Books.
      I am a writer. I love words. And when words come together in a swirling conglomeration of emotion and character and plot and rhythm and awesome… a book is born.
      Thus, loving words, I love books.
      What do you mean that logic is shit? *grumble* It makes sense to me. I’m a left-brainer. Deal with it.
      Anyway, there was a meme going around Facebook recently (*gasp* Shocking, I know!) and once again, it made me think. I believe the actual copy & paste post said something like “Name 10 books that stayed with you long after the story ended” or some such.
      I posted a brief list with no explanation, but I thought – this sort of discussion requires more thought and detail!
      So away I go, in no particular order…

1. Les Misérables – by Victor Hugo. I read this book when I was around fifteen. I went through a period when I was seriously into the classics, trying desperately to act as smart as I knew I secretly could be. I read Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre and a bunch of Dickens. I guess it started as a way to off-set my tweenage obsession with Jackie Collins novels. But when I hit Les Mis, I hit it hard. It was the first novel that touched me in a profound way. I mean, books had made me laugh or cry or fall half-in-love with characters, but never had I felt such wonder or been as astounded by it. Part of the draw came from the musical, I admit it, but still… when I got to the end and Jean Valjean gave his last little bits of dialogue and then died… it was about two in the morning, I was in the living room by the fireplace in that ivory wingback chair… and I sobbed. I mean it was the ugly cry. And I never forgot it. One of my main goals, as a writer, is to one day inspire that level of… ugh… pain! Visceral, gut-wrenching, agony…
2. The Dragon Prince – by Melanie Rawn. Also, the other six books in the two trilogies. I had long loved fantasy – the idea of fantasy, at least. Yet it was not until I picked up The Dragon Prince that I really discovered a deep affection for it. I loved Ms. Rawn’s books before I even read the classics – Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and McCaffrey. She is the big-cast, complicated-plot, unique-magic, amazeballs-world-building ruler that I measure all other books by. I have read and re-read them. I have cried and laughed and carried these books across the country half-a-dozen times.
3. It – by Stephen King. I was in 6th grade and I had already blown past the other kids in my English class on the “pages read” competition list. It wasn’t enough to win though – I wanted to cream them. Since reading was the only thing I was much good at, I went to the library and found the biggest, thickest book I could see. It was “It” and even though I had seen a bit of the TV mini-series a few years before when it first ran on TV and that tiny bit gave me clown-nightmares for a week… I checked it out. And I read it. Sure, I had to hide it in the wicker chest filled with blankets that resided in the hallway. I couldn’t even have the physical BOOK in my room, or I could not sleep. Also, it taught me that even critically acclaimed books, great books, can have flaws. That book allows me to love and hate my own books.
4. The Valley of the Horses – by Jean M. Auel. Yeah, so, I have to admit this. I read the first four “Earth’s Children” books when I was in mid-teens. Thirteen and Fourteen, I think. I did a hideously embarrassing book report on the second one in my Sophomore year. I failed to realize there would be a verbal component and I had to stand in front of the class and talk about my book that month. Eek. Anyway – aside from the purple prose sex scenes peppered throughout the series, and the implausibly perfect main characters, those books gave me a real love for factual, researched, historical fiction. They made me interested in herbs and natural medicine, in the tools ancient cultures used and how they learned. Those books sparked a fascination for ancient/archaic skills and techniques that I carry to this day. Sure, I research things like brain-tanning for my books, but also because they are fascinating! All because of Ms. Auel. Too bad she fucked up the last two books so badly. But that’s a rant for another day.
5. Red Dog – by Bill Wallace. I don’t really remember the plot anymore. Something about squatters or someone trying to take a homestead from a kid and his family. And his dog. Maybe it is my love for things canine, or maybe it was the “little house in the mountain valley” vibe, but I fell in love with this book. I put it down as my favorite novel on lists and questionnaires for years afterward. I should read it again one of these days – I still have my copy – accidentally stolen from my 4th Grade Teacher, Mrs. Walker. Ooops, sorry about that, Mrs. Walker!
6. Illusion – by Paula Volsky. Elfin-haired elitist Eliste. My fascination with the French Revolution. A recommendation from my future husband that I could not ignore. This novel changed how I viewed historical fiction AND fantasy. If I cannot be as talented as Melanie Rawn when I grow up, I want to be as talented as Paula Volsky. Do yourself a favor – if you haven’t given Illusion a read yet – go find it and read it!
7. Slave – by Mende Nazer. A novel about slavery. Set in 1993. I was flabbergasted. I was naive – yes, even at 25 – about the situation in the rest of the world. I had never really made it a priority to learn or care. I had only the vaguest modern American notions of things like slavery, racism, third-world-problems. Then I read this novel and my eyes opened and now I drive my husband crazy with social justice issues and global goings-on. This girl’s story of real life (modern day!) enslavement stuck in my head.
8. The Shifting Ages – by Timothy W. Fields. If he ever finishes it, this book will rock my world. The excerpts I read back in the 90s, when he was working on a first draft… I adored them. So much. SO much.
9. The Ruins of Ambrai – by Melanie Rawn. *sigh* Like The Shifting Ages, this remains unfinished and it desperately needs to be finished. I understand the author went through a tragic time in her life and she hasn’t been able to face the return to the trilogy. But… *sigh*
10. The Song of Ice and Fire – by George R.R. Martin. Changed my life. Set me to loving fantasy after a few years’ absence. Definitely affected my writing – my latest novel is broken up into POV chapters like his series.

      Dear Lord, I could go on forever, but I think I’m closing in on 1200 words and that’s pretty excessive for a freaking LIST.
      If you actually read this far – comment below and tell me 10 books that have stayed with YOU well beyond the end of the book.

Note: Image is “Old Books 2” by (nkzs) from SXC.hu