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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday...


Top Ten Books           

          I’m taking a cue today from one of my favorite people, a friend of mine does Top Ten Tuesday’s on her blog, so I thought I’d give it a try.  It sounds like fun.

I read a lot.  I always have.  Sometimes I read two or three books in a week; sometimes I read a book in a day.  I can’t imagine how many I’ve forgotten.  I know I remember some but have no idea what the titles were.  That’s kind of sad.  I should start keeping track.  These are the books that stuck.  They are in no particular order.  Hope you enjoy learning a little about my reading tastes!

10. Dracula by Bram Stoker
            I love vampires, movies, books it doesn’t matter.  Reading Dracula started this love.  I’ve devoured most of the vampire stories I can find, but Dracula still has a special place in my heart.  Stoker shaped the modern day vampire; he introduced Count Dracula and Van Helsing to the world.  His story was innovative and original, shaping science fiction and horror writing.   Dracula has spawned multiple movies, and the vampire genre is being reinvented every day but to me this is how vampires should always be. 

9. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
            Cross vampires with zombies and add a worldwide pandemic and you get this amazing post-apocalyptic story.  I love how Matheson captures the loneliness and the darkness that would accompany this situation, but the main character Neville never seems to lose his hope, even though it is constantly being smashed and pushed into the ground.  He pushed through researching and trying to make sense of what happened.  This story has also sparked multiple movies but none of them in my opinion come close to the written story.

8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
            Though this is newer it has made it onto my list.  I love the trilogy, not just the one, but I didn’t want to use up three spaces on my list of ten.  These books raced to the top of bestseller lists, and high school reading lists.  I’ve even heard talk of them being banned from libraries already.  This Trilogy hit home for me.  I think that our society is headed for a rude awakening if we don’t open our eyes soon.  The excess and the greed in the capitol and the utter desolation in the districts was vividly described and heart wrenching for me.  Katniss’s struggle to take on so much responsibility and to keep her heart out of it was captured perfectly.  As if being a teenager in a love triangle wasn’t hard enough.  If you haven’t read these books you should.   

7. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
          What can be said about Lolita?  Most people know it, or know of it at least.  Its content is highly inappropriate and disturbing.  It’s incredibly well written.  A man obsessed with young girls, living with a woman and her twelve year old daughter.  He becomes instantly obsessed with the daughter marrying the mother just to stay close to Lolita.  Eventually her mother finds out and Humbert ends up kidnapping Lolita.  Nabokov draws you in and makes you feel sorry for Humbert, he paints Lolita as the villain and does it well.

6. The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
            I love Kerouac, not just this piece of his work.  There’s a lot to be said for the combination of Buddhist rituals, crazy parties, and the search for inner peace in The Dharma Bums.  The real life accounts that Kerouac uses draw you in, that’s what I love about his writing, it’s real.  If you’ve ever wanted to pack a bag and head out on an adventure then On the Road is for you.

5. Othello by William Shakespeare
            I love Shakespeare.  I’ve devoured it in school and on my own.  It can be hard to read sometimes by I can’t get enough.  I could probably make a list of just works I love by Shakespeare.  Othello is timeless.  It encompasses some of the basic feelings of life: love, jealousy, betrayal, and let’s not forget racism.  The manipulation of those feelings is amazing to me.  Iago is the perfect bad guy if you ask me.

4. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
            Sparks struck gold with this one, a young love that lasts the span of time, and then the loss of memory.  It’s hopeful and sad and sweet.  I think deep down that’s something that everyone wants.

3. Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice 
            The third book in the Vampire Chronicles, I have read the whole series and I have to say this one is my favorite.  It’s about vampires, I’ve already explained that, but it has something else I love, history.  Queen of the Damned has its own mythology and it’s great.  All the different people and their stories, how tied together they all are.  It drew me in.  I couldn’t put it down. 

2. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
            Technically, I guess this is a poem, but it deserves a place on this list.  I love Poe and this is my favorite of his.  A raven seemingly taunts a mourning madman driving him further into his madness by repeating only one word, “Nevermore”. 

1. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
             This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid and it still is.  I already said in one of my other posts that I’ve always had a huge and active imagination.  I feel a kinship with the boy in this story.  He created a whole world in his bedroom.  What could be better than that?


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