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My main picture for today's blog post is of the National Library in Prague, gorgeous isn't it? I put it up because today, on my friends facebook page he wrote a note called "15 books that stayed with me." I'm sure you can tell from the title what the subject of the note was. Inspired by this, as well as his list, I decided to also make a list of the top 15 books that have stayed with me up to now.
The top 15 books that I have read, which have stayed with me so far:
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
In the Skin of Lion - Michael Ondaatje
The Twilight Series (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn) - Stephenie Meyer *Seriously, they are very good books don't knock it till you try it!
Naomi's Road - Joy Kogawa
The Alchemist - Paolo Coehlo
The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
Black Water - Joyce Carol Oates
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Beloved - Toni Morrison
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Summer Sisters - Judy Blume
The Bible *Regardless of my own religious faith (which will remain a private matter) this book is filled with sex, violence, love, faith, philosophy, and some great stories
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
So, there you have it! Those are 15 books, which I can recall, that have stayed with me. I am sure there are more, actually I have no doubt about it and I could probably add more to that list right now. However, its a start. In my list, I didn't include John Grisham, who might actually be my most favorite writer as well as Jeffrey Deaver, who writes a lot of my favorites. That being said, I also didn't include a lot of the thrillers I read, murder mysteries, books filled with short stories, old childhood favorites (Angelina Ballerina) etc. I think that reading is definitely one of my favorite past times, I love just becoming totally involved with a book and letting my imagination take over. Its a great way to escape reality; sometimes my imagination can be more vivid than any movie or tv screen. I remember when I first read Twilight, I finished all 4 books in 4 days. I basically holed up in my house and couldn't put down the book, I would be reading until 4am those nights! In highschool, when I got the summer reading list, I was actually excited to go to the library and get the books with my mom. I would always take them up to the cottage and just read on the dock all summer. This carried on to my years in university. One of my majors was philosophy and I really enjoyed the weekly readings. Having to read books by different philosophers, especially concerning theology and metaphysics, was so interesting. Reading can really open one's mind to so many things as well as change how you perceive the world around you. The other day I picked up two books from the bookstore because there was a huge sale! I got "The Passage" by Justin Cronin, which the sales lady gushed over and proclaimed was the "best book of the year!" She said she was excited for me to read it and made me promise to tell her what I thought. The other book I got was actually 3 books in one by Paolo Coehlo, which includes "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept", "Veronika Decides to Die", and "the Devil and Miss Prym." I have always been hot and cold with Coehlo. I really enjoyed "The Alchemist" however I found "The Witch of Portobello" to be boring and not really for me. However, I have always wanted to read "Veronika Decides to Die" so this way I can give Coehlo another chance as well as get a book I actually would like to read from him. I kind of think of him as a contemporary philosopher sometimes, his books are so much about what goes on in your heart and your mind during your journey through life. He's an interesting author to say the least.
Last night I saw the movie "Wall Street" in preparation for the sequel, which is out in theaters right now. The movie was great! Seeing Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen as young actors was kind of nice and Oliver Stone has always been a fabulous director. I can't wait to see the second one. We tried to start "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" but we didn't realize it was subtitled and I wasn't really in the mood to follow along last night, out of sheer dead-tiredness. To be honest, I kind of want to read the books first anyways! Tonight I am going to introduce my guy to The Godfather, one of my favorite movies and trilogies. He hasn't seen it yet, which was a huge shock to me as I grew up with a father who loves the Godfather and sometimes I felt like it was on the tv every night of my childhood. So, we'll start Part 1 this evening.
In other news, I checked out the gym today and I did a medium/hard workout, which I was proud of because I made it through with out any problems. I can't wait to start Bikram again on Monday and see how it goes. This weekend I think we are finally getting that car and I'm sure I'll have loads of fantastic updates (nutrition related too of course, I didn't abandon the whole purpose of this blog totally for books and movies!). Today I am also going to try my first ever green smoothie so I will let you know how that goes. Till then, I'm off to start another book of course! xJ