Five Books to Rock Your World
A short list for someone who has read everything
I get that it’s a pretty lofty thing for an English major to declare there are only FIVE books that will change you. You’re right in assuming I’m being facetious, as I could actually name probably close to 100 books that will change you. This being said, I still want to periodically create a new list for those seeking something new, different, or just straight up well-written lit to add to their bookshelf. I’m going to do my best to list more than just works of fiction, as I know people love a wide variety of works.
1) LOOK by Solmaz Sharif. A beautiful book of poetry that flawlessly intertwines the personal and political. It is as familial is it is erotic, as imaginary as it is historical, as beautiful as it is painful. Each poem uniquely incorporates words found in the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, alluding to the violence often conducted against our language.
https://solmazsharif.com/look/
2) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. A long-loved novel by many, and I can admit I was definitely behind on reading this. It is told from seven perspectives, which are divided up between mothers and daughters in sixteen chapters. Each chapter follows a Chinese American immigrant family member. The novel explores the relationships not only between family members, but also the tension brought from trying to live in the present without forgetting a painful past. It begs the question, What does it mean to overcome trauma? as much as it does, What does it mean to be a mother?
3) The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi. A haunting work of fiction that examines the psychological and emotional turmoil of feeling a split in identity: of belonging to two similar but separate worlds. Jessamy, split between her English and Nigerian roots, finds herself seeking solace in a friend nicknamed TillyTilly who magically appears when she needs a friend most. As the novel navigates issues of identity, belonging, and emotional turmoil, TillyTilly becomes increasingly more unhealthy of a friend for Jessamy, and their interactions become increasingly more disturbing.
4) An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison. As the title suggests, this book is a memoir told from the perspective of a professor of psychiatry. Jamison suffers from manic depression, and the memoir is a painful, yet intimate exploration into balancing a professional career and maintaining relationships while being mentally ill. The stories told of her life informed me on the symptoms and effects of manic depression in a more real, visceral way than any textbook could.
5) Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. This novel is set in Zimbabwe, before it attained official Independence from Britain, and therefore is still known as Rhodesia. It opens with the death of the narrator’s brother, but goes on to explore the difficulty of getting ahead in society as an African woman, especially in relation to education. Although it is a book navigating racial tension, it is just as much a story teeming with feminism, and the woman’s struggle to be seen as just as an important member of society as the male.
