Sunday Fun Five: The 5 Books that Define You as a Person and a Reader

A Short Announcement Before the Fun:

This blogger is turning 22 years old today!

Back in the day

A little less cute ;)

END OF ANNOUNCEMENT

Sunday Fun Five #5

Sunday Fun 5:

#1: The 5 Stages of Reading a Bad Book

#2: The 5 Literary Antagonists You Hope You Never Meet

#3: The 5 Realms of the Written Word You Wish You Never Left

#4: The 5 Authors You Would Revive, If Only For a Day
#5: The 5 Books that Define You as a Person and a Reader
For the 20th of July: #6: The 5 Genres (or Subgenres) You Never Get Tired Of
Feel free to participate by commenting below or writing a blog post: I wrote up some guidelines for blog participation here.

A Countdown of

The 5 Books that Define You as a Person and a Reader 

5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth Salander rights wrongs in her life in an extreme manner- but really, I don't blame her for it. There are two sides to my personality: the sweet, quiet, Christian girl who'd never hurt a fly and the inner, fiery creative who cheers on anyone with a good vendetta (in fiction, of course). Lisbeth and I are similar in that we both have daddy problems, and alternately Mikael is a writer and seeker of the truth, just like me. I don't read a lot of mysteries or thrillers as a reader, but this one blew my socks off and made me stay up ungodly late for two nights reading it.

4. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

Have you ever stumbled onto something that unleashes a torrent of memories? That is basically the premise of the book- the heroine re-living an uncomfortable past after she finds a cat's eye marble in her old purse. I've had similar experiences, as I have journals from when I was little- as soon as I could read, I began to write, and fairly well for being such an unsatisfactory learner. It's amazing how many memories we as humans can repress, and sometimes we repress them for good reason. As a reader, Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, and the way she wrote this novel is so true-to-life it boggles the mind.

3. The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

I deeply debated whether The Fellowship of the Ring was a more apt book for my fantasy book spot, but really- Aerin is a girl who slays dragons- on her own. It takes nine men three very thick books to save the world, and Aerin manages it in one smaller book, again- on her own. Anyone else wonder what would happen if all of the fellowship were females (sure, a lot of gabbing and friendship bracelets and cattiness, but they'd drop the Ring in Mount Doom before Gandalf could finish waxing poetic). There are other reasons this book is on my list- Aerin isn't the prettiest, most liked princess, and has to fight and connive to get what she wants. She even loses her hair, and manages to get two guys in the end- realistically and without polygamy. Aerin is the kind of heroine I'd like to be, or even simply read about.

Cover From Goodreads, as my copy has vanished.

2. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

As a reader, I usually don't gravitate towards non-fiction, and even less so to memoirs. When I read this, I finally realized how much I was missing. All Creatures Great and Small follows James Herriot, a country veterinarian in England in the 1940s, as he does what he loves- helping animals. I don't understand the method to his madness, but the stories he penned had me laughing and crying, sometimes at the same time. I've always preferred the company of animals to humans, especially as a child, and so his stories of animals sometimes overlapped with mine, so much so that it felt like I was chatting with a fellow animal lover. As a reader, this marked a point where I became more open to reading non-fiction. As a person, James Herriot became my hero.

1. The Bible

If you've heard about my name's origin, you could have seen this coming. My name, Talitha (Litha on this blog), is from the Bible. There are many timeless stories in the Bible, regardless of what your religion or creed might be. David and Goliath, Cain and Abel, Mary and her teen pregnancy (an absolute taboo in that era), Jesus and those meddling Pharisees, not to mention a lot of tales that are less than stellar (a father sleeping with his daughters, people getting turned to dust because they're gay, lots and lots of blood and gore, Old Testament "justice", and not to mention polygamy [and marriage between teens and the elderly]). There is so much stigma attached to this book that people refuse to read it, and the people who read it judge other books with it, when it clearly isn't "clean reading". I've read it all, and have seen the great, the good, and the absolutely appalling, but I wouldn't be who I am today without this book, as a reader or a person.

Do you have books that went beyond the bounds of your favorites because they "hit home"?