Books have been shaping me and my passions since I was very young. My mom was an avid believer in reading books to my three siblings and me. We have hundreds of books piled up in the basement from the culmination of our brief childhoods. The one book that stood out the most from this period of time was the book, Good Dog Carl by Alexandra Day. In the book, a mother leaves her dog, Carl, in charge of taking care of her baby. The only words that are present throughout the book are on the first and last page when the mother leaves and then returns. The rest of the book consists of pictures of the baby getting into trouble and the dog saving him. Since there were no words, my mom would make up a story to accompany the pictures. I remember thinking of it as the best story ever. When I got a little older, I was able to make up my own story to accompany the words too. The book gave me the opportunity to tell the story as I saw fit. Soon after, I would be making up my own stories in the form of made up games and songs.
Another book from my childhood inspired my love for reading and my appreciation of a good story. In the third grade, my teacher started reading the book The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. At that time, the book was the most wonderful and enchanting story I had ever heard. A mouse falls in love with a princess and must battle a rat to save her after she is kidnapped. I was so enthralled by the story that by the time the book fair came up I had to buy it. The Tale of Despereaux marks one of the first books to enter my now enormous personal library. The book set me on the track to want to read more books. I already possessed a love for making up a good story but now I was learning I could write one as well.
Shortly after I read The Tale of Despereaux I read a book called The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler. The book was about a girl named Emily who finds out that she is a mermaid. After living in a boathouse for years and never once swimming, she realizes her true nature when taking a swimming class for school. With this new knowledge, Emily’s mother comes clean about what they are and sends her off to a school underwater. At 8 or 9 years old this book was amazing. Of course I loved mermaids and after reading the book I was pretty sure I was turning into a mermaid just like Emily. I even wrote a book called “How to Tell if Your Becoming a Mermaid.” Basically, if your pencils start to mysteriously disappear and you just got a new pool you are indeed becoming a mermaid. Well, according to my younger self anyway. The Tail of Emily Windsnap inspired me to write quite a few mermaid stories and I decided that writing was something I really enjoyed. After writing the mermaid stories, I wrote countless stories including “Suncrest and Mooncrest” and “The Adventures of Piggy and Bunny.” It would be years before these plotless stories become stories with actual meaning.
The book that has impacted me the most of maybe any book I have read is the book The Fire Within by Chris d’Lacey. The book centers around an aspiring writer named David. He becomes a tenant at a house owned by mother and daughter duo, Elizabeth and Lucy. David regards them as strange people who seem to be a little crazy when it comes to the clay dragons they create. Later it is revealed that the dragons are actually alive. David also soon realizes that the stories he is writing are coming true. The story is both magical and simple. One of the best things about the book is the development of the relationship between David and Lucy. David first regards her as an annoying child but by the end is almost playing a fatherly role in her life. To say this book has influenced me slightly would be an understatement. It is the only book I have read more than three times and the only book I read to my younger siblings. I have also named by beta fish after dragons from the story. I also realize, just like David, I am an aspiring writer and just like Elizabeth and Lucy, I make clay sculptures some of which are dragons. The Fire Within helped me to continue to love to read and write but it also has influenced many other aspects. Without realizing it my life has slowly become the story.
Another important book series that I read was Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. The book is about two siblings who go to live with their grandparents for the summer. They shortly find that the house and its grounds are not as they seemed. After drinking some suspicious “milk” they realize the butterflies they once saw are actually fairies. Basically their grandparent’s house is a safe haven for all sorts of magical creatures. After reading this book, I only read books with the same archetype for the most part. A girl or boy has something special about them that allows them to save the world or start a revolution. In Fablehaven, the children are able to see the magical creatures and must save their grandparents when the bad creatures take over. This book was the first book of many of the same type of book. It set up what I considered to be a good book and was the only sort of book I would read.
