the books that shaped me
welcome back to the book breakdown! i was debating what to write for this week and then i saw a trend on tik tok where people were posting the books that were most influential to them during each period of life. i thought this would be something super unique to go more in-depth about because i have always been a really avid reader. when i was young, reading was something that came very easy to me, and i was always really into it. obviously i still love to read and this love has only strengthened over time. i loved putting this list of books together because it made me feel so nostalgic remembering the books that played a big part in my life. i honestly thought i wouldn't be able to remember anything but i was surprised by how much i remembered about these books (especially the ones from my childhood). so take a trip down memory lane with me as i talk about all the books that shaped me!
childhood
one of the most memorable books from my early childhood would have to be frog and toad. this was the first "chapter" book i ever read and it really made an impact on my young life. looking back, i think one of my favorite things about these books is how peaceful they are. frog and toad and two friends that live in the forest and just live their lives. they really address many different emotions in these books as well. both of the characters feel a lot and go through different situations that change them. it is very simple to read and understand but the content in these books is actually very deep when you think about it! the characters are emotionally quite mature and i think reading this at a young age helped me develop emotional maturity as well. the one book or part of these books that sticks out to me the most is a story where frog wants to be alone and leaves toad a letter telling him so. toad, however, goes looking everyone for frog and eventually finds him sitting and doing nothing. in the book, toad decides to sit with frog and they both do nothing. i don't know why this stuck in my head for so long, but i think because it displays the impact we can have on other people just by being there. obviously when i was a kid i didn't exactly notice this, but looking back now, i think these books gave me a great comfort and taught me a lot of important life lessons. i will definitely have my future kids read these books some day!
alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day by judith viorst
this book brings back so much childhood nostalgia omg. i'm pretty sure i made my parents read this to me all the time but i can't really remember much about it so i had to google the plot again to refresh my memory. i think i genuinely just thought this book was funny because it's all about this kid just has an all around terrible day. i think the book was also a bit relatable, because even as a kid we have bad days, and it seemed to encourage the reader to feel their emotions fully. it recognizes that everyone has bad days, even in australia, and that it eventually ends and you move on. i remember feeling very bad for the alexander character throughout the book but it was sort of mellowed by the comedy of the book too. the final line of the book is "my mom says some days are like that" and reading that now i really appreciate it. some days are horrible and terrible but some days are just like that. we move on and try again tomorrow. so while young me probably appreciated the humor and illustrations of this book, older me can appreciate the real message a bit more. feel all your emotions and it's okay to have bad days.
i remember this book pretty vividly to this day! the young boy in the book, walter, is told not to jump on the bed because the bed will crash into the floor. he obeys but then hears his friend above jumping on his bed so walter decides if his friend can do it, he can do it too (life lesson incoming). when walter jumps, he jumps too high and his bed ends up falling through the floor through all of his different neighbors rooms. the collection of neighbors and their items is very funny, they all have lots of distinctive character traits and objects with them. at the end of the book, walter wakes up and realizes it was all a dream, but then he hears his friend jumping on the bed and suddenly his friends crashes through the ceiling, making walter's dream come true but it just wasn't him who caused it. i mostly remember liking this book because it was funny and interesting. but i'm also pretty sure it successfully stopped me from ever jumping on a bed again. even though i always lived in a house, not an apartment, i was still scared of falling through the floor. i'm not sure if that was my parents intention when they read me the book, but it certainly made me hesitate when other people started doing stuff i wasn't supposed to do.
these books were also quite memorable to me when i was young. obviously these books are all very silly, amelia is a ditzy young woman who misunderstands a lot of what people are saying. the book that i read was about how amelia was hired to be a maid and then made a bunch of crazy changes to the house because she misunderstood instructions. for example, they tell her to draw the drapes and she draws a picture of them. it's a silly concept for a book character to misunderstand everything they're told but i think in a lot of ways, it's representative of being a child. when i was young, while i was reading this book, i had no idea what it meant to "draw the drapes". so while amelia is funny because she doesn't understand everything, it did, in a lot of ways, teach me the true meaning of certain phrases that could be potentially misinterpreted. i also think reading a book about an adult who maintains a childlike view of the world is refreshing. i see a lot of children wanting to rush growing up, especially with technology and all that, so reading about an adult who is still childish made me think that some aspects of growing up are optional. sure, you have to pay taxes and cook dinner for yourself and go to appointments on time, but you can also have a funny view of the world while doing it. that's sort of how i've interpreted it all now that i'm in my early twenties.
