My Most Memorable Books

Throughout my life, only certain books have truly caught my attention.  These books, are not necessarily the most intellectual ones, if not the ones that left me thinking about the type of person I am, and the type of person I want to become.  My all time favorite book is "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coehlo, who wrote about a guy searching for the Sorcerer's Stone, and eternal life and riches.  The journey that the character, Santiago came across was not the easiest but he never struggled to keep going. Truly, I'm very much like Santiago because he went through great lengths to accomplish his goal, and never doubted himself to reach for his dreams, which is how I like to see myself. I am like Santiago as we both perservere and know our final goal; we both understand the huge importance of the different things that a person must go through to accomplish their dreams. Although this story is a fable, and not real at all, it was easy for me to feel like this could happen to me. The truth is that this book left me thinking about the types of goals and dreams that people can have and the different ways that people categorize their priorities and the length that people can go for sucess. My next favorite book has to be "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury which through another journey I learned the importance of literature and the type of things that people are capable of doing. With no surprise this theme of this book shocked me, it talked about the importance of books and why although sometimes people don't like to read, its important begin reading because the amount of censoring that can occur in a future, or even a present is immense. The book not only dealt with many social issues but detoured the reader into a world of desperation and realization of the enourmous amounts of consequences that small actions like banning a certain author's work can lead to. Bradbury left me thinking of the influence the government has on the people and the limitations that take place and how incredibly important it is to keep your eyes open to all the different possibilities and the many different things that people can devise. In the third place, falls a very different book, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, an amazing book about the unbelievable childhood of the young girl, Angelou herself. No book had ever left me wondering about how sick some people can be, and through this reading I learned more than anything, the importance of the value that each person holds. Regardless of a person's race, sex, or even favorite color, each person is a lot more valuable than they realize because as a matter of fact they have a place in this world and they do matter.  The thing that bugged me the most about the book was the relationship she had with her mom and later her dad, and the lack of respect that they had towards each other. Next on my list is, "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" which led me to tears, and taught me about the many effects that war and hatred can leave on a civilization. Sadako was a young japanese girl who died of leukemia due to the toxins that the atomic bomb left in Japan. Obviously after reading this book, I went to consider the huge wrongs that exist in warfare and revenge, which both were the major and only reasons that are to blame for this young girl's death. The faith that this girl held was more than enough to inspire me to never give up and continue to be strong until the end. She became a hero to me because she was strong in one of the most difficult times of her life.  The last book that I can think of and say that its in my most memorable, is the children's book, " The Puppy who wanted a Boy". This has to be my most memorable book because it was one of the first books I read in English, it had a very cute puppy on the cover and it was a Christmas book. Unlike an average story, where a kid asks his parents for a puppy, this story was different, and switched the perspective a bit. The main character was not a boy, but a puppy who asked his mom for a boy to love him.  This was the story where the puppy searched for a boy to adopt him for Christmas, and it was one the cutest things, to read about a puppy searching for a home. After reading that book, I must have read it about 10 more times and never wanted to let it go because the book made me think about what goes through an animals' mind. More importantly I realized that not all dogs had homes like my dog, and I learned that if you're good, all year, Santa or your parents would know and he or your parents would bring you or get you what you wanted for Christmas. This is very memorable because regardless of the lack of philosophic thought, and an immensely complicated plot, it contained a very deep moral thought. To no surprise, after it being about 8 years since I last read that book, I have come to clearly remember every picture and every emotion this puppy went though throughout his journey to find his home sweet home.