I was tagged by Amy Feld to list ten books that influenced me. Here they are: 1. Tempest and Sunshine by Mary J. Holmes. I found this book in the attic. Apparently my paternal grandmother had collected all the works of this Victorian author who dealt with the moral issues of her time (status of women, slavery, social mobility). The novels are extremely sentimental, but they caught me and helped to shape my appreciation of the moral dimension of literature. Holmes has always been excluded from serious study because women authors were not part of the canon of Western Literature. But she wrote 39 novels before her death, and she made me want to read novels. 2. The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney. Wonderful story of a family struggling while being happy and cooperative. Helped to shape my expectations of children. 3. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles. I was enchanted by the author’s references to the Victorian novel, and I learned a lot about the process of writing because of his approach. 4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I loved every moment and every word. This novel drew me into the world of Charles Dickens and led me to read all his books, Bleak House turning out to be my favorite. I guess I love Copperfield because it got me to Bleak House. 5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice taught me what a perfect novel should look like and led me to all the rest of the Austen novels. 6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I loved it because of its mesmerizing story, its incomparable characters, and its perfect language. 7. East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This novel is not only a deep and moving story, but it also re-creates a time and place to perfection. It can be read again and again and always reveal a new and deeper insight. 8. The Manor by Isaac Bashevis Singer. I love sagas, and this one interested me because it reveals the role of religion in the lives of people as they make choices in their religious lives, juxtaposing characters who try to remain faithful while being religious with those who become deeply orthodox and remove themselves from their regular lives. It also made me think about what would have become of all those characters in the events of the Twentieth Century. 9. Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann. I just loved the story! It concerns a family and its rise to prominence and eventual decay. I learned a lot about the Hanseatic League, but I also loved the way the novel dealt with the theme of the tension between art and the daily world. 10. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa. It is fun and funny and introduced me to the delights of South American Literature, leading me to the great and astounding works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. That’s just ten. I could go on and on, but that is the ten that first came to mind. Thomas Hardy should be in there and A.S. Byatt and Sherman Alexie and Barbara Kingsolver and and and . . . . I tag Judy Castrogiovanni, Ruthane Solomon, Cathy Hurst and David B. Roat.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 13:38:47 +0000
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