I dislike tossing books aside even when I don’t like them. Sometimes it is out of loyalty to the author, particularly if it is someone I have loved in the past. Sometimes it is because I need to know how it ends, even though the story or characters are disappointing. Sometimes it is simple stubbornness to finish what I have begun.
These books can be helpful though.
I grew up on a military base, or more accurately many military bases. It was my childhood and life. Even today my idea of home is anyplace filled with military uniforms and flags. Home is not a place, but a community—one I miss a great deal. I did, however, learn a lot growing up in that world. One of them was the value of cadence.
I am an introvert and I have the test results to prove it. Three sets of test results in all. That’s how many times I have the Myers-Briggs test and each time I have scored a consistent 49 (on a scale of 1-50) as an Introvert. It’s a fairly extreme condition, I’m afraid.
Essentially, I am a hermit. A writer who loves words, books, movies, fictional worlds, music and quiet. Blessed quiet. I crave it. I need it to stay sane.
We live on stories. They feed us. They inform us. We collect and share them along the way and in turn they make us who we are.
As an avid reader, I hesitate to name the books that changed my life. I know I will leave something out…something obvious. But I am going to give this a go anyway.
Here are some of the books that taught me how to live:
