Growing up, I was the kid who got in trouble for reading during a friend playdate. As an only child until I was nine, I amused myself during TV-free summer vacations with stacks (and stacks) of books from the local library. While visiting a college friend in Dublin, Ireland, I may have chosen to finish The Da Vinci Code rather than going out on a pub crawl. Regardless of what else is happening in my life, reading’s always been my favorite hobby, my self-care ritual, and my way of better understanding myself and the world around me.
I’ve taken a slightly contrarian approach to many of my life choices—from living off-grid to choosing to be childfree to spending months on the road as a digital nomad. It’s fair to say that books truly shaped the course of my life in ways I never would have imagined when I was a young child discovering the power of a library card. Today, I’m reflecting on nine titles in three broad categories that were among the most powerful influences.
Adventurous Kids & Sometimes Oddballs
As a kid, I couldn’t get enough of adventures and journeys, both on the page and on the screen. (I definitely wore out our VHS copy of The Journey of Natty Gann!) I especially enjoyed stories where the main character was a bit of an outcast or hermit (or at least felt like they were), or had to rely on their wits in a fraught situation. I often felt a bit socially awkward myself, thanks in part to wearing thick glasses, being clumsy at sports, and towering over my classmates due to an early growth spurt. I found myself more at home outdoors building forts and pretending I was Laura from Little House on the Prairie than joining my peers for more traditional play. I was happy to find fellow oddballs in the pages of my favorite stories, and over time these tales of fictional adventures gave way to the outdoor memoirs I regularly reach for today.
For adventures of a different variety, I think back to one of my strongest literary memories from my childhood: my father reading me The Chronicles of Narnia series before bed each night. While my mom read to me a lot, too, my dad’s work schedule kept him busy and this was a cherished time together. It also set the foundation for my love of fantasy and speculative fiction.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George.
I attribute my fascination with all things Alaska (as shared in my Patreon Bookshelf tour) to reading this book at a young age. After being raised on the tundra, Inuit girl Julie (Miyax) is out of place when she is suddenly orphaned and sent to live with extended family who don’t value her heritage or culture. When Julie runs away, she ends up lost in the wild north and befriends a pack of wolves. Along with several of George’s other works, notably My Side of the Mountain, I recall not only the awesome power of nature, but the impressive competence of the protagonist. Perhaps I, too, could bond with a pack of wolves if I found myself lost in the Arctic? My 10-year-old heart sure hoped so.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
This is both a favorite story of my youth and a placeholder for other tales of scrappy kids making do with what they had (how I longed for a cool river in which to soak my glass jar of blueberries, à la The Boxcar Children). In this Gary Paulsen classic, 13-year-old Brian must survive in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a windbreaker and the eponymous hatchet before his eventual rescue. Between this title and Julie of the Wolves, I likely had a very unrealistic perspective of how long I’d last if stranded in the wilderness.
The Chronicles of Narnia (especially The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).
It was a well known fact in my home that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was the best book of the Narnia series. This series follows the adventures of various children as they’re transported to the magical world of Narnia: a land where animals speak and the children often save the day. Not only was this series my gateway drug to portal fantasy—to this day, a favorite sub-genre—it was also the first time I recall thinking about the craft of the story: the non-chronological order of the books was confusing, and then fascinating, to my young mind. While the series hasn’t held up for me as an adult due to the religious allegories that I missed as a child, this series still earned its spot on this list of books that shaped me.
Politics, Intrigue, and a Bigger World
As I grew older and took a keener interest in the non-fantastical world around me, I started to read more and more nonfiction, especially perspectives on global affairs and memoirs from different cultures. These books dovetailed nicely with my academic studies in college and grad school, but I fear my ultimate disillusionment with my government career was at least in part because the reality of bureaucratic work just couldn’t live up to the fictional political thrillers I’d read alongside their nonfiction counterparts.
Tom Clancy books (especially The Hunt For Red October)
My best guess is that I picked this book up from my grandfather’s shelf: of all my family members, he was the biggest fellow book nerd and had a taste for smart political thrillers. Clancy’s debut novel, it follows Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius, who is intent on either defection or attack, and CIA analyst Jack Ryan, who is trying to convince the U.S. government of Ramius’s good intentions. Growing up in a family with no military or political ties, this book was perhaps an unlikely pick for a teenage girl, but I couldn’t put it down. Over the next decade or so I continued to read through Clancy’s entire catalog, many of which were probably not fully appropriate reading selections for my age group.
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus
As a college student studying international economics, I was searching for a career path that would blend business acumen, meaningful work, and international travel. When I first learned of the concept of microfinance, I had to know more. In this 2006 memoir, Bangladeshi economist Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and founder of the Grameen Bank, shares his experience of working to transform the banking industry in some of the poorest corners of the earth. While no method is foolproof and Yunus faced later controversies, his memoir was inspiring to me at a pivotal point in my early professional career.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
If economics formed one half of my academic pursuits, Chinese culture and history was the other, and this is one book I credit for putting me on that path. This 1991 memoir shares the captivating stories of three generations of Chinese women. The range of lived experiences, from a concubine with bound feet to a member of the Chinese Communist Party and Chang’s own experience in the Cultural Revolution, is immense. Chang’s work offers powerful insights on China’s rapid evolution as a country and how much has happened in the past century: while the stories are true, like the best narrative nonfiction, it reads like a novel.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
Demick pulls back the curtain on the “hermit kingdom” of North Korea in this collection of interviews with defectors, offering a frank, sometimes shocking, and occasionally tender perspective on life in a real-life dystopia. The 2009 book is centered around six main individuals from a range of backgrounds, and paints a picture of a place most of us will never have the chance to experience ourselves. I’ve read it in print and on audio, and found it equally captivating both times.
Dystopian Stories & Speculative Fiction
When I zoom out today and look at the common themes of the stories I’ve loved most over the early decades of my life, it’s not surprising that another genre I’ve embraced is that of dystopian fiction. By blending elements of the other genres I love—like speculative scenarios, political intrigue, and survival elements—the dystopian genre is often my reading cocktail of choice.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Game bridges the gap between several of my favorite genres, featuring an oddball kid in a dystopian world who may just be the key to humanity’s survival. After devastating conflicts with an alien species, Earth turns to their children to train up the next generation of leaders in hopes of discovering a path to final victory. I loved Ender’s story, but I also saw something in this book that I wasn’t otherwise finding in the science fiction of that era: a young girl with a powerful voice. The story of Ender’s sister Valentine stuck with me just as much as Ender’s own journey. While I don’t support the author’s political perspectives, this book will live on my shelf as one of the most influential reads of my younger years.
The Giver by Lois Lowry
If there’s a dystopian novel (especially with a teenage protagonist), you can bet I’ve read it, and I credit The Giver for starting my fascination with this genre. When 12-year-old Jonas is selected to become his community’s Receiver of Memory, his world changes in ways he’d never have expected. Themes of connection, interdependence and community, freedom, and the power of emotion are woven through this young adult novel, and the story stayed with me long after my first read.
I’d love to know if any of these titles or genres had a similar impact on your life: please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!
P.S. Check out our team’s The books that shaped me series.
About the author
Holly Wielkoszewski is our What Should I Read Next Media Production Specialist. Her go-to genres are Fantasy and Sci-Fi. You can find Holly on Instagram @hollyfromthebigsky.
The post The books that shaped me: Holly edition appeared first on Modern Mrs Darcy.
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