elementary
guys when i tell you these book consumed my elementary school life, i mean it. these books were everything to me at this time. when i was looking up the link to the book i was shocked to discover there are more books being made. this author must never run out of ideas! apparently there are like twenty of these books so now i'm feeling some weird fomo (fear of missing out) that i need to read this books when i'm not in this reading level anymore. for some reason, these books were revolutionary for elementary kids. this was probably because the content was funny and a little "edgy", the main character, greg, was a rebellious kid who would kinda do what he wanted and talk back to his parents and all that. i think the illustrations were also great for kids just starting to get into chapter books and they made everything a lot funnier. the most vivid memory i have with this series was the book that was also a personal diary that you could write in (i think it was the do-it-yourself version?) and i would just spill all my seven year old secrets into this book. that probably was not the smartest move looking back now. but honestly these books were a beloved by lots of kids so it was great for building a reading community and i remember talking about it with my friends all the time. this is a great series and i still, to this day, think a lot of the content is very funny.
i literally read so many of these books when i was young, i loved junie b jones. i fear i loved her because i was her though. junie is lowkey a diva and at this age i was also very much a diva and i was probably inspired by her sass and wanted to be like her or something. i must have owned like a box set of these or something because i remember having/reading a lot of them. these books are obviously very funny and perfect for young women to read. something i like, looking at these books now, is how confident junie is. she was very much unapologetically herself and that can be very inspiring for young girls who are starting to enter the world. i'm very glad that i read these books when i was younger and i think they definitely played a role in shaping me as a person.
this book format was very similar to diary of a wimpy kid and that's probably why i enjoyed reading it so much! it was definitely catered to young girls, whereas diary of a wimpy kid was more for everyone, and it felt very relatable to me at a young age. i'm pretty sure the characters were supposed to be in high school (i could be wrong though) so it very much romanticized the idea of being older and wanting to be popular. there was a lot of drama in these books as well so i think that also made it more enjoyable at a young age because i thought that high school would be filled with this amount of drama. the main character is very relatable and funny, which makes the book interesting to a young girl. there are also lots of illustrations that help enhance the content your reading about! i loved this book when i was young and definitely think it's a funny and easy-read for kids. however, i do fear books like this with a lot of drama have fueled my love of drama and reality tv (oops lol).
this book might be too niche but it is such a core memory for me. i'm like eighty percent sure i bought this at a scholastic book fair at my elementary school and it just changed me for some reason. i also loved the movie that was made too! i remember reading this and wanting to become a marine biologist for years afterwards but that obviously did not happen. however, i do have a deep-rooted love for the ocean and animals so i think this book catered to those interests of mine. this book felt more like reading a real chapter book and felt like a big accomplishment for me too. the story was super interesting, although a little sad, it really helped me develop more empathy for living creatures. i was already a really sensitive child so i'm not sure how more empathy i needed but this book does teach a lot of lessons with that. i couldn't really find it on barnes and noble but hopefully they still sell it! if not, i highly recommend the movie it is sooo good.
early middle school
you guys we started cooking here. this is where my love for reading grew immensely.
this book series is literally the definition of my fourth grade experience. during this time, i was moving across the country in the middle of the school year (yikes!) and i remember reading the fourth harry potter book on the long plane ride. i found a huge comfort in these books and i know a lot of other people have as well. to this day, i'm still very obsessed with these and i literally went to harry potter world not too long ago (and i felt like a little kid again). something about these books just really places you into the universe and makes you feel like it could be real. i carried these everywhere (my copies are literally destroyed) and i would absolutely devour these books. so much so, that my mom would make me recall all the content from it because she didn't believe that i had finished it so fast. i proved her wrong by reciting everything. the movies are obviously very iconic as well but my parents made it a rule that i had to finish the book and then i could watch the movie. so this motivated me more because the movies were extremely iconic in 2012 and i wanted to be up with the trends i guess. this is the type of book that really shapes you as a person. i wanted so desperately to be hermione granger (lol, as i'm sure every other girl did) and it was almost disappointing that you couldn't really be in the universe, and that's how you know it's a good book. i will honestly say a little part of me was upset when i turned eleven and there was no hogwarts letter for me, but i still value all the important lessons i learned through this series and how it helped me get through a potentially difficult time.
