Books, Books and More Books – Repost

The prompt for today’s post to Celebrate Women is … “sharing our thoughts on a woman writer who has influenced our writing style or whose writing we adore.”

Recently, I wrote a post about books that have influenced me, I’m reposting it today with the women authors highlighted in yellow.

Ivy reads in bedphoto © 2006 Richard Masoner | more info (via: Wylio)

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A favorite childhood memory is being under a blanket with a book and a flashlight long after bedtime curfew. I remember the exhilarating feeling of leaving my sheltered world and entering The Bobbsey Twins world or helping Nancy Drew solve a mystery. As a teen, reading Julie by Catherine Marshall had me dreaming of someday being a writer.

In my late thirties, horrific accident injuries changed my world and challenged what I thought I knew about life. Along with the Bible, I read many books about what others believe and how they do life. We start where we are, so most of the books I read were from the circles I was in.

Between ongoing questions and two sons in college, my book selection is expanding now, but recently I took a trip down memory lane by going through my bookcase. It was good reminiscing about the books that have broaden my horizons and given me hope in the past few years.

Philip Yancey told me it was okay to be Disappointed with God or to ask Where is God When it Hurts. As I grasped for Oxygen, Keri Wyatt Kent taught me how to Breathe. Henry Nouwen gave me hope that I could learn to live with my disappointments. Beth Moore showed me how to Live Beyond Myself.

Joan Didion‘s unique Magical Year helped me process and live with grief. Books by Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, Donald Miller and Rob Bell were breaths of fresh air. Susan Isaac had me laughing, even if I was having Angry Conversations with God.

Some days I just needed entertainment and that was provided by authors, old and new … Dickens, Gilbert, Harper, Hosseini, Picoult, Sedaris and many more.

Book by book, my views expanded as William P. Young helped me believe in a God of love again, even with a Shack in my world. Annie Dillard helped me be an intentional Pilgrim as I went through life. I stopped dwelling on the past or the future as I learned to live in the  Now from Elkhart Tolle. Anne Morrow Lindbergh taught me to view life like Gifts From the Sea.

Jeanette Walls showed me the value of being honest about what went on in our Glass Castles. Rhonda Janzen had me laughing, while teaching me to honor my Mennonite background, little black dress and all.

Rachel Held Evans and Jason Boyett used a monkey town and a little boy with bandaged nipples to show me I wasn’t the only one asking questions or having doubts. Anne Jackson gave me  Permission to Speak Freely.

The list could go on … but that’s it for now. What authors have inspired, challenged or changed you?

PS: While all these authors have taught me something … I may or may not continue to agree with their writings.
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Go here to read posts from others that Celebrate Women.
My first Celebrate Women post - Are Girls as Valuable as Boys?
My second Celebrate Women post - No to Labels & Yes to People
My third Celebrate Women post – More is Caught Than Taught
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  • http://www.messiahmom.wordpress.com kristinherdy

    I love Philip Yancey – he’s teaching is challenging and clear, and I admire that.

    I’m partial to mystery writers who allow the reader to figure it out, too- C.S. Harris, Rhys Bowen and Margaret Truman are all inspiring to write a smart mystery novel and are all women.

    • http://janetober.com Janet Ober

      I got to meet Philip Yancey in person one day at “a living room conversation” with about 15 others. It was a time of questions and discussions. Great guy … and his wife Janet was sweet as pie also. (of course, with a name like that ;)

  • http://www.veronicamonique.com Veronica

    There are so many books and writers that shape us at different points in our lives. The beginning of your post reminded me of the book that first ignited the reader in me, Gertrude Chandler Warner’s The Boxcar Children. I actually didn’t start reading the book until it was overdue at my school library. I kept it hidden in my room and would read it at night after my mom went to sleep. I thought I was so sneaky, and I didn’t want it taken away before I finished. Of course, my mom knew the whole time and had spoken to the school.

    • http://janetober.com Janet Ober

      Ah, The Boxcar Children … how could I forget them. I read all of them … thanks for the reminder.

  • http://silly-bear.com Sarah

    Really lovely list of influences! I see we had a couple of common women writers–Anne Jackson and Rachel Held Evans are fantastic! I’m finding that my reading morphs and changes as I broaden my experiences and simply live.

    • http://janetober.com Janet Ober

      Definitely my reading morphs and changes … as I learn and grow and age. That’s why this walk down memory’s lane was kinda fun again … though I don’t read all these authors anymore, they were an important part of my journey. Like Beth Moore, her studies aren’t exactly my type anymore – but thanks to her, I learned to study for myself which is why some of my reading is changing … which I guess probably isn’t what she was going for … oops)