15 books that shaped me

My friend Caroline tagged me in Facebook with her list and I really liked the idea of making the same kind of list. Since the title of this list is “15 Books that Shaped Me” it seems to me that the majority of these books must be ones read early in life and which had a hand in forming the person one turned out to be. I’m no longer quite as formable as I was when I was much younger. But this doesn’t mean I no longer can find books that move me and make me see the world in a different way anymore. They just don’t have the same kind of world shattering effect they had when I was in my teens or 20s.

While how well a book utilizes language is important to me, I generally won’t be judging the quality and technical skill of the writing. But if the ideas or characters or events in the book are so able to move me, to make me think, to leave an indelible mark on me then so who cares if they know where to put their commas and semicolons. The important thing is that the words work.

Some authors write individual books with totally different stories in each, some write many books which inhabit the same universe. Once I enter the universe of an author that I like, I feel great sadness about leaving it and want to keep coming back. So its hard for me to stop at just one book. This makes it also hard to pick out just one book from that universe – I love them all. So some of this list will be more like a series from one author and some will be just individual books.

I had a hard time deciding how I would organize the books. By genre or by when read? I first decided to organize them in a vague timeline. But then I realized that, in reality, my reading generally falls into two categories: Science Fiction and everything else. So I’m going to put the Sci Fi first and then everything else after that. So let’s begin.

Here’s my list:

The Story of Peter and Wendy by James Barry (1911): By the time I was 10, Peter Pan and his Neverland had ceased being just another children’s book for me. They had reached mythical proportions. Peter’s Neverland was the place I tried to get to any time the real world became too hard. I always felt then and probably still do that Wendy was really dumb for wanting to grow up.

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950): I read this book when I was 11. It was one of my father’s collection of Science Fiction paperbacks. While I understood that it was a chapter book, I was very confused by the fact that each chapter while always about Mars, didnt just follow the previous chapter events. Ray Bradbury himself called it, “a book of stories pretending to be a novel”. Each chapter had different characters and the events took place in unrelated time and space. I had never read a book like that before. The story of the Martian, Tom, a shape-shifter able to take-on the appearance of someone known to the person looking at him has remained with me to this day. While in the town, everyone “Tom” passes sees a person of their own. The Martian, exhausted from his constant shape-changing, spasms and dies. When I read this story I realized you have to be who you are for own self, not try to shift your shape to fit what other people want to see. An idea I still believe to this day.

The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov (1951, 1952, 1953): I read these sometime in the early sixties when they came, all together in one volume, as a freebee when someone, I don’t remember if it was my dad or brother, joined the Science Fiction Book club. I loved the century spanning scope of it and the way it described individual independence versus the inevitable actions of the masses. I went on to read most of Asimov’s books and in a “Man and His Gods” course in college wrote a very long essay on Asimov’s cosmology using about 10 of his novels. Got a B in the course.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954–55): What can one say about LOTR? It is the unparalleled, ultimate Fantasy novel by which every other Fantasy novel is judged. Professor Tolkien didn’t just write a story. He spent his entire life building a world and it shows in every word he put on paper.

Cyteen (1988) and the Chanur novels (published between 1981 and 1992) by CJ Cherryh: Like Isaac Asimov, CJ Cherryh sets many of her novels in the same universe. Cyteen takes place in her Alliance-Union universe, the part of Space known to space-faring humans. Chanur takes place in the same universe but in a region of space in the opposite direction from Earth as the Alliance and Union. The Chanur region is populated by 6 totally alien races mainly unknown to the humans who have traveled out to the other side of Earth. The 6 species trade together under a series of trade agreements called the Compact. (some of the Cyteen and Chanur text is taken from Wikipedia. They do a much better job at summerizing than I ever could. So why reinvent the wheel)
Cyteen is a story about the attempt to clone a brilliant woman scientist who is killed prematurely. Because her own parents, who were also scientists, documented every moment of her childhood, those who wanted to recreate the same person thought if they did everything the same way to the clone they would get the same person. They didn’t get what they expected. A wonderful exploration of human nature set on a different world, in a future time, but still peopled by human beings.
The Pride of Chanur is the first in a series of 5 books. A human exploration ship is captured by one of the more unpleasant alien species. The last human surviver, Tully, manages to find safe harbour aboard the merchant ship belonging to a Hani named Pyanfar Chanur. The entire story is told from the viewpoint of the sleek pelted Hani as they try to understand the strange, bare skined human with a head of golden hair. The realistic handling of linguistic and psychological barriers is one of the stronger aspects of the books. Coercion, manipulation, politics, pride contests, and clashing economic interests as well as species-to-species miscommunication and misunderstanding are just some of the things that make these books so fascinating. Just as Jonathan Swift’s Liliputians were really a commentary on the people of his own time so are all the aliens in Compact space simply human with a twist.

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984): Fabulous sensory overload about a not so distant future Earth I hope I never have to live in. I’ve also read all his other books.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (between 1979 and 1992): Starting off with Don’t panic, this series of books are a wonderfully funny, sarcastic and inventive examination of the nature of humankind. My favorite was Adams’ description of the “Somebody-else’s-problem invisibility shield”. This is a force that operates frequently in my home, especially when applied to dirty laundry on the floor.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936): I read this book when I was 16. I loved this book! And the movie was equally great. For many years this book was a bell weather showing how I was feeling about relationships – If I felt the book hinted that Scarlett would win back Rhett, things were good. If things were bad, I was certain she had blown it for good.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957): When I was 20 years old, Ayn Rand explained the way the world works to me in this book. I recently found my paperback copy from way back then and had the chance to read all the notes I had made in the margins. I’m still looking for John Galt; and Dagny Taggert was one of the first really strong, independent, smart, female roll models I was to run across and look up to.

Doris Lessing: The Golden Notebook, The Martha Quest series, the entire Canopus in Argus series, and the one that had the biggest life/decision effect on me – The Grass is Singing. The moral of the story in the Grass is Singing – never mistake for good, something you know in your heart is wrong for you.

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy (1986): I loved the way this novel drew me into it as Conroy bit by bit brings the reader to the explosive core. A wonderful story about the human heart and soul. And the words used to tell it just dissolved in my mouth, melting around my tongue. Just plain wonderful writing.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998). An amazing mad journey to the depths of Africa. Bringing Betty Crocker cake mixes.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2002). When the book club that I was member of for a short time recommended this book to me by saying it was about the rape and murder of a young teenage girl, I said, “No way, I cant read that”. But I did and could. It describes a type of Heaven that I can live with.

Well, that’s the short list. As usual, I can’t just say a few words when many will do.