4 Books that will inspire you to LIVE.
If you need me, I am here to help you find some sense of life and healing from the books that you read.
I am currently in my mid-twenties, and have taken on the task of trying to heal my past so I can grow into my future. Some of it has been from the collective trauma of the past couple years, and some from my own struggles in childhood and with self-esteem. What I am trying to offer to you as a writer is potential solutions to your own healing or personal growth. We see the social media posts about taking charge of your health, or your productivity. These things are so impersonal, surface level, and overwhelming. I want to offer something to you that might not just help you heal and grow, but can also bring you some joy or some answers.
I found solace in storytelling. Over several articles, I want to highlight some books that I think can offer you a greater sense of personal growth than your new personalized calendar/fitness/meal prep app can.
Let me put your mind at ease about one thing: As great as the classics are, and I have read many of them, you can live a full and wonderful literary life without actually reading things like Oliver Twist or Anna Karenina. I have tried to read the latter nearly seven times, and have failed. I keep it on my bookshelf as a reminder of my humanity, and that life is too short to spend reading things that will never get through to you.
Books can do a lot for you as a person. Stories can offer answers and insight to life’s hard questions. They can offer comfort, or an escape in times of distress. They provide new worlds to explore, all from the comfort of your favorite chair or blanket burrito. Books can also make you a better writer, not by analyzing every sentence and form, but just by watching how other people write. These are my current recommendations if you are looking to reap any of these benefits.
1. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
It is my honest belief that Michael Crichton might be the best science fiction writer of all time on entertainment value alone, and you are welcome to come after me for that. Like Herman Wells, (The Time Machine, War of the Worlds) his stories are compelling and suspenseful, and he does what sci-fi does best: explore humanity and its fear of arrogance in invention. What he excels at is writing characters that are serious intellectuals, doctors, computer scientists, geneticists, and mathematicians, but are also relatable to any reader whether they studied science or just barely made it past the vinegar and baking soda volcano in high school chemistry. They are three dimensional human characters who make mistakes and have blindspots. He can also explain any topic under the sun, and weave it perfectly into an impactful narrative. Jurassic Park has incredible characters. And dinosaurs. If you want to start somewhere else, Prey or Pirate Latitudes are good intros to Michael Crichton’s writing. You could also watch the movie, but I mean it when I say, it is nothing like the book. But let me tell you, Spielberg NAILED casting Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcom. You’ll see what I mean.
2. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Ordinary People tells the story of a family dealing with the lost of their eldest son, and the suicide attempt of their youngest. This story came to me at the perfect time, when I was learning in therapy and figuring out my family dynamics. The story is ordinary. But the potential to learn about emotional distress, guilt, and why people are the way they are, is boundless. It’s a quick read, and you’ll be rooting for Conrad Jarret the whole way through. This story reunited my sense of love and care for others, and I think it could do that for you too.
3. Friedrich Nietzche, pick your favorite
This one will probably be a little disappointing on the outside, but satisfying on the inside. I am a firm believer that everyone needs to read some amount of philosophy in their lifetime. And since we are all going through or have been through some sort of existential crisis, this is my best suggestion. If you can’t find a good translation, spending some time reading articles or anything on the internet will help. In all of the chaos of trying to be purposeful and successful, we can lose a feeling of control. What’s good about existentialism is that it gives you that control back. Your purpose is your own, and cannot be dictated by society. If you believe that you will live the fullest life smelling flowers and drinking tannin-y wine, then Nietzsche is in full support. You’ll probably still need to eat food and make money though, it just doesn’t have to be your whole identity.
4. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway is controversial now, but it’s time to accept the art as separate from the artist. And I am going to be perfectly honest, this might be one of the most boring books of all time, unless you are a huge fan of fishing books. There is a guy in a boat, trying to catch a fish for about a hundred pages. Despite the drag, this taught me an important lesson early on in life: You can fight hard and do everything right, and life will likely keep taking from you what you feel is yours. This is an allegory for capitalism, but it’s always important to keep in perspective that life and the universe don’t owe us anything, not even the satisfaction of living. We have to be able to give that to ourselves, and then get up the next day and fight to do it all over again.
This is a short first list, but it will get you started until next time. Ultimately, my advice will always be, if you feel compelled to read, read what you like. You’d be surprised what you can learn from. But if you need a recommendation, I’ll be here to give you one.