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer kept to the theme of the main character being special although she did not save the world. In New Moon, Edward obsessed Bella finds out that Edward has left her in order to protect her. The smell of her blood is too much and he is unable to resist the pull. This book has made me the most emotional of any book I have ever read. When I read that Edward left Bella, I cried. I vividly remember sitting in math class and making myself think about the book. When I thought about it, I felt such an extreme heartache; I was heartbroken over a book! I felt like Edward had left me and I was just so upset, but at the same time I loved the feeling. How was it possible for a book to make me feel as though I myself had had a broken heart? Looking back, I was a little too obsessed with Bella and Edward’s relationship and maybe a little masochistic for enjoying the feeling of heartbreak it gave me. Since this book, the one thing I have been searching for in a book is a believable romance. A romance that makes me want to root for it and then be devastated when something happens. New Moon set my expectations high for what romance should be in a book. Every time I read a book, I look for a romance like this one. Whether it be due to being older or the types of books I am reading, I cannot find intense feelings in what I read.
Similar to New Moon, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead was about vampires and the supernatural. At 14 like most teenage girls, I too read quite a bit of paranormal romance after the Twilight series. Vampire Academy was about a girl named Rose and how she was destined to protect this vampire princess, Lissa. The two girls had a strong connection and Rose could often look into Lissa’s mind. Throughout the six book series, Lissa is put into danger and Rose must protect her. Along the way they both fall in love. Overall, both the story and the underlying romance were good. I can’t remember exactly why, but I remember being very frustrated with the books. Every morning I would rant to my friend on the bus about the book. This is something else I look for when I am reading. I want a book that makes me angry. Not angry because it is poorly written but angry at the characters or their choices. At this point in time when reading, I was looking for a good story, good romance, and strong feelings. I was not concerned with the language, underlying meaning or how well it was written.
The first time I read a book and looked at the actual text rather than the story was with the book Sophie’s Choice by William Styron. I was assigned to read the book for a school project. The book is about the main characters involvement with his neighbors, Nathan and Sophie. The book is basically about the main character slowly discovering himself as he learns about Nathan and Sophie. At first I was extremely resistant to the text. It was like nothing I read before with its big words and lengthy descriptions. However, I forced myself to read it rather than spark note it. Now, I can honestly say it is one of the best books I have read. Never had I read such a well written book. The best part of the story was the complexity of the characters. Nathan is first painted as an egotistical abuser and Sophie as weak but beautiful. The book masterfully reveals the layers and depths of these characters through their experiences. The book made me want to write such convincing and real characters. It also made me want to read more books where the characters truly shone. When I write a story I can only hope to achieve the complexity and believability that Styron has in Sophie’s Choice.
One year for summer reading I had to read a book by Ellen Hopkins. She writes about intense topics such as drugs and prostitution in the style of prose. Her writing was so beautiful that I bought three more books after the first. Her book Identical was written gorgeously and had the best twist of any book I have ever read. The book is about two twin girls who are coping with their father’s abuse. One twin loves her father, while the other despises him. By the end, one twin spirals out of control and it is revealed that the twins were one person who had developed a dissociative identity disorder from the abuse. Throughout the whole book I had no idea that the twins were the same person. It was the most shocked I had been while reading a book. This book inspired me to write many of my own short psychological thriller stories, which is the type of story I tend to still write. As someone who tends to psychoanalyze people, I found the book intriguing, and I would love to accomplish a twist like she did in my own writing.
The most recent book that has left an impact on me is The Shell Collector by Hugh Howey. At the beginning of this year I decided to start branching out from the usual fantasy/ science fiction young adult novels I had been reading. I decided to try just science fiction and started to read novels by Hugh Howey. I loved his detailed writing and the way he was able to convey the character’s emotions. Of the eight books of his I’ve read, The Shell Collector is not my favorite but there is something special about it. It’s about a world where pollution has destroyed the oceans and shells have become a rarity. What I love about the book is the author’s ability to convey such specific emotions. He will describe something like the satisfaction of finding something on your own in such a real way. When describing emotion in my own writing I think that Howey offers beneficial points. Overall I have found a new love for the genre of science fiction. I am currently reading for well written, character driven, emotionally charged stories with a stellar plot. The books I’ve read have helped me form a love of both reading and writing and they are constantly changing the way I look at both.
How Writers Read 