Which books have cheered you on, offered comfort and courage, and made you ... different after reading? Maybe it's a story that's stayed with you since childhood, or one you've read in school that motivated you a little, made you feel a tad more adventurous, or helped you overcome a personal issue?
I have a list of books that I love -- they've influenced and comforted/encouraged me through decades. {What's your list like? Or is there one special book you'd like to share? Could be children's books, or adult fiction, or non-fiction. Good books are good books.}
Children's Books:
* The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge Hildegarde H. Swift & Lynd Ward
* Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo
* Ghostly Beasts Joan Aiken
* When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six A.A. Milne
* Dear Mr. Henshaw Beverly Cleary
* My Parents Are Divorced, My Elbows Have Nicknames, And Other Facts About Me Bill Cochran & Steve Björkman
* Remembering Grandpa Uma Krishnaswami & Layne Johnson
* Miss Rumphius Barbara Cooney
* The Cello of Mr. O Jane Cutler & Greg Couch
* Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder (This must be one of the earliest books that'd influenced me cos I remember waking up at 7 on a Sunday morning, while the rest of the household was still asleep, to read that great, thick book. I also secretly wished our family was very, very poor, so that my father could carry all of us kids on a broken cart to school ...)
* The Sun, The Rain, and the Apple Seed Lynda Durrant
* The Wanderer Sharon Creech
* The Fantastical Adventures of the Invisible Boy Lloyd Alexander
* Notes from A Liar and Her Dog Gennifer Choldenko
* The Song Of The Whales Uri Orlev
Young Adult Books (Age 14 & up):
* The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
* The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
* The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman
* When My Name Was Keoko Linda Sue Park
* Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury
Adult Fiction & Non-Fiction
* Winter's Tale Mark Helprin
* The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of A Girlhood among Ghosts Maxine Hong Kingston
* The Fifth Book of Peace Maxine Hong Kingston
* A Soldier of the Great War Mark Helprin
* Barnaby Rudge Charles Dickens
* Peace In Every Step Thich Nhat Hanh
* Morning Sunshine Robin Meade
* How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be Jack Canfield
* A Short Guide to a Happy Life Anna Quindlen
* The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children Nancy Lamb
* Bird by Bird Anne Lamott
* Zen in the Art of Writing Ray Bradbury
* We Were the Mulvaneys Joyce Carol Oates
* Dear Husband, Joyce Carol Oates
(I realize I get most of my uplifted moments from children's and young adults books, while the adult fiction, many of which I love too, is mainly hauntingly real and honest. Encouraging and comforting only in their authenticity.)
What about you? What books have lifted you that you'd like to share with us here?
Reposted from: http://www.carryusoffbooks.com/1/post/2011/06/books-that-have-given-me-bits-of-couragecomfort.html
