Susie

"I grew up Lutheran, went to church every week, and was involved in choir and youth group. I didn’t question the idea of God at all as a child. In college was the first time I really started thinking about it, and after taking New Testament, world religions, and Buddhism classes, I had thoroughly lost faith. Everything as far as believing in one all-powerful God made no sense to me. When I read the satanic bible, it was just a view on things that made more sense to me. It praises the virtues of exploring one’s own nature and instincts. God is not external entity, but rather something that each person creates as a true projection of his or her own personality, a benevolent and stabilizing force in his or her life. It’s not devil worship. Satanists reject the worship of external gods completely. Religion is viewed as a man-made construct and all are urged to question everything. Satan is viewed as a metaphor or a symbol, not as a being to be worshipped. The idea of prayer is rejected; instead the idea is to take action to fix a situation, instead of asking for a solution. When all religious faith in lies has diminished it is because man has become closer to himself and farther from God, thus closer to the devil. This book changed my life. HAIL SATAN. 666"

Alexis

"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... And it's All Small Stuff," a book by Ph.D. Richard Carlson was one of the most perspective-altering books I've ever read. It was an easy read for a short-attention-span-having millennial like me because it was very to-the-point. Don't let the "Ph.D." fool you. Carlson sets a peaceful and inspiring tone while using simple words and phrases to motivate his reader. This book reminded me to look at things as they are, not as people often magnetize them to be. It's all small stuff. Don't sweat it.

Greg

“Randhurst: Suburban Chicago’s Grandest Shopping Center” was a book that changed my life because, well, I wrote it. Authoring a book was one of my life’s greatest experiences. Even in a history book, there is a magnitude of “agony and ecstasy” that comes with the creation of any piece of art. In addition to the work itself, the book produced a number of lasting lessons, both about writing and living, in the year and a half I spent creating it: Self-discipline does not come easy; Inspiration is very similar to a powerful drug – When you’re not on it, you may do questionable things to find it; It’s healthy to make bold claims and assertions, but you better have some factual, thoughtful evidence to back them up (I opted for just under 200 citations); Never think there is anything you could possibly write about that isn’t interesting; Finally, the hardest part of writing book is deciding on the first line. Write, and live, with no regrets. (Also, the internet is amazing resource, and Wikipedia can give you some great leads, I don’t care what your professor tells you). All in all, “Randhurst” taught me to look at seemingly superficial things in greater detail, and to analyze them critically. While a book about the history of shopping malls may seem laughable, I quickly found out that how, why, and where we shop, and what we buy, tells us a great deal about ourselves. …Now go to Amazon and buy my book!

Nicole

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Andrew

"I was first acquainted with Death as a youth, but it wasn't until my teenage years that we really began to hit it off. I was attracted to the dark themes of gore and violence portrayed in music, film, and literature; I listened to metal, watched horror movies, and read true crime books. My lust for Death grew stronger after I completed an archaeology course on the subject during my last semester at University of Illinois. It was an overview of burial practices and funerary customs amongst different cultures throughout history. I continued reading on my own, and fell in love with Death to Dust by Kenneth Iserson. It covers a vast array of topics ranging from anatomical dissection to premature burial to necrophilia. Feeling enamored and wanting to further enhance my relationship with Death, I enrolled in a mortuary science college in Fall 2013 and accepted a job at a local funeral home. Working with the bereaved is rewarding, but the embalming aspect excites me the most. I seemingly cannot get enough of this; Death will always be my mistress."

Diana

"Lewis Carroll's, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, was one of the few books that kept my full attention. When I was younger, I was the type of reader that would start reading great stories and lose interest in them quickly. With Alice though, the Adventures we would go on not only kept my full attention, but often times forced me to ask questions about myself and my own life. As I got older and continued to re-read Alice's Adventures, I started to have a deeper appreciation for the writing style of Mr. Carroll. His use of language through puns and creating new meanings for words already in the child's vocabulary. It has inspired me to concentrate on Language Arts, as well as the Sciences, while I get my degree in Elementary Education."

Rachel

"The Shining: I am still afraid of dark rooms, of leaves blowing across the sidewalk at night like a sudden whispering in your ear, of pitch black closets left ajar, and of the basement steps from my childhood home. I have Stephen King to thank for that. When we grow up we forget these fears and replace them with money, bosses, heating bills and grocery shopping. That kid in us that knew there was something to fear in what we couldn't see becomes quiet, muffled by responsibility. In a corner between silent back-room shelves of a public library Stephen King handed my childhood fears a megaphone and I owe him a decade of gratitude. We should be afraid of the dark and believe in haunted places."

