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Oprah, Smoprah. Here's my list.Nov 27 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line This had nothing to do with Oprah and everything to do with me. Read it, you might discover something better than Oprah has.
Challenged by robinmichele’s list of 100 books that changed her life I set about making my list. I did not reach 100. It’s been well documented that I am just not as good as robinmichele (sob.) But here’s my list with explanations for each and in no particular order. 1. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte Ah, a good gothic tale and reasonably accessible to the too smart 7th grade me who bought and read it, much to the amazement of my teachers and mother. 2. Alas, Babylon – Pat Frank Nuclear war story written in 1959, before we truly realized what we’d done and thought we could survive all out nuclear war. 3. Tess of the U’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy Probably one of the main reasons I developed feminist leanings and the only Merchant Ivory miniseries that causes me to yell at the television. "No, Tess, don’t. It’s not your fault!" Significantly more accessible than Return of the Native. 4. Expendables – James Alan Gardner See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-FF2-AE76F25-3946DAF7-prod5 5. The Interceptor – Richard Herschlag See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-2190-41189C6-39A5D06D-prod2 6. Beggars in Spain – Nancy Kress Does what sci fi is supposed to do, looks at what might happen with new technology. Probably Kress’ best book. 7. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-232E-14F3274B-39CFAFBC-prod3 8. Animal Farm – George Orwell I still cry when they take Boxer away. This book inspired a George Harrison song. 9. The Greenlanders – Jane Smiley Have you ever gotten to the end of a book and been outraged that there wasn’t more? I think this book could have been another 300 pages and I would have been as happy as a pig in mud. 10. Homecoming – Cynthia Voight Marvelous young adult novel, four children abandonded by their crazy mother in the parking lot of a mall in Maine walk to their grandmother’s house in Maryland. Wrenching, joyful, wonderful. 11. Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton The most accessible Wharton. Short, sweet, painful. There’s a good movie version starring Liam Neeson. 12. Impossible Things – Connie Willis See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-5B18-521945D-39831FB3-prod6 13. The Empire Strikes Back – Donald F. Glut Contains stuff that isn’t in the movie. Also inspired me to become a better reader because I had to learn a few words to read it. 14. The Hobbit – J R R Tolkein Little known fact about Darkmistress. In 5th grade I transferred to a Catholic school and was tested at a 3rd grade reading level. The Catholic school sent me to a tutor which helped a little, but more importantly they had a copy of The Hobbit in the school library. By the end of 5th grade I was reading at grade level. By the end of 6th grade I was reading at a 7th grade level. By the end of 8th grade I was reading at an 11th grade level. After that they just called me "college level reading comprehension." To say that The Hobbit rescued me from a life of managing McDonalds and thinking that was a good as it got is an understatement. Does this mean your child will become a reading dynamo because of The Hobbit? No, but it does mean that the book options should be many and varied. (Darkmistress steps off soapbox.) 15. Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley One of the very best interpretations of Arthurian legend around. The TNT version was very good, but the book is much better. Plus it was the only really good book Bradley wrote. 16. Enchantment – Orson Scott Card Great story, no annoying plot holes! 17. Good Omens – Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman What a combination! Terry Prachett, light comedy writer, Neil Gaiman astonishingly slow writer of deep stories. It’s the end of the world, the four horsemen have graduated to motorcycles (and multinational corporations) and it’s funny! 18. The Prophet – Kihlial Gibran So it’s poetry, it’s the life altering kind and it’s short. 19. The Wild Road – Gabriel King Starts out as The Hobbit with cats but becomes oh so much more. Cat lovers and Hobbit lovers alike will love this one. 20. Dark Tower: Gunslinger – Stephen King My mother hated this one and I loved it. Hard to explain, but if you happen to like Victorian poetry and Stephen King, you might like this too. (The title comes from Byron’s Childe Harold To the Dark Tower Came.) 21. Dark Tower: Drawing of the Three – Stephen King If you liked the last one there’s no stopping now. 22. Dark Tower: The Wasteland – Stephen King Remembered by me for the annoying end. Our heroes board an insane train after making a deal with it to have a riddling contest. If it doesn’t like the riddles it just won’t stop at the end of the line smashing them all to smithereens. It might smash them all to smithereens anyway. And then there’s no way of knowing if the track is still intact. The train doors close. Turn the page. Nothing. That’s how the book ends. Fortunately for you the next installment is out. I had to wait 4 years. 23. Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass – Stephen King No annoying ending here, but as far as I’m concerned King could keep telling this story forever. 24. I Am Legend – Richard Matheson Matheson wrote Twilight Zones. This is absolutely the best vampire story I’ve ever read. Yes, I’ve read Anne Rice, I’ve also seen the Jean Rollin movie she lifted her ideas from. 25. Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton Not as accessible as Ethan Frome, but if follows the same basic plot line (one man, 2 women.) I avoid the movie version like the plague because the director cavalierly disregarded the main symbolism of the book. Diana was blond in the book, Madame Olensky was brunette. It meant something. In this book, everything means something. 26. Passage – Connie Willis See review: http://www.epinions.com/content_28858027652 27. Here Be Dragons – Sharon Kay Penman This book makes me laugh out loud and cry every time I read it, even though I know what’s coming when I open it and all the people portrayed have been dead for 800 years. 