It’s been two decades since I picked up my first book. So, with twenty years under my belt, it’s needless to say that I’ve read a lot. Many books have been exciting, thrilling, and inspiring, but there are only three so far that were especially captivating for me and changed me in one way or another.
1. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Dandelion Wine was the first book that really showed me what creative writing could do. While other books had told me amazing stories with beautiful descriptions, nothing had come close to how Bradbury effectively painted images of the summer of 1928, weaving in thoughts and ideas that (even if not completely understood in the moment) created a feeling that the world was a lot bigger and more amazing than you thought, that your role in life and that life itself was something special.
2. Rule of Seconds by Shawna Diane Partridge
I originally picked up this book because it was written by an MA Creative Writing student at the University of Windsor. I was interested in seeing what kind of things MA students were up to, and boy am I glad I was. This is a book full of prose exploring the “hard” women of four generations in Sheila’s (the protagonist’s) family. The writing is beautiful and lets the story flow effortlessly, and each character’s story is accurate and captivating. As a bonus, reading about how her Ukrainian family settled into Canada was especially interesting and relatable for me because of my own Ukrainian heritage.
3. The Outsider by Albert Camus
When I first read this book, I was baffled by the protagonist, Meursault, who refused to act in the ways that he was expected to or in ways that society would deem as normal (such as crying at his mother’s funeral). As it turns out, Meursault refuses to pretend and lie. After finishing the book and reading the inevitable end, this discovery gave me a completely new perspective on my whole life. How much is a society based on logic and laws, and how much of it is ruled by emotion and impression? While justice seems like a plain and straightforward concept, sometimes impressions are more important than truth.
These three books continue to be my ultimate favourites, no matter how many years go by. They each taught me something and changed me in some way. The Outsider, for example, which taught me about the absurdity of life and truth (or perceived truth) and changed my perspective on life. Dandelion Wine did something similar, but due to its nature as a semi-autobiographical work which explores many different people in a small American town during the summer of 1928, it taught me a plethora of lessons, and most importantly made me realize how amazing creative writing is (which ultimately fuelled my decision to major in creative writing). The Rule of Seconds was another piece that showed me the beauties of creative writing, and it was incredibly interesting to learn about the characters in her story. It inspired me to be more attentive to my own family history. So, when you’ve got a bit of time on your hands, make sure to pick one of these books up sometime. You never know how they might change you.