Tanya

"Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" . A book that warns us of what society may look like without thinkers and books. A scary realization to what society is becoming now, with technology and the banning of great literature. I remember my freshman year in High School, when my teacher said, 'The day that the government starts making you burn books, is the day you need to run. That's what Hitler did.'. I remember sitting there and thinking that was absurd and our government wouldn't do that. I also remember looking at that book and thinking, 'Great, another boring book' (basing it off its cover). Little did I know, after reading it and having that teacher make us understand it fully, it would be the beginning of my love for reading. As the years passed by, books have been diminishing--turning into a digital format, some are being banned for being too political, religious or radical and some are being hidden from everyone. Everything I read about was slowly becoming true. That book did more than change my view, it was an eye opener to the future. I just hope we don't let books become extinct. Last thing we need is history repeating itself, because there aren't any books "...to remind us what asses and fools we are."

Andy

"Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future" by Jennifer Baumgardner. "One afternoon during my first months of college, my best friend asked, "Are we feminist?" We both shrugged our shoulders and didn't really know. We listed off the stereotypes we had been fed our whole lives: "But I shave my armpits.. But I like boys... But I wear makeup.." etc. We decided to read the 15 or so Gender/Woman Studies books in our dorm library, one of which was "Manifesta." I remember as I read, being so excited to know there were women that were saying all of these intelligent things that I agreed with, discussing experiences that I had shared, and stressing the importance of working diligently toward social equality. At the same time, I was disappointed that it had taken me so long to know the true "definition" of feminism, free from the stereotypes and negativity. Reading those books at such a formative time in my life made a huge difference in the way that I viewed myself and the world around me. I felt confident, empowered, and connected to a larger community of strong women. Feminism continues to impact all areas of my life today."

Anuj

"In the third year of my undergraduate education, I was introduced to 'Solid State Physics,' a book detailing the study of solids and the particles within them. Instead of reading yet another dry textbook, I found myself captivated by the complex dynamics of electrons in solids. The reasons behind the conduction of electricity in metals and the lack thereof in insulators became clear, and were far more complex that what I had naively expected. I found the subject so rich and fascinating that I devoted the next 7 years to studying it. I am currently obtaining my Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics, and I can safely say I would not be doing so had I not read that book so long ago."

Flutter

"Our leaders and mainstream media won’t tell the truth about climate change and we humans are dangerously close to extinction. What saddens me even more is that we are taking down other species with us as we cling to our addiction to fossil fuels and industrialized civilization. “The Road” is an important book to me because it addresses how one could be in uncertainty in a beautiful, non-sugarcoated way. It doesn't hide the reality of what we might face when there is no longer a habitat for us to survive. As we move through these uncertain times I feel it helpful to grieve, reflect, but also celebrate the joys found in each day. “The Road” touches on all of this, leading the reader through a sort of end-of-days meditation. I love how this book is poetic with a steady pace. One thing we are guaranteed in life is death. Regardless of the health of the environment we know our time is limited. Uncertainty is present everyday as we walk along our journey. This motivates me to live each moment like it could be my last. There is freedom when you can let go and learn from Mother Earth. We've been away from her far too long and it is time to listen."

Colleen

I am most at home in books that ask for suspension of disbelief. All of my favorites reward me with glimpses of magic among the ordinary - the joy of unseen, absurd potential innate to the everyday-est object or circumstance. Calvino is a master of such magic. Here is a story of a boy from an 18th century noble family who decides one day at dinner, when he does not want to eat the snails he has been served, to climb up into the trees and live there forever. He succeeds beautifully. It is a fable of independence, yes, and youthful rebellion, but to me it is more about the possibility of living in trees. Imagine! Calvino did, and I am forever grateful.

Beth

"I grew up in a white neighborhood in Peoria, IL, went to white schools, and had mostly white friends. I am white, and as a child, I had the luxury of living life oblivious to my race. Although it was considered impolite, and perhaps even racist, to even talk about the issue, it didn’t prevent me from hearing many ignorant things over the years. “Did you hear about the black mom who named her kids Lemonjello and Oranjello?” “If he can afford such nice shoes, then why is he on welfare?” “Why don’t people just forget about slavery already? It was 150 years ago!” We can’t comprehend an issue as complicated as race through facts, theories, or statistics. It is only in listening to people’s stories that we can begin to understand history, recognize and challenge our own biases, and have empathy for others. In “Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession,” oral historian Studs Terkel has given us the opportunity to hear honest, painful, heartbreaking, unforgettable, powerful, true stories on the issue of race. Reading this book ten years ago completely changed my life. Now I see myself differently. I see others differently. I see the world differently. I am so grateful for my growing awareness."

