Fiction Books That Have Changed My Life
Hey friends! Welcome back! Today, we’re going to talk books. Specifically, a handful of fiction books that have made a momentous change in my life. Honestly, since I’ve read them, I can’t even tell you HOW they’ve changed me; just that they have. I would not be the same person I am today if I hadn't read them.
The first series has been around for a VERY long time (Started in 1980) - the Earth Children Series, by Jean M. Auel. Most people will recognize it when I say ‘The Clan of the Cave Bear’.
Lets list all the books in the series:
The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980)
The Valley of Horses (1982)
The Mammoth Hunters (1985)
The Plains of Passage (1990)
The Shelters of Stone (2002)
The Land of Painted Caves (2011)
I first discovered these books in the summer of the year 2000. I was just about to graduate from high school, and my English teacher wanted us to do some kind of report on a book. She had given us this box of books to choose from, and I had picked out this particular book. She noticed, took me aside and told me that it was one of the greatest fiction books of all time. So, I read it. I think I was mystified at how I had never heard of this series before. (I was and always have been an excellent and avid reader). It was the first novel in the series, ‘ The Clan of the Cave Bear’.
It was only the first novel, and yet at such a transitional moment in my life, this novel transformed me. It made me see things in a different light. If you are not familiar with the books, the main character of the series is Ayla, a Cro-Magnun Girl. She is adopted by a tribe of Neanderthals. It focuses a lot on botany and herbal medicine which I find fascinating. (Maybe that’s part of the reason why I love Outlander so much!). The book discusses Ayla’s trials and tribulations of coming of age and discovering different cultures. It is so fascinating. You know a book (or movie) is good when, one minute you’re laughing, and the next you’re crying. This is that type of book.
Ayla meets a love interest, and they travel from the present day Ukraine to France. This is amongst one of the best books I have ever read. If you have not already read these, I would suggest checking them out. You will not be disappointed!
The second series is by Karen Marie Moning - You guessed it! The Fever Novels! OMG.
BEST. NOVELS. EVER.
Need I say more?
Ok, well…
MacKayla Lane starts off in Sunny Georgia; soon finds out her sister is murdered and sets off to Ireland to discover what happened. She discovers fae (non-conventional fairies) are real. Long story short, she becomes the fae Queen and…well, I’m currently on the last book in the series and I don’t know the rest. Suffice it to say, these books have been read EACH, eight times. The last time was May 2020 when I was pregnant with my daughter. The newest book was just released February 2021.
THE BOOKS:
Darkfever (2006)
Bloodfever (2007)
Faefever (2008)
Dreamfever (2009)
Shadowfever (2010)
Iced (2012)
Burned (2015)
Feverborn (2016)
Feversong (2017)
High Voltage (2018)
Kingdom of Shadow and Light (2021)
These books span over a decade and a half and are unutterably EPIC. I wouldn't say they were for kids, but I would let my daughter read them when she wants to. Why? Because I would have been reading these in Grade 4 or 5. (I read all the Stephen King novels by the end of Grade 4, so, ya…)
The next book is again, another book I read in school, this one dating back to Grade 7. I think I was in my 20’s when I went to search for it and couldn’t find it anywhere. I finally found a used hard copy online and paid over $100 for it. It is called ‘Phantom’ by Susan Kay.
My favorite rendition of the Phantom of the Opera is the movie based off of the Andrew Lloyd Webster musical. (I mean, who doesn't LOVE Gerard Butler in that movie?) I found the story to be so romantic, but it was more of a fated romance destined for destruction. I never did read the original book itself.
Susan Kay’s ‘Phantom’ is based on the 1910 novel ‘ The Phantom of the Opera’ by Gaston Leroux, but it is a biography of Erik, the main character. Even though Erik is deformed and hides away, the music that he plays is so beautiful that it makes you want to love him. It’s not just the music - he is so brilliant. It’s like how the girl always wants to date the bad boy because you think you can fix him…like I said, destined for destruction.
The very last series I want to talk about is by Piers Anthony, called the ‘Apprentice Adept’ Series. I first discovered these in Grade 4, but they make excellent adult reading.
The books are:
Split infinity (1980)
Blue Adept (1981)
Juxtapostion (1982)
Out of Phaze (1988)
Robot Adept (1988)
Unicorn Point (1989)
Phaze Doubt (1990)
I am actually currently reading these to my son. He loves a good bed time story! These books focus on a marriage between science/technology and magic. The main character’s name is Stile, like the passage over a fence. He lives on a planet called Proton. The people have almost exhausted the world’s energy (called ‘protonite’), so the landscape is barren and everyone has to live in domes. There are two kinds of “people” - citizens, who have all the power, and serfs, who have none. Stile is a serf, but he discovers an alternate frame of magic, called Phaze where he is an adept (a ‘magician’ of the realm). Towards the last book, Proton and Phaze merge. It is one of the most fascinating science fiction books/series that I have ever read and I never get tired of reading them over again.
That’s it for my absolute favourite fiction novels of all time. I have read thousands of books in my lifetime thus far, but these have been ones I return to time and again. I hope you enjoyed this list. If you are an avid reader like myself, and enjoy fiction, check these out and I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed.
❤️ SAN xoxo!
