It was exactly what I needed.
1984 and then all three books in the Shadow Chronicles. I read 1984 from my Kindle, which seemed fitting. It was great reading a story that focused a majority of the story on the main character's internal thoughts and reflections. After the last click of that, I ran my hands along my book shelves feeling and looking for inspiration.
It came when my finger rubbed against the rough, well worn spine of Shadow Moon. That led me along Elora's journey spanning through Shadow Dawn and ending at the last page of Shadow Star. These 3 books are some of my long standing books that I've carried with me, chosen over many other precious items during one of our many, many moves in our unstable past.
Now I'm recharged, inspired to write something that may one day cause the same reaction as mine to my favorite works. My characters now have an understanding of my expectations of them. They're lofty, high standards. Hopefully we can live up to them.