1) Where the Red Fern Grows:
I had always been a big reader as a kid, but this one has always stuck with me because it made me cry until dehydration. It was the first book to ever hit me hard and really showed me how powerful words could be.
2) Jane Eyre:
I have a quote from this book tattooed on me. So obviously, it influenced me. This mostly came form the title character because even if someone was poor, obscure, plain, and little, they can still go beyond what anyone thinks they will do and they still DESERVE LOVE, DAMMIT.
3) Beloved:
As confused and terrified as Toni Morrison makes me, she blew my mind because I had never read a book so emotionally and psychologically draining. It rattled me in a way that I could not escape. This book even became so infused in my mind that it gave me horrible nightmares every day I read more.
4) Me Talk Pretty One Day:
This remains the one and only book that had me literally rolling on the floor laughing. I also love the way that he explores relationships, whether it's with his family, his partner, or neighbors. He always manages a quick turn at the end to either give a ludicrous story an actual lesson without being overbearing or a maddening story with a lighthearted quip.
5) The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup:
Essays that follow real people always captivates me as they often lead to an entire world I knew nothing about with rules and rulers that don't apply anywhere else. People invest to much time, money, and effort into their lifestyles that it often comes out looking so strange to people who are not a part of it. This book delivers stories that are so silly and tragic at the same time. I love stories that find art, beauty, love, pain, suffering, and humanity in unexpected places most people never give a second thought to.
6) Ten Days in a Mad House:
This collection of essays always gives me a surge of power just from knowing that this was the beginning to investigative journalism. And that she purposefully got herself locked in an asylum for a story and then completely changed everything ever. Also, she was a woman in that time period. She's totally metal.
7) Amelia's Notebooks:
This series is basically responsible for my compulsion to carry a notebook wherever I go to jot things down and doodle. It is also responsible for making me super frustrated when I realized you can't tape mementoes in notebooks like she does and expect the notebook to still close.
8) The Accidental Tourist:
When I was nearing the end of this book, I started slowing down my reading pace because I didn't want to let it go yet. It contains my favorite plot: people coming in contact with other people. I love the relationships that evolve around characters that don't feel like characters, but actual people.
9) The Devil and Sherlock Holmes:
This book really showed me to never take things at face value. The author would take stories that seemed ordinary and straight-forward and then dig deep enough to find facts that flipped everything over. The world is crazy, horrifying, and amazing--and most of us have no idea.
10) What We Talk About When We Talk ABout Love:
This collection of short stories taught me to love the little details in writing and how much you can learn from just a gesture. It really made me appreciate the moments that don't seem worth remembering or writing down. I loved the subtly of his stories that didn't tell you what to take away from it, but just gave out a feeling and left it with you.
much love,
hedgie
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