Brendan’s Inventory

In terms of what kinds of books impacted me as a reader, it would be no surprise in saying that the Harry Potter series had one of the earliest impacts of all the books I’ve read in my life. The reflection is meant to have me talk about just one book at a time, however mentioning just one book out of the whole series won’t do J. K. Rowling’s work any justice. Surprising no one, I grew up through most grade school reading these books. The reason why I got attracted to the series in the first place was the characters. Like myself, Harry Potter was a reserved little boy who was almost constantly bullied by kids in school and by family members at home. Being able to relate to him on a personal level, his story served as a bit of an escape for me whenever I was stressed out and needed time for myself. From the way I see it, these books helped me go through a rough patch in my life and I couldn’t be more grateful. Aside from relating to the characters, however, it was also the entire fantasy world that got me so fascinated in the first place. That is what made me want to read in the first place.

While J. K. Rowling is the author I must give credit to, to get me into reading in the first place. She had passed the torch to Andrzej Sapkowski in the later years. He is the man who had gotten me into the Fantasy genre for books. He is known for his work in The Witcher series, that same series with a video game trilogy and a Netflix show. Every little detail was well thought-out and fascinating that I almost wanted to live in that world. Not only that, but the characters were very life-like in their behaviors and flaws. It was astounding to see how human these fictional characters were with their motivations and the decisions they would make. However, the credit doesn’t just stop there. From time to time, I like to write my own fiction and I have to give Sapkowski credit for inspiring me to become a writer as well.

In terms of an all-time favorite book of mine, it would have to be The Dark Tower by Stephen King. While he did make an entire series out of this title, I had only read the first book so far, but I am already hooked. As life-like as the characters in The Witcher were, King takes his own characters in his own fantasy setting and cranks it up to eleven. While he is known for his horror genre, his dark fantasy series is nothing to be scoffed at either. As a writer, this is the man I took notes from in terms of how to build my worlds and how to create my characters. Not only that, but also on how to breathe life into the characters as well. From the way I see it, he is one of those writers that others should aspire to be. While I doubt I will ever be as famous or as successful as him, I will still take note of everything that worked for him and see if it can work for me.

If there is one thing I have to thank my school district for, it is for getting me into the dystopian future genre. George Orwell’s work was always interesting to me in the first place. The way he builds his worlds makes it very believable (except for Animal Farm), I could see those futures being entirely possible in the real world. For years, I have been fascinated with politics and social justice issues and his work is what sparked that fire in me in high school. Before reading his books, I didn’t really see the value in politics and the drama between politicians. However, seeing as how they are the people that have the most profound affect upon the world, Orwell’s work served as a good wake up call for me. I realized that if I didn’t speak out for my human rights and protest when necessary, the futures that he imagined could easily become what our society turns into.

After diving into politics, it was only inevitable that I would eventually turn my attention to war and the issues that arise from that. In terms of a book that helped shape my opinions about that, I would have to give credit to All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. He does a perfect job at highlighting the main issue of generations that look for war, and that issue is that they eventually find it. While it takes place in the ranks of the German army during WWI, he wrote it in such a way that anyone of any nationality can look at the characters and sympathize with their experience. Watching the characters ever-eroding faith in his country throughout the book was interesting to say the least. The horrors of war are portrayed well with what the soldiers had to deal with on the battlefield and watching the main character cope with his first kill. I’ll have to admit that before I had read this book, I wanted to enlist myself into the military. However, after simply imagining what it was like to be a soldier in the middle of a war, I can never bring myself to sign up willingly now. It makes me more appreciative to those willing to make that sacrifice as well.