My Literary Travels

I heart books.

While I’d be hard-pressed to select my favorite book ever, these are a few of my top choices, books that really impacted me:

Young Travels:
• The Hobbitt, J.R.R. Tolkien. Travel Middle Earth with Bilbo and the gang. Yes, this is the original, the book that started it all. All kids should read this timeless book of friendship and personal trial (I've even read it a number of times since I was a kid....soooooo good—my first car even had a “Bilbo Baggins for President” bumper sticker, haha).
• Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell. Ah, Miss Scarlett, I love you so! This is the first book I ever really fell in love with in middle school (such a long, long time ago--but the memory is still strong). Read me! Yeah, the movie is good, but the book is infinitely better (“I’ll think about that tomorrow!”... omg…)
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. Timeless. Scout and Jem learn invaluable lessons from their dad, a role model if I ever saw one. (One of my literature professors used to say that “Literature changes lives,” and, although that may sound a bit corny, it is true. When I read this book as a kid, for example, it made me want my kids to call me by my first name). Such a classic, not to be missed. (Go Calpernia!)
• East of Eden, John Steinbeck. The very, very best of Steinbeck. What a personality study (they don’t make scarier characters than Cathy Ames….yikes! And poor Adam, for falling in love with her…why does love make us so blind?). This was the first book that, when I finished the last page, I turned immediately to page one to start it all over.  It is awesome...and insightful each time.

More Recent Choices (in no particular order):
• The Stand, Stephen King. Classic King. While I’ve read everything he’s written, this is my top choice—good vs. evil—an entertaining and thought-provoking story by an amazing storyteller. Yeah, yeah, I know that King isn’t considered great literature by the powers-that-be(or, as the AP Lit Exam would phrase it, "a text of literary merit), but I can’t think of many other writers whose work I fall into. I can sit for hours reading his stories--and everything else just falls away; time just goes by. (I also loved It, The Body, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, though; King makes the characters so real, so believable. “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” Someday I will marry Andy Dufresne. I will.)
• A Prayer For Own Meany, John Irving. Ah, the baseball. And Baby Jesus. And Hester the molester. And Vietnam. And the penguins. And how poor Owen outgrows his parents. I could go on, but I will stop here… (Loved The World According to Garp, too, but little Owen wins…)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon. Haddon hits the ball out of the park here--Christopher Boone is a hero for a new generation. Part mystery, part family drama, and crazy-funny with dramatic irony. Yet my heart goes out to Chris--and his parents. This book opens up a new world, to show the difficulties of raising a child with special needs in an often less-than-friendly world. Excellent!
• Case Histories, Kate Atkinson. You will not soon forget Jackson Brodie--or the strange cases detailed in this book. Bottom line? When the front cover cites a Stephen King quote directing you to read this book, DO IT. I was not at all sorry--I could not put it down.
• Straight Man, Richard Russo. Hands-down the funniest book I have ever read. EVER. Since I work in a high school English department (and I have worked at a university English department), I fell in love with this cast of academic oddball characters. Couldn't put it down--wanted it to last far longer! LOVE!!! (Also notable: Russo’s other works: Nobody’s Fool and Empire Falls—good stuff.)
• In the Lake of the Woods, Tim O’Brien. Haunting--and unforgettable. Love O'Brien's The Things They Carried--and, if possible, I love this even more. What DID happen in that cabin that night? What is truth? Who is Sorcerer? Did war change him, or did it encourage him to evolve into the man he was meant to be? Love the random quotes throughout the text, the blend of fact and fiction; love the characters and their descriptions; love the uncertainty.  Love, love, love. (Warning: NOT for the feint-hearted; I gave this book as a gift, and my friend found it rather disturbing.)
• A Million Little Pieces, James Frey. I know that this book caused a lot of hoopla (is it fiction? Is it non-fiction?), but I don’t care about the answer to those questions—because the truth is this book is awesome. I don’t care whether it is Frey’s experience or not. I don’t care if every word is a lie. It is unforgettable.
• I Know This Much is True, Wally Lamb. I read this book years ago--yet it is still one of my top-ten reads--it is gripping from the first page. It is the story of adult male twins (twins being one of my favorite topics, surprise, surprise). Pick it up, but beware. It is tough to put down...
• The Book of Joe, Jonathan Tropper. I’ve given this book as a gift to three very different reader friends (and they each loved it--high praise!). So much more than a-guy-returns-to-his-hometown story. It is described as "by turns howling funny, fiercely intelligent, and achingly poignant"--and it IS each of these--and more. Read this book! I'd love to know what you think after you do (tell me whether you really believe in second chances)....
• How to Talk to a Widower, Jonathan Tropper. Tropper has done it again--I so enjoyed The Book of Joe and Everything Changes, and this has the same characterization (smart AND funny) and introspection--I want to read slowly so it isn't over too quickly! Love it! (Bottom line?  Pick up anything by Tropper...)
• The Post Birthday World, Lionel Shriver. Just finished this one--and I loved it. It makes me question whether our choices really matter, or whether there is an end-game all prepared....hmmmm…. Like We Really Need to Talk About Kevin in the way that the author's use of language illustrates her intelligence (and often brings a wry smile), yet this tale-with-two-story-threads is completely different. If you read it, do let me know what you think…

Truth be told, there are two writers whose books I buy in hardcover, as soon as they come out (as a teacher, I can’t always afford to buy every book I want, as soon as it is published, nor do I have the time to read every book I’d like to read, but that is my idea of heaven, all the time in the world to read all the books I want, sitting in a big, comfy chair, next to a blazing fireplace…)—and those two are Jonathan Tropper and Stephen King. For them, everything else in the world stops.