5 Books That Changed My Life (in one way or another!).
The
gorgeous Lucy Powrie (@LucyTheReader, Queen of Contemporary, the
perfect vlogger and blogger and creator/host of #ukyachat) has written a post
entitled 'The 5 Books That Changed My Life'.
This
girl has inspired me – that's really nothing new, if anything it's
a daily occurrence – but this time it's to write my own post!
Without
further ado, here are 5 Books That Changed or Shaped My Life... In no
particular order, as they were all equally important for their own
reasons...
One
Day, by David Nicholls.
I
have all of David Nicholls books but this one will forever stand out
among the rest. I read this in 2012, while on holiday in Majorca with
rad friends – I say read, I mean consumed. I lapped up every word
for days lying on the beach, and then finished it at 2am while
playing Scrabble, several cocktails down. I cried my eyes out – I
howled hysterically for about an hour. I then thrust the book at my
best friend and demanded that he start reading it immediately. (The
next day he smacked it shut and cursed me for breaking his heart)
This
book reminded me of my childhood dreams to be an author. At uni I'd
been focusing so hard on perfecting my media writing skills so maybe
I could get a weekly column in The Times someday, or edit features
for Stylist magazine, or interview my idols after they did their
cover shoots for Vogue. I'd been frantically devouring and dissecting
scripts and dreaming of being backstage when my show opened in the
West End, or sitting next to a director on set for my latest
Hollywood smash hit.
Now
while those jobs still appeal to me, I cannot believe that I lost
sight of my original dream – to spend hours poring over a laptop
typing furiously, to have a novel in book stores all over the
country, to inspire readers and maybe, just maybe, make them cry.
Favourite
line*: “Dexter, I love you so
much. So, so much,
and I probably always will.” Her lips touched his cheek. “I just
don't like you any more. I'm sorry.”
(*I
knew I had to find this line when I dug out my ancient battle-scarred
copy of this book. I was totally prepared to flick through and pull
it out with my tired old eyes. But blow me, past-Gracie had folded
down one page. The page with this line on. Like she knew, when she
was at the dining table in Majorca weeping over her Scrabble tiles
and comforting herself with a fifth peach schnapps that someday she'd
need to reference her all-time favourite line in her all-time
favourite fiction book. So thanks past-Gracie, you romantic loser.)
How
To Be A Woman, by Caitlin Moran.
How
could I not include this – this masterpiece, this magical
mould-breaking part-memoir part-magniloquence – in a list of books
that changed my entire life? It played a huge part in my
becoming...me. Mind you, so did How To Build a Girl,
but this bad boy was next level. I read it on holiday with my family.
I laughed – and learned – so much in just a week spent sunbathing
topless around the side of the villa with this book balanced on my
knees (and at times shielding my top half from prying eyes, see this post for the ridiculous story there!). I then lent it to several of
the women in my family, and urged my friends to buy it for themselves
as surely fine educational literature like this is worthy of shelling
out precious pennies from the pissed away student loan...they all
loved it. Someday I will loan it to my sister, too. Or maybe I should
buy her her own copy as mine is well and truly broken in; the spine
is knackered and a few pages are now stapled in place.
This
book made me even more determined to meet Caitlin. Since reading it I
have seen her utterly marvellous live show twice (Brighton Theatre
Royal, 2014 & Hackney Empire, 2015) and been honoured to oblige
when she demanded the entire audience stand on their chairs (a major
health & safety risk on flippable plush theatre seats) and shout
'I AM A FEMINIST'.
Wow,
I am so close to launching into a part-review of these shows and
part-gush of love for this woman BUT I won't. Not this time. I'll
just link my previous review/gush posts about her here... Cool.
Favourite
line: ...and then a bat
flew through the window, into my face.
More
sensible favourite line: When a
woman says “I have nothing to wear!”, what she really means is,
“There's nothing here for who I'm supposed to be today.”
OR:
a) Do you have a vagina? and b)
Do you want to be in charge of it? If you said 'yes' to both, then
congratulations! You are a feminist.
OR:
I want a Zero Tolerance policy
on All The Patriarchal Bullshit.
Reasons
to Stay Alive, by Matt Haig.
I
have a broken brain. In every sense. I actually felt stupidly lucky
when I was hit with some hideous depression after my first brain op
(after the second one I knew to expect it) and I was told by nurses
that it was totally normal given
the state of my brain – the physical state, that is. I had an
excuse. I felt like I was cheating – many things contributed to my
depression, many things I needed help with and could easily be deemed
triggers, or problematic at the very least, but I was given a free
pass with my brain tumour and the operation which altered the
physical state of my brain. I still reckon that my personal
circumstances at that point contributed a fair bit too – I was
finishing uni, I had no idea where to go or what to do next, some of
my friends had faded away...
