There are plenty of books out there that claim to be “life-changing” reads, swearing that everything you need to change your life is between those several hundred pages. In my experience, those books never seem to really live up to the hype. No, it’s more so the low-key, devastatingly emotional books that stay with you that tend to change your life.
These books are life-changing in their own ways. They expose you to unbelievable facts. They lay open the science that you didn’t know existed. They tell you stories you could never imagine. They make you cry like you haven’t ever before. They unfurl the greatest lives. They teach us life can be lived in many ways.
Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami
Entering Murakami’s stories is honestly like entering a dream, and finishing them leaves you with the same sort of “what just happened?” feeling as when you awaken from a vivid sleep-space. This novel is a beautiful example of the surrealistic, infinitely imaginative style and engrossing storytelling that had led to his acclaim. Murakami’s signature blend of magic realism and metaphysical mischief abound in these pages, and it will leave you a deeper, broader person with more questions and fewer answers.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
No book has ever broken me quite like A Little Life. Fair warning; it is not for the faint of heart and definitely comes with a trigger warning for sexual assault. There is so much to this book: its unique literary devices; the immersive writing; the friendships and unspeakable trauma. Because of the difficult subject matter, it’s not one for everybody, but the deep-dives into trauma and suffering and empathy are life-changing. It will stay with you forever.
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions On Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Don’t let the title of this book deter you from reading this magical book. Though the book is for writers, its ideas about taking it day by day, working hard, believing in ourselves, not pondering about the results, being good, living and enjoying life can help us all.
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French philosopher famous for his novel The Stranger. The Outsider is the same story but with a different translation and subtle dream-like tendencies. In this classic existentialist narration, Meursault, the protagonist, neither ever showed remorse nor adjusted as per social norms. He did not just do something to make others like him or accept him. He did what he had to do ignoring society’s reactions, and sometimes even while unknowingly putting himself into danger. Through Meursault, Camus tells the story of how to be OK about who we are and that life is all the more same for all of us in true essence of The Outsider. This version is a bit harder to track down, so if you can’t find one, The Stranger will also greatly influence your life.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah is one of my all-time favorite books. There are some novels that tell a great story and others that make you change the way you look at the world. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah is a book that manages to do both. It is ostensibly a love story – the tale of childhood sweethearts at school in Nigeria whose lives take different paths when they seek their fortunes in America and England – but it is also a brilliant dissection of modern attitudes to race, spanning three continents and touching on issues of identity, loss and loneliness. Americanah is written with equal parts lyricism and erudition, and I promise it will change you in more ways than one.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
I read this book about a year ago, and I’ve thought about it every day since. Not only is it an incredible story, but it’s also a valuable piece of literature for ongoing anti-racist education. Homegoing is the ultimate fictional education on systemic racism and the generational trauma it creates. The story begins in Ghana 300 years ago when two half sisters are born. One is sold into slavery, while the other marries a slave trader. Each chapter follows a new descendant of the women, illustrating how events and injustices of the past reverberate through the lives and struggles of future generations.
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