Books the Change You

I recently heard an interview on the Washington Post Book review podcast with the author the author Jay Parini about his recent book Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America. The books he selected were by no means great books but I would agree that they did have a profound impact on American culture in general. Parini argued in the interview that these 13 books represent the soul of America and shaped America's morals and character. After this interview, I started to think about the books that have changed me, shaped my morals and character. At first my list included all my favorite books but then it occurred to me there is a difference between loving a book and being influenced by a book. I didn't necessarily love Blink but I was highly influenced by the arguments Malcolm Gladwell makes about how perceptions shape my reality. There are many sentences or scenes from specific books that are with me forever and that I routinely return to shape the way I approach everyday situations. Some of those influences are obvious, such as Fast Food Nation compelling to eat only organic beef and to frequent Fast Food restaurants only on rare occassions. Where as books like Lolita and Anna Karenina had more subtle and profound impacts on the way I see the world and my relationships. To this day when I think of the frustrations of relationships, I think of Levin and Kitty mushroom hunting in the forest. No scene in fiction better captures the awkwardness of relating to someone. Having read that I feel I better understand my own shortcomings and insecurities when trying to communicate with someone I love.
For me, there are few thrills more exhilerated than comming across a passage or an idea in a book that shifts the world for me- a little like peering into a kaleidoscope. To be changed is actually one of the key reasons why I read and why I am so compelled to read.

So what are those thirteen books for me? I will list them below and I think in future posts highlight one book and explain why it is on the list. I will warn you it is fairly predictable list.

* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
* The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
* The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
* The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
* Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich
* Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
* Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
* Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
* Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
* The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
* Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
* Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (honorable mention for The Tipping Point)
* The Wind-up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami
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