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or 7 Books That Literally Changed My Life

It is undebatable that literature is life-changing, so I will not try to convince you. Oprah would file this under: “What I know for sure.” When I think about my life and the book-related events that have influenced me the most, these are the books that I consistently mention and why:

1. Heidi by Johanna Spyri

I don’t think I ever read this book. I won’t swear to it, but I don’t remember reading it. Why would I list a book as being very influential in my life if I don’t remember having read it? Well, to understand that you need to understand that fifth grade was the worst year of my life. My fifth grade teacher was a brand new teacher, and her teaching style — well, it’s safe to say that 10-year-old me did not like her at all. There were some things going on at home. My older sisters were getting married and moving out. I had always *had* to share my bedroom and now I was alone, and I began having nightmares. I had to sleep with my closet light on. This led to my brother’s cat yowling outside my window all night. I wasn’t getting much sleep, and I did NOT want to go to school. I would break out in hives in the morning and mom would have to drag me to school kicking and screaming.

As a result of the kicking and screaming, I was late for school a lot. I was so late for school so many times that I would miss my reading group. This led to the first failing grade that I ever received on a report card. That’s right. I failed Reading.

Fast forward to sixth grade and a different, more experienced teacher. I was never able to properly thank Ms. Burleson for her influence on me. Not only did I bring my grade up in Reading, but sixth grade is the first time I remember being on the honor roll. Suddenly I felt like I could actually be smart.

My clearest memory of that year is being asked to stay after school one day. This was okay, because I rode the second load bus. Ms. Burleson told me she knew a couple who wanted to do something nice for a special kid in her class and she thought of me. She asked if it would be okay if they gave me a gift. I was a bit confused but assured her that I would be happy to accept something.

I honestly don’t remember if they mailed the gift or gave it to her to bring to school or what, but I remember receiving a lovely illustrated book called Heidi with a wonderful inscription that I also do not remember. This was a gracious, wonderful gift to receive from that couple – they included their names but I don’t remember those either. Moreso, this was a very precious gift to receive from the teacher who helped me see myself as someone with potential. The book was so precious and beautiful that I did not want to damage it by reading it. I don’t know where the book is now, but when I think about turning points in my life this is one of them, and Heidi was there.

2. The Stand by Stephen King

When I was in high school, my sister was in the Stephen King book of the month club. She would read the books and then let me borrow them. I remember commercials at the time talking about the “new, complete, uncut” edition of The Stand. More pages! More creepy King! I was in ninth grade, and I was up for the challenge. Mr. Gibson had assigned us one book report a month for the entire year. I decided I was going to read The Stand for one of my reports. Of course, that meant I would have to read other books monthly because it was going to take ages to finish so many pages.

Fast forward again, and a few months later Mr. Gibson decided we no longer had to do monthly book reports. I was stunned. After class I went to his podium with my giant book and said, “But Mr. Gibson, I’ve been reading this book for months planning to do a report when I finished.” He told me to go ahead and turn in the report when I was done and he would give me extra credit.

Here’s the thing about me and Mr. Gibson’s English class – I did not exactly need extra credit. Here’s how this became a thing that hugely impacted the rest of my life – My final grade in English for that term was 111%. This was the first time that I learned that it was possible to do better than 100%. The next year I registered for the honor’s English class with Mr. Gibson’s wife (more on how that changed my life later.) The year after that all of my friends were dropping out of school and I decided that I was going to go to college. Once again, a teacher and a book changed the way that I saw myself and my world.

3. The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley

My hometown was small and white, and if you wanted to see a movie besides the one film playing at 8pm on the weekend, you had to drive an hour or more to one of neighboring cities. Every time we got our paychecks for bussing tables, my cousin and I would drive to one of these cities and spend our earnings on books, music, and band t-shirts at the mall. During one of these excursions I bought a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, because it had Denzel on the cover and I had never seen a Denzel movie that I didn’t like.

I still remember the opening scene of the book with chilling clarity. Ku Klux Klan members threatening Malcolm’s mother when she was pregnant with him. Her husband was not home. She was alone with her children. The Klansmen circled the house and busted out the windows. The tension created in that scene was indicative of how I would feel throughout the book.

I literally white-knuckled my way through this book. I was a young, impressionable teenager, and at some point I realized that I was really on board with the white man being the devil. And this is why it pains me to this day to leave any book unfinished. If I had put down The Autobiography of Malcolm X at nearly any point before the end, I would not have gotten the whole message.

One key message in Malcolm X for me was about being willing to learn. Malcolm’s use of the prison library was something I could connect with. As a kid, I loved my public and school libraries. As a teen, I had purchased Malcolm’s book with my own hard-earned money, and it reminded me that books are the gateway to continuous learning.

This was also my first exposure to a non-Christian religion. The book describes Malcolm’s pilgrimage to Mecca and the personal transformation he experienced on his journey. His openness to reevaluate beliefs that he had publicly expressed in the most vehement of terms has served as a lifelong inspiration to me. When we keep learning and having new experiences, it has to be okay to change our minds and to say things today that disagree with things we said in the past.

