1. My Antonia by Willa Cather - Cather makes the American West come alive via a bold young Antonia. Her spirit is captivating. The way it's written (episodically) allows the reader to feel more comfortable in the background of the winding story.
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Jane is my favorite heroine. I like her fire and her spunk. She is independent and strong, a true feminist - very rare for the Victorian period. I also like her vulnerability and complexity. And I might have purchased a copy of this novel for my niece for Christmas...she'll be just under three months old. LOLOL
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I love the glitz, the glam, the melancholy, the secrecy, the longing. I love the opening line and the ending line and both are timeless. I hate Daisy with a fiery passion, and that's good for me too - I like having someone to love, someone to hate, and someone in between in my books.
4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - This was my first introduction to a character that should be hated turned into someone who can somehow be liked regardless. I was truly perplexed. It takes skill as an author to do that to an audience. It also starts with a bang: Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.
5. On the Road by Jack Kerouac - There are so many quotable quotes in here. I first read this at a time when I felt reckless and thirsty for adventure and the ability to shuck responsibility and ramble on down the road. I still enjoy it today because it reminds me of a self that was a little more free.
6. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - A major study of mine in college, I came to admire Hester for her strength under duress. She would not bend or be shamed. There is value in knowing how to live inside of yourself when exterior forces are making your life hellish. This book made me think hard on that.
7. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - I was shocked at how good this was when I finally read it in college. Familiar with the Frankenstein story, I was unprepared for the nuanced writing of Shelley.
8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - One of the first books I read that made me feel like I was an adult, instead of a girl of 11 (when I first read it). Jo March, woman warrior. Writer. Daring girl. Feminist...before I knew what feminist really meant in a larger context and what it really meant to me as a female. I like that Alcott explored a character who conceded to marriage on her terms with a man she views as her equal.
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, 1984 by George Orwell - Yes, I know, this is more than one. These three showed me how books can almost seem to foreshadow a future that doesn't exist yet. They were dystopian before Hunger Games and that ilk were mere farts in the wind.
10. A Separate Peace by John Knowles - Phineas remains larger than life in my mind and in literary history.
Classics I found to be tedious:
Any and all Henry James, Moby Dick, all Dickens aside from Great Expectations, all Jane Austen, William Faulkner novels
Hope to see you link up on Tuesday, November 10, for Show Us Your Books with me and Jana of Jana Says.
