I have always loved to read. Beyond just a pastime, books have been my friends, an escape, solace. But there are 2 that have left lasting impressions above and beyond the others. As a child, it was King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry. As an adult, it is The Good Soldiers by David Finkel.

I’ve enjoyed so many books over the years and most have stuck with me. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why these 2 surpassed the others because many books tell great stories, have great characters, and are beautifully written.

They’re obviously very different books but emotionally they are the same. They affected me so deeply and the memories are so rich, I feel I’ve actually lived them both.

The follow up to Good Soldiers, Thank You for Your Service, is more well known because it was made into a movie with Miles Teller. I have read it and it’s wonderful, but The Good Soldiers transported me to Iraq, put a rifle in my hand, and killed my friends.

I am looking for books like this. Any genre, any age group. Any book that is so ingrained you feel like it’s a part of your life story.

  • Asher_the_atheist@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I feel like a few things will really draw me in with a book and make it stand out, but I feel like one of the big intangibles that really matters is having a certain almost musical rhythm and flow to how it is written. And I don’t mean flowery language (hell, Dr Seuss manages excellent flow through silly, simple rhymes, and I was argue that this is a big reason why they have remained so popular). I mean that there is something about how it is written (the words, the transitions, the structure) that moves according to such a natural rhythm that it draws you into the story and out of yourself. Then, once you’ve been lulled into forgetting that you are reading at all, the story itself is free to impact you as if everything was actually really happening to you. Of course, now that I’m trying to think about it, I’m having a hard time coming up with a really good example of this. But yeah, if I can get caught up in the flow of the words and story, I’m going to get much more immersed and the book will end up sticking with me more.