TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS I LEARNED THE MOST FROM

This week’s topic was “Back to School/Learning Freebie.” I chose the latter option, and am going with books I personally learned something important from. Because, while I loved College and think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t be the same person without having had that experience (mainly due to some amazing teachers and fortuitous course selection), I owe just as much to the books I read outside any formal educational setting. These are some of the books that, when I look back over my reading life, stand out as having marked some kind of paradigm shift or altered awareness. Others taught me about an area of experience or a time in history I will and can never experience for myself (nor would I want to, in most cases), but that have helped me be a better human, and to view my fellow humans with greater compassion.

               

Anne Frank taught me that there is true evil in the world – and that it is possible to remain beautiful and pure in the face of it. She also taught me that even in the most dire circumstances, there is value in pursuing one’s dreams. Hers did come true, albeit in a manner she never imagined or intended.

Evelyn Lau taught me about life on the street, about despair, pain, abuse and being trapped by circumstance. She also taught me about survival.

Jane Eyre taught me that classics aren’t always boring, and started me along a path to discovering many more voices I might never otherwise have given a chance.

John Irving and Owen Meany opened up my ideas of the world and relationships. I also learned a valuable lesson about persevering with a book that is challenging, and that even books that are hard going at the halfway point might become page-turners towards the end.

                

Tom Robbins taught me that literature can be playful and fun, that it can be absurd and strange and still lead somewhere.

Márquez taught me that the line between what’s real and what’s imaginary is not as firm as you might think.

Geoffrey York opened my eyes to some truly horrific truths about my home country.

Reinaldo Arenas’ story is one of the hardest I’ve ever read, but it taught me the value of reading hard truths and bearing witness to horrible things you have no power to change.

               

W.P. Kinsella’s book (and the film based on it) showed me a glimpse of life as a young First Nations Canadian and utterly broke my heart.

Bruce Chatwin’s experience helped me develop cultural relativism by showing me a world view so completely removed from my own that I had no concept of its existence, nor any ability to understand it without a guide and translator. It was a very valuable experience, and taught me a lot about how even some of the most basic ideas we hold are, in fact, only as real to those who share the same background. Other cultures understand the world in an entirely different way. This is one of the beautiful things about the adaptability and variety of the human race.

New of a Kidnapping showed me that there are different ways to look at everything, and things are never completely black or white.

I don’t remember any specifics about Of Love and Shadows except that it was chilling and led to a powerful distrust of authority.

               

I have never been as emotionally triggered by a book as when reading Cunt. I physically had to put it down several times, and it took me weeks to come back down to feeling normal after reading it. But it was a necessary read, and I have never looked at gender or sexism the same way since.

Bonk was one of the early books in my research into human sexuality, and one of the best. It expertly balances out scientific information with really interesting anecdotes and experiences.

Q’s Legacy taught me that, despite all the benefits of formal education, in its absence it is possible to embark on a lifelong program of study simply by going to the library regularly and finding the right guide.

We Should All Be Feminists put concepts I had been struggling to communicate for years so simply, so unequivocally, that I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief. I no longer have to try to find the words myself – I can simply direct any interested parties to this book.

              

Newjack is one of the best pieces of journalistic writing I’ve ever read. Ted Conover, after having been denied access to prison inmates to interview for his research, decided to cut out the middle man and became a prison guard. He worked at Sing Sing for about a year, during which time he not only had access to inmates, but put his own life on the line to learn what it’s really like in America’s prison-industrial system. The results are shocking, infuriating and expose the basic concept of prison for rehabilitation as the fallacy it is.

Marina Keegan’s only book, The Opposite of Loneliness, blew me away with her prose and ideas, and left me feeling a deep sense of grief and survivor’s guilt that she died so young, and had so much promise.

All My Puny Sorrows made me question whether it is always the right thing to keep a clinically depressed person alive against their will. I’m not saying I decided it wasn’t, I just hadn’t ever questioned that life is better than death. This book made me examine some of my assumptions.

If you are curious about the early days of the AIDS epidemic – how patients were treated and seen by society, how doctors and medical staff slowly unravelled the mystery of this new disease, Randy Shilts’ book (and the film based upon it) is the place to start. It kept me up well into the night and taught me the value of seeing the human being behind the disease, no matter how grim the disease itself may be.

That’s probably more than you were bargaining for when you clicked on this link, so though there are many other books I could include here, I’ll stop. I’d love to hear from any of you who have read these books, and I’d also love to know which books have stayed with you and taught you the most – either about a subject, about the world, or about yourself.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.