Six Books.

I've been thinking about influential and inspiring books. I doubted that I could name more than two or three that have been impactful enough to change my life. Six books quickly came to mind. These are in no particular order.

The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
Proverbs (in the Bible)

The 5 Love Languages is a book I think everyone should read. Special versions for parents, teens, and single people customize the experience. I learned about how I show and receive love. I was able to recognize how I was different from people I loved, but I could still use their love languages and help them use mine. Past confusion and hurt in relationships started to make some sense. I think I'm both more loving and more fulfilled thanks to this book.

Writing Down the Bones taught me that writing is a practice, like meditation or other fortifying rituals. I learned to love the notebook as a safe growing place for me as a writer and as a person.

The Fountainhead is a book I have mixed feelings about. I remember reading it on a pontoon boat with my parents and brother. I was 16 and had low self-esteem. I didn't think I deserved to be happy; I didn't think I could pursue the love and life I needed. Howard Roark was ruthless in his pursuits. If I had had more confidence at the time, reading this may have turned me too far toward Roark. But starting as low as I did, this pulled me up to ground level, and I began treating myself differently.

Rose and the Beast grabbed my attention with its gorgeous cover art and with a title that suggested fairy tale retellings. I loved the latter, so I bought the book without investigation. And so I found my favorite author. But the book was full of situations and topics that scared me and that I didn't hear anyone address. Because of this book, I was better able to engage with people who were different from me or who had lived lives vastly different from mine. The book also showed me a different way to write. The fairy tales I wanted were there, reshaped, and the prose seemed to drip with strange gems. Block indulged in language, and I was captivated.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens came to me some how, and Mom has mentioned how much I embraced it (obsessively, as I tend to do). The book taught me about how to stay healthy (not just in body) and take care of myself. I recently bought the original adult version at a used bookstore, and I'm interested to see how it will affect me as an adult.

Proverbs (in the Bible) was a mini obsession for a while. I remember reading and then writing down verses in a journal that had an angel's wing on it. I was at my great-grandmother's counter, waiting for my older cousin Melinda to get home from school. Proverbs was so soothing (not all of it), and I loved the quiet, wisdom-seeking lifestyle it often described.

 It's amazing what some paper and glue can do. What books have changed your life?