an accidentally unruly newsletter about books
It seems like every week there’s a new book trend on social media—and I often take note, thinking I’ll participate but forgetting to do so until the trend has passed.
A few that I’ve liked: Seven books that define my taste. Books that are part of my reading history. The most recent—some books to read to be my friend.
Really, I just like that these prompts give the opportunity to view and share book recommendations. My to-be-read list may be frightfully long, but it’s never full.
Plus these trends act as a sort-of personality test for people, like me, who count reading as one of the major parts of their personality. Today I finished reading How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo, with an epigraph from Jamaica Kincaid: “All I along I have been wondering how you got to be the way you are.” Well, the primary way I got to be the way I am is books.
For me, each of those prompts would create lists with significant overlap, though not identical. I’m going to share a few books that are precious to me, without exactly following any one prompt because this is my newsletter and I make the rules. Then, after the books, we’ll have some caveats.
The Books
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
If you’ve ever been around me or anyone in my family for any significant amount of time, you’ve probably heard that I read Little Women for the first time in about 10 days, at the tail end of my first-grade year. In my memory, the adults in my life cheered and cared for me in the way that supporters hold signs along a marathon route. I just checked with my mom, and it seems I was fueled not only by love of reading but also by capitalism: If I gained 50 more AR points by the end of the school year, I would get a $50 gift card. I got it.
I’ve read this book many times since and feel the itch for a reread soon. Like many writers, Jo March is precious to me; like many sisters and daughters, so are the other March sisters and their mother. The 2019 movie adaptation of Little Women brings me to tears each and every time I watch it. I quoted from the film script to my class on my very first day of teaching. I have a whole shelf dedicated to my six copies of the book, plus retellings and books of analysis. That story is in my heart, my bones.
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (The Inheritance Cycle)
I started to say this was the first dragon story I ever loved, but then the Dragon Tales theme song started playing in my head. That show has to take some credit for how much I love dragons now—as does Saphira inEragon. To this day, after all the additional dragon books I’ve read and loved, there is still no dragon-human relationship and magic system that I love as much as those in The Inheritance Cycle.
Paolini was also a huge inspiration to me—he wrote much of Eragon when he was only 15. That was a goal I set for myself, to be an author that young—and I guess I did accomplish that, by writing an epistolary novel with my friend Ally. I doubt that book ever finds its way to a bestseller list, though.
Books set in Eragon’s universe are still coming out, so these characters continue to be an active part of my life. The books tend to come out in November, so I’ve spent many birthdays (most recently my 24th) celebrating the release of a new book about my favorite dragons.
Corregidora by Gayl Jones
This is another book I should reread soon—though I’ll miss the benefit of discussing it with a brilliant professor and classmates, an experience I had twice during college.
Gayl Jones is a Black woman from Kentucky, and reading this book for the first time shifted something for me. Not until college did I have books by Black writers assigned to me on a syllabus; not until college did I have books by Kentuckians assigned to me; not until college did I have the opportunity to learn from multiple professors of color.
I adored reading and discussing Corregidora, and the way that Jones writes about trauma and memory inherited through generations has informed so much of what I’ve read and learned since then. For part of my MFA application, I chose to write about Corregidora.
I highly recommend this book—but be aware that it deals with very hard topics, such as slavery and domestic violence.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Part of my original review of this book reads: “It is basically a love letter to libraries and books. It’s also a perfect, beautiful blending of personal experience, reporting and history.” This was in February 2020, and I was finishing up my senior year of college and beginning to think of how I might write a book about Alice Dunnigan. This book, with its beautiful blending, was an early model of what I wanted to write.
In the years since, I’ve sought out many books with a similar formula, both because I love reading them and because they’re fantastic teachers and models for my own writing. The Library Book remains one of my favorites.
Caveat 1: I have read so many books, and this is such a small list!
As I wrote that, I thought of the desk decal that President Josiah Bartlet had on his desk in The West Wing: “O Lord, Your Sea Is So Great and My Boat Is So Small.” See, I collect words from everywhere and tuck them away.
There are many, many more books that have shaped who I am. Even the ones I didn’t like have had an impact! But these are some of the top books, and they represent some categories or topics that are really important to me:
Books by Kentuckians
The experience of women
The love of books and writing
Romance
Nonfiction writing that combines personal narrative and reporting
Intra- and intergenerational family relationships
Dragons (and fantasy in general)
Books by Black women, representing a goal to diversify my reading in general and specifically to aid in my writing about Alice Dunnigan
Caveat 2: You can be my friend even if you haven’t read any of these books.
Loui read six books last year—all of the books in the world of The Inheritance Cycle. Because I love them so much, he listened to the story of Eragon, Saphira, Arya, Brom and so on. This was very sweet—but he was my friend and my husband well before he had read any of my favorite books!
I have many close friends who don’t read at all, and though I don’t understand that particular approach to life, I love them just the same. But I do feel that I am much more likely to bond with someone who loves and feels fueled by stories the way I do—whether it’s books, movies, TV shows, or Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. I’ll be happy to hear you talk about a story you love, even if it’s one I don’t know.
Caveat 3: This has changed, is changing, and will change!
Sure, I read each of the books I listed at least five years ago, and two of them I first read about 20 years ago. Some of my favorites may be set for life.
But earlier today, I read Alix E. Harrow’s short story, The Knight and the Butcherbird, and it immediately wedged its way into my heart and brain. I have long admired Harrow, a Kentucky writer of the fantastical and even the horrific, and her books are consistently among my top reads of their respective year. This short story may be my favorite work of hers yet. So, see—my favorites are ever-changing!
Sometimes I feel that I already love many of the things I’ll love most in my life, or that I’ve already passed the point for certain achievements. (I know, I can feel your eye rolls.) It’s always good to be reminded that there is still plenty of time—particularly to read more and more and more books.
…
I’ll end with a quote from a conversation I attended between two authors I’ve loved for many years now, John Green and Ransom Riggs: “Don’t we define ourselves, in some ways, by the fictional worlds we love?”
I certainly do—though, ever a nonfiction writer, I have to add that I define myself by the nonfiction words I love, too.
Read (or listen to, or sing along to) some words you love this week.