28. The Sparrow – Mary Doria Russell See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-3813-1FFC1B8C-397CD22A-prod5 29. Dragon Prince – Melanie Rawn See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-32F0-10B6E8BD-39C4D81C-prod3 30. Angel with a Sword – C J Cherryh Excellent and out of print. One of the very best worlds I’ve ever seen built. Good luck finding it. I’m not loaning out my copies. By the way 31 – 36 are the rest of the series, it’s all out of print. 31. Festival Moon – C J Cherryh 32. Fever Season – C J Cherryh 33. Troubled Waters – C J Cherryh 34. Smuggler’s Gold – C J Cherryh 35. Divine Right – C J Cherryh 36. Flood Tide – C J Cherryh 37. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card There are many fine reviews on this book and nothing I can add. 38. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller It’s a graphic novel and one of the very best. It’s a peak comics experience. 39. Maus – Art Spiegelman The Holocaust with Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. The story is marvelous and groundbreaking. I find the art somewhat annoying. 40. Sandman: Brief Lives – Neil Gaiman I like Jill Thompson, I think Vince Locke should be shot for what he did to her pencils. In this episode, Sandman takes a holiday (Death is too dedicated to her job to even pause.) I started here and I think it’s the best place to start. 41. Sandman: Fables and Reflections – Neil Gaiman A collection of stories that didn’t fit anywhere else in the series. My favorite is still P. Craig Russell’s even though we never see him any more. 42. Strangers In Paradise – Terry Moore Terry draws in the Art Nouveau style favored by my husband and despite the fact that Dennis can draw rings around Terry, the story here is marvelous. The art isn’t bad either. 43. The Stand – Stephen King My mother and I were slightly freaked out every time we caught a cold in 1984 because that was when The Stand originally took place. Any book that can do that deserves mention. 44. When Christ and All His Saints Slept – Sharon Kay Penman See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-606F-49D3D76-39B18054-prod1 45. Serpent’s Tooth – Diana Paxson Diana was Marion Zimmer Bradley’s sister or sister-in-law, I forget. Either way this is her Mists of Avalon. A retelling of King Lear set in pre-Christian Britain. I originally borrowed this book from the library and spent years searching for a copy of my own. 46. Tales From Jabba’s Palace – Kevin J Anderson See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-2D79-10AF8DAE-399227F8-prod1 47. The Black Stallion – Walter Farley See review: http://www.epinions.com/content_25380621956 48. Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish – Morgan Llewelyn I blithely assumed that Morgan was male when I read this book because she wrote the men so convincingly. Then I read Grania and didn’t know what to think. One of the best Irish storytellers this side of the grave. 49. Interview with a Vampire – Anne Rice Ok, just because I denigrate the woman for her lack of original ideas doesn’t mean I wasn’t thoroughly impressed by this book. If you only read one Anne Rice book, read this one. No really, only read one Anne Rice book, this one. Then search feverishly for Jean Rollin’s Living Dead Girl and be stunned. 50. Get Fuzzy – Darby Conley If you haven’t heard of get Fuzzy, you must go to Comics.com and look it up. You’ll thank me. 51. The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury Ray, before he went completely, crazy wrote great short stories. Many of them are here. 52. The City – Clifford Simak When dogs ruled the Earth! 53. The Odyssey – Homer Not everybody’s cup of tea but I’m not every reader. Should you stumble across the film version with Armaund Assante watch it. 54. Your Money or You Life See review: http://www.epinions.com/content_26309267076 55. The End of the World – Otto Freidrich Freakishly unlocateble now, but collects several of Freidrich’s shorter books like The Kingdom of Auschwitz. This is the way the world ends, with a bang and a whimper and sometimes it just doesn‘t. 56. A World Lit Only By Fire – William Manchester After reading this book I went around for months evangelizing it. If you have any interest in the Middle Ages this is one book you can’t miss. 57. Understanding Comics – Scott McCloud We have two copies. One for my husband and one for me because we were forever fighting over it. All that stuff you didn’t know was happening in comics? This explains it. 58. The Coming Plague – Laurie Garrett See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-67C8-45699182-3A4BBFA9-prod3 59. Toot & Puddle You Are My Sunshine – Holly Hobbie See review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-2088-57AFB42-39D4EF18-prod1 60. The Keeper – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Young adult novel about a boy dealing with his father slowly going crazy. 61. A Day No Pigs Would Die – Robert Newton Peck See Review: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-2088-57AFB42-39D4EF18-prod1 62. A Wish for Wings That Work – Berke Breathed Appeared on TV as a Christmas special once, never to be seen again. We caught it on tape and watch it annually. I read the book when ever I darn well want to. 63. I Am 15 and I Don’t Want To Die – Christine Arnothy See review: http://www.epinions.com/content_24323722884 64. They Call It Sleep - ? Absolutely haunting novel about a young Jewish boy and his father at the turn of the century. 65. Language In Action – S. I. Hayakawa Out of print, but shouldn’t be. Every thing you want to know about how to manipulate the language. Hayakawa later became a senator, from Iowa I believe. 66. Prince of Annwn – Evangeline Walton 67. The Children of Llyr – Evangeline Walton 68. The Song of Rhiannon – Evangeline Walton 69. The Island of the Mighty – Evangeline Walton Modern translation of one of the earliest story cycles or Romances. It’s got everything, undead armies, magical items, love stories and love gone awry. The Celtic equivalent of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. 70. The Splinter of the Mind’s Eye – Alan Dean Foster Most of my feelings on the role of the Arts in society and freedom of speech came from one of Princess Leia’s speeches in the middle of the book. Then I promptly forgot about it.  |
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