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 the 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.
I was tagged for this by ravenouscorax and also, a while back, by captn-sara-holmes (I forgot, I'm sorry!). So, right off the top of my head without thinking about it (and then going back to add a couple of notes):
The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling - plotholes abound, worldbuilding is marginal at best, but I love the characters, I love the characterizations, and I love that the plot actually managed to surprise me a few times. Also, it's a brilliant introduction to the theme of Not Everything Is Black Or White and the problematic world of politics for kids who are just starting to be old enough to understand these things. (I was already an adult when these were published, but watching my daughter discover them has been one of the best things in my life.)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman - I was torn between this and his Sandman comics, but I come back to this more often than I do the comics, so.
The Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - My go-to comfort reads.
Watchmen by Alan Moore - One of my earliest introductions to comics as a serious storytelling medium.
The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder - This was my go-to comfort read when I was a child. I still have all but one of my original set of these books, with my name written in shaky marker on the side of the box.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson - The technology is outdated now, but it held up a lot longer than you might expect for a cyberpunk story. Like almost all cyberpunk stories I've read, it suffers just a bit from its deux ex machina ending (no really, it's almost a trope of the genre), but otherwise contains some of the most hilarious and heartrending writing I've ever encountered.
The Last Herald-Mage series by Mercedes Lackey - Read this for the first time in high school and it was a go-to comfort read series for a really long time. I generally credit this series with opening my eyes to the idea of gay heroes/protagonists and romance arcs.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury - About as close as I like to come to horror. Ray Bradbury is my hero when it comes to evocative language and mind-blowing twists in short stories.
The Black Company series by Glen Cook - A high school era comfort read. My best friend and I used to get on the phone late at night (this was before the internet was a household thing) and read this for hours. Silently, mind you, to ourselves. Just occasionally speaking up to quote favorite bits.
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein - Funny and/or poignant. I'm not really a poetry person, but I can't live in a house that doesn't have this book in it, if only for "Listen to the Mustn'ts".
More than half of these are series instead of individual books. I am a voracious reader; it takes a very special kind of standalone book to make an impression.
I am more than slightly surprised I remembered not only titles but authors without having to look any of them up. I am terrible at remembering author names.
"Comfort" reading sticks with me over the years, intellectual reading not so much. Probably because I re-read the comfort books more. (There isn't a book/series on this list that I haven't read at least five times, most of them much more.)
I am tagging: tisfan, oopswrongcookie, zombieonavespa, rowanmcbride, @curiouskiris, fandomfix8, insaneandobsessed, proudasexualintrovert, and ANYONE ELSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO DO THIS. :-)