This
book read my mind – and also blew it. Constantly. I finished it
(after several days spent doing little else but drinking it all in,
and often happy-crying because Matt Haig just got it)
on the London Overground on my way to get a tattoo that for me
symbolised hope. I closed the book and hugged it close for the last
twenty minutes of my journey. It was perfect. It was eye-opening –
and it was me.
Favourite
line (in this case more of a paragraph): I
didn't totally fit in. I kind of disintegrated around people, and
became what they wanted me to be. But paradoxically, I felt an
intensity inside me all the time. I didn't know what it was, but it
kept building, like water behind a dam. Later, when I was properly
depressed and anxious, I saw the illness as an accumulation of all
that thwarted intensity. A kind of breaking through. As though, if
you find it hard enough to let yourself be free, your self breaks in,
flooding your mind in an attempt to drown all those half-versions of
you.
Second
favourite line (the infamous one): How
to stop time: kiss. How to travel in time: read. How to escape time:
music. How to feel time: write. How to release time: breathe.
Angela
Carter's Book of Fairy Tales, by Angela Carter (obvs).
I
had to read some Angela Carter for my English Lit A Level (The
Magic Toyshop), and then again
for my Textual Intervention II module in the third year of my Drama &
Creative Writing degree (The Bloody Chamber).
I figured it would make sense to go above and beyond the required
reading and buy her thick hardback of fairy tales. Little did I know
that this purchase – and the following nights spent reading every
tale before falling asleep – would not only help me determine what
to write for my assignment but also have such an effect on my overall
writing style.
One
of several projects I have on the go at the moment is a fairy tale,
and that is something I never thought I would say (or y'know,
type...). It is all down to Angela, my white witch inspiration.
Her
fairy tales are beautiful, unique, diverse and, well, downright
disturbing – in the best way possible.
Favourite
line: Stars on our door, stars
in our eyes, stars exploding in the bits of our brains where the
common sense should have been.
OR:
She was like a piano in a
country where everyone has had their hands cut off.
Stargirl,
by Jerry Spinelli.
Another
fiction. An American one! I came across this book in the study in my
family home when I was maybe ten or eleven years old. Now I won't
lie, the shocking warm pink hardback cover did draw me in
considerably. And the simple cover art – just a stick girl looking
like she'd been half-heartedly doodled, with a star floating above
her head. It was unlike any other book I'd seen at that point. I was
curious, so I grabbed it off the shelf and took it to school to read
under the table (I'll blame the book for my low grades in Maths that
year, not my disgracefully non-logical mind).
Anyway,
this story was extra special. Not only was it a damn fine and quirky
romance, but also the overwhelming theme was that of discovering who
you are. Stargirl Caraway used to be Susan – then she was Mouse,
then Hully Gully... Stargirl is a one of a kind character. She wears
what she wants, she does what she wants. She meditates. She is
mindful. She cycles out to the desert and finds the 'enchanted
places', where she can sit, bask and lose herself.
After
reading this, twice, it stayed with me. Then some time later when
Love, Stargirl came out, the book that told the next chapter
of the story from Stargirl's perspective instead of lovestruck Leo's,
I was enveloped in that beautiful strange world all over again.
Favourite
line: Like so many of Archie's
words, they seemed not to enter through my ears but to settle on my
skin, there to burrow like tiny eggs awaiting the rain of my
maturity, when they would hatch and I at last would understand.
So,
there you have it. Five important reads. Writing this post actually
got me thinking about another potential bookish post, would you
believe... Blame Angela Carter for that. Or rather, the way she came
into my life. I'm sure that post will be up soon – but until then,
dearies, I would LOVE to hear which five books (or one, or ten,
however many!) have shaped your life or changed your way of thinking,
even if only on one occasion or about one subject. Feel free to
comment, or tweet me @GracieActually !
Also,
of course, each and every one of you need to read these books. Pick
one, read it, see if you have the same reaction or a very different
response!
Great post Gracie ^_^
ReplyDeleteSo many good looking books, so little time! I enjoyed One Day too, only some girl in my media class in college spoiled the ending for me and I wanted to kill her -_- So it didn't destroy me as much as it should have, and I feel like I was cheated out of a book hangover with that one!
ReplyDeleteAlso YAY ANGELA CARTER LOVE! The Bloody Chamber is one of my favourite books ever, and I adore all of her short stories. Slowly making my way through her novels, too. If you haven't already, read 'Parsley Girl' in her Book of Fairy Tales. It's an old variation of 'Rapunzel' which is just hilariously weird! And she did a translation of Perrault's fairy tales which is worth checking out as well :)
Gracie, the way you write - with such passion - makes me want to pick them up too. I read Stargirl in 2014, and whilst I didn't like it at the time, I appreciate the story so much more now - it's a truly wonderful read. xx
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