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| Reading Return To: Christine's Main Page, Contents Page |
| I'll freely admit that I am what is known as a "Bibliophile" or "Bibliomaniac." I don't only love to read, I love to just handle books. I love the very idea of books. My favorite places to be are libraries and bookstores. I love the way that books smell, how they feel in my hands, the way they look on a shelf. I even love bookmark(er)s, though I never use them. One of my happiest moments is always when I open a book I've never read, or one of the few that I read over and over again. If I'm ever driven to financial ruin I'm certain it will be over books. I am utterly horrified by the certainty that books will eventually all be electronic, and my most depressing thought is that there are more great books out there than I will ever have the time to read, or the money - not to mention space in my house - to own. I am - seriously - obsessed. Reading has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. Before I even knew how to read, my favorite possession was a large children's dictionary that I lugged around everywhere. I drove my older sister crazy by swiping her books off her shelf constantly. I got in trouble in school for reading ahead. I read during recess. I often read instead of playing outside, sleeping, watching tv, and - most often - instead of doing my homework. In order to get me to behave in restaraunts, churches, shopping trips, parties, and just about anywhere else, my parents let me bring a book along. I was never, but NEVER without a book. Today I read less than I'd like, but books are still the most important inanimate object in my life. |
| Absolute Favorite Books - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - We The Living by Ayn Rand - East of Eden by John Steinbeck - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer - Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey - The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks - The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy |
| The author who has had the most impact on my life is Ayn (pronounced eye-n) Rand. It's not that I admire her as a person, because she was pretty much a heinous bitch. And it's not exactly that she has influenced my philosophy. Rather her novels serve as a validation for the way I have always looked at the world. When I read The Fountainhead in high school it was an amazing experience. I thought, I'M NOT CRAZY AFTER ALL! And when I picked up Atlas Shrugged it was like I'd found a HOME inside a book. Whenever I need to feel sane and productive, or just need a little push to go after what I want, you'll find me with my nose buried in a worn-out copy of Atlas Shrugged. One obscure quote from the first pages of Atlas Shrugged is something I try very hard to live by: "Joy is One's Fuel." I really can't explain the power her fiction has to someone who hasn't read her books, nor to the many who have but disagree with the ideas she promotes. Sometimes when a friend - or enemy for that matter - fails to understand my actions or opinions, I hand them a copy of "Shrugged." The only person I've ever got to read it was my husband, and - I kid you not - discussing the ideas in this book and The Fountainhead has over the years been a tool for increasing our understanding of each other, and has contributed in no small way to the well-being of our relationship. |
| Recommended Authors: |
| Dark Stuff Anne Rice Dean Koontz Stephen King (pre- "Misery" only) Laurell K. Hamilton Elizabeth Hand |
| Romance Linda Howard Judith McNaught (previous to her divorce) Nora Roberts Catherine Anderson Lynn Kurland Julie Garwood Cait London (and all her pseudonyms) Jayne Ann Krentz (and all her pseudonyms) Linda Lael Miller |
| Mystery (Classic and Contemporary) Elizabeth George Martha Grimes Agatha Christie Wilkie Collins Barbara Hambly Caleb Carr |
| Literature (Classic and Contemporary) Ayn Rand John Steinbeck Marge Piercy Colleen McCullough Joseph Heller Kurt Vonnegutt Thomas Hardy Helen Hooven Santmyer F. Scott Fitzgerald John Cheever Susan Howatch Andrew M. Greely Norman Mailer Tabitha King (Stephen King's Wife) Margaret Mitchell William Shakespeare Edward Rutherford |
| Sci-Fi and Fantasy Charles De Lint Anne McCaffrey Piers Anthony Terry Brooks (sometimes) James P. Blaylock Marion Zimmer Bradley David Weber David Wingrove Sheri S. Tepper Robert Heinlein (sometimes) |
| Juvenile Michael Ende J. K. Rowling Louisa May Alcott Francine Pascal Madeleine L'Engel L. Frank Baum E. B. White |
| My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. Ayn Rand |
| I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectability of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature. John Steinbeck |
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