Over on Facebook, author Mel Sterling tagged a bunch of us to list ten books that had stayed with us over the years. So here’s my list, the first that come to mind tonight, in no certain order:
Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise McGraw Jarvis – first read it in elementary school and guess what inspired me to write romance set in ancient Egypt?- Catseye by Andre Norton, the first science fiction book I ever read, given to me by my Dad and oh, guess what inspired me to write my own science fiction and add romance? Actually, her Beast Master, Eye of the Monster and The Last Planet have stayed with me, as well. I still have ALL my old ACE paperbacks of her books.
- Year of the Unicorn, again Andre Norton, but set in her Witch World.
- Restoree and Dragonriders of Pern, along with a lot of other Pern books by Anne McCaffrey.
- Frederica, Cotillion, These Old Shades, The Talisman Ring – all by Georgette Heyer.
Shield of Winter and Caressed by Ice, from Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series.- Alpha & Omega and Hunting Ground, and a lot of the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs.
- Natural Law by Joey W. Hill
- Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank – till my favorite End Of The World As We Know It novel.
- A Night To Remember by Walter Lord – always fascinated by tales of Titanic.
Honorable Mention to The Lark Shall Sing by Elizabeth Cadell, The Nabob’s Widow by Elsie Lee and This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart.
Interesting list, Veronica. We have a number of ‘sticky’ books in common. Catseye for sure … although when I reread it a couple years ago I was greatly disappointed. Personally, I preferred Restoree to the Dragonriders series. Frederica and Cotillion, yes, along with A Civil Contract and The Unknown Ajax.
I’d throw in Dune (but absolutely NONE of the sequels), most anything of Jack Vance and Poul Anderson, and the books of a schoolmate, Kathleen Gilles Seidel (even though we didn’t know each other back in university). I admire and try to emulate Seidel’s deep psychological insights.
Yes, sometimes our favorite old books are better left not re-read. I loved Kathleen G Seidel. Was supposed to interview her last year but we could never make it work out. Unknown Ajax makes me laugh out loud, so well done! I kinda cheated on my list of ten books and STILL couldn’t fit them all in.
Neat list. Some, like the Heyer ones would be on mine. I’d have some Wodehouse, and possibly the Flashman series. Leaving off some that are my professional secret weapons (vol 1 of Knuth, Goldstein’s classical mechanics, and Kaplan’s advanced calculus)
I used to have professional secret weapons too LOL, when I had the day job at JPL. Mine were about process improvement and lean six sigma.
I love top ten lists. 🙂 Anne McCaffrey is my #1 favorite author, followed closely by Georgette Heyer and Nalini Singh. Now it seems I have some other authors to add to my TBR pile!
We share a lot of favorites!