Top 5 Sundays #30 - The Books that Started Your Book Addiction!

This week's Top 5 list are those books that started my book addiction and, oh, did they ever! I was always an avid reader - I think by the time I hit grade five I had read every book in our school library and the good ones at least twice - but it was a select few that really let got me into the reading craze, allowed me to figure out what it was I was looking for in a good book, and taught me about my own tastes in reading material.

So, without further ado, my list!

#5 - Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

When the movie Queen of the Damned was released, I fell in love with Stuart Townsend's portrayal of the vampire Lestat. Naturally, like any good book nerd, I wanted to read the book the movie was based on for comparison purposes - and then meant starting at the beginning. Interview is not my favourite book is the series - Lestat is right when he says that Louis whines a lot - my favourite book is actually a tie between The Vampire Lestat and The Tale of the Body Thief. But Interview was my first step into the world of vampires; it gave me my first taste of them as something other than dracula and Buffy bad guys and really gave perspective on a species that really can live forever.

#4 - Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth

For my thirteenth birthday, one of my friends gave me a $10 gift card for Chapters and, one day after a sleepover on the way to drop me off at my dad's work, my grandfather took me to the bookstore and stood patiently near by as I picked out my book. It was my very first time buying a book for myself in the adult section; all past books having come from the Teen and Children sections. Luckily for me, it turned out to be a great book that left me wanting more! Incidentally, the next four books in this series was given to me as a Christmas gift later that year by the very same grandfather who stood by and watched me pick this out. For the memories attached to these books alone...they are priceless.

#3 - Never Ending Story by Michael Ende

I found this in my school library in grade four and read it because it looked like a challenge - I'd never read a book that long before! Its length aside, however, between its pages I found a world full of magic and adventure that gripped my imagination tight and took me on one heck of a ride. I loved how this book turned out to be a story-within-a-story - sort of the literary equivalent of Jumanji. These sorts of stories always have such a great symbolism going on - after all, what else is a book but a portal to other worlds, an escape from our reality? I especially loved how the never-ending aspect of the story played out.

#2 - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

After reading The Never Ending Story, my grandmother suggested seeing if The Hobbit was at the library. It was, but when I went to check it out the librarian said she thought it might be a bit too hard for my reading level. I admit, after that it was a matter of pride that I not only read it, but understood it too, thank you very much. (Ha, take that, Mrs. McDonald!) I loved that the idea of someone unassuming and apparently unheroic leaving the security of the life and home he knew to go out on a quest with virtual strangers to reclaim a lost treasure, a lost heritage without any real concept of the dangers and hardships that might lie ahead. Like Bilbo would one day go on to tell his young nephew, “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

#1 - The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin

Like pretty much every girl, I went from Dr. Seuss and Disney Classics to The Babysitters Club. I knew all their names (Kristy, Maryann, Stacy, Claudia, Dawn, Jessie and Mallory) and what their jobs were in the club. I even knew the order the rotation of narrators went in. I had my favourites (Maryann, with Dawn a close second) and my less-than-favourites (not a fan of Mallory and Jessie - just could not get into their perspectives). I loved that the story lines all dealt with real life issues any kid could face - Maryann having a boyfriend, Stacy coping with her diabetes, Claudia dealing with the death of her grandmother, Maryann and Dawn having their families merge, Kristy's mom remarrying and on it went. It was a great window into lives that might have been, all tied up in the bonds of friendship and teen years. It was awesome, pure and simple.

Top 5 Sundays #5 - Childhood & Early Teenage Years Books

With Larissa from Larissa's Bookish Life absent this week (lucky b*tch is serving as maid of honour at her friend's wedding), I decided to take this opportunity to dig up her very first Top 5 theme - Childhood & Early Teenage Years Books - and have a go at it myself. Now, lucky me, I happened to be one of those nerdy little girls whose friends more often than not tended to be fictional, sad but true. Think the fact I was exempt from physical activity and the outdoors in less than perfect weather (thank you, congenital hip dysplasia!) had a lot to do with it - it gave me lots and lots and lots of time alone in a school. Basically, I could read or explore the school's rather restricted internet service. By mid grade 5, I had absolutely, positively every book in the school's library. Listed below, in no particular order, are my five fav picks.

#5 - Green Eggs and Ham written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss 

 "I do not like green eggs and ham! I do not like them, Sam-I-Am!" So, it's no secret that I am a HUGE fan of Dr. Seuss. From his rhyme schemes to his nonsensical statements and made-up whatchamacallits, I loved everything this man ever put to paper but none so much as Green Eggs and Ham. I mean, heck, this was the book I learned to read with! A true classic, no question.

#4 - The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende

 After about the tenth time, it became more than a little annoying to read the false start of a side-story of one sort or another abruptly cut off with the phrase, "But that's another story, for another time." And yet, somehow, Sebastian's main story kept me intrigued enough to keep from throwing the book across the room. Plus, given that this book's 448 page length I still recall vividly how proud my grade two self was to finish it.

#3 - The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin

I very much doubt there's a girl anywhere in North America who has never read so much as one Babysitters Club book. With the narrative rotating between the club members - originally tomboy Kristy, shy Mary-Anne, eccentric Claudia and sophisticated Stacy - and the stories focusing on issues every preteen (and later teen and I think even YA later on) could relate to, these books were terrific.

#2 - The Phantom Tollbooth written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer 

You ever read one of those books that somehow manage to flamboyantly flaunt the lesson its trying to teach while somehow keeping it subtle at the same time? Well, this book blows all those right out of the water. With a blend of nonsensical logic and comedic tone, this book made me shoot juice out of nose several times and, in the end, really gave me an appreciation for school and all it had to offer. Quite the impressive feat.

#1 - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 

Oh, come on now, who doesn't love this book? Unlike the more complex epic that is The Lord of the Rings, this prequel, told in more simplistic language, was a fun and exciting romp through a fantasy world without the need to follow five different story lines and reference who-knows-how-many appendices. It's about a hobbit who accompanies a dozen dwarfs on a quest to reclaim their mines from a dragon - which leads to some lovely encounters with a trio of trolls, a bear-shifter, a forest of drunken elves and that Gollum creature of absolutely no consequence (note the sarcasm font) - and then hangs around to partake in a war. It's fantasy adventure at its purest, hands down.

And there you have it - Calliope's Domain's Top 5 Childhood & Early Teenage Years Books! Tune in next week for more. Kiss, kiss, loveys.