Another Random Book List

This is something I've seen on FaceBook lately. 

15 Books:"Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you, for whatever reasons. This isn't your top 15 canon or even books you'd necessarily recommend, just books that have made their mark on you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes."

I wonder how truthful people can be when I see lists with Tolkien and Dante on them.  Not that these books are not wonderful, but can a person really be honest about something like this.  If they can be honest does the fact that the answers are being put on display for the world or at least that person's world alter the answers in any way.  Unfortunately, this is not something that can be answered in any objectionable way.  So alas I will present to you my friends my list of books.

1. Daughters of the Grail by Elizabeth Chadwick.  This book has stuck with my for many reasons.  It was purchased by my grandmother for me to read while we were on vacation in Reno visiting my cousin.  I read it while I was still young and impressionable (before high school). I believe this book led me to love fantasy.  I thank this book for allowing my to love Tolkien.
   
2. Girl Interrupted by Suzanna Kayson.  This book is on this list not for it's own merits, because I read it long after I had abandoned my teenage drama queen self, but for the fact that this is the only book that I have enjoyed the movie more than the book.  I found the book to be too fragmented between flashbacks and the present, I could not follow in the book format.  This is an easy thing for filmmakers to make clear to the audience.
   
3. The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.  To tell you the truth I do not remember much about this book now.  I read it thirteen years ago, but I do remember that this is the first book that I had read and had BIG thoughts about.  During the discussion we had in my English class I had wonderful, enlightened things to say about this book.  It was the first time I realized that I wasn't stupid.  That I was actually someone who had opinions and could disseminate information.  This was a turning point in my education.
   
4. The Bone Lady by Mary H. Manhein.  Many years ago, after I had my educational turning point, I wanted to become a doctor.  A medical doctor.  During this time in my life I read this book.  It was my first introduction to Forensic Anthropology.  And while I fully admit that I decided to major in Anthropology after watching the show "Bones" this book is the reason I was even interested in the show in the first place.  
   
5. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Raoch.  This list would not be complete without my favorite book.  The book that my friends when I recommend it to them never really look at me the same way again (maybe that's why I've stopped recommending it).  This book I read near the same time as the bone lady and further cemented the fact that I am a bit morbid.  That I am fascinated with the process of death.  On a side note I'm still holding out hope for a freeze-dried funeral and a tree to fertilize when I'm dead, but I don't think my husband would be able to carry out my wishes.  
   

Wow, this is hard.  I really cannot think of more books.  I could get a little meta an start extolling my love of Tolkien (which I do!), or how much Harry Potter changed me (while I do love me some Potters I don't feel their place on this list).  I could tell a lovely story about Dante's Inferno and how my husband was enjoying the book until he discovered that it rhymed.  I could put Lolita on this list and tell how horrified I was after I read it that it is the one book in my entire life I've thrown away in the garbage, hidden in a bag so no one would find it. This would also be the case with the last Twilight book, where I stopped reading it when Jacob imprinted on the baby and  had to wait a whole year to calm down before I could continue.  I could also tell a story about Black Beauty and how it was the book that led me to discover how books can transport you to another place.  A place where nothing from your real life intrudes. To this day I can always tell how stressed out I am in life by the amount of books I devour. I guess everyone has a coping mechanism and my just includes a giant stack of books.  In general, books change my life.  From the bodice rippers that are easily devourable to food memoirs I do not want to consider a life without books.  Here is my newest haul from the Library.  I have already finished the three Hunger Games books and I only picked the books up on Saturday.