Maude D. Bauschard

My friend Kyle Kontour (Isn’t that a great name?) started a worthwhile chain list:  Over a 15 minute time frame, name 15 books that impacted your life (don’t over think it, you have 15 minutes) and send the list to 15 friends.

Here is my list:

1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon – This is my standard for every novel, especially every historical fiction novel.
2. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, by Kevin Bales – Woke me up to labor issues.
3. Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins – Started me on the path to vegetarianism, also influenced my love for strongly, slutty, central, female characters.
4. Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood, by Naomi Wolf – Naomi put to paper what I felt at an 18 year old — how do I balance my human sexuality and my social status as an intellectual woman in post-feminist revolution America?
5. The Handmaid’s Tail, by Margaret Atwood – Scary shit.
6. Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell – Have you ever wondered why all super-heros are orphans?  It’s because many (most?) children secretly fantasize about abandonment…
7. My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George – Hence why I like this book as well…
8. Little House series, by Laura Ingalis Wilder – And I LOVE this series because I secretly want to live off the land (and kick Nelly Olsen ‘s butt)
9. Outside Over There, by Maurice Sendak – I also have a bit of a super-hero complex…
10. Of Parrots and People: The Sometimes Funny, Always Fascinating, and Often Catastrophic Collision of Two Intelligent Species, by Mira Tweti – Parrots!!!
11. Ragtime, by E. L. Doctorow – Excellent Historical fiction — makes me glad to be an adult American awake for the new century’s turn.
12. Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M. Auel – More abandonment / living off the earth / historical fiction/ general awesomeness (but I had to drop the series by the third book when it turned into a trashy romance)
13. MAUS, by Art Spiegelman – Groundbreaking.
14. Organizing For Social Change, by Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max – Helped me to organize my priorities
15. Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture, by John E. Ikerd – Moving forward in the new century…