on a similar note, this was another book series that consumed my life. i probably read this around fifth through sixth grade and it was literally just my whole personality. i was locked in on this universe. being 11-12 reading these books just hit different because the characters are the same age as you and they make it feel like anything in life is possible. when you see a kid who is young take on huge monsters and adult villains, you realize that you are capable of a lot even when you're also "just a kid". you feel very powerful when you see someone like you being a main character and accomplishing their goals, even if they're fictional. all of these characters are very inspirational and surprisingly very complex individuals which i appreciate in a book catered for children. when we limit what a child can read, they miss out on the opportunity to feel like the world is an amazing and interesting place. i just always felt like anything was possible when i read these books, and i love and miss that feeling deeply. i have a very big imagination and these fantasy-style children's books helped fuel that imagination into seeing the endless possibilities in the world. to this day, i think i still have a big imagination and dream pretty big when i look at my adult life, and that is a gift i'm extremely grateful for. obviously, the new show came out recently and i thought it was amazing! i wish i could have experienced it when i was younger because it would have just made the experience so much better but i love getting to feel all those feelings again. it's a nice gift to experience the things that gave me joy as a child as an adult.
another super nostalgic book series that might be a little more niche but had such a huge influence on my life. the basic premise is that when dog's die, they are reborn again as a different dog. it is just such a heartbreakingly beautiful concept as a whole but reading it from the perspective of a dog was even more devastating. i'm a huge dog person and this book made me have such a deeper appreciation for them and all living things. i have always thought the fictional concept of reincarnation to be a fascinating plot device, and it is utilized very well in this book. i remember reading the second one as well, a dog's journey, and it was equally as beautiful. it is a very nice and comforting concept to believe that there is something out there always looking for you. i always think the people in my life would be in my life in every single universe. we are just meant to know some people and things. i haven't read this in a very long time but i just know that it made a very big impact on my young life.
this is another book that teaches the importance of empathy and kindness. i read this in fifth or sixth grade i believe for a school assignment and the content has really just stuck with me. the main character in this book has cerebral palsy and cannot communicate effectively with the people around her. she is extremely intelligent and funny but has a difficult time portraying her thoughts to others. there are a lot of complex emotions displayed in this book and i think it made me more understanding toward others. middle school is a difficult time for a lot of kids and you don't really love a lot of things about yourself. this book, however, taught me about true gratitude and the importance of kindness toward everyone in your life. it's a relatively popular book in school curriculum and i love that they teach it to people during this time in their lives. i truly have a lot of love for this book and the importance lessons it teaches through its content.
late middle school/early high school
late middle school/early high school
this was obviously a very popular book for a lot of kids during this time period and it definitely was a formative book for me. i feel like everyone reads a lot of dystopian around high school which is interesting. looking back, i wouldn't say divergent is the best series i've ever read, but the plot is extremely interesting and relatively unique. i remember being very invested in these books for a long period of time because i think they satisfied that part of me that was obsessed with percy jackson/harry potter. it was a big franchise dystopian/fantasy book so the fandom was huge and it felt like a big community of people loved these books. i just vividly remember reading this on my kindle (i briefly owned a kindle but i honestly prefer holding physical books) at any chance i was able to. this series was addicting and i liked how the story developed to a larger scale as it progressed, however as we all know, the end is lowkey trash. it's upsetting that such a good series had a bad ending (at least in my opinion) and i remember being devastated when i read it. the movies are also pretty good and follow the plot relatively well, which i always appreciate, and i think it made the reading experience better!
