I got tagged by re-sassafrass and it means I won't feel as guilty about filling out scholarship essays!
Rules: In a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just ones that have touched you. Tag ten friends, including me, so I’ll see your list. Make sure you let your friends know you’ve tagged them!
Also in no particular order:
1. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vols. I and II. I have an entire rant on these books here. In short, however, it's what introduced me to fantasy and made me sympathetic to non-typical characters--strong-willed, if misguided, women, and heroes who are occasionally spineless themselves, and make mistakes out the wazoo.
2. The Cal Leandros series, by Rob Thurman. This one's a great series to start with--any romance takes a backseat to the brotherly bond, angst over not belonging, delightfully creepy villains and an unrepentably assholish yet undeniably relatable main character--but what hits me hardest about this book is that it's written by a girl. I've known the story of why J.K. Rowling uses that pseudonym, but Robin Thurman's story was the first time I really got angry on behalf of a woman writer, so that's important.
3. The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. The joke is that he got dared to make a good idea out of two bad ones--Pokemon and the Lost Roman Legion--and damn did he deliver. Badass ladies in the form of Isana, Kitai, and Amara (might even pass the Bechdel test, woo!), magnificent world-building especially in the caste-system-defined-by-strength-to-a-point, and also lots of social commentary.
4. By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey--more badass ladies! Also, Companions are the bomb, as evidenced by:
5. Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey. First book that made me straight-up cry. Beautiful, terrible, wonderful.
6. I pretty much just have to lump all of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series under here, with honorable mention going to the Magic's Price trilogy and the Exile's Valor duet. WORLD-BUILDING, PEOPLE. Also really cool religion/reincarnation ideas, and soooo muuuuuch tie-in stuff! (Lackey is also a lyricist, and her Valdemar ballads are often led by Alexander James Adams, who is trans!!!--sung as Heather Alexander, he's badass, see here.
7. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I was probably in third or fourth grade when I read it for the first time, and I remember thinking that she was so grown-up and fabulous (in tenth grade) that I wanted to be like her. I'm now a...thirteenth grader, I guess, and I still want to be like her.
8. Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. I still think he's more quotable than readable, but it was just so ridiculous that I still think of it and laugh in awkwardly silent rooms.
9. At the risk of sounding pretentious, Coming Apart by Charles Murray, and its better-known predecessor, The Bell Curve. Reaaaallly interesting findings, especially together, and it's freaking formative as far as my interest in social science go. I'm now a psychology major with a special interest in group psychology, so thank you, Mr. Murray.
10. Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce (so many badass ladies on this list, I think I was more of a sixth-grade feminist than I thought). Specifically this one because it deals with really, really, really scary protagonists, and Kel just so completely owns everything. I want to be her when I grow up. And Stargirl. And Gina Torres. Shit.
I tag re-sassafrass, reallyquitequaint, eldrwnd, grahntare, badlydressedbahorel, willowingends, cupofjoux, set-of-all-sets, whoarethetrusted, and ferretrade!
P.S. I could have put Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, but in the spirit of the obvious I would also have had to put the Holy Bible, so. If you follow me, those two ought to be a bit obvious.
