1. The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys), Franklin Dixon. This book has had a huge impact on me as it was the first mystery genre novel I ever read. Since reading this, at probably the age of ten, I have been captivated by mystery books as I can never put them down. This is also the first book that I can truly remember finishing in a single day.
2. The House of God, Samuel Shem. I read this book over the summer and from the very beginning I knew it would be a hit. This book follows the life of a medical resident who portrays medicine in an extremely cynical light. I enjoyed the character's struggle to keep his medical career and depression separate from his personal life
3. Oh, The Places You'll Go, Dr. Seuss. This book was read to me at my middle school graduation, and I still have some lines memorized from it. The story has a great moral showing that determination and perseverance is key in life.
4. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger. This was the first book where I felt truly connected to a protagonist's life. I loved how Holden Caulfield depicted the world in the truest manner. Furthermore, I enjoyed following Holden's coming-of-age journey throughout the book.
5. The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, Jonathan Eig. I have always found Lou Gehrig's life extremely fascinating. I love baseball and when I saw this biography in the bookstore one day during sophomore year, I knew that I had to read it. It is extremely interesting as it not only follows his professional baseball career, but also his life outside of the game.
6. Heat, Mike Lupica. I read this book in seventh grade and truly was able to put myself in the protagonist's position. The book portrays a young kid who has the dream of playing in the baseball little league world series. After reading this book, I started taking baseball much more seriously and it quite possibly has made me the player that I am today.
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain. I loved how this novel could cover so many topics. The tension between Huck Finn's motives and the norms of the society appealed to me. Furthermore, I enjoyed the overall plot and Huck's attempts to save Jim from the South.
I'm glad you got a baseball book in there. Baseball is by far the most literary sport and I have a whole collection of baseball books, both fiction and nonfiction. And isn't it amazing that a good mystery book at age 10 created an interest that's still with you? I love mysteries also, especially detective stories about murder investigations. Thanks for an interesting list.
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