24 Fiction Books That Can Change Your Life
Recommended by Ryan Holiday
This Boy’s Life
by Tobias Wolff
Let’s come out and say it: This book is way better than Catcher in the Rye. It’s based partially on the author’s actual life but sufficiently fictional for this list. It has one of my favorite lines in all of literature in it and it’s exactly what every young person–especially Holden Caulfield types–need to hear: “When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever.”
Candide
by Voltaire
I read this book as I waited for my wedding to start. It might seem like a strange choice, given that it’s a 200 year old book mostly about unimaginable hardship, torture, death and misfortune. Somehow, despite this, the book is a light hearted satire that pokes fun at optimism, philosophy, politics, and power. In the end, Voltaire concludes, all we can do is tend to our own garden. Il faut cultiver nos jardins.
Ask the Dust
by John Fante
This is the west coast’s Great Gatsby. Fante has benefited from some recognition–mostly thanks to Bukowski championing him in his later years–but because the book is about Los Angeles and not New York City, it is mostly forgotten. Better than Gatsby, it is a series. Bandini, the subject of the series, is a wonderful example of someone whose actual life is ruined by the fantasies in his head–every second he spends stuck up there is one he wastes and spoils in real life. He’s too caught up and delusional to see that his problems are his fault, that he’s vicious because he can’t live up to the impossible expectations they create, and that he could have everything he wants if he calmed down and lived in reality for a second. This is the series in order by my favorites: Ask the Dusk,Dreams from Bunker Hill, Wait Until Spring, Bandini and The Road to Los Angeles. (DO NOT watch the movie version of Ask the Dust, it is embarrassingly bad.)
Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson
I read this book in some college course I’ve long forgotten but the book stayed with me. It’s one of the few books that might genuinely convince an atheist of the value of faith–certainly of the importance of grace. It’s the story of a small town pastor who is nearing the end of his life, but has a young son. The book is essentially a letter to that son, so that he might remember his father and what he stands for. It’s the type of letter you wish your own father or grandfather might have written for you–except, written in beautiful prose.
Gilgamesh, Aeneid, Odyssey, Iliad
These four classic epics are epics for a reason. They contain essentially every part of the human experience: love, death, pain, success, fear, jealousy, misfortune, striving, courage. I know you think you don’t have time for poetry or theater but you do. I promise you do. Aristotle, Montaigne, Seneca, Plato–the greatest minds in history quoted these works almost as though they were fact. That’s how good they are. That’s how much wisdom there is in them. If you don’t have the stamina to read philosophy, than these can serve as an entertaining and educational substitute. Of course, if you don’t have time for any of these, read Shakespeare. It’s just as good.
Babbitt
by Sinclair Lewis
This is the ultimate critique of the shallowness of the American Dream. Calling someone a “Babbitt” used to be an insult, but it’s been forgotten. Why? Perhaps it’s because the biting satire of American suburban middle class life cuts deeper now than it did then. It doesn’t matter if the book is old, it’s still very funny and at its core, a critique of conformity and keeping-up-with-the-Joneses and what Thoreau called the “life of quiet desperation.”
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I’m not recommending this book because I read it in high school. I’ve read it many times since. I’m recommending it because it’s one of the best books ever written. Not just the beautiful writing, but the picture it paints of the character–each one we ought to learn a little bit from. Nick, the narrator, afraid to seize control of his own life. Daisy, the careless, selfish brat. Jordan, the cynical girlfriend who is unable to love. Jay Gatsby, the striver who strives after something he simply cannot have: the past. There’s so many ways to read this book and you read it differently as you get old. Is Gatsby the hero or the villain? Is the dream noble or perverted? Good literature makes you think as it entertains you. Gatsby does that and that’s why it’s one of the most successful novels of all time.
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
As we grow older and more cynical, Paulo Coelho can become harder to swallow. But the right book at the right moment is everything. This book–an epic allegory–about finding and pursuing your purpose in life has found millions of readers across the world for a reason: it’s inspiring and motivating. Read it.
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