My Top 5 Most Influential Books

Today I want to share a list of my top 5 most influential books. To be fair, several on this list are series because those are just one exceptionally long story anyhow. So it counts. 

Now, this doesn’t mean they are my favorite exactly, though if I were to do a favorites list there would be some crossover. Instead, these are the books that really resonated with me for some reason or other. The books that had an impact on me and who I am today. Here they are, presented in no particular order.

Kushiel Series

This is THE series I always mention when asked about influential/impactful/etc books. The series is actually two sets of three (Plus another set of three that takes place years later with all new characters.) I started reading these books when I was in maybe 7th or 8th grade. I had read fantasy books before but this falls much more heavily in the romance fantasy category. While this is an EPIC series, the core theme that really resonated with little me is the idea that love and sexuality are things to be celebrated, not hidden. Everyone is free to love whomever they want, however they want, that everyone is beautiful, and people want what they want and that’s okay. That was huge to me! I genuinely think a lot of how I live my life today is entirely because of the lessons I learned from these books.

Strangers in Paradise 

This comic book series hit me in many ways. The most straightforward is that this series is my first real introduction to comic books and I’ve been in love with the medium ever since. As for the content of the series though, all I can say is that is is amazing. I don’t think I have ever loved a set of characters more than the ones in this comic. It’s long, spanning so many years and there is so much heartbreak, betrayal, love, sacrifice, death… There’s a lot to unpack. I also think this is the first time I cried while reading a story. I would say with confidence it’s the most epic love story I’ve ever read. This series was also the start of a long time love of everything Terry Moore writes. He is an amazing writer and artist and he STILL involves these characters in his stories now. Everything he writes is a complex web of connection. These characters and the world he created are one of my longest running fandom commitments. I love that I can STILL read new things about these characters today!

Annie on My Mind

The influence this one had on me is a bit more basic than the rest. This was the very first LGBT+ story I read growing up. I wish I could remember how old I was. All I remember is I was pretty young. I know that this book is the first, or most influential, for a lot of others in the LGBT+ community as well. It was groundbreaking for it’s time and considered a classic today. I do remember when I got this book I sat at my father’s kitchen table in the evening to start it and did not get up again until I finished it the next day. I’m not entirely sure I’ve ever done that since. It was amazing to me to read about these girls that were around my age dealing with the same feelings I was, and while there were some incredibly sad moments, it still left little baby gay me feeling hopeful. I started reading more queer fiction after this too when I could, but nothing would hit me the same way this book did.

Mists of Avalon

I have to admit I read this book when I was probably a little bit too young to. I think this is why Mists of Avalon had such an influence on me. This book absolutely showed me that I could handle large books, ‘cause this one is a chonk. It’s also the first time I read a fantasy-type story that wasn’t a more whimsical style of fantasy. (It’s also my first real dive into Arthurian legend of any kind.) I loved it and I think this book helped me branch out beyond my usual genre comfort zone. It was also the first time I had read anything with the mature content that is in this book. Another dip outside my comfort zone, which helped me see that mature content did not in fact make me uncomfortable. (Side note, I’m pretty sure I read the Kushiel series mentioned above around the same time, but my sense of time here is fuzzy. All I remember is I was a young reader explore mature themes.)

Goosebumps

I can honestly say that I think my love of reading started with the Goosebumps series. I can’t remember how or why I started them, but I do know I was really into middle grade horror when I was that age so I assume it was a natural progression. I devoured each book one after another and even joined the fan club as a kid! I can’t remember truly getting as deeply involved in books as I did until Goosebumps. It’s all been uphill since. I think a lot of young readers owe their love of reading to these books though. Looking back at them now, they are definitely bite sized, which was perfect to grab a young readers attention and end before the focus was lost. These books also lead me into reading Stine’s other series’s as well and while those didn’t stick with me after a certain point I still credit these for putting me on the path of reading in the first place.

Honorable Mentions

(Because this was way harder to narrow down than I thought it would be.)