Let's see if I can do this without over editorializing:
List (fast as you can - try not to edit) 15 books that will always stick with you.
Starhawk's The Spiral Dance totally changed the course of my life ...I read it in high school
Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion also changed how I see the world, and differently
Derrick Jensen's The Culture of Make-Believe was fucking hard to read. I think I should probably reread it one day. Oddly, it's not as much of a downer as you'd think...but still, another book that changed my view of reality
Driven to Distraction by Hallowell and Ratey, the book that made me think, oh shit, I have this ADD thing too...
Those are the biggest nonfiction ones.
All the Harry Potter books. Duh.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, I think I've read it a dozen times
The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin, OH MY GOD I think I've read it three times now, and I only first read it a year or two ago, and I hardly ever reread anymore
The Weetzie Bat series by Francesca Lia Block (psst if you write to her, she writes back...)
The Secret Garden
Stardust by Neil Gaiman, it's what really got me hooked on his stuff
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, read it the first time in sixth grade, and spent eighth grade reading everything in that series and the parallel one about the Austins..."Meg, I give you your faults..."
The Doll Hospital, a paperback I read repeatedly in fifth grade
Angie, I can't remember the author's name...read repeatedly in fourth grade
Woman: an Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
The His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
...those were the first fifteen I could think of. I know there are glaring omissions. For instance, the Hitchhiker's Series. Fucking DUH. Or all the ElfQuest graphic novels.
As a correlation to this: I know there are books I really should read. I have very literary friends...please feel free to suggest ONE novel (or series) and WHY you think I should read them, as I think I will pay off what I owe to the library and start using it again, as that will pay for itself very quickly! Please note: I have tried Vonnegut and Robbins and dislike both for the same reason: I get the feeling that the authors are sitting there smugly thinking, "I'm a clever bugger, look how clever I am, tee hee." It is completely off-putting to me. Feel free to disagree. :^)
List (fast as you can - try not to edit) 15 books that will always stick with you.
Starhawk's The Spiral Dance totally changed the course of my life ...I read it in high school
Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion also changed how I see the world, and differently
Derrick Jensen's The Culture of Make-Believe was fucking hard to read. I think I should probably reread it one day. Oddly, it's not as much of a downer as you'd think...but still, another book that changed my view of reality
Driven to Distraction by Hallowell and Ratey, the book that made me think, oh shit, I have this ADD thing too...
Those are the biggest nonfiction ones.
All the Harry Potter books. Duh.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, I think I've read it a dozen times
The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin, OH MY GOD I think I've read it three times now, and I only first read it a year or two ago, and I hardly ever reread anymore
The Weetzie Bat series by Francesca Lia Block (psst if you write to her, she writes back...)
The Secret Garden
Stardust by Neil Gaiman, it's what really got me hooked on his stuff
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, read it the first time in sixth grade, and spent eighth grade reading everything in that series and the parallel one about the Austins..."Meg, I give you your faults..."
The Doll Hospital, a paperback I read repeatedly in fifth grade
Angie, I can't remember the author's name...read repeatedly in fourth grade
Woman: an Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
The His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
...those were the first fifteen I could think of. I know there are glaring omissions. For instance, the Hitchhiker's Series. Fucking DUH. Or all the ElfQuest graphic novels.
As a correlation to this: I know there are books I really should read. I have very literary friends...please feel free to suggest ONE novel (or series) and WHY you think I should read them, as I think I will pay off what I owe to the library and start using it again, as that will pay for itself very quickly! Please note: I have tried Vonnegut and Robbins and dislike both for the same reason: I get the feeling that the authors are sitting there smugly thinking, "I'm a clever bugger, look how clever I am, tee hee." It is completely off-putting to me. Feel free to disagree. :^)