Christine

The Snowy Day By: Ezra Jack Keats "When I think back to the earliest days of my childhood so many of those memories include my dad and books. On our weekly trips to the library I could choose any 3 books I wanted, and surely there was always at least one Ezra Jack Keats book in my little pile. I loved them all, but The Snowy Day was my favorite. My dad must have read it to me hundreds of times, but I never tired of snuggling up next to him and listening to him make the crunch, crunch, crunch sounds as Peter’s feet sank into the snow. I received so many gifts from my dad, but one of the most important was the love of reading, and that love started with books like The Snowy Day." “Down fell the snow – plop!—on top of Peter’s head.”

Lisa

"I remember when Scary Stories You Tell in the Dark came out as a child, they offered all three at my school’s library, but one could never check them out because of the looooong waiting list. They were the most popular books to read. Some of the stories stick with me to this day, my fear of spiders spawned from the tale of a girl who woke up with a spider egg hatching from a pimple in her cheek. My favorite memories come from reading the book with all the lights off in my grandfather’s attic. He lived on a farm in a small town with many vacant acres of land. At night when our parents would go out to burn trash, my cousin and I would cuddle up and terrify ourselves with the stories until we were both screaming and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I akin my love for these books to the style of “Morbid Kitsch” I have created for myself over the years. As an adult I have a love for vintage monster music and enjoy djing in Milwaukee at my favorite bar Frank’s Power Plant. Today, my house is covered in vintage monster posters, taxidermy, clowns, oddities, and I believe that my weird love for the unusual would never have existed, if it wasn’t for that little girl picking up Scary Stories You Tell in the Dark."

Rich

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott The Book That Changed My Life Ever since I was a kid, I dreamt that one day I might be a writer. I had this fantasy that I could write a novel like Hemingway or some other great writer. While I was having this fantasy, I went to college, law school, became a lawyer, got married and started a family. I was busy trying to earn a living and be a husband and father—a productive guy of some sort. Writing a novel remained a dream until I read Anne Lamott’s book about creative writing, “Bird by Bird.” The title comes from her older brother who was doing a research paper about birds when Anne was a little girl. Apparently he was overwhelmed with the task—and his dad took him aside and told him not to fret but just to take it “bird by bird.” He wanted his son to know that he was more than able to complete his project. Lamott’s thoughtful, passionate and inspiring book did the same thing for me. It brought the writing process into clear focus and within my reach for the first time. Anne Lamott accomplished this not only by giving much practical advice about “awful first drafts,” dialogue and a host of other things, but primarily in her message that the only way to be a writer was to write, be persistent and never give up on yourself. Although I have not yet published that novel, I now work at my writing regularly and get much joy out of that wonderful and stubborn creative process. I think I owe that joy to Anne Lamott and her little book,“Bird by Bird.”

Megan

Pedagogy of the Oppressed By Paulo Freire "Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed is one of those books that simply transformed me. This Brazilian educator and philosopher introduced me to the powerful concept of popular education. To be a popular educator is to believe in people and to believe in the possibility that people can create, understand, critique, and change things. In this book, Freire’s perspective on education, humanity, love, and the way we move in the world resonates decades after its publication date. It’s the book I’ve re-read the most, discovering new applications depending on where I am in my life. I’ve often read it alongside others and I treasure the discussions we’ve had as much as the words on the page. There are many other texts by Freire, bell hooks, and others on popular education that I find more accessible than this work but Pedagogy of the Oppressed served as the foundation to this ever-expanding dialogue with the world and for that I am eternally grateful."