this was a hugely formative book for me and it really impacted my life so much. this series to me is a masterpiece and suzanne collins is a literary genius. i truly believe these books will go down in history as being amazing. the concept of the hunger games is obviously very devastating and difficult to read, but the aspects of reality that she tied into the books just make them so much scarier. reading this, i feel, changed my brain chemistry a bit because it shows a lot of potential evil in the world while also providing some hope of overcoming it. katniss is a very unique female lead as she's more intense and a bit standoffish but she is also extremely selfless and kind. i liked her as a main character because she seemed very relatable and a bit like an unlikely hero. the movies also reached a large audience as well and they were extremely well-done. i also really enjoyed the spin-off book about the origins president snow, the villain, of the series. i'm also superrr excited for the new book she's releasing, i just know it's going to be amazing. this book series is just so important and interesting, i feel like i will always find them so fascinating.
in all honesty, i'm not the biggest fan of this book anymore but at the time, it was life-changing and devastating. it was huge when it came out and especially when the film came out too. this book is very sad and it's one of those books that feels like the goal of it is to make you cry. i don't typically like reading those type of books anymore but when i was younger, they felt very important to read and feel. i will say that the plot is unique, especially at the time it was written, and the characters are relatively complex. this was very much the vibe in 2016-2018 so it was just perfect for the era everyone was in. i feel like i started to find books with a similar vibe that i've enjoyed more but this one will always be the original.
this book series pretty much consumed my every thought from 2015-2018. i was obsessed. and honestly for good reason too because this book series, to this day, is one of my favorites. it is extremely well-written and a rare dystopian book that i feel like men can relate to as well. often times, these books have female leads, which is awesome and very relatable for young women, but this was a book that people of all genders could enjoy. the plot is extremely captivating and the universe is relatively simple to understand so it's great for a lot of different reading levels. there are a lot of deep-rooted messages in this book as well and it displays a ton of complex characters who all grapple with their morals/values. i was also obviously obsessed because of the movies, and all the very attractive actors they cast in it. i was a huge fan of newt and thomas brodie sangster and he was one of my favorite book characters for a longgg time. obviously these books have their devastating moments as well, but they really capture all your attention and i literally remember throwing my book at the end of the third book (everyone who has read it knows why). i also love the complexity of thomas and teresa and the different relationships of all the main characters. i love this series so much and definitely think everyone should read it at some point in their lives!
high school
i honestly didn't read a ton of books in high school because i had so much going on during this period of my life but here are a few of my favorites.
i've said this before but this book series is soooo underrated omg. i was so obsessed with it during covid time and i had no one to talk about it to LOL. i honestly think this deserves this same hype as other ya fantasy books, and while it's certainly popular, the fandom is too small. the premise of the book is very interesting and i think it was quite unique for the time it was written. i really enjoyed the writing style and felt like it was pretty easy to read and understand. the first and second books were honestly mindblowing, but i don't remember loving the last few books as much, but they were still pretty good. there is a plot twist in the first book that has completely altered my brain chemistry forever. i'm a big fan of victoria aveyard and honestly think i should read more of her books because she seems like a very funny and intelligent person. this book is great as an introduction to fantasy (it's sort of romantasy but not really) and this is an example of a love triangle that's done well in my opinion. i don't normally like love triangles that involve two brothers (because what will you do at a family reunion after that) but this one is very interesting to me. if you have read or want to read powerless, i recommend this book instead because it is 1000x better in my opinion.
this is my second favorite book of all time and i read it for a junior (?) year english class. there was like a huge list of books to choose from and for some reason this title really stuck out to me. and guys. absolutely life changing book. this is a memoir about a young girl who grew up in an impoverished and nomadic family. it is just absolutely crazy. i love a memoir because when they're good, they just absolutely change my life. i really enjoy reading about other people's life experiences because we obviously only get one life to live and it's interesting to see how other people experience different things from us. like what an insanely interesting life this woman has lived. she also talks a lot about her conflict with being successful and having money and being comfortable compared to how she grew up and how her parents continue to live. it's really an amazing book. i think everyone needs to read this at some point because it is just that life changing to me. this book 100% shaped me and my perspective of the world.
this book wasn't necessarily life changing but it was super interesting and it did consume a lot of my life, especially during covid. this series is extremely unique and the world-building is so complex and interesting that it really makes you enter the universe. alina, the main character, is a very interesting person and it is so fascinating to read the story from her perspective because she basically becomes a saint to the public. you start to understand that people who are glorified for being a certain title are really just normal people who didn't really want to be revered in this way. i also really enjoyed the spin-off series (six of crows) and i love how character-driven that story is compared to the plot-driven story of shadow and bone. i read all of these books in this series up to rule of wolves and i really love to recommend this book to people that want a unique fantasy read!
