More Emotions

Since I just sobbed my eyes out saying good-bye to my sister and her children, I thought I would post about books that MOVED me. Not books that I enjoyed, or even loved. But books that actually wringed emotion out of me in a more intense way.

First book to make me cry award: Jo's Boys. I remember reading one of the final scenes and crying--I was maybe 10. And it was the first time a book made me actually cry.

Most wrenching cry award: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I was pregnant with Oldest Son--about 9 months along and HUGE and I was in bed with pillows all around me and a box of tissues, just sobbing my way through the scene with the twins. If you've read the book, you know what I mean. Considering how huge I was (Oldest Son was nearly 10 pounds), perhaps I thought I was HAVING twins.

First book that made me ANGRY award: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I won't even go off on the tangent of how this feels way too real to me right now, given the state of our government. I read this book the year of its first release. I was in my early 20s, and I was angry. I would read it and my heart would pound. A book pulled that emotion from me, pure and simple. I was enraged. I was haunted when it was over.

First book that made me long for something award: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This book made me long for a secret garden of my very own, for a place that was mine. I was maybe 12 when I read it. I have re-read a couple of times since.

First book to scare the crap out of me award: Night Shift by Stephen King. I didn't realize a BOOK could make it impossible to sleep and have me afraid to check under the bed. I was young . . . and I was terrified. I remember even the ticking of my watching creeped me out in the middle of the night. And I couldn't put it down!

First book to make me look like a raving lunatic in public award: Anything by him. Every time I read David Sedaris, I laugh out loud, belly laughs, tears rolling down my face. I look positively nuts. He is hilarious. I particularly like the story of his father's alarm at his sister Amy's fat suit. You have to read the book. ANY of his books.

So there's a short list. Please, share yours in any category.

Teachers That Matter

One of my children has a teacher who doesn't seem to like students or teaching. Burn-out case or simply someone who doesn't have the empathy gene (or a poor match for my child--though I've heard from other students and parents so I don't think that's it in entirety), it doesn't much matter, because the end result is a kid turned off from what could be a truly exciting subject. Been there myself. I've blogged here before about a math teacher, immortalized forever in my book, High School Bites, who terrified her class. Who seemed to delight in humiliation.

But that got me thinking about teachers who did matter to me--not in the nightmares they gave, but in a good way. I actually had more of that experience in college . . . professors who were PART of the university community, who really cared and got involved. But I do remember one high school English teacher. And the book that did it.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I came home and told my mother about all the symbolism and foreshadowing (new concepts to me) in the book (to which she said I was likely full of shit because people over-read into books). But I was hooked. While classmates grumbled about how boring it was, I saw the magic in every word, on every page. This was a reason to come to school. Hell, it was a reason for living! It wasn't that I hadn't loved other books--I was a big fan of Dickens. But something about the way the book unfolded made me hold my breath. Who was this Boo Radley?

My teacher made it all come alive for me. And it was my first. A book that changed everything. There was reading before Harper Lee, and reading after it. And English class before my 9th grade teacher and English class after it.

Anyone else? Teachers (and books for that matter) that changed the world?