my favorite books...for lee!
1. The Harry Potter Series- obviously. These books basically form the foundation of my soul. Particularly book 3 The Prisoner of Azkaban and book 5 The Order of the Phoenix.
2. The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Johnathan Stroud. I'm very sentimental about this book series. I've realized that it's informed a lot of my writing style and also my thinking about religion and being a decent human being, haha. I reread it a couple times a year tbh. It's hilarious and clever and beautiful.
3. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan yeah you know this is my little queer activist kid ideal.
4. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket- uhh so this speaks to a lot of my black humor. I feel like I grew up with the surrealism of the lives of the Baudelaires
5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley badass sci-fi writer who was also a teenage girl...this book messed me up in all the best ways.
6. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe -my favorite messed-up romance novel. Terribly life-affirming even though it ends in a suicide...whoops. I was obsessed when I read it for the first time.
7. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman- Properly expresses my emotions about humanity and organized religion. "Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world." also informs my thinking on the idea that sushi is a sort of ambrosia.
8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak- yeah basically i want to reread it but the first time I did i cried so much my eyes sealed themselves shut. I, too, am haunted by humans.
9. His Dark Materials Series by Philip Pullman- uhhh i can't believe it took me nine books to think of it. these are my favorites of all time i love them they're perfect and painful and hopeful and hurt so much. We all turn to dust in the end, and that's beautiful.
10. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card- So like how Holden wants to be a Catcher in the Rye I want to be a Speaker for the Dead. Totally informed how I feel about the narrative and validity of human lives and the responsibilities we bear post-life to respect those lives.
11. The Abhorson Series by Garth Nix- another badass female fantasy fiction. Basically the coolest characters in the coolest universe.
12. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer- yeah a deep part of my soul is connected to Mr. Christopher McCandless, the brilliant while upper-class privileged guy who left everything to make his own meaning.
13. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine- The movie doesn't do this book justice. It's excellently plotted and very very dark.
14. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones- Howl laughing at Sophie because he loves her and is charmed by her is embedded into my soul. Also it's a beautifully done magical realist book combining our world with the alternate universe of a powerfully magical world.
15. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews- I always take time to look at the sky and try and think fancifully because of this book. It helps keep me smiling.
