Today is National Book Lovers Day so I thought I’d share a few books that impacted me as a person and a writer. Of course, my main book would be the Bible, but I will focus on my fictional impact for this post.
Little House on the Prairie and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe would be at the top of the lists for my formative years as these are two of the first books I read on my own. I then, of course, read the entire series of both. I’ve now read the Little House series to my daughter and have read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to her as well.
My mom didn’t read a lot to me growing up. What she did do was read herself. All the time. I mean all the time. It fueled my love for reading and while I took a break for several years for some reason, I am back to reading full-time again.
To get me into To Kill A Mockingbird, Mom read the beginning to me in her Southern (North Carolina) accent. She brought the story alive for me and I took off from there. She gave me Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry and I sobbed like a baby. Both books made me aware of racism in our world, shattering some of my innocence, but in a needed way.
Later I would find The Cat Who books by Lillian Jackson Braun at the library and these and Nancy Drew ignited my love of mysteries. Later there was At Home in Mitford and the whole Mitford series by Jan Karon, which I still read today because each time I open the books it feels like coming home. There was also Francine River’s books, of course, which showed me that Christian Fiction doesn’t have to be boring.
Of course, I can’t forget the first book I ever took out of a library – the school library – King of the Wind by Marquerite Henry. It was hardcover, solid, and the horse on the cover was gorgeous. I was so proud to carry it home and read it. I read this with my daughter a couple of years ago, though, and am shocked at how depressing that book was. I must have forgotten that over the years.
I later also read Misty of Chincoteague and still can’t spell the name of the place without looking it up.
My daughter and I have worked our way through several of Henry’s other horse books over the last two years.
Anne of Green Gables has been another important book in my adulthood. I loved the Kevin Sullivan movie as a kid and finally read the whole book and not just parts of it about two years ago. I then read it to my daughter, eliminating some of the more flowery language so she wouldn’t get too bored.
Three years ago my son and I read Silas Marner by George Elliot and I don’t know that it impacted me much other than to open my eyes to the classics, which I have woefully neglected over the years.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some very important books in this list but I can always write a follow-up post to share some more. It is my blog and I can blog more if I want to!
How about you? What are some books that have impacted you over the years? Fiction or non-fiction. Fun or serious? I’d love to know. Really!
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My mom also modeled reading for us when I was a kid, and she also read aloud to us before bedtime every night until we left home to go to college. She read us Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books over and over on car trips, too. Those, all the Anne books by L. M. Montgomery, Marguerite Henry’s books (I think I have them all by now), and the Hardy Boys were all huge influences on my reading and writing tastes and still impact (and delight) me today.
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I’ve always been a reader and gosh, I’m not sure I can claim which books influenced me most. As a child, I loved Black Beauty and still have my childhood owned book. It might sound a little strange since both of these books became movies but I loved reading Gone With the Wind and The Once and Future King (movie version: Camelot) when I was a teen. As an English Education major in college, I had to read a lot of modern American fiction (which I didn’t always care for) and classical literature.
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I picked up a used copy of Black Beauty to read Little Miss because one of the books we read kept talking about how much the little girl wanted to read it. I’ve never read Gone with the Wind but have seen the movie. My mom read the book and really enjoyed it. I have not read The Once and Future King but will have to try it out. I read a lot of classic literature in my high school AP English class and college as well. I liked some and hated others.
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I agree about the classic lit – some I really liked, others I thought I’d never make it to the end of them. My kids took AP English too, but when my last (my son) took it, I read the same classics he had to read from a list for summer reading. And I really enjoyed them, so I think being a more “mature” (read old here) reader made a difference for me. Ha!
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Oh, gosh! This post has me going down Memory Lane! My school did not have a library, and I don’t think teachers did, either. The public library would box up books and send them out to the township schools. I loved library box day! And, I was elated when the book order forms came out. When I was in first grade (we didn’t have Kindergarten), I could get two books at a time from this borrowed library. I’d take them home, and Mom would read them to me. She read to me in a monotonous voice and didn’t make an attempt to get me excited about reading. But, I treasured those moments with her. I can still see us seated at the counter reading.
I read the Bobbsey Twins, Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys. I also read Black Beauty and other childhood classics. In high school, I discovered the classics, and I was hooked. My favorite book of all time is Wuthering Heights closely followed by The Inferno! I’m weird, I know. In college, I took several literature classes as electives and discovered even more classics. Shakespeare, though, is not for me!
I’d better stop because I could, indeed, write an entire blog post about this! Thanks for the memories!
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I loved the book order forms too! I remember crying one time when the order came in because I realized they hadn’t included my order list.
That’s so sweet about you and your mom. Not all moms are great at being animated while reading. 🙂
My mom remembers reading the Bobbsey Twins but I didn’t. I have never read Wuthering Heights. I need to add that to my list.
You’re welcome for the memories!
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My mom had an old antique copy of “Heidi” that was my first full chapter book to read. I remember being so proud also! I went thru a fad of reading non-fiction books about “helpers” like Florence Nightingale and Dorothy Dix in 6th grade. I can still picture my elementary school library where the shelves lined 3 walls of the small room. Isn’t it amazing how even the thought of an old book can take you back to the setting in which you read it? “Trixie Belden” books were the mystery series that my friend and I read together. We did read a few Nancy Drew books then too. Thanks for this fun post! I hope you do blog about favorite books again.
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When I think of King of the Wind I remember my elementary school library very clearly. The bookcases seemed so huge to me back then.
I am sure I will blog about favorite books again because I thought of some more I wanted to add to the list later.
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