30 Days of Truth: Books that have changed my world.

17. A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

Hmm. I've been thinking about this one, and I really can't come up with anything. I can't say that there are any books that have made me look at something differently or made me change my life in any kind of drastic way.

The closest I can come to books that have influenced or made changes in my life are "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, "Coming Home" by Rosamunde Pilcher, "The Third Magic" by Welwyn Wilton Katz, and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell.

None of them were epic, life-altering, opinion-changing books, but they did have an impact, in their own ways.

"The Giver" is the first book I remember reading and loving. I was like 9, I think, and I thought it was fantastic. It was the first book I'd read that wasn't set in a world that was like mine - they had different rules and customs and way of living. It made me realize that books could show me something different - a different life, world, situation - than mine, and that made me want to read more.  I started to read any and every book I could.  It was also the first book I read more than once.

Honestly, I didn't understand the word 'dystopia' until many years later, but even now, I love books about dystopian societies. "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry, was also big for me, actually.  It was the first book I read about what the Jews went through during World War II.  It made me want to research more into it, although I didn't really do that until I read "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank a year or two later.

"Coming Home" was the first book I read that I couldn't put down.  It wasn't anything fantastical or whimsical, but it was the first 'adult' book I'd read.  It's about a British girl living alone and growing up her parents abroad in Singapore (then Sri Lanka) and spanned from when she is 14 in 1935 until she's 24 in 1945.  This book was hardcover and approximately 700 or 800 pages.  I was only about 10 years old when I read it, but it made my thirst for books so much more pronounced.  I wanted more!!  And suddenly, I wasn't afraid to read books that weren't in the children's section.  It was incredibly liberating.  I was so proud of myself and I felt like a grown-up. Although it's been a few years since I read it (for the hundredth or so time!!), this book remains one of my favourites.

I found "The Third Magic" in a pile of books during 'reading time' at school, and it was the first fantasy book I read.  It was amazing!!  There was magic, and weird creatures, and laws and natural things that aren't like here at all.  I loved it!!  I read it over and over and over and over again.  The best part was that it was about a normal girl, living in 20th century Earth, that ended up somewhere else.  It was incredible.  Even now, those are my favourite kinds of books.  I'm pretty sure I was in grade six when I read it, so I would have been about 11 or 12.

I didn't read "Animal Farm" until I was about 15, and when I did, it spawned an intense love of all things Russian history for me.  I loved reading anything and everything I could get that was related to the Tsars and their stories.  I read anything and everything I could about the revolution and Russia's political life around that time.

So there you go.  Books that made an impact.  At least, those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Since you asked for it: an update.

So I got a text message this weekend telling me I don't update this often enough and you wanna know what's up in my life.  Really?? I mean, hello?!?!  Didn't you see the barrage of posts??  There's, like, 4 in the last month.  That's pretty freaking incredible for me!!

God, you're so demanding.  Yeah, you know who you are.

So I figured that I'd update, since I should have been having coffee with you, except you bailed, asshole.  although you know, if you had met me for coffee like you were supposed to, you'd know what's up in my life.  Yeah, I'm sticking my tongue out at you.  That's right, I am mature.

So yes, update.

What's new??  Nothing.  I'm still applying to tons of jobs everyday.  At least now I'm starting to get some call backs or emails and interviews.  So I guess that's progress.  Hopefully I'll be able to join the land of the employed soon.

I've been reading a lot.  I was feeling sick all week, so after sending out some resumes in the morning, the sick would catch up with me and I'd lay down and read a book.  Man, I forgot how much I love reading, and just how fast I can go through a book.  Last week I read 10.

Now, none of those books were epic-sized.  They were about 300-450 pages each.  So although I wasn't as awesomely productive as I was hoping to be, at least not in the job-search department, I did manage to get some reading done.  I'm now re-reading the Witching Hour by Anne Rice.  I love her books, but I forgot how much she goes on and on and on and on and on (you get the point, right??) with useless information and descriptions and backstory.  But still, love it.  Haven't read them since high school.  Hopefully they're just as good as I remember.

Lucky is pretty blind now, so it's a challenge to make sure he's eating and drinking water and making sure he doesn't bang his head against the wall 400 times a day.  He's lost all his energy and just lays near me all day.  It breaks my heart to know that he can't see anything.  I still remember the crazy, palm-sized mini puppy that would run outside and was impossible to catch.  I just wish I could fix him and make him last another 10, 15, 40 years.  I can't pretend it's not gonna kill me when he dies, and I haven't yet accepted the possibility that it could be soon.

I don't really have any other updates.  I'm looking forward to watching The Hunger Games; I'm excited for the day it's warm enough to go to the beach; I'm looking forward to possibly seeing Matt's baby pictures soon.  I've been doing insanity, and I'll prolly write an update on that one eventually.  I've decided e-readers are NOT tools of the devil.  I really want to go kayaking or canoeing this summer, preferably while camping up in Tobermory.  I'm thinking of planning a May 2-4 trip, since I've promised Gaby for years I'd take her.  I'm making a family tree, and I've realized I've got a shit ton of relatives.

Yeah.  So updated.  Happy, jerkface??