Life of Bry

Originally Published: December 13, 2019

Prompt: Write about your favorite book(s) …

I have always been a bookworm.

My mom taught me to read (and write) when I was three years old, because I insisted on doing homework with my older siblings. Together we spent hours watching Sesame Street and filling in Barbie workbooks. Little did she know, she started an addiction that would last my entire life.

It began with a book here and there from the school library, but it soon turned into stacks from Goodwill and yard sales. As I got older, I started reading whole series, which led to me saving up money from birthdays and holidays to get the next addition on release day.

Reading was an escape for me. It allowed me to transform my boring ordinary life into one of great adventures. 

I felt the deep despair as the Baudelaire children as they searched for an escape from Count Olaf in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I felt the desperation of Katniss as she ran through the crowd to volunteer herself to fight to the death in The Hunger Games. I analyzed, criticized and fell in love with classics like Dracula and The Great Gatsby. 

And, yes, I got lost in the Twilight phenomenon (#TeamJacob4Life). Let’s not talk about that.

While I believe that every book I have ever read has influenced me in some way, there are a few that have shaped who I am as a person.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was a summer reading assignment for my honors English class junior year of high school. Spoiler alert: I loved it so much, I waited seven years to reread it, because I was afraid that it wouldn’t be as good the second time.

I reread Mockingbird this past summer, and I absolutely adored it even more so now as an adult.

If you live under a rock and haven’t read To Kill a Mockingbird, I’ll give a little background info. 

The novel was written by Lee and published in July 1960. It follows a very young girl named Scout Finch as she grows up in Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. Scout and her big brother Jem are raised by their widowed father Atticus who also happens to be one of the most well-respected lawyers in the county.

Throughout the novel, Scout and Jem learn and grow through different life experiences, from the legend of Boo Radley down the street to adventures with their summer-time neighbor Dill to reading to bitter Mrs. Dubose. But everything leads up to the trial of Tom Robinson. 

Robinson is a young African American man accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, and his lawyer is none other than Atticus himself. As Atticus prepares for the trial of his career, Jem and Scout discover that the world can be very unjust but that it can be overcome by embracing sympathy and understanding.  

I’m not sure exactly why, but I resonated with Scout’s rebellious and free spirit. I was also a tom-boy growing up and tried everything I could to get around being a stereotypical girl. Scout is constantly questioning society’s view of being female, even as a child, causing quite a bit of trouble for Atticus. Scout taught everyone that it’s OK to not be a girly-girl.

I also loved the way that Atticus interacted with his children. He spoke to them as if they were equal and expected them to understand. I believe that every kid can relate to the feeling of being spoken down to and looked at as lesser. Atticus led by example, showing Scout and Jem how to care about and treat everyone with respect.

The trial of Robinson was the perfect example. In the 1930s, it would be unheard of for a lawyer to righteously defend an African American man against the word of a white woman. But Atticus took the case upon himself to try to prove Robinson’s innocence in a society that deemed him guilty before the incident could take place. And Scout and Jem had a front row seat (in the colored balcony) to watch it all go down.

Atticus gave Robinson his respect when the whole town wanted to hunt him down, which makes the ending of the novel that much more upsetting. No spoilers here.

My second favorite book, the book that is my literary comfort blanket, is The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. 

It’s the first book of the Riordan’s series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. TLT was published in 2005 and never had a movie adaptation. NEVER. 

Percy was my Harry Potter. While my friends raved about the latest Harry Potter movie, I clung to my worn copies of Riordan’s vast catalog of mythological adventures.

I was 12 years old when I first read TLT, the same age as Percy, the main character, in the first book. It was the perfect setup. The Lightning Thief follows the journey of Perseus Jackson, a young boy with ADHD and dyslexia who constantly stumbles into trouble. Raised by his mom and abusive stepdad, Percy believes that he has a dead-beat biological father, but he actually has a dead-beat God as a dad. 

Yes, Percy’s real father is Poseidon, the god of the sea, and that’s the cause of all of his bad luck.  It turns out that Greek mythology is real and it’s hiding behind the Mist in America. There’s even a whole summer camp full of other demigods who share similar misfortunes. It’s at Camp Halfblood that he learns that his differences are what keep him alive on a day-to-day basis. 

However, he can’t get comfortable at Camp Halfblood because a demigod’s life is never simple. A war is brewing between the gods and it’s up to Percy, along with his satyr protector Grover and new found friend Annabeth, to find out who stole Zeus’s lightning bolt, save the world from destruction and rescue Percy’s mom. 

Percy is an all around lovable character. He’s silly, loyal to his friends, dorky and has big WTF IS GOING ON energy. He’s an impeccable hero throughout Riordan’s books, but he is also very human (well, half human). He loves his mom and his friends and just wants a normal life, but instead is thrust into a chaotic world where he has to be the one to pick up the pieces. He even has insecurities, which readers see as his story progresses and he grows up.

As much as I love Percy, it was Annabeth who I resonated with the most as a preteen/teen. Annabeth is a daughter of Athena, who is smart, quick-witted and an architectural wizard. She is constantly saving Percy or helping him get out of trouble. Annabeth always has a plan.

I was a nerd growing up, so it was amazing for me to find a female character who was not just beautiful and made to be the love interest, but strong and smart. Annabeth knows nearly everything about mythology, but she can also take down monsters with only a dagger. 

For a 12-year-old girl, Annabeth was (and is) a bad ass lady to look up to. She was truly my hero.

PJO also touched on so many mature topics in a light-hearted and kid-friendly way. Percy, Annabeth and various other characters deal with physical and emotional abuse from family. These demigods are almost always abandoned by their mortal parents and ignored by the godly side. They are left to defend themselves from monsters, and often die young when they meet a creature they can’t defeat. 

The Lightning Thief resonated with me so much that I have a lightning bolt / rain cloud tattoo on my right wrist. It will always be a major part of who I am as a person. I also recommend it literally anybody who mentions even the slightest interest in reading. 

While To Kill a Mockingbird is on every high school reading list, The Lightning Thief is kind of a hidden gem that anybody can enjoy. 

Just read both of these books, please.