Tgif is a great weekly meme hosted and created by Ginger at Greads. This feature lets us wrap up the week and also poses a weekly question pertaining to blogging, books and what have you. This weeks question:
Taking it Personal: Which books have effected you on a personal level and lingered in your mind long after you closed the pages?
Books have always been a pure source of happiness for me. Id say reading is like breathing, I need it on a daily basis..but books are purely entertainment, not many effect me on a personal level to the point of changing me, so in the rare instance this has happened its been memorable in my life.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
I loved these books as a young girl and read them a thousand times...I also watched the movies a hundred times and to this day still watch it...whenever they play it on PBS!!
I loved escaping into these books, being Anne, falling in love with Gilbert....Anne getting drunk, getting married, losing her first baby, having her first baby.....seriously I loved...LOVED these books, I can almost remember them chapter for chapter. They really do hold a special place in my heart and of course until I read my first Stephen King book at 13 and got the innocence and crap scared out of me they were my favorites......
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
I read this when I was 20 and at the time I was still recovering from my teen years. I felt as if Janet Fitch had reached into my soul and wrote it down word for word creating Astrid to tell my story, I think I read it 10 times within that year. Now obviously Im not going to get personal here on my blog but the novel hit hauntingly close to home.....
This book was so important to me that I considered naming my second daughter Astrid- but the hubs didn't want a name with the word Ass in it, so it was a no go. I actually re-read this a few years ago and Im amazed by how much I dont recognize Astrid anymore, as a woman Im completely the opposite of who she is and I no longer hold many of the feminist outlooks White Oleander encapsulates, however it will always be a book that meant something to me at that time in my life.......and in that phase- it was profound.
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
The first time I read this I was 28 and not since has a book hit me so emotionally hard as this one did. The last page when Angel walks to Michael naked, after her ripping journey of self-discovery, I sobbed buckets.....I think I might have cried a week after I read this....
I know Ive talked about this book plenty in and out of blogging, it introduced me to the type of Inspirational fiction Id been looking for and to an author who not only loves God but also talked about things..like prostitution, slavery, sex, abuse, abortion and presented it in a real-world way to the point where I was shocked that it could be presented that honest in a faith inspired novel.
At the time I read this, I was teetering with my faith, this book and other things that year helped me acknowledge God not as something I had to accept to avoid Hell (drilled into me as a child) but to accept Him outside the clutches of institutional religion.
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Tgif
PS......the story of my second child's naming is a fun memory....towards the end the hubs and I could not agree on anything! He wanted names like Nicole and Megan....I wanted old fashioned names like Antoinette or Penelope......since I was playing with book names I remembered a name from Anne of Green Gables that I loved and mentioned it....the hubs actually loved it, so it became the name of our second child. Hubs likes to tell people its because I was obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that is not TRUE....I like to tell people it was based off my favorite childhood book (well...maybe Buffy had a little to do with it....(wink, wink)....can you guess the name?
Great picks! I loved Anne if Green Gables. I'm nig sure if Ive ever really been that personally affected. I'll have to think about it because I would love to think that I have been by something I've read!
ReplyDeleteI also loved loved Anne of Green gables. I read white oleander and glad to hear that it affected you to. Still a pretty name :) of your daughter.
ReplyDeleteI've been affected by a lot of great books over my life, but the two that come to mind are The Diary of Anne Frank, because I saw so much of myself in Anne. The love of that book which I read as a child inspired an interest in WWII that is still with me today.
ReplyDeleteA more recent pick is Gayle Forman's If I Stay. It's so beautifully written and it's one of the rare books I know I'll re-read several times.
Redeeming love was in my answer too. I love this book. Its one of my all time faves. I feel the same this book brought me closer to God and showed me the true meaning of love and forgiveness. I never read Anne of Green Gables i know i suck....lol but i was more into the boxcar children and mysteries. I did enjoy Little Women and Christy as well.
ReplyDeleteThese recaps were awesome.
ReplyDelete1. I should buy these one day when I have a daughter.
2. I shudder to think what you went through. *hugs* Isn't it funny how we grow and change and look back and marvel at the young fierce angry girls we were?
