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[CCBC-Net] Books that CHANGED! MY! LIFE!
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From: Suzi Steffen <suzisteffen>
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 09:48:12 -0700
Hi CCBC-ers, Super fun discussion!
The first book that changed my life was ELLEN'S LITTLE FISHPOND, the first book I read on my own (when I was 2 1/2). I clearly remember that day and exactly where I was when the words made sense. I read like mad after that (and still do), so it's hard to say exactly which books were the most lifechanging.
I'd bet on Isaac Asimov's CAVES OF STEEL and THE NAKED SUN--my first SF books, and mysteries to boot!--WATERSHIP DOWN, which I read every year from age five to about 25 (I need to get back to it), Anne Moody's COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI--still one of the most powerful books I've ever, ever read about the experience of the civil rights movement, and Alan Paton's CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY.
As a young lesbian, Nancy Garden's ANNIE ON MY MIND helped me a ton as well. (Yes, Nancy Garden, you ARE my hero; as I write my own YA book, I often think of ANNIE.)
A couple of days ago, I read NOT EXACTLY NORMAL, a newish middle-grade book about an 11-year-old (I think) boy who goes to Episcopalian school and whose family are believers. I'm an athiest now, but I grew up Catholic, and my favorite Christmas carol (I knew all of the words to all of the verses, as sadly proven by a cassette tape of my young self singing them all...my poor parents!) was "Good King Wenceslaus." The narrator of the book learns a lot about Wenceslaus and thinks a lot about the message of the carol, and it changes him. I identified completely with this character and sat on the couch thinking about how maybe, just maybe, my commitment to social justice and activism all started with Wenceslaus.
Then I decided that we "read back" our lives and try to find reasons or causes for our personalities, characteristics (like sexual orientation) or passions; some of them are real, some of them are a big stretch. Erika Rand touches on this phenomenon in her (excellent) BARBIE'S QUEER ACCESSORIES. (Not a children's book.)
In turn, I wondered how many of us BELIEVE that books changed our lives in specific ways when we were actually headed in those directions anyway and given a slight push (or a hard push) by what we got from the books. In other words, perhaps I would have been into social justice anyway, and all of those books I listed above except maybe ELLEN'S LITTLE FISHPOND just reinforced my tendencies. I certainly read Ayn Rand as well, but I was repelled after a couple of books (unlike my sister, who wants to be into social justice, but who keeps hearkening back to Rand's claim that no one is reponsible for anyone else), and no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT stand reading my dad's issues of the National Review. Hm.
And yes, the email subject is a Lynda Barry (Who! Is! Briliant!) reference.
Ta, Suzi
Received on Thu 25 May 2006 11:48:12 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 09:48:12 -0700
Hi CCBC-ers, Super fun discussion!
The first book that changed my life was ELLEN'S LITTLE FISHPOND, the first book I read on my own (when I was 2 1/2). I clearly remember that day and exactly where I was when the words made sense. I read like mad after that (and still do), so it's hard to say exactly which books were the most lifechanging.
I'd bet on Isaac Asimov's CAVES OF STEEL and THE NAKED SUN--my first SF books, and mysteries to boot!--WATERSHIP DOWN, which I read every year from age five to about 25 (I need to get back to it), Anne Moody's COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI--still one of the most powerful books I've ever, ever read about the experience of the civil rights movement, and Alan Paton's CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY.
As a young lesbian, Nancy Garden's ANNIE ON MY MIND helped me a ton as well. (Yes, Nancy Garden, you ARE my hero; as I write my own YA book, I often think of ANNIE.)
A couple of days ago, I read NOT EXACTLY NORMAL, a newish middle-grade book about an 11-year-old (I think) boy who goes to Episcopalian school and whose family are believers. I'm an athiest now, but I grew up Catholic, and my favorite Christmas carol (I knew all of the words to all of the verses, as sadly proven by a cassette tape of my young self singing them all...my poor parents!) was "Good King Wenceslaus." The narrator of the book learns a lot about Wenceslaus and thinks a lot about the message of the carol, and it changes him. I identified completely with this character and sat on the couch thinking about how maybe, just maybe, my commitment to social justice and activism all started with Wenceslaus.
Then I decided that we "read back" our lives and try to find reasons or causes for our personalities, characteristics (like sexual orientation) or passions; some of them are real, some of them are a big stretch. Erika Rand touches on this phenomenon in her (excellent) BARBIE'S QUEER ACCESSORIES. (Not a children's book.)
In turn, I wondered how many of us BELIEVE that books changed our lives in specific ways when we were actually headed in those directions anyway and given a slight push (or a hard push) by what we got from the books. In other words, perhaps I would have been into social justice anyway, and all of those books I listed above except maybe ELLEN'S LITTLE FISHPOND just reinforced my tendencies. I certainly read Ayn Rand as well, but I was repelled after a couple of books (unlike my sister, who wants to be into social justice, but who keeps hearkening back to Rand's claim that no one is reponsible for anyone else), and no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT stand reading my dad's issues of the National Review. Hm.
And yes, the email subject is a Lynda Barry (Who! Is! Briliant!) reference.
Ta, Suzi
Received on Thu 25 May 2006 11:48:12 AM CDT
