Reading Glasses - Fan Group discussion

I am always interested in not only the books that have changed people's lives but also the reasons behind it. I would love to know what books have had a profound (or just very lasting) impact in your life and why if you don't mind sharing.

There have been several for me but the most recent was The Bookshop on the Corner. I did not grow up with any wild dreams or great ambitions. I just wanted to live my life in general comfort with those I love around me. I have actually been ridiculed for this by peers (which, I mean, why does it even bother them in the first place?). But I happened to pick this up because it was about a bookstore and it turned into a treasured item for me that I know I'll read again and again. I won't spoil the plot but my one and only dream now is to have a mobile bookstore in a double-decker bus.

When I was in high school I read Roots, and for a white kid who had never really thought about Black history before, it opened my eyes to a lot of things. I couldn't put it down even though I was supposed to be studying for finals.

On The Road and Naked Lunch had a deep and lasting effect on me when I read them for the first time around the age of 12, leading to a lifelong love of beat literature, seeking out some of the same experiences they had, traveling to places where they lived and wrote, building my library, and working through all of their books.

My college thesis was about Kerouac's Subterraneans, exploring the role of race and gender in Kerouac's writing, and whether it qualifies as literature (something that, in fact, held me back from the opportunity to be an Honors major, since the focus there was namely on Shakespeare...). Finally made it to the City Lights Bookstore for the first time last year. And the journey continues...

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter was a big influence. It's a strange book about mathematics, molecular biology, music, and art. We got it out of the library when I was in elementary school, and I remember paging through it looking at all of the M.C. Escher prints. Then, a few years later, I turned to the dialogues between the chapters, which were there to illustrate points in the main text, but were also funny and twisty and enjoyable in their own right, by someone who wasn't yet able to dive into the more technical chapters. Finally, in high school, I read the whole thing. It definitely helped feed my interest in math and music, and influenced my sense of humor and aesthetic, too. I wonder if I read it again now, how well it would hold up?

Sophie's World made an impression on me when I was a teenager. It was my first introduction to philosophy. I had learned about other religions in school earlier, but this book got me to consider other worldviews in a way that school never could. Made me think more about my worldview and ethics. I believe this book was the first step in a long process where I, in the end, became a skeptic and atheist.

Papelucho by the chilean author Marcela Paz and El Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges both books change my perception of the world. Somehow I connected to those stories and they left a long lasting impression on my on how the world was far larger than what I thought at that time. Beautiful stories

There have been a few books that have changed the way I perceived how a story could be written. Like they were just so mind blowing for me, that they have forever changed how I see stories in general. Books like Strange the Dreamer, Eliza and Her Monsters, the entire series of The Raven Cycle, beginning with The Raven Boys, and also Saga, Vol. 1 for changing how I understand illustrated stories.

There have also been some great Firsts for me, like books that had an element in them that I'd never seen before, like Holder of Lightning was the first book I'd read with an unrepentant female lead who *gasp* actually gets her period, even though it's a typical fantasy without like tampons and stuff?! That was something I'd never encountered before and it changed how I evaluated stories moving forward.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is one of my favourite books of all time. I read it during my late teens around a time that I was uncertain about a lot of things and searching, it gave me comfort and now I find myself re-reading it every couple of years.

The life changing magic of tidying up changed my brain forever. I have never looked at “stuff” the same and I have managed to keep an impeccably clean closet for years since reading this book (not to mention, my socks are a lot happier).

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis really impacted me as a teen, opening my eyes to the dark sides of human nature and some aspects of my own personality. I used to be very perfectionist and picky until reading about "the patient's mother" and her gluttony of perfectionism.

I'm not Christian, but the way the demon in that book analyzed and used human short-comings was very influential in shaping my world view.

Ginny wrote: "The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis really impacted me as a teen, opening my eyes to the dark sides of human nature and some aspects of my own personality. I used to be very perfectionist and picky..."
I remember my sister got me this book on tape, narrated by John Cleese, when I was in high school, which was pretty fantastic.

This may seem silly, but the most life-changing read I've ever experienced was when I was in elementary school and I read A Bad Case of Stripes. It blew my mind and taught me it was okay to like things that everybody else disliked, especially lima beans. I was so young but it still sticks with me and I am so happy I read that book at the right time.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is a book that I recommend to everyone I meet. This book comes in at over 800 pages and I have read it 3 times in the past twelve months.

This book is a beautiful story about non-toxic masculinity and the importance of male friendships and the lasting impacts that your friends can have on your life. I will say, trigger warnings for absolutely everything under the sun.