I turned 38 today. I can't claim it is much of an earth-shattering birthday nor that I'm having epiphanies of any sort. It's a good age--certainly as good as any of the ones that came before it.
But to celebrate said birthday, I figured I'd take a moment to see if I could list 38 books that have been meaningful in my life in some way--either because they changed the way I thought, had soem sort of profound effect on me, or was simply highly entertaining and made me laugh and appreciate life more.
So, in no particular order:
- The Bible
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster
- What Paul Really Said About Women by John Temple Bristow
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
- The Screwtape Letters By C.S. Lewis
- Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
- Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Christy by Catherine Marshall
- All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
- My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
- Creed or Chaos by Dorothy Sayers
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
- Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
- Midsummer Night's Dream By William Shakespeare
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
- The Way the Crow Flies by Anne-Marie MacDonald
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
- C.S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- A Darker Place by Laurie R. King
- A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King
- Roman Blood by Stephen Saylor
- Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie
- Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Are you there God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume
- Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
- James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
- A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Lorax (tied with And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street) by Dr. Seuss
Now, if I were to make the list again tomorrow, there might be entirely different books that would appear on it, and I'm certain I'll come up with others that make me go, "Oh! How could I forget about..."
But for today, that's my list.
1 Comments:
you've turned 38 gracefully.
(you're supposed to say that when someone gets older, I guess.)
But what I see is not how your eyes have faint lines around them.
no.
They're there, but that's like commenting on something as expected as offwhite paint in an apartment.
No, it's how beautiful your eyes still are, how they always have been, and how they always will be, How they are the most beautiful eyes that I've ever seen
and miss.
You will do fine at 38.
You will grow only more beautiful,
and I envy those books,
yes I do
for your eyes roamed them and watched them endlessly,
and closed
-as the book was quietly let go of
to tumble
and be picked up again,
-memorized
(and had the honor and the memory
-she watched me, and held me
from beginning to end.
oh, to be one of your books.
By
Anonymous, at 2:34 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home