As an English literature student and one of the things, I get asked a lot is what should I read? What would you recommend? What are the different things that you think I should have read before doing a degree? There are no straightforward answers to that question.
But what I thought I could do today is share some books that have changed my perspective on the world and books have shaped the person I am and the and the things that I read and the things I enjoy so with some difficulty. I’ve narrowed those books down to 10 books, Which I am going to share with you today and just talk a little bit about why they made me who I am today.
1. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I think so without further ado, numero uno, and that could only go to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet: This is the book that made me realize I wanted to be an author. I felt like a kid who was into education and academia. This book made me feel like those things, one lane, in the sense that Sherlock Holmes as a character represented to me that whole idea of deducing things and using intelligence to be a detective and an investigator and understand something and go from having a complete mystery and slowly, breaking it down to make sense of it.
I used to love things like Harry Potter and Pokemon and superheroes at Teen Titans. That kind of thing and all of those Characters have some sort of power, like superhuman power, whereas to me Sherlock, even though he is a character who is you know Extraordinary, there was something about him as a character that made him more accessible and like attainable in the sense that intelligence could be used for good, I mean I was gutted on my 11th birthday when I didn’t get my Hogwarts acceptance letter and after that point, I just had to. I just had to come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t a wizard where Sherlock became like a hero to me and like I said before, there was something about how those books were written and the way that the storylines were structured.
That just made me fall in love with literature and fiction and made me want to be that person who could one day write a book as good as that. Also, in my interview to be a head boy at my school, I have thought about who my hero was, and I spoke about, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which I felt was a bit of a rogue choice because most people chose Stephen Hawking or like Olympians, and I was like I just love, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I got the role and one of the things that the head teacher said to me afterward that I was so true to myself, and I spoke about someone who inspired me specifically, and that was kind of what shone through to that And so yeah that holds a very special place in my heart.
2. The Might House by Virginia Woolf
I guess number two is The Might House by Virginia Woolf. This is the book that made me discover modernism and modernist thoughts. This is a book that I read in the second year of my English degree and although I enjoyed it the first time I read It, I think I struggled with it a bit and I loved Studying it. It is split into three kinds of sections the middle section is called time passes and it’s very abstract. There is no dialogue or characters. It’s just a house, an empty house, and time passing like war happen, in the meantime no spoilers, but some characters die and is one of those things where the more times I read it, the more I just find it incredible. It was also the first of Virginia Woolf’s books that I read and unlocked her literary over to me, I read this at a time last year when I was struggling with my degree and balancing everything, and I didn’t know if I could necessarily carry on with it reading This book just reminded me why I chose this degree and why I was here in the first place, and I will forever be grateful for that and off the back of that discovering a modernist, writing and reading notes. More modernist writing made me realize that I wanted to do a Master’s in just that, and so that’s been my main sort of focus and research over the past year and a half.
3. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
So, number three is Brighton Rock by Graham Greene. I grew up around Brighton and Brighton was where I used to go as a kid. My grandparents would take us to the arcades or the Sea Life Center they save up all their pennies and we’d go to their slot arcade machines. It was just so much fun. Brighton is also where when clubbing for the first time where I used to go on nights out as I went on my A level results day night out there. So, when I read this book, knowing that it was set in Brighton was always a winner to me.
I read it last summer when I was working in China I’ve been away from home for like two months, and I was feeling a bit homesick, and this just made me feel so much better like being able to recognize the streets and where the movement was Happening I just I loved it, but the way they sort of changed my life, I suppose, is That when I was reading it all I could think about was how much I wanted this to be on a screen, and although it was made into a film at one point I feel like a modern adaptation with this book as a TV show kind of like peaky blinders, I think, would be amazing and the whole time I was reading it. All I thought was. I would love to be able to write a screenplay for this.
Now, as pretentious and ridiculous as that sounds, I’m not saying that I am the perfect person to write the screenplay for this book. For me, it was the point in my three-year degree, where I first started thinking about what I’m going to do with the degree that I’ve got after I graduate, and I would love to go into screenwriting. So, regardless of whether I am ever given the opportunity of writing a screenplay for this book, it is something I would love to do.
