Question #2 from my friend to blog—fave book of all time and why.
This is an extremely hard question to answer. I was one of those kids who always had a book in her face. I mean, always. I would hide under the blankets and read til midnight or 2 am. I would wake up in the mornings and read while I ate breakfast. I walked to school most days and if it was nice out, out would come the book from my backpack and I’d read while I walked to school. It made the walking slower but I’d always get there on time! If I ran out of books to read I would scour garage sales.
I now am one of the adults who, despite being busy with two toddlers, I can still find time to read! I have 4 or 5 books on the go at all times. I have two to choose from at night, a bath time book, a bathroom book….
I read so much and so many books have touched me in so 1many ways.
I think one of my fave authors would be Tom Robbins. Such a unique voice and so many unique ideas in his books. I love his style and all of his stories. They are all so bizarre and smart and believable…even if the story has a talking spoon you believe it!!
But favorite author was not the question.
I LOVE the book White Oleander by Janet Fitch. That book is written like poetry and you feel like you’ve known the characters for 10 years. And no, I haven’t seen the movie. That book is magical writing. But it’s not my fave book of alll time…maybe.
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb was very influential. I couldn’t help but feel the main character would be a kindred spirit if she was a real person. I read it over and over one summer. I would read the last page and immediately flip to the first page and start over. Literally. It got me through a tough summer, emotionally. I was figuring out an awkward phase of my teenage years. But fave book of all time? um…..
I think I’ve got it. I would have to say “On The Road” by Jack Kerouac. I didn’t pick up this book until University. It’s hard to truly explain how the book affected me. I was 20, in University and working hard in my classes. I felt like I was drowning in information the first year, just keeping my head above water. It was intense to be navigating University, the different way to study and write essays in a way that profs would appreciate, and all the while making new friends and getting my new beginning started. I cut ties with people from my small town when I moved, so I was starting from scratch (so to speak). I felt a bit like an adventurer.
The second year was different from the first completely. I had some friends, University felt like old news and I had figured out my studying style. I was amazing at writing essays. Which was good, because as an English major I had to write A LOT of them. But I also felt grayed out, dulled down, erased. I was a studying machine but my creativity was like a dull knife…it had lost its sharpness. I wasn’t as passionate about my goals either. Kind of felt lost….as if University was a job instead of a journey and an experience.
And then I took a break from studying in the library (still my fave place in all the world. Libraries make me unnaturally happy). I wandered around and the book On the Road caught my eye. I thought, that’s a classic I should read some day. So I took a little 15 minute break and took it to my seat. I read the first page and I was hooked.
The book floored me. I had a crush on Jack Kerouac’s main character by the end and the whole story brought back my sense of adventure and passion. That week I made time to write poetry and stories again. My essays had passionate vocabulary again. I felt like my heart had been kick started again. Stars in your eyes and all of that. I felt like road trips were possible, like adventures for me had just begun and that language was interesting again. It brought back my interest and passion in words, learning and the possibility of unexpected adventures.
Definitely the most influential book in my life. I have read it a billion times since and enjoy it every time.
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