Have you ever found a book that broke the mold?
A book that covered a time period you knew nothing about (like Girl with a Pearl Earring? or The Help)? A book that blew all your preconceived endings away and gave you a whole new twist at the end (like Rebecca by du Maurier)?
A book that opened new and unexpected worlds (like The Host or Ender’s Game) or even made post-apocalyptic times accessible (like The Hunger Games or Earth Abides)?
A book that ended in a way that freaked you out (The Haunting of Hill House) or made you more hopeful than you ever thought possible (hmm…having trouble with that one. I don’t read many cheery books, apparently!).
I want to know what books you’ve read that have broken or shattered all your notions of what a book should be. I want to know what time periods you’ve discovered through books, time periods you never had any interest in before reading that book (for me, it was probably Gone with the Wind).
Books can open up new worlds, even new historical realms, for us. This is surely what I’m hoping to do with my book…open up the world of one Viking woman who followed her husband and her God, no matter what the cost.
For me, it was a book called "The Voyage of the Dove" by Robin Lee Graham. He began sailing around the world when he was 17 or 18. He was a HUGE phenomenon and incredibly famous. He taught me about adventure and going beyond what I thought I could do.
I don't usually read contemporary fiction, but I won a copy of Katie Ganshert's Wildflowers from Winter and I'm down right shocked at how much I'm enjoying it. 🙂 Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love was a powerful book that showed me what Christian Fiction should be. Lynn Austin's Candle in the Darkness opened up the world of slavery and helped me to see if through the eyes of a southerner. That is why I love books and the power of a story! Christ used parables and He still encourages us to use them to minister to a lost and lonely world.
Hi, Heather,Interesting question.The first author that opened a new world to me was Georgette Heyer. She wrote about Regency England and I read her books when I was in high school — and still read them today, only now I download them to my Kindle.Then there is L.M. Montgomery, who introduced me to "Anne with an 'e'" Shirley of Anne of Green Gables fame — and P.E. Island. Still love those books too.And another book I love is titled These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner, which is based on author's great-grandmother's journals. A wonderful novel set in the late 1800s on the American frontier.
I think "The Bone People" by Keri Hulme opened my eyes to what it means to be a truly free spirit…something I still fall dismally short of 🙂
For me, the book that changed my whole way of looking at books was Great Expectations. Actually it changed my way of looking at the world too. Great Expectations covers the course of a whole life and although it is not a very happy book, it is a hopeful one: it taught me that life hardly ever turns out the way you expected it to, but that a different, apparently worse course can have a beauty all of its own.I can't wait to read your book! You've made me really curious 🙂
I love all these comments–many new books I need to put on my TBR list! I've never heard of VOYAGE OF THE DOVE, Jennifer, but it sounds interesting. I enjoyed WILDFLOWERS FROM WINTER, too, Gabrielle. And Beth, I loved Anne with an "e" so much, my son is named Blythe Gilbert. Botanist, I've heard of that book, will have to look it up. Cassandra, I've started that one and I MUST finish it sometime!
I would like to announce that I, Jennifer Lynn Major, was kicked out of the Cavendish PEI 'Anne of Green Gables' house.Along with my deaf mother in law, we made the enormous cultural faux pas of sitting on the fainting couch in the kitchen. A Parks Canada employee asked us to leave, rightthisminute, for the crime against Anne Shirley. This was about 10 years ago and we still laugh hysterically about our felony record. Also, please imagine having to tell your mother in law that she was a bad girl.Blythe Gilbert, awwww. SO sweet.
Jennifer, I was laughing SO HARD as I read this! You poor thing! High treason against the Anne-girl. And dragging your deaf MIL into the mess! Hee. Just one of those things you go through and then laugh about later!
Dragging? I didn't start it! SHE sat down FIRST!!!