K.L. Kranes

It’s hard to find ways to fill the time while driving and I am currently on a driving-heavy vacation up the New England coast. As the wheels rolled on during our first stretch, we discussed Game of Thrones, the new Star Trek series, Koko the gorilla, 500 year-old sharks and spirit animals. (I’m a tiger. And, yes, it seemed fortuitous that the same day I discovered my spirit animal was a tiger I came upon a very strange statue of a tiger out front of a store in the town of Piermont, NY.)

Discovering your spirit animal is a bit like reading your horoscope. The characteristics are vague enough that they could apply to almost anyone, especially if you want them to fit.  However, I did take a “test” to get my spirit animal, one that had extremely insightful questions such as what’s your favorite element? (Does anyone sit around thinking about their favorite element? How on earth (no pun intended) would I know the answer to this?)

If you’d like to take the test, please feel free to try it here. Of course, being that I’m a writer and a reader, the first thing I wonder is what book would the spirit animal inside me want to read, provided it could read. (Given a spirit animal isn’t an actual thing, I think I can make my own rules here and say a spirit animal can read.)

I’ve taken a few spirit animals from this test and provided their characteristics and paired them, very scientifically, with a book recommendation that I think would represent a Spirit Book based on the Spirit Animal.

Deer

• Gentleness
• Ability to move through life and obstacles with grace
• Innocence
• Being sensitive and intuitive
• Vigilance, ability to change directions quickly
• In touch with life’s mysteries

Spirit Book Suggestion

The Secret Lives of Bees

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily’s fierce-hearted black “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina–a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sister, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

Bear

• Grounded
• Strong
• Inspiring
• Courageous
• Stands up against adversity
• In touch with nature
• Powerful guide to support physical and emotional healing

Spirit Book Suggestions

The Fountainhead

Unconventional and arrogant architect Howard Roark sees himself as misunderstood, having been openly criticized by writer Ellsworth Toohey. Taking a job at a quarry in lieu of compromising his vision, Roark becomes involved with rich, married socialite Dominique Francon. As he struggles to preserve his ideals and projects while competing for the heart of a married woman, Roark’s reactions become increasingly complex and dramatic.

Turtle

• Slowing down, pacing
• Sticking to your path
• Determination
• Persistence
• Emotional strength and understanding
• Ancient wisdom

Spirit Book Suggestions

Wonderful Wizard of Oz

When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. They follow the Yellow Brick Road toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard, and en route they meet a Scarecrow that needs a brain, a Tin Man missing a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage.

Fox

• Physical or mental responsiveness, increased awareness
• Cunning
• Swift in tricky situations
• Affinity with nocturnal activities and dream work

Spirit Book Suggestions

Gone Girl

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

Bunny

• Fear, shyness and anxiety
• Fertility
• Abundance and wealth
• Cleverness and creativity
• Spontaneity

Spirit Book Suggestions

Anne of Green Gables

Anne Shirley is a bright, imaginative 11-year-old orphan who is sent to Green Gables to live with a pair of siblings to help with chores on their farm. She quickly adapts to life in Avonlea and warms the hearts of everyone around her, thriving in the small farming village and growing up to become a remarkable young woman.

Peacock

• Beauty
• Wise Vision
• Awakening
• Immortality
• Spirituality
• Self-confidence
• Resurrection
• Laughing at life

Spirit Book Suggestions 

Blood Sucking Fiends

Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley Dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching back, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her.

Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that’s where C. Thomas Flood fits in. A would-be Kerouac from Incontinence, Indiana, Tommy (to his friends) is biding his time night-clerking and frozen-turkey bowling in a San Francisco Safeway. But all that changes when a beautiful undead redhead walks through the door…and proceeds to rock Tommy’s life — and afterlife — in ways he never thought possible.