5 Books That Changed My Life
Each month, writers, readers, book lovers and bloggers tell us about the books
that had an impact on their lives - and explain why.
SEPTEMBER 2024
Louise Beech
Louise Beech is the author of ten novels and a memoir, Eighteen Seconds. Her play, How to be Brave, based on her debut novel, will tour east and north Yorkshire from 22nd October. She has just moved to a village at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds so she can enjoy long walks and find her new stories. She loves every aspect of writing, except maybe the waking in the night with an idea, not writing it down, and then forgetting it. Who knows what those novels could have been?
Book One: Unbroken by Madeleine Black
This book changed my life because I was lucky enough to meet the author and then become dear friends with her. This harrowing, honest and heartfelt memoir about Madeleine’s horrific gang rape aged just thirteen gave me the courage and inspiration to finally write my own story. My friendship with her since we each read one another’s books in 2017 has been a joy..
Book Two: The World According to Garp by John Irving
I read this book on holiday in 2007 that made me finally sit down and write my own first adult novel. Irving’s quirky language and unusual characters and brave themes spoke to me, inspired me, and compelled me to start my debut. (Said novel didn’t actual end up being my debut novel, but my third, because it was a heck of a journey getting published!).
Book Three: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
This was the first adult novel I read at the tender age of nine. A lot of it went over my head, but it made me feel like a grown up, gave me the confidence that I could read anything I wanted, and made me fall in love with beautiful writing. I recently finally visited the Bronte Parsonage and stood in Charlotte’s bedroom. An emotional moment..
Book Four: Heidi by Joanna Spyri
This was the childhood book that kept me going when I was nine and my mother was in the hospital for months following a suicide attempt, and we lived with my grandma. Young Heidi had gone to live with her grandad and was adapting to that, but in the glory of the Swiss Alps, which she grew to love. The book was so vividly descript I could see the mountains on fire under the setting sun in my head. I’ve never forgotten it.
Book Five: A Little Life by Haya Yanagihara
This is certainly not a book for the faint of heart but it’s one that touched me more than perhaps any other I’ve read, and that makes it unforgettable. It’s a huge tome, almost nine hundred words, and with incredible attention to detail and character exploration. But this is its magic. You ARE her characters. You LIVE them. I cried as though I knew Jude myself.
