Jeremy Lynch of Crimespree Magazine recently asked
me to list 5 books that changed my life. That made me wonder if indeed any book
actually had. In thinking back
over the years, I realized that yes, several had. So here is the list I sent him on November 16. If a book
changed your life, come over to my Facebook page and share your story.
● Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss. I have never forgotten the heart-stopping suspense, the
appealing character and the surprising plot twist that led to a happy
ending. A children's librarian
read it aloud when I was 3 and I was hooked on books for life.
● A red-leather diary with a lock that I received for my 10th birthday. When my brother found it, picked the lock and read a passage aloud at breakfast one morning, I learned that words written down on a page can have unintended consequences. A good lesson to learn at age 10.
● Collected Poems, by Edna St. Vincent Millay. At 13, it made me want to write and it
also taught me the value of specificity in pulling a reader into the writer's
setting. Not "herb
garden" but "sweet basil, sage, etc." Not a generic "bird" but
"whip-poor-will" or "meadow lark." Not "trees" but
"tamaracks" or "pines."
● The Trial, by Franz Kafka -- At 20, I gained a deeply personal,
life-changing insight with this book. (Plus, seeing it on my bookshelf led my
husband to propose!)
● Roget's Thesauraus - Not the dictionary version, but the one where
words are grouped by relationships. Finding the precise word with the exact
nuance you want to convey is very liberating.