I will admit right off that when I
found the book Divergent by Veronica
Roth, the description I read made it sound like some namby-pamby
post-apocalypse that was really…well, boring.
How wrong I was. (No, seriously, I
was DEAD WRONG.)
Anyway, where I’m going with this is
that I found Veronica Roth’s blog, and I’ve been reading it ever since. I see
now that she and I are really similar, kindred spirits, you might say; not only
was I surprised—I expected MIO (Mainstream-Instant-Oatmeal)—but hey. Being
pleasantly surprised is always nice. I found one posting she did, and may
currently still doing as a series, that made me interested to start something
like it myself. Here’s what she’s doing: a revisit challenge. Revisiting books
she read as a child, that is. Ones that had an influence on her.
Well, I’ve been thinking about that,
too. Books that influenced me, that is. Ever since I really stopped being so up
on myself and really looked hard at what God’s gifted me with (words), I’ve
been seeing things at a different angle. The tilted becomes straight, the
straight perfectly clear and open, and things have been transparent before my
eyes, even if I have to sit back and mull through what just affected me and
why. So I challenged myself.
I’ve made a list of books I’m going
to revisit, books I haven’t read in years, probably, and not only write a
review, but also what I felt when rereading it: what it brought back, ways I
can see that the story or author influenced me, things I still carry with me
from the book that I can remember that shocked/thrilled/disturbed/enlightened/etc.
me.
Lord Brocktree by Brian Jacques
Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwartz
Tailchaser’s
Song by Tad Williams
The Black
Stallion by Walter Farley
Vulpes the Red
Fox by Jean Craighead
George
Into the Wild by Erin Hunter (This one will most likely lead to
me rereading the entire first series, soooooo….yep.)
Inkheart,
Inkspell, and Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
The Stinky
Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka,
illustrated by Lane Smith
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
The Unicorns of
Balinor series by Mary Stanton
Dragons of
Deltora series by Emily Rodda
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Dark is a Color by Fay S. Lapka
The Oath by Frank Peretti
Dealing with
Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Incident at Hawk’s
Hill by Allan W. Eckert
These are the books that stand out very strongly to
me from my childhood. Some I read in class, some I read on my own, but each and
every one of these gave me some bolt of Wonder that struck me in a certain way
as to forever remain in my memory. I probably won’t really be able to recognize
what struck me in particular until I
read the book again, but then again, I may never know, may forever be struck
dumb at the amazingness that writing is, the incredible craft that brings to
life the realities only those with eyes to see, can see.
God, in so many ways, is wonderful. He will always
be wonderful. And in one way, to me, He was and still is wonderful insofar as
providing me with amazing things that hooked me and helped shape the Wordsmith
I am today. And I will forever be thankful to Him for that.
So! On that note, here I go! As I read them, I’ll
cross them off my list and get back to you. I thought of another to add to the
list, but as is my brain’s custom, it got tossed from Charles Dickens’ window
the minute I tried to retrieve the thought. (Woo.) However, I think I’ll
leave it and continue on. So, on with the challenge!
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