This book made me run a gamut of the strongest emotions. It left me feeling angry, sad, drained, hopeful… but it never really left me. For at least twenty-five years, it has been one of my first answers when asked about books that have influenced me. (For more on Malcolm X, I also recommend Blood Brothers about his relationship with Muhammad Ali.)

4. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson

The first upper-level English class that I took (when I was still trying to be a psychology major) was titled something like “Writing the Southern Self: Literature and Culture of the American South in Autobiography and Memoir.” This book made me reevaluate Malcolm X and all of the other “nonfiction” I had read. I learned about voice, point of view, and even about narrators in these supposedly “true” works.

Prior to this class I took it for granted that something labeled as a biography or memoir was true and fact to the best of the author’s ability. This class made me think about the choices a memoirist makes and the things they choose to include or omit. How would I tell my own life story? Certainly there are stories in my life that illustrate points I would like to make about myself. They reflect how I see myself or how I want to be seen. Are there true stories from my life that I would omit? Sure. Some of them might not be relevant to the topics that I want my life to focus on, others might taint the image of myself that I want to convey. And how about those stories from childhood that I compare with my friends, and we don’t remember them identically? Can I be an unreliable narrator of my own life story?

Of all the books assigned for this class, this the one I remember and refer to the most. In the interest of not spoiling, I will not say much else.

5. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Everyone should read Shakespeare. If you ever have to write a paper on what makes him so special, don’t try to come up with something clever. Everyone’s answer to that question should be: “His use of language.” And that is why Much Ado is my favorite play. I love the witty repartee between Beatrice and Benedick. There is a lot of hilarity in this one. It’s loads of fun with a side of social commentary… and then there’s Dogberry. An entire character whose schtick is the constant misuse of language. I love it! Watch the movie with Kenneth Branagh and an all-star cast. Never forget that Shakespeare plays are designed to be watched. Go to plays! Shakespeare forever!

6. The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron

This book should be #1, but that wasn’t how I wanted to write this post. The Places That Scare You is the book I credit with changing and saving my life. I have read or listened to this book more times than I can count. I have purchased multiple copies of this book and given them away. If I could only read one book for the rest of my life, I would have no qualms picking this one and reading it repeatedly. I first read this book because it was recommended by Oprah.

This book took me to task. It made me take responsibility for my own well-being and stop waiting for someone to swoop in and save me. The first time I read this book was over 10 years ago. I was a single mother. I weighed nearly 300 lbs. I couldn’t get out of bed because of depression and back pain. I was having a crisis of faith and stopped going to the church where I had invested years of my life. I told a friend that I was thinking about “jumping off the dry side of a dam.” And then I read a blurb about this book, complete with a quote from Oprah.

The Places That Scare You made me realize I was hiding from life in my bedroom. I had bought into the myth that feeling bad was bad and bad feelings need to be pushed away. This book taught me to sit with my feelings. It taught me to turn my own “bad” feelings into empathy for others. Honestly, I need to read this book again right now. I am going to start the audiobook again right this minute.

7. Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughn

This book is special to me, because the first time I read it for Prof Connors’s Graphic Novel class I hated it. The imagery in the book is fantastic, but I felt the story was a little preachy and a bit too obviously allegorical. And you should have seen the looks I got when I was reading it in the work cafeteria and got to the page with the exploding giraffe… people reading 50 Shades in the caf got less weird looks than I did.

Despite my dislike for this book, I decided to use it for my final paper for this class. Our task was to read another graphic novel that was not assigned and compare/contrast it to one we read in class. I compared Pride of Baghdad to the graphic novel version of The Last Unicorn… and I had to admit that in the scenes I was comparing Pride of Baghdad was the more effective of the two books.

My hide was chapped at this admission, but I still dismissed the book… until I was assigned to read it again the next semester in Dr. Burris’s post-colonial English Lit class. I was stoked to see a graphic novel on the reading list in a “regular” class, and I was glad to have already read the book which would lighten my reading load a bit. Here’s where this book became life-altering for me… everyone else in the class hated it. They agreed with me, right? I should feel validated. Instead, I jumped to the book’s defense. I want teachers to assign more graphic novels. And this book really nailed it in the context of this particular class. Suddenly when everyone else hated the book I began to see its merits. This lesson stuck. If you don’t like something or can’t see eye-to-eye with someone, imagine yourself in a situation where everyone else is hating on them and you have to come to their defense. In all honesty, I should have been familiar with this “I can pick on my little brother, but you can’t” theme, but this expanded the application of the principle to creative works and ideas. I now claim Pride of Baghdad as one of my favorite graphic novels.

How Have Books Been Life-Changing for You?

Please leave a comment with the books that have most impacted your life. Also, let me know if you have read any of my selections and what you thought. Do you tend to be more impacted by fiction or nonfiction? Stories you read when you were younger or older?