Theater of the Soul

After seeing Lisa and Elisson doing the book meme, I figured I’d jump on the train too:

A book that changed my life:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey. Yes, really. A mentor of mine turned me onto this when it first came out and it literally changed my life. Trying to balance work, school, marriage (I was married and a foster parenting also at the time), parenting was difficult for me in the beginning. I was juggling so many balls in the air that I barely had time to read the damn book, but I did and my life was better for it.

A book I’ve read more than once:
There’s too many to list here, but many have come from The Dragonlance series by various authors. My friend J handed me the first book when I was 16 or so and we’ve been hooked ever since. At last count, there are over 100 books in this series I think, but I’ve re-read the first 4 books several times over. I love Tolkien’s Middle Earth, but the world of Krynn is my fantasy home.

A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island:
I’m going to cheat a little here and say The Iliad and Odyssey boxed set. I read these in college, or rather, I cheated and read the Cliff Notes in college…it would be nice to have NOTHING else to do but read the originals.

A book that made me laugh:
The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. So sue me…I absolutely LOVE these books. I’ll read almost anything you put in front of me, but I prefer pure escapist fiction every time. When I read for enjoyment, I don’t want to have to THINK.

A book that made me cry:
The last book to make me cry was Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan. I will also admit to crying at the end of the last Harry Potter book when Dumbledore died. Shut up.

A book that I wish had been written:
The book Rob was working on. He turned me onto many books that I probably would have never read otherwise and I’ve enjoyed every single one so far. I know that I would have read, and loved, anything that he had written.

A book I wish had never been written:
I can’t think of any really.

I’m currently reading:
On my nightstand is a stack of books that I choose from each night, depending on what I’m in the mood for.

Flight: My Life in Mission Control by Chris Kraft - a memoir written by NASA’s first Flight Director. I just started this last night and it’s excellent.

Back to the Moon by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. - By the author of the book Rocket Boys, which was the inspiration for the movie October Sky. I picked this up at the used bookstore down the street because the plot is ludicrous and the description made me laugh. I just can’t resist a book that says, “The Shuttle is Highjacked, Now the Countdown to Adventure Begins…” Surprisingly, it’s not as lame as it sounds and the technical details are excellent, if you’re into that sort of stuff.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Fantasy novels are, more often than not, terribly formulaic. I’ve never read a fantasy series that broke the mold that Tolkien created with Lord of the Rings…until now. I’m only about 3 chapters into the first book in the trilogy and already there’s more subplots than I can keep up with. It’s a refreshing change so far.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. I hate romance novels and chick-lit with an unending passion. So it was with a lot of apprehension that I picked up the first novel in The Outlander series. If fantasy novels are formulaic, romance novels are formulaic AND predictable. The first book had just enough elements of the fantasy genre (a little magical time travel, a whole lotta sword-rattling) to hook me and the characters and historical backdrop kept me hooked through novels that average around 900 pages each. A Breath of Snow and Ashes is book 6 (in a 7 book series) and is the best so far IMHO.

A book I’ve been meaning to read:
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Rob urged me to read this last year and I told him I’d read it during my Christmas break. He got all pissey and demanded I wait until summer. Well, Chief, summer is almost over and I’ve forgotten all about it until now. Maybe next summer.

What turned me onto fiction?
One word: Escape. I am every movie producer and author’s dream in that I can easily and willingly suspend belief in order to enjoy a story that allows me to escape the monotony of real life.