A Life Lived in Fear is A Life Half Lived

Drummer, beat, and piper, blow,
Harper, strike, and soldier, go.
Free the flame and sear the grasses
Till the dawning Red Star passes.

There are three books that really influenced me as a kid, enough that I still read them almost every year. It’s like revisiting old friends. The copies themselves are special to me. These are the top three most important books of my life.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

In a way, I kinda pilfered this book. It belonged to my dad when he was a kid and he’d left it, with The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll, at my grandmother’s house. When we visited in the summers, we were often bored because she didn’t have cable. So besides old Reader’s Digests and a closet full of Nancy Drew (also devoured), I found all the Sherlock Holmes stories.

I was immediately engrossed in the stories. How could Holmes figure out all these mysteries with little clues and sometimes a little luck? Could I be that observant?

The answer was no, but from Holmes I created a memory of lazy afternoons at my grandmother’s. I was never bored if I had these two books, and with so many short stories, it was easy to re-read and be surprised at whodunit every time. And the name Mycroft is cool.

The Harper Hall of Pern
Anne McCaffery

Now, I know this is cheating because it’s three books in one, but I actually bought this book from Half Price Books when I was in middle school. Trips to Half Price Books were magical because we drove to San Antonio and I got books that would be trouble in a small town. This felt like a gem since I think it may a book club edition and my copy, still with dustcover, is beat to hell from reading it so much.

Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums are all in the Harper Hall trilogy. I remember wondering what the songs were like, and even having a crush on the Masterharper. I felt like I was the main character and wished to be as musical as her. Maybe that’s why I took up guitar.

The songs are on YouTube now… I’m a little scared to listen.

So You Want to Be a Wizard
Diane Duane

This is, by far, my favorite book of all time. I checked it out from the library in the 6th grade and was blown away. With chapter titles like “Temporospatial Claudications” and “Exocontinual Protocols,” I knew I wasn’t going to be treated like a little kid.

This book includes a description of the perfect wizard – one who loves to read. All you had to do was say the Oath and you were a wizard! (I tried many times and sadly it did not work.) The story wove together the workings of the universe and how two pre-teens could impact them in a way that I wanted to be a part of it.

Way before being a wizard was cool thanks to Harry Potter, I adored this book. But I couldn’t find it anywhere to buy it. So my friend stole it from the library for me for my birthday. And it has been the edition that I have read and cherished, and one of the best gifts given to me. I have about six other editions, including a loaner.

I’m really happy that it’s turned into a full series that still continues. Diane Duane is my favorite author and I hope to get this edition signed in person someday.

I guess it isn’t a big surprise that I am Forever Young Adult and still enjoy YA fiction. It’s the first section I hit at the library, and I pull out a copy of So You Want to Be a Wizard and put it in the “featured” section, hoping to change another kid’s life forever.