There are certain books that leave deep impressions on the crevices of your mind. Their stories and characters reshape you in a way that can never be undone. Whether it’s the unprecedented themes, the unanswered questions, or simply the strange quirks within the tale, they can all have the power to carve a new way of thinking for an individual. Here are five books that will completely rearrange your thoughts and change you.
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- One Hundred Years of Solitude
It is perhaps one of my favorite stories and one I always fall back to. This is a stunning, magical realistic novel about the generations of a family within a town in Columbia. We watch the story unveil this lineage with their will to grow, prosper and live life despite all the circumstances thrown at them. The writing is enchanting, but all-encompassing. It will probably take more than one or two times to truly begin understanding the story. But, once you do, it’s like a wide open window with a raw view of what life is.
- Geek Love
This was my deep dive introduction into literary fiction. It is quite a strange novel to get into if you are not familiar with the peculiar side of this genre. This story creates a theme from the original definition of geek, which was a grotesque circus act of biting the heads off of live chickens… The author crafts a story of a father who wants to create his own circus using his family. We witness the tale from past to present through the eyes of one of his daughters. The story uses unique scenes to explore marginalization, family, and identity.
- Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood writes intrinsically strange science fiction books and this one is no different. This novel centers around a character who is possibly the last human survivor in our world since the rest have been ridden from a plague and the remaining are newly genetically modified. Following his story from the past to present we discover who he was before everything changed and how the world came to be. Along the way we meet his acquaintances Crake and Oryx. This book explores the morals of science, power and the human condition.
- I Who Have Never Known Men
This book is small, but mighty. It revolves around 40 women who are imprisoned in an underground bunker with no recollection of how they arrived there and only very few memories of their past. One day, an opportunity arises for them to break free and venture up to the surface. Having grown accustomed to their way of living, they hesitantly explore this new world together, discovering womanhood, perseverance, and the existence as humans. This story will honestly leave you dying with more questions than answers by the end.
- To Kill a Mockingbird
Set in Alabama during the 1930’s, this story is about a black man who is falsely accused of a crime. Scout and Jem begin to learn about the hard realities of growing up and prejudices in society, as their father steps in to defend a man’s case despite the hostility that is received from the rest of the community. This is a classic book that is told through the perspective of a young adolescent. It is an easy book to pick up with very transparent themes such as racial injustice, loss of innocence and the ugly aspects of humans. It’s no wonder this is such a popular required read in high school.
Check these five books out for yourself and let us know in the comments what book utterly transformed your perspective.