These are books of my life that defined a specific time for me. They jumped into my mind almost the minute I first thought about the challenge.
1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series.
I still have my original copies of these, bent and broken from years of re-reading and carting around to each place I lived in. They opened up not just Narnia but a new world of possibilities to me.
2. Playing Beatty Bow
This book shocked me into how amazing reading really is. I discovered it in the local library at the age of about 10 and devoured it immediately. I recently found a copy online for a dollar and nervously re-read it, hoping desperately that it wouldn't mar my memories of it. Fortunately it seems I had good taste as a child because even now it is a brilliant read. Earmarking it for my daughter at the earliest opportunity.
3. Wuthering Heights
My romantic late teen years were spent willing myself into this novel, or at least writing it. It captured the angst, passion, confusion of teenage years and although I didn't understand it fully it seeped into my bones and remains there.
4. Tender is the night
F.Scott Fitzgerald remains my favourite author ever. Reading one of his books is like sighing back into literature. This book becomes more poignant the older you get, a story of decadence, beauty, loss and disintegration.
5. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
I've tried other Salman Rushdie books but failed miserably. I read this one in a hammock in Thailand in the middle of a 3 month island hopping escapade. Maybe it was because I had the headspace to 'get' it, but I remember frequently just looking up at the turquoise ocean before me and shaking my head in disbelief that anyone could write so brilliantly.
So that sums it up. Of course there are tonnes more brilliant books I have loved over the years but I think the ones that jump out at you are the ones that are right for this particular list. Have you ever thought about your life in books? If you'd like to take up the Listography challenge simply write your post with your 5 Books of your Life on your own site and then come back here to linky up.
Look forward to seeing them!
