This week in the Summer Reading Challenge, we’re celebrating TL Costa‘s release of Playing Tyler! Playing Tyler is a fast-paced thrill ride about two outcasts, young love, deception and the fight to stay alive—it begs the question, when is a game not a game? Here, Tracy shares with us the five books that inspired her to become a writer:

The Lorax by Dr. Suess

“I loved this book as a child and now as a mom and a writer possibly even more so.  It teaches so many things in the simplest of ways that fascinated me when I was little, and as an adult, inspire. Not only are the words themselves broadcast in Suess’s trademark rhythm, the book has an over-arching theme.  As my husband says, it’s “about something” and it’s about something important, asking us as children and as parents to consider the larger impact of our actions, to think outside of ourselves and realize that our goals and successes may come at the expense of others.

Also, the Once-ler, has a very marked character arc in his own right.  He is the villain of the book, the man who destroys a paradise to feed his own ambition, but is also a sympathetic character, a character we as readers can relate to, which is a rather remarkable amount of depth for the “bad guy” in a children’s book.  By the end of the book, his regret for his actions clear, he turns the corner from anti-hero to hero as he atones for his past misdeeds by passing along the last Truffula seed for the next generation, essentially sowing hope for the generation to come.

It is masterful, and it inspires me to this very day.”

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

“Wow did I love this book as a child.  I must have read it a hundred times.  Trips to the library would end with my arms full to bursting, barely able to carry the jewels of my weekly cache.  And I remember this book being on top of the stack many, many times.  Good versus evil, huge adventures and great characters make it one I can’t wait to read with my own kids.”

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

“This is a book that inspired in a very real way.  Not so much by the historical context or by the epic descriptions, but rather because Margaret Mitchell wrote a character I, well, hated.  I hated Scarlett in so many ways, yet I couldn’t put the book down.  Mitchell wrote a character that was made human, made real in my mind because of those faults.”

 The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

“Man, Anne Rice sure can write a book.  And this book, like many of her others, like the Mayfair Witches, really exemplifies all that a good book can do.  It crosses centuries to tell it’s story of the main character, another tragically flawed yet ultimately loveable anti-hero.  He kills people.  Lots of them. And you love him anyway.  Rice asks the reader to tackle the concept of redemption and self-worth in a beautiful, sweeping epic.”

The Tale of the Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu

“Why Tale of the Genji?  Because it is considered by many to be the first novel ever written, around the year 1000 ce, and it was written by a woman. I mean, think about it, the world’s first novel, and it was written by a woman.  Whenever I need some encouragement to keep going, I think of Lady Murasaki, and how she changed the world of literature forever. 

And I am forever grateful to her.”

Pinterest PS – Check out this Pinterest board inspired by Playing Tyler!