Book Challenge: Fiction Edition

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All writers are readers. It’s a fact of nature. And all readers have books we think everyone should read for one reason or another because they are amazing, right?

I know I’m right.

So, before I launch into my list, which I’m capping at five so that I force myself to pick and choose, I am extending my challenge to Kate and Melissa, and any readers who care to take it up: What five fiction books do you think everyone should read at least once and why?

In no particular order, I think everyone should read these titles at least one:

Monsters of Men, Patrick Ness. Though this is book three in the Chaos Walking series, it is the most important not only because it is easily the best trilogy conclusion I have ever read but because it reinforces the evils of colonialism, a key theme in this series. In book one we meet the protagonist Todd, who stumbles upon an incredible secret just before the birthday that will turn him into a man. The catch, you can’t keep secrets in Todd’s world because every man is privy to every other man’s Noise.

There is a pointed focus on men in this series because there are no women –well, not at first. The plot, characters, style, and structure make these books so important not only for younger readers but all readers. I learned so much about writing reading them.

Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech. I read this book in fifth grade and it has stayed with me ever since. It is a story of learning to deal with one’s grief but also learning to accept another’s way of dealing with their own grief. Basically, it’s about learning to walk in someone else’s shoes, via the protagonist Sal and her story of her friend Phoebe.

There are only two unfortunate things about this book: the title and the cover; and I only say that because to this day I cannot get anyone to read the darn book! They give me that, “uh huh” look whenever I mention it. They don’t know what they’re missing!

Fool, Christopher Moore & A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley. I absolutely paired these two together because they are both retellings of Shakespeare’s King Lear. That’s about where the similarities end.

In Fool, we follow the story from the point of view of Pocket, Lear’s chief Fool. The thing that makes this such a great read is not only Moore’s mastery as a story teller (seriously, I have never been disappointed by one of Moore’s tales), the vividness with which he honours Shakespeare is incredible, but also through the specific lens he chose. Pocket, though he might as well be invisible unless called upon to entertain, is always there. He knows everybody’s secrets and exactly how to play them. Yet as the story unfolds, we learn that Pocket has a secret of his own, one that unfolds and wraps itself around your heart.

A Thousand Acres more closely follows the structure of the bard’s play as it is written in third person with a full view of the cast, though it does focus the story through Ginny. It is a contemporary novel set on a farm in Iowa, but zings with all the tragedy that came with King Lear. My favourite part of Smiley’s work is that it is a feminist retelling and focuses on the tragedy of the two oldest daughters and what they have done to shape their lives and the life of their youngest sister, whose actions end up unravelling a lot more than anyone could have anticipated. While Fool makes me laugh and cry, A Thousand Acres makes my blood boil while I cry.

I learned a great deal about what it means to retell a story and make it your own from these two authors.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte & Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. I grouped these two together not only because I couldn’t pick between them, but because I think that if ever there was a classic that every single person should read, it’s these two. Not one or the other, but both.

Jane Eyre is the perfect coming of age novel wherein we meet a brilliant woman who teaches us two fundamental life lessons: don’t let anyone treat you like garbage and fight for what you believe in. Jane is easily one of the best heroines in English literature, and her ability to break through idiotic class barriers is   nothing short of marvelous.

As for Pride and Prejudice, it’s elegant, entertaining, extremely well written, and really funny. Jane and Elizabeth have a lot in common, though Elizabeth doesn’t quite break through the class barriers of her time in the same manor, nor does she deal with the same hard knocks. Still, it’s fascinating to watch the play of class dynamics as well as the struggles between Elizabeth and Darcy. First impressions and all that, you know.

We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates. I have a thing for family sagas, I’ll admit it. And this is still the book I return to whenever I think of quintessential family sagas. In it we follow the story of the Mulvaneys whose perfect life is shattered by the events of one night that haunts every family member differently, with vastly different effects. It’s a story of what ifs and whys and is just superbly composed.

Bonus: Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk. Of all of the Palahniuk titles I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot, this is easily my top pick. It is a brutal shot at the beauty industry and all the little narratives advertisements use to deceives us. A thorough analysis of beauty that is only skin deep and that fine line of things that make us visible/invisible to the eye of our fellow humans, Invisible Monsters will stay with you long after you’ve read the final page and discover the narrators dark secret.

You caught me, I totally cheated a couple of times –but I couldn’t help it! And I had to make it exclusively fiction because I couldn’t pick and choose between my non-fiction and fiction titles. So guess what a future post will be about!

And I think I will extend this challenge again at some point because a person’s favourite or important books absolutely changes depending on mood.

I’m excited to see everyone’s selections!

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