THE LIST (of books I've read), by amy

The next question you ask is... "Why?" My answer is... Um... er... why... not?

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Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds Nelson, Theresa --Okay (long story time). So there I was, a first semester library school student and dreamy booklover/wannabe author, and it turned out our kiddie lit class was required to attend this thing called the Fall Festival of Books, where three REAL LIVE AUTHORS would be speaking: LOIS LOWRY, which caused me to nearly faint with excitement; Virginia Hamilton, whom I'd never read anything by but I knew the name as being Somebody Important; and Theresa Nelson, whom I flat-out had never heard of. Well, I had to read books by all these people before the Festival, and it turns out I quite liked Empress of Elsewhere, but I still was thinking far more about Lois Lowry than Theresa Nelson. Then I was sitting in the auditorium and the speakers and the librarians who were serving as (as I would later learn, having become one myself) the "author mothers" were coming down the aisle, and a woman I recognized from the picture in the back cover of Empress of Elsewhere, glancing around haphazardly at the audience, looked RIGHT AT ME and broke into a HUGE SMILE. I think she might have even winked. "Theresa Nelson just smiled at me!" I told my friends. They were reasonably happy for me. Anyway, the speaking began, and Lowry and Hamilton were both professional and impressive and brilliant and all, like pillars of majesty. Theresa Nelson, on the other hand, spoke like a very funny friend of yours-- she used phrases like "kindred spirits" and talked of being inspired by her crazy dreams-- she was a BOOK LOVER, and wasn't ashamed to gush it. Kindred Spirits was right. So then I went to wait in line for autographs. Lowry and Hamilton were, once more, formal and professional. Theresa Nelson's line was moving VERY SLOWLY. This is because she was chatting very personably with every person in it. When she got to me, she squinted at me and said, "Do I know you?" "I don't think so," I said, "but you smiled at me before the presentation." "Of course! Now I remember!" she said. "I was probably gaping because I was so nervous to see all these real authors in person," I said. "So was I," she said, "That's probably why I noticed you." "I'm trying to be an author myself," I said, "but I've been writing the same three books since high school. I can't think of how to END them, usually." "I have the same problem!" she said, laughing. "A friend of mine lent me a great book that changed my life, though: Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott. I highly recommend it to any writer--especially ones who have problems like ours!" I DID find Bird By Bird, and love it, and recommend it to my two best writer friends as well, but of course it's not on this list because it's not fiction. Well, anyway, so before my first Fall Festival all I could talk about was Lois Lowry, afterward all I could talk about was Theresa Nelson. She was my own special friend for one afternoon... and probably, in some alternate plane of the universe, we've always been friends. At least I like to think things like that. Nesbit, E: --I rather like these books; there's something so old-fashioned and yet so timeless about them. Also, "E. Nesbit" is a cool name. It's fun to say. Neville, Emily Cheney Nixon, Joan Lowery --Apparently I had recently forced a Lois Lowry book on my mother when she saw a Joan Lowery Nixon book in my pile and said, "Oh, did she get married between books?" Yeah. Anyway. She offered me a good collection of mysteries and suspense and even oddly enough historical fiction that I really enjoyed at the time but now don't remember very well. Norton, Mary

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Oates, Joyce Carol O'Dell, Scott --I went through a rather lengthy historical fiction phase in my youth, and these books were all very good. Okimoto, Jean Davies Oppel, Kenneth -very cool alternate history SF... Orwell, George

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Paolini, Christopher-- entertaining, but too long and rambling. Haven't felt like picking up the sequel yet. Papademetriou, Lisa Park, Barbara Paterson, Katherine Paulsen, Gary Pearson, Mary E. Peck, Richard --nowadays all anybody knows Richard Peck for are his Newbery-winning historical vingettes; but I on the other hand have just one thing to say: BLOSSOM CULP ROCKS MY UNIVERSE. If I had to pick just one character from all of fiction that I truly longed to have as a best friend (Anne Shirley would be awesome, of course, but I always thought I was her), it was Blossom. In fact I think she seriously WAS my imaginary best friend for awhile, which just shows you how pathetic my life was in middle school. I am sad that there are only four books in the world about her. I should petition Richard Peck to stop writing silly award-winning historical vingettes and write some more about Blossom. But I think he said he was done with those. Dang. Pevsner, Stella Pierce, Tamora --all the books here are from the Circle of Magic quartet and their spinoffs ("The Circle Opens"). When I first saw these in the bookstore I thought they must be stupid Harry Potter ripoffs, but they're totally not. They're really wonderful books in very many ways. I also find that I tend to dream I'm in these books on a surprisingly regular basis. Some day I'm going to have to figure out which books start her other series' and read those too. Pike, Christopher --Ah, Christopher Pike. EVERYBODY read RL Stine's Fear Street, but those of us who were TRULY SERIOUS about our Teen Paperback Horror reading knew Christopher Pike. I know I've probably read a whole lot more than are listed here, but these were the titles that I for sure remembered. Pilkey, Dav --I know this may seem hard to believe, but:
I AM MADLY, COMPLETELY, UNCONDITIONALLY IN LOVE WITH DAV PILKEY.
It all started when I read his website. (also see very cute picture, although this was taken a million years ago, about). Then I went and read a whole bunch of other interviews; and of course I've read his books... his picture books aren't listed here, especially not the ones that he only illustrated, not wrote, but they are all SO VERY SWEET. And silly of course, also. But that's fairly obvious. Anyway, this is actually probably the most sensible of all my celebrity crushes, when you consider that probably the reason I like him so much is... he reminds me of my husband. Pinkwater, Daniel Manus --I like Daniel Pinkwater. His books are really, um, ODD. The books seem oddly dated sometimes and they're completely bizarre, but that just adds to the overall, um, ODDNESS, which is just cool. But probably my favorite book by him is not listed here, because it is a picture book. It is called The Big Orange Splot, and you are now hereby required to find it and read it. It's beautiful, really. Potok, Chaim Pratchett, Terry --Upon discovering Terry Pratchett, I loved him so much that in the course of a year I had tracked down just about all of his books owned by any library in Washington and Allegheny counties. This is one of the reasons I currently have six different library cards. This is also the reason this is such a long list! Price, Olive M. Pullman, Philip

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Quinn, Daniel

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Raskin, Ellen Regan, Dian Curtis Remarque, Erich Maria Rendina, Laura Cooper Richardson, Arleta Rinaldi, Ann Riordan, Rick --It's a given that fantasy-adventures for pre-teen boys ought to be fun (especially new takes on mythology like this), but I was not expecting the Percy Jackson series to be as completely laugh-out-loud FUNNY as it was, too! Robinson, Barbara Rodda, Emily Rodgers, Mary Rowling, J. K. --I have just one thing to say: I WAS HERE FIRST! See, that's the benefit of being a fanatic for middle-grade fantasy: you find yourself getting into the next big thing long before the rest of the world. Heh, there was a time my email account belonged to "Hermione Granger" and nobody had a clue what I was talking about.... Rylant, Cynthia --so, Cynthia Rylant supposedly once dated Dav Pilkey. Go her.

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created 2006, updated 2007, by Amy, who thinks you need to know this.