Books
11 Books That Will Help You Keep Things in Perspective, Because We All Need A Reality Check Sometimes
When the chips are down in life, I have the uncanny ability to lose all sense of understanding. You’ll be able to find me sitting in a window somewhere in a dark room, staring out the window with an indie singer-songwriter playing sad music in my head, wishing that it would rain so that it could adequately set the scene. Although the Angela Chase method feels better, it’s not very helpful. This is where I turn to books to get my head right.
How is that possible? It's not as though I'm fighting Voldemort (although reading about fighting Voldemort can help with some very real life problems), I’m not turning into an animal to fight Yeerks (although that would be a super-disturbing problem to have). In fact, I'm just a regular person with regular people problems. That’s just the thing! What is more inspiring to know that even though rent is dude, your significant other sent you a wonky text, or you stumbled upon a photo album on Facebook of all of your friends hanging out without you, than to read about people facing worse, and potentially rising above it?
These 11 books cover a wide range of the human experience — from first love to nuclear fallout — that will help you keep it all in perspective.
Image: Kevin Dinkel/flickr
'Eleanor & Park' by Rainbow Rowell
Remember when you were young, and you thought that the first person you loved would be the only person you ever loved? Remember when it ended, and it felt as though the world was going to end? Eleanor & Park remembers with its sweet-and-sour depiction of first love between two outcasts. You may still look back on your former flame with longing or regret, but Eleanor & Park reminds you that you are just a small piece of a bigger experience.
'Blindness' by José Saramago
In Blindness , an entire city’s population has been stricken with a plague that causes “white blindness” causing panic to ensue. Only one unnamed woman has escaped this, and therefore must be the only witness of the various acts of depravity that occur once society begins to break down. The extreme nature of the story might not necessarily apply to times today, but it was only less than a year ago that people in the U.S. (myself included) were panicking over a rare disease. Blindness may be an extreme form of reality, but the kindness and bravery shown by the main characters can at least let us know that when the bad stuff hits the fan, at least all of humanity won’t give up.
'Atonement' by Ian McEwan
Embarrassing misunderstandings: We’ve all been there. Have we been where Briony Tallis has? Not likely. Atonement is about a simple misunderstanding that spirals incredibly out of control. We’ve all been in social situations that weren’t exactly clear to us, but hopefully it doesn’t involve the destruction of someone’s life and the loss of the person they loved. Atonement can help us remember that no matter what we’ve done, or who we’ve wronged, there’s still an opportunity to fix things. However, it can also remind us to do it before it’s too late.
'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go follows three periods in the life of Kathy, a young woman who grew up in a boarding school with her two best friends: Ruth and Tommy. The usual sort of love triangle ensues, which will resonate for those who remember those dramatic ups and downs of high school and college life. There is one minor difference, of course, in that every main character in the story has been fated to donate their organs until nothing is left. The horror that these characters must face compared to the very real and recognizable feelings can remind us what it means to be human. Sometimes being human is being upset that your best friend is dating the boy that you like.
'One Day' by David Nicholls
Have you ever had a person that always seemed to hover in the background of your romantic life? That person that was never single at the same time as you, although you knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that you wold be the best couple alive if only given half a chance? Could you imagine that going on for 20 years? That is what the two main characters of One Day are dealing with. As you follow Emma and Dexter through little snapshots of their lives (all taking place on July 15, the anniversary of the day they met) it’s easy to think of that one person in your life… and wonder whether or not all the waffling and waiting is truly worth it.
'The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories is about more than just the famous title story. Beyond the original tale about a woman’s decent into madness thanks to the infamous “rest cure” for hysteria, each of the other seven short stories sheds light on the plight of women in Victorian times, focusing on love, humor, and a woman’s “place” in society. In a world of catcalls, wage disparity, and old men in congress deciding what’s appropriate for us to do with our bodies, this collection might help you see how far we’ve come.
'The Rules of Attraction' by Bret Easton Ellis
Think you were a wild child in college? Living through those crazy days right now? Well, before you shame spiral, pick up The Rules of Attraction, and your late-teens/early-20s sociopathy will look like a four-year stint in the Micky Mouse Club. Following a group of young adults as they stumble through relationships, majors, and more parties than you can shake a stick at, this book will make you feel absolutely better about not knowing what your major is, or not calling back that person you slept with last week.
'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' by Horace McCoy
The economy is bonkers. For those who graduated in the middle of a recession, you know that feel. In a world where you need at least four or five unpaid internships to get in on the entry level of a job that might sort of help you pay off your student loans, things here look bleak. However, it might be a comfort to know that this sort of financial devastation has happened to the country before. In They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? is set in the 1930s, when dance marathon contests were all the rage, and people were just unemployed enough to do it. Those who have spent their post-graduate months fetching coffee for people will absolutely understand the desperation, but at least you know that your job might lead somewhere.
'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver
Although We Need to Talk About Kevin is about a woman’s lack of desire to become a mother, and the fear that her ambivalence caused something terrible to happen in the psyche of her own son, this book can apply to much more. Ever fear that your influence on someone has lead to something less than stellar? Ever wonder if a job that you didn’t put as much effort into as you would have normally is going to be noticed? Like a modern day Frankenstein, Eva Khatchadourian faces the consequences of her actions, and helps us face our own worst case scenarios.
'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart tells two overlapping stories about a “Nigerian strong man,” the first being about his fall from grace in his own tribe, the second being about the destruction of his culture thanks to the introduction of European missionaries. Reading closely about the decline of a culture may not seem like a good way to put certain problems into perspective, but it’s a perfect way to put all of your problems in perspective due to the fact that even though your problems are still a problem, at least the entire framework that supports them won’t come crashing down any time soon.
' On the Beach' by Nevil Shute
In On the Beach, World War III has ravaged the world, leaving only those who live in the southernmost points of the Southern Hemisphere alive, and not for long. We live in a world of global warming, trash islands, new extinction events, and worse. Although On the Beach might be one of the bleakest books on the list (and that is saying something), there is a small, cynical comfort in the fact that we no longer live in a Cold War era nightmare, and, for the most part, we still have the ability to affect change.
