Each time I find myself in Jonas's world there's something that makes me smile and something that breaks my heart. I recently purchased the hardcover version of the entire quartet and it is beautiful and has red-edged pages and I love it. I think the reason this book resonates so much with me is the notion that choices have been taken from this society, that memories have been taken away. And it is these two things that I cherish, especially since I am insanely fortunate and these make me just so happy to be alive every day. I couldn't imagine living the life of Lowry's characters and yet, I'm drawn back to them again and again. I think it has something to do with the reminder that “the worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” That's what I do when I write. Real or fantastical, I give my memories to the page and maybe someday I'll give them to all of you invisible readers out there.
I'll keep this one short since I've talked a lot about this lovely book. I suppose since I'm pretty close to being half way done with my Master's degree (yippee) I've been thinking more and more about what that means. I know it will mean moving somewhere new because I crave the possibilities outside my hometown. But I also know I'll leave my family behind and I think that's what connected me so strongly to this book. Like Bod, I learned that “if you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.” This is another book that reminded me just how important it is to dream big and to follow through with those dreams no matter how difficult life gets because even if it's difficult, it's still worth living.
Quite simply, this is one of the most magical books I've ever read. And that's saying something since many of my days have been spent tucked between the pages of epic fantasies. There was something so pure and delicious about the magic in this book. The characters really struggled and for that I felt so blessed to be able to experience their stories with them. The writing is lyrical with lovely lilting sentences on every other page. And in the end I still remember that "we get to choose what defines us.” After everything I've been through and what my characters are going through I hold onto this when my writing gets tough and when the days seem filled with painful moments from the past. I can't wait to pick this up again and become just another girl willing to chase the moon.
I love this book for so many reasons. The first being that it's this beautiful little thing that doesn't boast about how great it is. It kind of just sits on my shelf all unsuspecting, waiting for me to pick it up again and again, which I have. The second is that it is also one of my best friend's favorite books. Now we do have a very similar choice in books most the time but what this book means to him just makes it that much more meaningful to me and my copy will forever be inscribed with his words too. And I'm sure this might not come as much of a surprise being a YA writer and reader, but high school wasn't exactly the best time of my life. Like Charlie I observed the world around me, often silently. And just like Charlie, I had friends who made life better and I'm even still friends with one of them. I guess in the end I could talk about being infinite or about love or friendship but what I remember most is that "we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there." Again it is this power of choice that keeps me coming back to words that've already swallowed me up. But I don't think I mind.
I'm not sure how helpful this list is to any of you out there (even if you now have a terrific list of books to read)! Like I said, I want to remember this road to getting published and I wanted to remember the books that paved the way towards that dream. And so that's why I'm leaving this list of my favorite five here. I'm interested to hear all about your favorites too so feel free to comment below and don't forget to keep calm and read on!
xoxo
K.K.