Five Books That Most Impacted My Life

Hi, everyone!

So, I saw a post on an author's Instagram page about the "Five Books That Most Impacted My Life". Unfortunately, I cannot find the original post or remember which author, and will update you if I find out! But, I followed suit and picked only five books which was a difficult task.

Since not everyone has read all of these amazing books, I will elaborate below about each book and why it is significant and meaningful to me, personally.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I am not certain when I read this book for the first time, but I would say probably in third grade. Also, I am positive that I ordered this book from the Scholastic Book monthly order form and that it was a paperback. I wish that I still had it!

Once I started this book, I could not finish it fast enough. It opened up a whole new world that I didn't know much about including the Civil War, Massachusetts, friends, family, and love. 

I always thought that I was like Jo growing up, but I now realize that I really was like Meg. All of the March sisters were beautifully written characters and made me realize that books for children (me included at the time) could be well-written, absorbing, and about four GIRLS!!

Interestingly, one of my recent author discoveries, Natalie Jenner, is currently writing a book with Louisa May Alcott as a character. I am so excited to read this book when it comes out!

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Wow! This was a book that I read in 8th grade in Mrs. Chavdarian's English class (she was also my homeroom teacher). FUN FACT: I am Facebook friends with Mrs. Chavdarian! I will tag her in this post on Facebook so she knows how much she means to me!!

Okay, this was the first book I read about WWII and The Holocaust. I did not have family members living in Europe during this time or family members in the military in the European theater. The biggest takeaway for me was stark horror and terror! I could not believe that human beings attempted to remove a whole group of people from the Earth because of their ethnicity and/or their religion.

This book coupled with Mrs. Chavdarian educating us about the Armenian genocide that started in 1915 changed me for the better. Unfortunately, it took until I was in college for it all to take hold. Everyone needs to read this book - it will change your life.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This is another book that I read in 8th grade in Mrs. Chavdarian's English class! Can you tell that she greatly impacted my reading choices and love of reading?

The way I viewed this book as an 8th grader is completely different as an adult - I recently reread it and loved it even more. But, first my 8th grade views. What bothered me was the book burning and destroying works of art (books) that are treasures to me. Add in that I recently read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank so my mind was boggled and horrified by the book burning in Nazi Germany.  

Now as an adult, it wasn't the book burning that horrified me as much (yes, it was horrible), but rather the mind-control through the "parlor wall" televisions where the government told people what to do and think. This dystopian novel written in 1953 unfortunately predicted the future with the winner of the 2016 Presidential race telling people how to think, believe, and act in his cult of personality. 

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

I cannot believe I did not read this amazing book until TWENTY years after it was published. It was published in 1995 and I read it in 2015! I am grateful that I did find Alice Hoffman's books because she is one of my absolute favorite authors. Her books are beautifully written, descriptive, and just plain WITCHY! 

Yes, I said WITCHY. All women do have a little witch in them and that is a good thing. We have good intuition, premonitions, and strong instincts towards our friends and family. Interestingly, I have been researching my genealogy and tentatively believe I am related to one of the witches hanged in Salem, Massachusetts and I am also related to men who helped her hang. YIKES!! More work is needed to prove it all. 

But, Alice Hoffman writes like no one else. She is beyond amazing to write FOUR books in the Practical Magic series. I hope and dream she will write a fifth book in this series. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Let me start by clarifying, "I do endorse or support any of the viewpoints or opinions that J.K. Rowling espouses".  

With that being said, these books have helped a generation of children love to read. I cannot discount this and am grateful for this. My daughter believed she would never learn to read because it was too hard. Once she found the Harry Potter books, she read under the covers with a flashlight, in the car, and anytime and everywhere she could read. These books made her a life-long lover of books! The great thing was that we started the books together when she was in 2nd grade with the approval of her teacher. 

For me, the biggest takeaway from these books was good triumphs over evil, friends can become your chosen family, and that fantasy can be amazingly realistic. The first book was written for fourth-graders, I believe, but the books get more difficult and onto more adult topics as they proceed. Listening to these seven books as audiobooks is a joy.   

So that is my "Five Books That Most Impacted My Life"! I hope that you play along too! I would love to know what books matter to YOU!!

Happy reading,

Dorothea 💜

P.S. My graphic was created using PicCollage on my cell phone if you are wondering how I did it!!