Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and Bookish. Each week the bloggers at The Broke and The Bookish put out a topic, and discuss their top ten options for said topic. This week it’s all about the Top Ten “Gateway” Books/Authors In My Reading Journey.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. This was the first book that I would stay up late and sneak under the covers to read. I had bought it from a book fair when I was in elementary school, and my mom had read through it first, and put it up, saying I wasn’t old enough to read it. So I did what any kid reader would do when told that she can’t read something. I snuck it off of the shelf and read it anyway.
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle. This was my gateway book to science fiction. I first encountered this book as an excerpt in the back of one of my language arts books and I sought out the full book to read. Once more my mom told me I wasn’t old enough to read them, but I read the series, sneaking off with the trio of books (I need to read the others in this series) and falling in love with Calvin and the twins.
Pet Semetary By Stephen King. This was my gateway into horror and books that are turned into movies. I saw the movie when I was 9–seriously not old enough, and I read the book when I was maybe 13? This book still to this day terrifies me, and it’s the book that launched my fascination with King’s work.
Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes. This was my gateway to dsytopian/futuristic novels. I read this when I was pretty young, and it created a love for future apocalyptic/dystoian worlds. If you haven’t read this already, do go read it. It’s amazing.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I was torn between which of Lewis’ works I would put on here. He’s the gateway author for both high fantasy (The Chronicles of Narnia AND allegorical text AND religious fiction.) The Screwtape Letters instantly came to mind. I love this book. I read it every year, and each time I find little things that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a great text, and I can’t recommend it enough.
The Little House books… By Laura Ingalls Wilder introduced me to women authors, historical time settings, and strong female characters. These books are books that I grew up with. Who hasn’t tried to pour maple syrup onto snow to make candy?
The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin was the gateway series into swapping books frantically with friends. Seriously we would trade these back and forth until the spines were broken and pages were falling out. We all wanted to be either Claudia or Stacy–or attempt to run our own Babysitter’s club.
Something From the Nightside by Simon R. Green. This series, this author got me back into reading. I had hit a dry spell where I didn’t want to read anything–nothing held my attention, and I had fallen out of love with reading, which was killing me because it’s so much a part of my life. I was wandering the Science Fiction section of Barnes and Noble, and this book jumped out at me. I picked it up, and sat down in one of the comfy chairs and read through it. I walked out of the store with the first three books of the series. Though the series is over and finished, I still love it. I have all of the books and they have prime real estate on my bookshelf.
MPD-Psycho by Eiji Otsuka. A lot of my friends were reading manga, and I wanted to start as well. But I didn’t want to go the route they did (Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto) oh no. I went to the library and grabbed the first volume of a series I could get my hands on. MPD-Psycho is one of the most brutal, gory, disturbing, messed up series one can read, and that was my introduction to manga.
Touching Smoke by Airicka Phoenix. Airicka was my gateway into indie authors, and I can’t get enough of her writing, or most of the other indies. There’s so much potential out there, and it’s all right there for us to enjoy.
That’s my top ten list for this week! What’s on your bookish bucket list? If you’ve done a TTT post go ahead and link it in the comments. 🙂 Have a great week.
books and writing 
Great list! I’m right there with you on the Little House Books, The Babysitters Club (I don’t know how I didn’t include that on my list!), and A Wrinkle in Time.
As I visit other people’s blogs I keep finding books/authors that I missed too! It’s giving me serious nostalgia though, I want to go back and re-read ALL of the books.
Me too! I guess it is good that most of them are short.
Book swapping sounds like so much fun, I always saw those books in used bookstores when I was younger, I think I even bought a few but I never read them. Invitation to the Game looks awesome. I haven’t heard about MPD-Psycho, I love dark manga so I’d definitely check it out. Have you read any works by Naoki Urasawa? His series are amazing, I highly recommend any of them.
Invitation to the Game really is amazing. It was really different from everything else when it was first published, and there are better dystopian world novels out there, but that one holds a place in my heart. 🙂 YES! I love Monster. That’s a good series too and so under appreciated.
I used to love The Babysitter’s Club. It was a great series! Fantastic list 🙂
This is a great list! I haven’t read any of them (except maybe a few Babysitter’s Club ones that I can’t remember) but you’ve made them all sound amazing so I’ll have to check them out!
Ely
I’ve only read a few of these but enjoyed those that I have. the BSC are awesome 😛
And I’ve only read Narnia by CS Lewis but it’s one of my favourites. I’ll have to check out his other works. Great list 🙂
Great list! 🙂 Ahh, BSC…to be honest, I think I read only one of their books (and I don’t think I know which one it was); I was more of a Sweet Valley Kids/High reader then (which was a very brief phase, too, lol).
I love that you included BSC on your list! I also used to pass those books around with my friends (along with Sweet Valley High), and would have loved to have my own baby-sitter’s club. I always felt more like the Mary-Anne of the group, but wished I was the Claudia.
And I’m glad to see the Little House books getting some love. Great list!
Kimberly (My list)
Oh, gosh. I had forgotten about The Baby-Sitters Club. I don’t know how since I probably owned anywhere from 50 to 75 of them. I also remember Julie of the Wolves. So many books from grade school that I’ve forgotten. It makes me want to look through my parents’ storage building to see what else I was reading. Thanks for stopping by my TTT!
This list is making my TBR list grow! Stephen King and The Baby Sitter’s Club really were a big part in my reading journey too.
Great list! In retrospect, I wish that I’d centred my list around the books that got me into reading … BSC and the Little House books definitely would have been high up on my list for sure! I hope one day to have a daughter, and I can rediscover those books with her =)
Omg, I haven’t thought about Julie of the Wolves in YEARS!! Ahh, the memories… I had to read that one for school, but I remember loving it – one of those rare instances where required reading was actually enjoyed, lol.
I remember watching Pet Cemetery when I was really young, and I still find it really terrifying (mostly because I saw nightmares of it as a kid). I haven’t read the book though, but I’m planning to do it soon. 🙂 Great list!
I remember reading Julie of the Wolves when I was younger, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was about lol. That needs to be one I go and read again!
Great list! A Wrinkle in Time was one I considered but didn’t ultimately make my list. SUCH a great book! I haven’t read The Screwtape Letters, but I REALLY want to! 😀
My TTT
Yay Baby-Sitter’s Club! I am completely embarrassed to say I haven’t read any of the others
BSC forever! I also loved the *Little House* series, but have never poured syrup on snow to make candy.
I loved Stephen King as a kid (Pet Semetary was a favorite, too), and while I don’t read him as frequently as I used to, it’s still always a treat. A Wrinkle in Time was another childhood favorite.
Stephanie @ Inspiring Insomnia