3. I must read this. One day I must break down and buy it.
Cordelia? I love it! Bravo! Victory for mama bookworm. Do you call her Cordelia or have a nickname for her?
Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself today doll.
*hugs*
BTW my numbering system was in order of the books you presented to us :)
ReplyDeleteCan you believe I've never read the Anne of Green Gables series? Not a single one of them. Reader fail. I'm going to have to stalk PBS now and see if I can catch one of the movies...:)
ReplyDeleteBut I love Cordelia from BtVS! She has her ways of growing on you.
ReplyDeleteI need to read White Oleander. It's it amazing how much your perspective can change on re-reads. One of the reasons why stories need to be told.
Happy Friday, T!
@juju- we call her Cordy but shes almost 11 and thinks she would rather be called Delia or Cordelia...:D Shes a riot....:)and yes Im amazed at how much Ive matured...just an inevitable step in the process of becoming a grown-up...;)
ReplyDelete@Missie- Oh I loved Cordelia from buffy too...just not until she was on Angel...:D
@Jenny- LOL- you can rent them...I think Netflix might have them..:D
@laura- Im so glad you loved Redeeming Love- it was so amazing!!
@Jenny&Julie- Oh yes Anne was my childhood friend...:D Glad you guys loved her too...
@Tara- Ohhh I loved If I stay as well, I can imagine how powerful this could be for a teen... especially one who has lost their parents.
Interesting picks. I do remember reading Anna, but haven't read the others. I'm interested in White Oleander. I've seen the book before, but don't know much about it. Happy Reading!
ReplyDeleteI also LOVE Anne of Green Gables (and following sequels). I can't even remember the countless times me and my sister would sit and watch those movies together. There was just something so amazing about them. Loved them! Redeeming Love seems like an excellent book. Especially for you to love it as much as you did. I think I'm going to check that one out because it really does seem amazing.
ReplyDeleteJen
In the Closet With a Bibliophile
Oh, I had big ugly cries at the end of Redeeming Love...might have even clutched the book to my chest.
ReplyDeleteLove the name Cordelia...and as a TV character she became very likable in Angel.
I adored Anne of Green Gables when I was younger. It's been awhile, though...I should probably pick those up again. :)
ReplyDeleteredeeming love sounds like my kind of read. and just last week, there was quite a few bloggers choosing anne g. books and i see this series is being chosen again on a few blogs.
ReplyDeletehttp://sidnebkclubreviewz.blogspot.com
I'll admit White Oleander didn't quite hit me like it did you as a twenty-something. I think I may have even done it in my teens...maybe too young? Which just goes to show how much timing has to do with the love of a book!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you are the second to pick Redeeming Love that I've seen. I'm not a huge inspirational fiction person either...but for this book to come up twice may be a sign to put it in my TBR...We shall see ;)
Francine Rivers is so amazing. Redeeming Love changed my life as well. At the time I read it, I didn't realize it was Rivers' fictionalized interpretation of the book of Hosea. Reading it without knowing that - I grasped a HUGE understanding of an unconditional love that I can never understand, and it was really touching. After researching a little and realizing that Rivers was writing based on the book of Hosea, I realized that Ms. Rivers is an author to really pay attention to and seek out for myself. So I began to read all of her books. I think there may be only one or two that I haven't read. Some I've read several times. The Mark of the Lion series is also pretty amazing, if you haven't read those. And the Lineage of Grace series, wow. I'm re-reading those again now with a book club I was invited to participate in. Sorry to comment for so long, but Redeeming Love is in my all-time top favorite books, period. I should have listed it in my answers today!
ReplyDelete~Asheley
Awesome picks! Amazing, isn't it, the effect a book can have way past our initial reading of it. My book like that is Catcher in the Rye. I reread it at least once every year, and always get something new out of it. I've never been able to put my finger on why Holden's decent touches me on such a personal level, but maybe that's part of the magic. I was also hugely inspired by Piers Anthony's 'A Spell For Chameleon'--it's the book that made me want to be an author myself.
ReplyDeleteSmiles!
Lori
Redeeming Love is a book that definitely leaves an emotional impact. That book for me was such a painful and heartbreaking journey but well worth every tear. So glad it is on your list :)
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