Books that Rocked My World

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5 books

Books that changed the way I thought about the world, be it through food, gender, genre, style, or plot twist. These are also the books that inevitably get me through bouts of writer’s block.

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Cat's Eye

Margaret Atwood, 2011

I read this novel immediately after I finished “The Handmaid’s Tale” in my senior year of high school. I’m pretty sure this is the first book I’d read at that point with a woman as the protagonist that was “real.” Elaine shows us her worst and best and everything in between. The best part of the whole novel is the psychological war games played by the girls in the book. Girls are terrible. This novel made me see that it was okay for a girl to write about girls and show all the flaws. This novel made me see that it was okay for me to not be perfect. That was a huge deal for me as a 17-year-old.

Beauty and the Mustache

Penny Reid, 2016

Penny Reid has caused all kinds of problems in recent years for using the term “Smart Romance” to market her books, the implication being that all other romance isn’t smart. I’m not a fan of the notion that other romances aren’t smart, but this book was a romance novel breakthrough for me. It’s the first book I’d read by Penny Reid and one of the first romance novels I’d ever read. It broke expectations. It’s smart, funny, and Friedrich Nietzsche features heavily in the plotline. It’s okay to dork out over your favorite German philosopher’s facial hair? I didn’t know you could do that. This book made me realize that maybe I could write a novel, too.

Eat Me

The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin: A Cookbook

Kenny Shopsin, Carolynn Carreno, 2008

If you can get your hands on the documentary “I Like Killing Flies” watch it immediately. I mean NOW! The documentary is about a completely insane New York diner called Shopsin’s. They have the most gigantic menu I’ve ever seen and crank out the food in a kitchen smaller than the one in my first apartment. It boggles the mind. Well, after you see the documentary, you’re going to want to have this book, because you’ll want a memento of the experience. Plus, the book has copies of his wack-a-doodle menus. Every notion of what I thought could be done in a diner was tossed out when I was introduced to Kenny Shopsin. He makes it so that any idea I put into a book restaurant is okay, because with Shopsin’s all things are possible.

She's Come Undone

Wally Lamb, 2012

Dolores, in so many ways, is me. Victim of sexual violence, mental illness sufferer, fat girl. I love her and hate her in a lot of the ways I love and hate myself. This is the first book I read that talked about a woman’s mental illness openly. And approached it from the dirty secret side with Dolores’s mother and the cracked open door with Dolores. I’m sort of mad that a man did such a good job of writing the story of this woman’s life. He does a really good job of writing asshole men, too.

On the Road

Jack Kerouac, 2003

Through the lens of the 21st century, Kerouac is problematic. Through the lens of the 1950s, he was the forward-thinking, rebellious beatnik poster boy. As a 15-year-old punk rocker, he was a god to me. His train-hopping, road-tripping, free-thinking. I love, love, loved his weird syntax and made-up words. I loved that he broke all the rules I was learning in English class. I wrote so much terrible poetry trying to be more like him. I devoured his words over and over. As an adult, I don’t love his writing so much, but I still think of this book like an ex-boyfriend that I never quite got over.