Comments on: Five Favorite Books

By: Jenn

Jenn — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:48:17 +0000

I am going to second “Operating Instructions” by Anne Lamott. I read it many years ago as a required reading for a college course and absolutely loved it.

As far as finding time to read…? Well even with a 2 year old and a 1 year old who go to bed at 7pm and wake up at 9am (yes, I’m spoiled…I know), I still find it hard to sit down and read. The piles of laundry and dust bunnies cry out to me as I read. So, my answer is books on cd. I LOVE them. I’m currently half way through my local library branch’s selection of cd books.

By: Desiree

Desiree — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:54:02 +0000

1. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell: The struggle between contrasting feminine archetypes–Scarlett and Melanie–made me understand the advantages and consequences faced by different kinds of strong women years before I read any feminist literature.

2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver: the post-Green-Revolution food industry is creepy. It’s effects are even creepier. Home-grown tomatoes are tasty.

3. Beowulf: There’s a reason Lit majors still have to read it.

4. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy: When I was little I imagined god as a bearded old man who knew so much about the universe that he could talk about it wisely, simply, and in terms that were lovely and compassionate. It turns out I was thinking of Tolstoy.

5. Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas: I read that Dylan Thomas wrote UMW to convince himself and his audience that there could still be beauty in the world after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I’ve been rereading it since I was a teenager, and I remain convinced.

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:58:59 +0000

Although I love reading of all kinds, I am partial to the short story. The two best collections I have come across are:

1. Fidelity by Wendell Berry – If you’ve never read anything by Berry, stop what you’re doing and get this book. Berry’s simple way with words floored me.

2. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri – I read this book before I lived in India and read it again after I returned last year. Powerful both times, though in different ways.

By: Betsy

Betsy — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:44:26 +0000

Wow! Such great lists. First for me, most important: Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ My husband and I both loved it, would have named our first child after the main character, if we’d had a girl, and I wish everyone in America could read it right now, with what is going on in the country and economy. It is all about work ethic and taking responsiblity for your own success.
Also, loved and still think about ‘The Power of One’ by Courtenay.
Those are the two which come to me off the top of my head. I love all the suggestions I’ve gotten. Thanks!

By: TSH

TSH — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:08:49 +0000

City of Thieves, David Benioff

Marathon Man, William Golding

And most importantly:

Complications, by Atul Gawande. This book is graphic (Gawande is a surgeon and writes about extreme cases he’s seen) but taught me to be a better patient and made me want to be a doctor.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:15:35 +0000

We The Living – Ayn Rand

i don’t know if it changed me but it still haunts me a few months after reading it.
rand based the story on her experience of communism in russia (she lived the revolution).
her main character is a girl and goes through a love story that’s beautiful but the whole day to day of living in a newly communist state is really fascinating.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:21:36 +0000

Two books that have been important to me are “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath; and “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay. Interestingly, to me anyway, I read “The Bell Jar” first when I was 16 and full of adolescent angst and truly found it life changing. I read it again over 15 years later and while I appreciated it, it did not have the same effect at all. Helped me understand the importance of what the reader brings to the book.

By: daria

daria — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:53:07 +0000

I would have to say that a book that changed me, changed things for me, _and_ is a favorite is Lolita by Nabokov. I refuse to apologize for the plot (yes it’s shocking, but the shocking part is how much you are drawn into it), and the writing is absolutely amazing. I had never experienced such conflicting feelings from a book – you love and hate pretty much every character; you accept and refuse the storyline. It’s really a mind-bend, and I think it gives justice to the complexity of humankind, and in what a beautiful way!

The Backlash book you mentioned sounds very interesting as well. Being in the field of psychology of women, I think/talk/write/read/discuss/persuade/argue/deconstruct/etc. feminism all the time, but it’s amazing how many women today are pretty much over it (or at least have such complicated (and usually negative) feelings toward it). Anyway, this should be an worthy read, thanks for the suggestion.

By: Kara

Kara — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:25:22 +0000

This is probably mundane, but it answers both “what books have changed your life” and “how have you kept reading in your life after becoming a mother.” Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (Weisbluth). I know, how prosaic, right? But honestly, the answer to the question of how I am still able to read a TON is that I read HSHHC and learned how to train my daughter to sleep (she is 3 now, and I read this when she was 4 months old–now we’re working on the new 8-month-old sister). When you have a child that starts sleeping 12 hours with no wakings, at 9 months old, and she goes to bed at 7pm and wakes at 7am, guess what? You have time to read! Even after doing the have-to’s like washing the dinner dishes, putting away some laundry, etc., etc., when you have from 7pm until (your bedtime here) to do it, you still find yourself with plenty of time for want-to’s like reading. And cuddling with the husband. And maybe some blogs.

So, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child could also be titled Sleep-Trained Children, Happy Parents. It’s my little secret for still having my life–as an individual, an adult, a woman, as well as a mommy.

By: Me

Me — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:18:25 +0000

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. My very favorite.

Haiku Year