Many readers use books to mark significant points in their lives: the first book they read, the first time they experienced the genre they consider their favorite, the book that broke (or healed) their heart. Sometimes they’re books everyone has read, and sometimes they’re so obscure it’s a miracle they made it to a shelf. Two people’s lists may be exactly the same for completely different reasons.
While I can talk endlessly about the books I loved as a kid/young adult (with Wilder’s Little House series at one end and Austen’s Pride and Prejudice at the other), it turns out your late 30s can be just as impactful when it comes to reading.
Here’s four books I’ve read in the last couple years that rocked my world.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Michael Pollan
One of the first mainstream critiques of large-scale factory farming. 20 years later these conversations and his recommended approach toward buying and eating meat have gone mainstream — which is good, because it’s created a virtuous cycle that helps us all live closer to that ideal. Local farmers have noted increased demand, which in turn makes it easier for people like me to find more ethical meat, which in turn makes it more feasible for local farmers to supply that demand, etc.
I’m fortunate to live near an excellent farmer’s market attended by multiple local small business farmers who raise their animals well. I’m also privileged to be able to afford the higher costs of meat from animals that are raised more healthfully and slaughtered more kindly.
This book changed my life because it made me put my money where my mouth is (pun intended, I guess?) I believe Pollan’s recommendations are valid, and it’s my responsibility to follow those recommendations when I can.
When Women Were Dragons
Kelly Barnhill
Caution: Spoilers ahead.
This hooked me in a way I didn’t expect, and I think it’s related to my age. If I’d been 10 years younger I may have found the metaphor a little too drawn out, or found it weird that there’s not a single decent male character. But because I was in my mid-30s and living in intensely frustrating and scary political times, it hit me differently and harder.
I’m incredibly glad that I’ve never dealt with extreme misogyny, but the older I get the less interested I am in putting up shit from men (and the bar for what I define as “shit” is so low it’s in hell). The idea of being filled with so much fury that I physically explode feels less far-fetched than it used to. I also found it fascinating that while the narrative begins with a focus on middle-aged women transformed by rage, it ends with young women transformed by joy. I think both concepts are worth consideration.
This book changed my life because it showed me that it’s okay to feel anger at how things are while also hoping that someday we’ll be changed for good.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Becky Chambers
For a host of reasons too complex to get into unless you’re my therapist, work has been the center of my world for over 15 years. I don’t think I realized how burned out I was until I picked up this little tome. The world, characters, and story quietly but irrevocably shifted how I define myself. To steal a phrase I’ve seen before: I’m a human being, not a human doing.
This book changed my life because it showed me that I’m more than what I contribute to a job or company. It made it okay for me to step back, rest, and prioritize my own desires.
Letters from a Stoic
Seneca
My first encounters with Stoicism were The Obstacle is the Way and Meditations — each great, of course, but are either a modern summary or a fragmented resource that requires tons of extra context to be valuable. Seneca lived in Stoicism’s heyday and wrote in a way meant to be consumed by the public. The man also never said in 50 words what he could say in a thousand, which was a good thing for a newbie who needed repetition and examples.
This book changed my life because it’s foundational to my understanding of a philosophy I’m trying to use to live better.
So…what book(s) changed your life?
Photo by Linus Nylund on Unsplash