W. S. Long challenged me on Facebook to list ten books that have “stayed with me in some way.” I’m a sucker for memes about reading and writing, so I was definitely game to play. Then it occurred to me that this post would really go better here, where I might possibly point some people in the direction of fantastic books they’d not yet read. So here goes (in no particular order):

• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
• Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
• The Lord of the Rings series–yeah, I’ll just throw all of them in as one
• Ask the Passengers by A. S. King (Though I could just as easily throw Please Ignore Vera Dietz in instead)
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Speaker for the Dead, Ender’s Game, and Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card
• Ordinary People by Judith Guest
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

I’ll tag people on Facebook, but if you feel like playing along, feel free to make your own list and ping me, either here or on Facebook or Twitter!

-o-

Aside: I’m conflicted about the fact that there aren’t any books by Latinos on that list. There are books I’ve read by Latinos that I was tempted to put on there, but it would have felt dishonest, because they were not among the top ten (or so) that had the biggest effect on me (that I could think of at this moment). There also aren’t, to the best of my knowledge, books by any sexual minorities on my list. It is what it is, but maybe this list tells me that I need to cast my net wider when looking for reading material.