Do you ever wonder if you belong in this world? Since I was a kid, I’ve felt more at home in my imagination than with external events and people. When I first read Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, I felt like he spoke my language. He gave me permission to voice intuitive perceptions and deeply personal views through fiction. As time progressed, the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Borges, Lois Lowry, Toni Morrison, Angela Carter, and Adolfo Bioy Casares inspired me to further explore multi-layered realities through novels and screenwriting.
I wrote...
The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman
By
Robin Gregory
What is my book about?
Moojie Littleman is not just another disabled orphan, he is not just a kid who falls into a series of magical, mystical adventures involving goats, bees, and a girl. He is, above all, the most unlikely hero ever known. Through friendship with alien outcasts, Moojie discovers his healing powers and a surprising destiny... if only he can survive one, last terrifying trial. Welcome to Moojie's mythical world of mayhem and merriment, where miracles are standard fare, mistaken identity is rampant, and the desire to belong can be dangerous. From screenwriter and award-winning novelist, Robin Gregory comes a masterful debut about family and first love—brimming with compassion, lyricism, and originality.
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The Books I Picked & Why
One Hundred Years of Solitude
By
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Why this book?
This book inspired me to write novels. It was thrilling to discover an author who weaves magical elements and events into otherwise ordinary and realistic situations, treating both as equally natural. Few other authors have done this so masterfully and in such an urgent and amusing way. I often re-read parts of this book to remind myself that it’s not only acceptable but crucial for me to form stories out of playfulness, in order to depict a multi-dimensional view of reality.
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Laurus: The International Bestseller
By
Eugene Vodolazkin,
Lisa C. Hayden
Why this book?
This book is brimming with themes that are super meaningful to me—love, loss, healing, the nature of reality, time travel, spirituality, faith, and redemption. He does this through language that waxes poetic in a formal, archaic voice, dropping into and out of time, occasionally lapsing into a hilarious, modern tone. Laurus, the protagonist, reminds me of myself, a holy fool, who believes in the healing power of mercy and compassion. As well, he keeps one foot in this world and the other in a mystical realm to which he longs to return.
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Every Heart a Doorway
By
Seanan McGuire
Why this book?
A girl named Nancy is on a quest to return to her “true home,” a place where she feels she belongs. She starts out by visiting the opposite, the land of the dead. When she returns, her parents don’t believe her story. So, they send her to a boarding school for wayward children. There, she and the other students visit other worlds, which instigates a process of inner discovery and transformation. The theme of leaving home to discover one’s true home—which I believe has less to do with location than self-realization—is rich and always compelling.
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Kafka on the Shore
By
Haruki Murakami
Why this book?
A fifteen-year-old boy runs away from an abusive father, but in truth, he cannot escape his shadow self which relates to feelings about his physical body. As he journeys through time, he is visited by a ghost and a talking cat, and the riddles of life are presented to him through various characters. Although plot points and timeline may be difficult to follow at times, the narrative takes you on a surreal journey that is more visceral than prosaic. I love that Murakami presents puzzles having to do with the nature of consciousness, self-identity, and transformation. And he refrains from answering them for the reader!
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The Ten Thousand Doors of January
By
Alix E. Harrow
Why this book?
What struck me first was the author’s language. It’s fresh and sometimes freefalling as it depicts a young girl’s stark reality and complex inner world. This book has the markings of a number of my favorite books: themes of love, identity, family, alternate worlds, redemption, the healing power of stories, and imagination. It may move too slowly for some, but I appreciate the carefully wrought coming of age journey where protagonist, January Scaller, grows through limitations and emotional challenges thrust upon her.
