My dear friend Michelle (aka Creepie Suzie in Facebook parlance) tagged me and asked that I name seven books that changed my life. So here I go!
1. Apt Pupil, Stephen King, 1982
This is one of the only things I’ve ever read that seeped so much into my subconscious that it affected my dreams AND gave me nightmares. Such a terrifying look at two human monsters living next door to each other – an impressionable boy who becomes a monster – and an ex Nazi who revives the inner monster he’s been concealing for decades. I don’t think the movie version did the book justice, but then, they rarely do. It’s a tall order for horror movies to ever truly scare me, and an even taller order for horror fiction to do so. But this one did it.
2. Geek Love, Katherine Dunn, 1989
This book’s about a family of circus freaks, including a hunchback who narrates the book named Olympia (nicknamed Oly), her flipper boy brother Arturo, Siamese twin sisters Ellie and Iphy, and the baby boy Fortunato. And their parents Al and Lil. I’ve never read a book like this before or since then! If you think you know it all about how babies are made, this book will certainly bend your mind (not to provide any spoilers). This book will also slightly warp your mind as you lose yourself in the weirdness of this family and the lengths to which they go to keep the deformed progeny going. It may also raise your awareness of the drug Thalidomide, which caused deformities in thousands of infants in Europe beginning in the late 1950s – mainly in West Germany (interesting side note, East Germany never approved the use of Thalidomide). Thalidomide had nothing to do with any deformities mentioned in the book, however. But radioactive materials and various other drugs DO play a role in creating deformities in the book! A disturbing storyline in the book also [SPOILERS AHEAD] involves the gruesome lengths that the followers of Arturo undertake to show their loyalty. Teenagers who cut themselves are amateurs compared to these folks! Very unforgettable book with an original concept. Highly recommend!
3. Into Thin Air, 1997, Jon Krakauer
This non-fiction book chronicles the 1996 Mount Everest disaster involving a couple of different expedition companies. Some of you may have seen the 2016 film (which of course did not compare to the book at least imho). This book does a great job of chronicling the series of disastrous events, not the least of which was an epic storm that forced climbers to ascend – and descend the mountain quickly. Gridlock causing a virtual traffic jam near the summit was the bigger exacerbating factor of the disaster, which claimed eight lives. The book also does a great job of exploring the psyches of the individual climbers. If you ever wondered “Why the Hell would someone want to climb Mount Everest?” This book may answer some (but not all) of those questions. For the trivia folks out there, one of the highest-altitude rescues via helicopter was performed during this disaster, when Texas pathologist Beck Weathers was rescued (his wife was instrumental in organizing this very expensive undertaking and was lucky to find a pilot willing to do it…money talks…and eventually even people with frostbitten limbs will walk). The book treads into horror writing territory when Krakauer describes traversing the icefall – which must be done on a ladder spanning an icy crevasse. Or maybe it just scared me because I have a fear of heights! In any event, I would never make it past the Mount Everest base camp! By the way, did you know there are more than 200 corpses on Mount Everest? And too many discarded oxygen bottles to count. And let’s not get me started on all of the the human feces on this mountain (so, so gross). Riveting read! If this book piques your interest about alpine disasters, then you should also check out Left For Dead by Beck Weathers. If you like Into Thin Air, then you might also like Into The Wild, which was also written by Jon Krakauer.
4. The House With A Clock In Its Walls, John Bellairs, 1973
I first read this book when I was a kid, and it was unlike anything I’d read before! The movie version will be released in September, 2018. The story involves chubby kid Lewis Barnavelt who [SPOILERS AHEAD] winds up casting a spell to summon the dead to try impressing a friend. The orphaned Lewis lives with his Uncle Jonathan, who is a practicing wizard, and also lives next door to Jonathan’s best friend Mrs. Zimmerman, who is a witch (and more powerful than his Uncle Jonathan). I’d highly recommend John Bellairs books for anyone with kids in the 10-12 age bracket. They’re brilliantly written (though the dark subject matter might be too intense for some kids). I was kind of a strange kid who was fascinated with the macabre (and still am), so I really dug books by this author! I still re-read this book and other titles by Bellairs from time to time. Trivia note, the town of “New Zebedee” in the book is based on the real-life town of Marshall, MI and the house in which Lewis lives with his uncle is the real-life “Cronin House,” which you can see here.
My husband and I have visited Marshall, MI a few times, and I ALWAYS have to drive by the Cronin House! Did you know Marshall was, at one time, a front-runner to become Michigan’s state capital and lost out by only one vote?
5. Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, 1995-1997, Johnen Vasquez
The title pretty much says it all! Main character “Johnny C” is…a homicidal maniac! He kills people who irritate him, keeps his walls covered with fresh blood to keep a monster from escaping and has Pillsbury Dough Boy-inspired creatures named Mr. F— and Psychdoughboy compelling him to kill – and kill himself (I forget which one does which). He keeps a dungeon/torture chamber in his basement, and almost always has interesting conversations with his victims before they ultimately…die. This book will definitely wind up seeping into your mind in ways you can’t even imagine! A must-read for anyone into graphic novels and horror. There’s also lots of comedy and satire throughout, including a maniacal talking representation of a golem-like creature resembling “Big Boy” from the restaurant chain. This book is not for the highly impressionable, meek or easily grossed out, offended, etc. This is a hard-core read! Vasquez would later go on to create the animated Nickelodeon series “Invader Zim.”
6. Little House In The Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1932
This was first in the series of the “Little House” books. When I read this as a kid, I was traumatized by the story involving the slaughtering of a pig. I went on a pork-free strike after reading it for quite a while, and even to this day I still don’t eat pork (but not because of the book, I eventually got over that)! I went on to read every single one of the other books in the series, and recently read Wilder’s annotated biography, which Mike purchased for my birthday a couple of years ago. Well, it was really intended to be a Christmas present, but it wound up being back-ordered so I got it around my birthday! I have since given away most of my “Little House” books to a family with a couple of daughters, but I still have hung onto my copy of On the Banks of Plum Creek, which is library hard-bound. And I still re-read it from time to time. It’s a great way to learn about the great Rocky Mountain locust disaster of 1875, which caused the destruction of crops across several states, including Minnesota, where the Ingalls family was living. As a result of so many farmers being pissed off at losing their crops (among other factors), the Rocky Mountain locust wound up going extinct. As for Wilder’s books, I don’t even care if the books were largely fictionalized or essentially ghostwritten by Wlder’s daughter Rose Wilder Lane (which many critics claim). I still think they’re great books, and they’re likely to remain a childhood reading staple for decades to come!
7. The Thorn Birds, 1977, Colleen McCullough
I read this book AFTER watching the 1983 miniseries starring Rachel Ward and Richard Chamberlain. As a seventh grader, I relished reading passages aloud to my friends from the book, especially some of the racy passages involving sex! I’m not going to get into too many details of the book itself, but it’s probably the only “romance” novel I’ve ever read. But it definitely had enough tragic (so many family tragedies) and gritty stuff to hold my interest. And it probably, hands down, convinced me to NEVER want to visit Australia. If the weather doesn’t kill you there, a wild animal probably will! Yes, call me unadventurous, if you will…but I REALLY have no desire to ever visit Australia! If I ever feel like I want to visit Australia, I’ll just watch “The Thorn Birds.”
hebspeaks 