this memoir is very similar to the glass castle but it impacted me in a different way. i think i often take my opportunity for an education for granted, but this book taught me the value of an education. tara is raised in a family that does not really believe in public institutions such as schools, hospitals, modern medicine, etc. the first time tara enters a traditional classroom is at the age of seventeen (which is so crazy!) and she eventually goes on to be a very successful woman. i really love books that display the value of independence and making a way for yourself in the world and this book does exactly that. i have never yearned for or valued a proper education the way tara did, and she paints this beautifully in her novel. it's been a while since i read this one but the content and emotions it invoked have really stuck with me throughout the past few years. if you like a good memoir or a book that will have a big impact on your life, you need to read this one.
college
and finally we have reached the college section! my love for reading really grew a lot during this time and i have truly embraced my love for reading.
guys this book. this book was life changing for me. reading this as a college student was extremely influential on my outlook on life. basically, a young woman feels very unhappy with her life and lives iwth a lot of regret and attempts to commit suicide. when she wakes up, her find herself in a place called the midnight library where she can see all the different ways her life could've gone if she had made different choices. this book is amazing. if you feel lost or unhappy in your life (and even if you don't) this book will make you see everything differently. matt haig is a wonderful author who has such a beautiful outlook on the value and beauty of life. i'm currently reading another one of his books, the life impossible, and i'm loving it so far. i just appreciate his outlook on life so much and i really feel everything his characters feel in his books. the character in this is very relatable, she constantly wishes she made other decisions, but this book ultimately makes you appreciate the life you are given. you are living this life for a reason and it is important to make the most of it. there are so many wonderful lessons in this story and i think it has made such a big impact on my life.
my #1 book of all time!! i quite literally love everything about this book and the characters, they mean the absolute world to me. i will defend addie and henry until the day i die. they are both such beautiful characters who i found extremely relatable. the book follows addie, who wishes she could escape and arranged marriage. the god/spirit who answers tricks her and makes it so she will live forever, but no one will ever remember her. this concept is literally devastating but i loved reading about addie's independence and how she navigated the curse. i also love how addie values life in general, she never lets an emotion go to waste for one second. it is really beautiful how she moves through the world, despite it being sad as well. henry is another type of relatable, and i don't want to spoil anything but hearing from his perspective was like a shot to the heart. this book means everything to me and i have yet to find something to made me feel the way i did while reading this. i reread this about once a year just to experience it again and every single time i am equally as emotionally as i was the first time.
obviously this book has to be on this list because wow. i have never read a series as captivating and consuming as this one. i cannot even put into words the feelings that the series made me feel because it was just so powerful. there are a ton of characters and they all have different aspects of being relatable, but you develop a deep understanding of all of them. the main character is also just so complex and unique i loved reading about her and everything she did in this series. this book, to me, is equivalent to the marvel universe, all the different stories just connect into a really beautiful and masterfully crafted ending in the final book. i recommend this to anyone that has enough time/money to read eight books and think it has had such a huuuge impact on my life. when i read this, i thought about nothing else until the series ended. it is literally addicting. it is so hard to describe why this book is so good but i highly encourage everyone to look into this series.
finally, i'm ending this list on a cutesy little romance book! emily henry books really do change your brain chemistry, especially this one, because i think this is a very unique romance book compared to other ones i've read. the main woman character of this book is so funny to me and i found her to be relatable as well. she focuses more on her career and is a little more intimidating compared to other romance book leads but i love this perspective so much. this book kickstarted my love for good romance books (because i fear there are a lot of bad ones out there) and i love emily henry's writing style. i would say another author who writes like this is abby jimenez (LOVE her books too). i really value a romance book that focuses on the development of both characters and watching them grow throughout the duration of the book. nora and charlie both go through a lot of growth in this book and it is really beautiful to read about!
okay! that ends my list of all the books that have shaped me. i'm sure there are more that i forgot about but i tried to limit myself to four books in each era lol. sorry this post is a little later but i assume no one really minded! if you made it this far just know that i love and appreciate you taking the time to read this. talk to you all next week!
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