Books That Change Your Life

Sheila Roberts’ book, The Best Life Book Club, encouraged me to reflect on how books have changed my life. In the book, a set of neighbors form a book club in which the books inspire them to make changes in their lives and ignites a sense of hope within each character.

For me, The Wedding People, by Alison Espach was that for me. The book club I was in at the time selected it. The main character was going through a divorce and starting her life over again. Similarly, I was going through major life changes during that season: the end of a relationship, moving, starting a new job, and starting over. It was a book I would not have picked up on my own, but I am so glad I read it! It was exactly what I needed at that time and gave me hope of a better tomorrow.

Literature has a way of sparking the soul of a reader and providing an emotional outlet for just about any situation. Life is not “new” and people—to varying degrees—have all experienced a certain situation or emotion at one point or another. Reading these shared experiences on paper simultaneously makes them important and official. When they are shared with a character or a writer, it somehow feels more validating and personal. Knowing someone had the courage to write it on paper, have it go through the publishing process (regardless of the indie or traditional), and have it make its way to a shelf shows that more than one person has recognized value in the text for the story and emotions it portrays.

The way that books change the life of the writer and reader alike, shows that literature is not just about words being strung together on a page to formulate a story or sequence the rollercoaster of emotions humans feel daily. Rather, literature comes to life within each person. Human life is inspired by and reflected in literature. Think about it, we are currently living out something described in a book. That thought is shocking and humbling. Our lives are not totally unique and can even be altered after being inspired by a book, like the neighbors in Roberts’ book.

What is a book that has changed your life?