BTT: 15 for the Ages

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Absolutely loved the way it was written, the words, the tone, the philosophies, wonderful.

Babysitters Club series - Not so much for the book itself but the story that accompanies the series. I went to check out a few of them from the local library and the librarian wouldn't let me borrow them because she felt I was too young to read them. My grandmother had to come in with me. This happened a second time when I tried to loan Macbeth - I believe I was in sixth or seventh grade. I stopped going to libraries after that and started buying books. It took until I was in highschool to even read Macbeth.

King Lear - I read Romeo and Juliet first and didn't like the story at all. King Lear was the second Shakespearean play I read, still in grade school, and I loved it. Over the next five or six years I read almost every play.

The Phantom Tollbooth - I didn't read this until I was in my early twenties. I think it was the first "kids book" I read as an adult. Sort of started me on my journey of children's and YA literature.

Lord of the Rings - There is just something about this story that appeals. I read the books quite a few times, watched the movies, even joined an online site about LotR. I became fascinated with the world Tolkien had created and went on to read the other stories about Middle Earth and its origins.

Middlemarch - Eliot's novel is one of the first longer books I read in college. I was intrigued not just by the story in the book, but also by Eliot's life.

The Moonstone - This book began my love of Irish literature and even inspired me to take courses in Irish lit while I was in undergrad and graduate school.

Inferno - I found the vision of hell portrayed in inferno disturbing and appropriate and the circles and the punishments and the pathways were embedded in my mind.

The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde's vision in this novel was surprising and intriguing to me. I loved the interplay of reality with fiction. The idea of moving in and out of the world of books "for real" appeals to me because that's how I feel when I read - as if I am in the book.

Princess - Sasson wrote a biography of a Middle Eastern woman and detailed the oppression this woman lived under. I read it young and was horrified by the treatment of women in this culture; it opened my eyes to a style of believing and a way of living that was extremely remote from my own life.

Harry Potter - The Phantom Tollbooth may have opened my eyes to YAL but the Harry Potter series immersed me in it. Like LotR, I fell in love with the world the books created.

Tommyknockers - Terrifying.

Life of Pi - This story, which seems so innocent, disturbed me greatly. I can't describe the feeling I had when I finished the book.

Winesburg, Ohio - The interwoven stories of the people of the town moved me somehow. Short, but infinitely meaningful to me, each story seemed to familiarize me with the already familiar.

Arabian Nights - This text showed me that people are people regardless of time and place. The stories filled with love, betrayal, sex, and revenge could, with very little modification, be perfectly relevant today.

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Well I did as the question asked; no real thought was put in to the above writing. It was pure stream of consciousness - some sentences may have no meaning for whoever reads them, some sentences aren't even sentences. These books are not necessarily my favorite books. Some of them I haven't thought about in years.

I wrote this post in less than 8 minutes. I feel very satisfied for some reason. Wonderful prompt.