Five Books That Dramatically Changed my Life
Not all are my favourite, but all have had a profound effect on me.
Books have been a part of my life forever. My earliest memories are sitting in a dusty corner of our local library once a month to pick my reads. My mother, an avid reader, passed her obsession on to me, and it has stayed for the last forty years.
There are many books that I have read during these years that have stayed with me. You know the type. The books you don’t want to start another one immediately after because you know nothing will be that good. There are numerous books, but inevitably, they fade away from your memory.
However, five books have played a massive part in who I am and my life. These are the books I would take with me on a desert island.
Wind in The Willows
I first read this as a ten-year-old. I loved the characters, even though I was a little scared of Toady at the time. The copy of the book I had contained the most beautiful images. During this book, I transferred from picture books to more mature reading.
As my children grow, I have read it to both of them. Only now, when I sit down with it, do I fully appreciate the beautiful prose and imagery that Kenneth Grahame uses in his writing. It will always be my favourite child’s book. As an adult, I visit it on those down days, like spending time with an old friend.
To Kill a Mockingbird
I don’t recall when I first read this book, but I know I was an adult, as this never came up in my GCSE literature class. Had it, I might have enjoyed the session more. When I read it, I was well aware of the hype surrounding it. I usually am sceptical of books with hype, but I made an exception for this. I’m delighted I did.
It was, without a doubt, the first book that made me question the world and think about the injustice of life. I read it every couple of years and every time; I take something new away from it. I loved the book so much that my first daughter was named Harper.
The Book Thief
When I first read this book, I read three chapters and put it down. Then, a couple of years later, someone told me the book was narrated by death. I was upset that I hadn’t figured that out, but it opened the book up to me in a new way. So I went back and devoured it in a day.
There have been so many books about World War II that it is hard to stand out from the crowd, but ‘The Book Thief’ does that. It is told from a unique point of view, that of a young girl growing up with loss and turmoil. So when Hollywood made the book into a film, my mum and I went to see it. We weren’t disappointed. This book is a must for all bookworms.
Order of the Phoenix
Aside from the controversy the author has created, I love the Harry Potter series. I was late reading it and only joined in with hype every time the book was released halfway through the series. ‘The Order of the Phoenix’ was the first book I robbed the post and for. I always read them in one day and was fed up that I had finished the book so quickly.
‘The Order of the Phoenix’ is my favourite part of the series because it is so new. It introduced us to new environments and characters and was the first book where the darkness started to descend. Sirius Black is my favourite character in the series, and this book was the one he was in the most. The relationship between him and Harry developed in this book and added another layer to the story. My second child is called Phoenix.
Fahrenheit 451
This is a book that I read for the first time in school. It’s the only stipulated book I enjoyed. Being a bookworm, the idea of a world without books is so awful the theme stuck with me. As an adult, it is a book I revisited and fell in love with again.
Although it is a shorter book, it does not lack punch. On the contrary, it is a fantastic story that draws me in every time. Just talking about it now has made me want to pick up my copy again.
These five are not my favourite books, as that list would include classics such as 1984 and Brave New World. They are, however, books that have had a profound effect on my life. It is hard to know whether this was the time I read them or the other factors going on when I was reading them. Life plays such a big part in reading.
Every reader has a different journey with the same book. Some books are unsuitable for the time you read them, so I am so pleased I gave The Book Thief a second attempt. My favourite thing about reading is how subjective it is. Some books I love, you might disagree with, and some you may never have heard of.
What five books have had the most significant impact on your life?