Books, Books, Books

You know, I'm really liking the format of this Top 5 thing that I've been doing for the last couple of posts, so it's going to continue in this manner. Let's see..I've touched on movies, music, and websites, so I think it's time to travel to the genre of literature. As an English major, I spend the majority of my life reading, and I'm pretty sure that without some sort of book, I would probably go into DT's. Now sometimes these books that I am required to read are not the most enjoyable things I've ever had to do (read: Dostoevsky); sometimes I've felt like ramming my head into something either sharp or rock hard getting through the numerous pages of a book. And why does it seem like unenjoyable books have to ramble on for 1200 pages? Okay, maybe I exaggerate, but you know what I mean.

To digress on the subject of excruciating literature, I am going to present my 5 favorite books of all time. Now, I am not part of the literary canon, but dammit, I know what I like, and I cannot recommend these highly enough.

5. The Awakening - Kate Chopin

I remember reading this in high school and absolutely LOATHING it. Sure, it was supposed to be a prime example of feminist literature, but I frankly had no interest whatsoever in the Victorian setting with these seemingly one-dimensional characters. Oh, how wrong I was. I reread the book about four years later in college in one of my favorite professor's classes, and I was ashamed of myself for ever having hated the book. For those who are unfamiliar, The Awakening is the story of Edna Pontellier, a twenty-eight year old mother of two who vacations with her husband for the summer at a community located near the Gulf of Mexico. Sounds like a typical housewife story, right? Wrong. Edna, like most women of the Victorian Era, has an unspoken duty to be the picture of a perfect wife and mother, neglecting her own needs and wants. Too bad this doesn't set well with her, so she decides to clean house a bit (no pun intended). She meets a man by the name of Robert Lebrun, and gasp, she falls in love with a man who is not her husband. She also has another affair and actually moves out of her house. You're probably thinking that this woman is a completely floozy, but let me assure you, she is not. It is the oppression of her own will that forces her to take "drastic" measures, for Edna is a true pioneer, fighting for her own happiness rather than being subjected to the "mother women." The ending of the book astounds me; probably one of my favorite endings of any book. Check it out! It's really a short read, and it's worth your time.

4. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

 I've probably read this book about 7 or 8 times in my life, and I own the entire Wrinkle in Time series. I'm usually not a science fiction fan at all, but something about this really pulled me in. The protagonist is a girl named Meg Murry, whose parents are scientific geniuses working on a tesseract theory, which allows time travel by folding space and time.  A social outcast, Meg has never had anything extraordinary happen to her; she is overshadowed by her athletic, yet average twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys. Her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, is a prodigy, yet considered unintelligent because he does not talk. In the course of the tesseract experiment, Meg's father goes missing, and with the help of three otherworldly ladies named Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs.Who, and Mrs. Which and a slew of other fantastic creatures, Meg, Charles Wallace, and friend Calvin O'Keefe travel the depths of time and space to recover Mr. Murry in an adventure that will stay with the reader even after the book is over.


3. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

I'd always heard a lot of acclaim for this book, but it was just one of those books that I planned to read "some day." Two summers ago, I figured that I'd give it a go, and it absolutely floored me. The book tells the story of four sisters: Rachel, the eldest and most spoiled of the sisters; Leah, the independent, headstrong twin to Adah, who is obsessed with making her father happy; Adah, a hemiplegic, who soars at science and math; and young Ruth May, who is the most playful of the bunch. Forced to live in the Congo as missionaries by their overruling father, this book offers sections from each girl's point of view about the events that transpire. We see political turmoil, religious persecution, patriarchal dominance, and utter tragedy as the missionary life plays out for the girls. This book provides some of the richest character development that I've ever seen in my life and describes ravaged Africa with such brilliance that I felt as if I was living through the scenes of the book.

2. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Let me just inform you now that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is my favorite writer of ALL TIME. If you haven't read his work, you need to get your head out of a hole and go pick this book up today. I'm serious. It's that good. Garcia Marquez has a very unique style of writing, in which he almost always surrounds his stories with magical realism. If you're not aware of what magical realism is, let me explain. Imagine you're reading a story about a normal day in the life of a character. The character is brushing his teeth, taking the garbage out, while his faithful winged dog follows him outside. Magical realism incorporates the fantastic into a story not to highlight the fantasy, but to present it as truth, as if nothing is strange about the winged dog. In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Marquex focuses on seven generations of a family in a mystical village called Macondo. Throughout the book, the reader will see Macondo frequented by gypsies, war, and love spells. The novel is one that comes full circle, and you'll have to read to find out how it ends.

1. Harry Potter (1-7) - J.K. Rowling

I apologize if you were looking for something a bit more literary at the top of this list, but I cannot lie. I might love Harry Potter as much as I love my family.  I know it seems a bit cliche to have Harry Potter at the top of the list, but let me tell you, folks: it is as good as it's rumored to be. We all know the story behind these famed books, whether by reading or watching the movies. The books pulled me in so much that (and I'm not kidding when I say this), I CRIED my eyes out when it ended. I'm not talking a couple of tears; I was bawling. I mean, the book has magic, Quidditch, and Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. What more could you ask for out of a series?