4. Animal Farm by George Orwell
Number four is George Orwell’s Animal Farm. George Orwell has been on this list somewhere right. It was very hard to decide between 1984 and Animal Farm. I felt like Animal Farm. I enjoyed it more when I read it. This book incorporates history incorporates politics, it incorporates literature and you may if you know me well know that those were my three a-levels. Those are my three interests and this book just merged, all of them perfectly, and through doing this, I discovered a whole library of dystopias and political fiction, which I enjoyed so much. I think it just made me realize that you can use fiction to talk about politics and address world issues creatively.
5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Speaking of which the next one on my list is The Handmaid’s Tale. One of my favorite books of all time. I studied this book for my a-levels and it’s just a memory. I attach it to that time in my life again, this book merges politics and history, and literature and makes this perfect fusion of a Novel. I don’t think I’ve read any other book as many times as I’ve read this one. It opened my eyes to a lot of oppression in the world and every example of Abuse in this book is taken from real-life examples. Yes, this book just shaped the way that I understand the world and feminism and human rights. I love it.
6. Taking Up Space by Chelsea and Ori
The next book on my list is the first non-fiction one and that is Taking Up Space by Chelsea and Ori. This is a book about being a black girl in higher education in the top universities in the UK and as a university student as someone who talks about the university and higher education and is trying to make it more accessible. This was just vital reading. It is incredibly articulated, they just say things so well and all so as a literature student as a university student as someone who just loves books, it made me realize how white and eurocentric all of the reading I had done before this had been, and as a result, I emailed my department and asked if I could change some of my modules for my final year at university and read some more diverse literature.
It made me realize that I’ve never had a black lecturer in my whole time at university and reading this just made me realize how damaging that could be for you. If you didn’t recognize anyone who taught your course or you didn’t recognize yourself in any of the books that you were reading, It just made me check my privilege, and I would recommend this to anyone shortly.
7. Americanah by Adichie
After reading taking up space, I read Americanah by Adichie. The line of will always stick with me from this book is “I didn’t know that I was black until I arrived in America”. It’s a book about identity, nationality, race, about gender. The experience of diaspora, one of the motifs in this book is the black heir. It just changed my perspective on things that I’ve never even considered, and I cannot recommend this enough. I spoke of it then about how I Changed modules, and one of the modules I changed onto was a module on South Asian literature.
8. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
Now, this is The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. This is the most recent addition to this list of books that changed my life and books that changed my perception of the world, this is about subaltern life and Subalternity in India. This is a truly beautiful book. It is so rich with symbolism and history and cultural heritage. It’s led me to do a lot of research on India, the caste system, Hinduism India’s geopolitical history, and it’s made me think about what history we are taught and what history we deem worthy of knowing, and how language nationality is in class Impacts the way that we receive news, I think it’s so vital that we challenge our worldviews, and this is a book that did that to me.
9. Metamorphosis by Ovid
Number nine on this list steps quite a bit further back in time and that is Ovid’s Metamorphosis. This book sparked my obsession with Greek and Roman mythology, Which is such a rich tapestry of mythology, And this book was the first kind of stepping stone into Understanding that I guess made me so hungry to learn more about mythology. I would say a less intimidating stepping stone or entrance into Greek and Roman mythology is Steven, fries, and mythos, which kind of puts it into more colloquial everyday language. I guess that since reading this I have just become a massive nerd for mythology. I listen to podcasts about it. I read books about it and watch videos about it. You know I just love mythology. So that’s why that one on here and the final book I want to talk about big number 10 are not on my bookshelf anywhere. They just I don’t know what I did with it.
10. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
But number 10 on the list is Evelyn Waugh’s, and Vile Bodies. This is a book about the Bright Young Things Generation. It led me to research, Marinette II and the theories of speed and dynamism, and this idea that, because we’ve discovered motorcars and Technology, we have invented Speed, and so therefore we are the ultimate superior generation and vile bodies, kind of turns out its head, and it talks about the destructive nature of speed and the fast-paced lifestyle, and especially at the moment where this discussion about the media and celebrities and influencers is so pertinent and apt, and the way that the media and the people who engage with there are so quick to cancel people. When they do things wrong and what that can lead to and how detrimental it can be to the individual, It’s crazy to me that vile bodies are set nearly 100 years ago and we still have the same issues.
It’s so fragmentary and dialogue, heavy and funny and cinematic. It’s very chaotic, which I relate to on a personal level, Yeah it’s an awesome book.
So those are the 10 books that changed my perception of the world that we live in.