Betsy

Man’s Search for Meaning, a Book That Changed My Life I read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl when I was about twenty. In the four decades since, I have remembered his words as a guide to my conscience and an inspiration. Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychologist, a Jew who was imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, where he lost most of his family and his beloved wife, Tilly. He saw and endured atrocities from 1942 until he was liberated at the end of the war. He was then able to resume his practice as a psychologist, scholar, and professor; marry again; and live a full and giving life until he died in 1997 at age 92. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl recounts his personal experiences in the Nazi camps, “which millions of prisoners have suffered time and time again.” Frankl acknowledges that his survival depended heavily on chance; never does he assert that he survived solely through his own grit. Instead, he explains how several revelations gave him strength. One revelation was that people “can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.” Another was that humans are motivated by a constant search for meaning in life: “We need to think of ourselves as those who are questioned by life – daily and hourly” and we must answer as well as we can through “right action.” Still, he understands that people cannot always behave honorably, writing: “No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.” What inspired me most was Viktor Frankl’s revelation that “The salvation of man is in love and through love.” During a nightlong march to forced labor, under cruel conditions, he had an epiphany. “[T]he stars were fading and the pink light of morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds,” he wrote. “[M]y mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.” Betsy Rubin March 2014

Gabriela

Pride & Prejudice --Jane Austen Lizzie Bennet, one of my first heroines. Probably the first girl that was complex, intelligent, & idolized, that I had read about at the age of 11. She's a one-size-fits-all heroine. Every person has their vision of who Lizzie Bennet is, what she would or would not say in certain situations." Lizzie Bennet taught me that it was okay to think outside the box, & do things that weren't expected of you. It was ok to use your brain & fall in love, there's room for reconciliation between the two. I thank Lizzie Bennet for the ability to see the reality in romance, & the romance in reality

Vincent

"Hamlet is a painting of life. Perhaps alone amongst plays, it becomes a new piece of art with every layer of experience we assimilate. It is a swashbuckling parental revenge tale for children, a tribute to found and lost love for the young, a philosophical thriller of mannerisms and allegiances for the learning, a lesson for the writer and performer, a comical punchline for the cynical, a roster of consequences for the older. And for each, the question of 'to be or not to be' is ingrained in the reader's imagination."

Elliot

"I knew since childhood that I was gay. Yet, I was always so afraid to be my true self. I played the part of being the ideal female and daughter. I wore dresses, wore high heels, put on makeup, had my hair long and flowing, and dated guys. I made myself out to be what I felt everyone wanted me to look like and to be. I never felt comfortable in my own skin, or in women’s clothing. I thought that I would have to live my life a lie. While living in Florida, in my mid-twenties, my friend and I started a book club. One of the books we chose was Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. This book opened my eyes and my soul because it made me realize that up until that I couldn’t live my life that way any longer. Shortly after, I made the difficult decision to come out to close family and friends. Little by little, each day became easier and I was able to come into my own. Although the protagonist in the novel is intersex, I was able to relate to the character and his struggles. Some main themes of the novel are rebirth, the American Dream, and gender identity. These three themes I have been able to explore and eventually become my happy, true self."

Dushyant

"... Also, the Bhagavad-Gita, as It Is, read thus book in college and continue to consult it to this day for so many answers to the mysteries of life, any question I may be having has an answer in the BG!" Of purifiers I am the wind; of the wielders of weapons I am Rama; of fishes I am the shark, and of flowing rivers I am the Ganges. - Ch10 V31

Sam

"In my teens, I worked at a grocery store with a woman about 10 years older than me. She’d get my friend and I high after work and tell scandalous, delicious stories of sex and drugs, laced with revolutionary diatribes that blew my mind. She was super tiny and always stood when others sat or found that highest spot in the place so she was just a little bit above you. And, she deserved that spot. She wrote me a list of books to read. Makes Me Wanna Holler was one of them."

Fay

I had long considered myself a feminist before reading “Sister Outsider." I naively thought I understood issues of gender, but also race and class. But reading Audre Lorde "Sister Outsider" changed me. It changed how I viewed feminism and what it meant to me. It changed how I understood systems of power, oppression, patriarchy. It lead me to further my understanding by immersing myself in feminist theory, reading books by bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldua, and others. There’s so much to take away from “Sister Outsider." Her writing is beautifully philosophical, poetic, and powerful. I remember when I read this book 25 years ago, it was very common for white women focus on their oppression as women and ignore differences of race, sexual preference, class, and age. Before reading this book, I was one of them. Sadly, I think it’s still the case today. Many feminists concerns are is still narrowly focused, or feminism in general is poorly understood. This is why Audre Lorde’s writing is just as relevant, important and true today as it was then. Change cannot happen until we all strive to understand, confront, and talk about our differences, honestly examine our own privilege, understand oppression, or how race, class, age, sexual orientation intersect. It taught me to constantly challenge myself, to keep examining my thoughts around feminism and race, and to not be silent.