Stories I’ve Read Recently That Made Me See Something Differently
Here are some stories I’ve read in the past five years that have stayed with me because they’ve evolved how I view history, memory, places, belonging, and creative courage itself.
July Theme: Creative Courage
Big Question: What does it take to begin, risk, and share what you create?
Week 2: Taking Creative Risks
Some stories entertain us while others teach us something new.
And then there are the rare books that substantially rearrange and influence how our minds and creative lives operate. They challenge our assumptions, deepen our empathy, and or help us understand experiences we’ve never lived ourselves, as well as those we want to live next.
Sometimes those rare and influential stories change how we see history. Sometimes they change how we see other people and places. And occasionally, they even change how we see ourselves.
One of my favorite questions isn’t “What’s the best book you’ve ever read?” it’s “What book changed the way you see the world?”
And for me, the answer to that question is constantly being updated with every book I read. So, I make it a point to reflect more deeply on what books have evolved my perspective and creative practice (often without my realizing it) every few years or so.
The books mentioned in today’s post aren’t simply a list of my recent favorite reads, they’re stories I’ve read recently (within the past few years) that have left me with a new perspective. These are books that have recently expanded my understanding of humanity, grief, love, identity, courage, language and communication, and what it means to live a creative life to its fullest, even if only by an inch.
If you’ve ever finished a book and felt like the world was beginning to look just a little different from before you opened it, you know exactly what I mean. Perhaps one of the following works did that for you too? Keep reading, then let me know what’s on your list of significant recent reads in the comments.
The Weight of History
History is often taught as a collection of dates, movements, and major events. But the stories that tend to stay with me are the ones that remind me that history is also personal— that it lives in families, in forgotten voices, in the places people call home, and in the consequences that continue long after a notable event has ended.
The next few books mentioned changed the way I think about history because they moved beyond what happened and asked a deeper question: Who gets remembered, and whose experiences have been left out?
America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin
Greg Grandin’s sweeping exploration of the Americas challenged me to reconsider how I understand the history of the Western Hemisphere, and the entire world. Rather than treating nations and borders as static, fixed realities, the book reveals how deeply connected the Americas have always been through migration, colonialism, conflict, economics, and cultural exchanges throughout their intertwined histories. And that the history of one of the Americas cannot be truly comprehensive without the history of the other.
What stayed with me was the realization that history is rarely a simple progression of events. Instead, it is a series of interconnected choices made by people whose lives continue to shape the present.
Grandin’s work also changed the way I think about places throughout history and how the present can affect that. Countries are not just geographic locations, they are living stories built from competing and intertwined memories, struggles, and visions of the future.
Also Read:
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
A fascinating reconsideration of Indigenous civilizations before European contact.The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
A deeply human account of the Great Migration and the lives shaped by it.An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
A powerful reframing of American history through Indigenous perspectives.
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
The Personal Librarian reminded me that while history is often preserved through institutions, it is experienced through individuals.
The novel brings to light the remarkable story of Belle da Costa Greene, the woman who built one of the greatest rare book collections in the world while hiding a significant part of her identity. Her work shaped literary and cultural history, yet her personal story remained largely unknown.
What moved me most was the tension between her achievements and invisibility. Greene’s life raises questions about what people sacrifice to create opportunities, protect themselves, and move through a world that does not always allow them to be fully seen, even when they do a lot of work to preserve its knowledge and culture.
The book reminded me that there are human stories behind every famous collection, institution, or achievement that deserve attention too.
Also Read:
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
A story about books, courage, and resistance during World War II.The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
A historical mystery centered around the New York Public Library and the people who protect its treasures.The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
A portrait of resilience, literacy, and the power of books in isolated communities.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Ariel Lawhon’s historical fiction reminded me that history is often preserved through the people who take the time to observe, document, and question what others overlook. And how often women’s contributions have been written out of history altogether.
Inspired by the life of Martha Ballard, an eighteenth-century midwife and diarist, the novel reveals how an ordinary woman could become an extraordinary witness and changemaker in her time. Her records provide a rare perspective on women’s lives, medical practices, justice, and community in early America.
Reading this novel allowed me to reflect on whose voices survive. History often centers powerful figures, but sometimes the most valuable records come from people who were simply paying attention and caring about their communities.
The novel reminded me that bearing witness and caring for others can be their own form of courage.
Also Read:
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
A deeply imagined portrait of Shakespeare’s family and the private grief behind public history.Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Like Hamnet and The Frozen River, this novel follows an ordinary young housemaid turned healer who must survive catastrophic disease and social collapse.
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
A reimagining of an overlooked female voice within a familiar historical world.
Reflection: History Is Made of Human Stories
The books mentioned above changed the way I consider and approach history because they reminded me that the past is not distant, and that it is carried forward through families, institutions, landscapes, and memories.
The most meaningful historical stories do not simply tell us what happened, they help us understand how people experienced various historical events on a personal level, and how those experiences continue to shape the world we live in today. They remind us that history is not only about remembering the most famous, loudest, and most popular voices, but also about finding and listening to the voices that were almost lost or buried.
What It Means to Be Seen
One of the most powerful things a story can do is allow us to recognize a life experience we may never have encountered before.
The books in the following section changed the way I think about visibility—who is seen, who is misunderstood, who is believed, and who has had to fight to have their experiences recognized.
They reminded me that being seen is not simply about being noticed, it is about being understood with a level of nuance and dignity.
A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington
Washington’s work changed the way I think about the relationship between environment, health, and opportunity. Before reading it, it was easy to think of environmental issues as primarily about conservation or pollution or climate change. But Washington reveals a much more complicated reality about how where people live, work, and grow up can profoundly shape their physical and mental well-being.
The book examines how environmental hazards disproportionately affect marginalized communities and how these conditions are not accidental but often connected to historical patterns of inequality, policy decisions, and social neglect.
What stayed with me was the understanding that a person’s surroundings are never determined by mere happenstance, and that one’s environment can influence everything, from how long they live to how they’re able to live day-to-day. That the places people inhabit can affect their health, education, opportunities, and futures.
Also Read:
The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
An exploration of how inequality affects entire communities and why shared prosperity depends on addressing systemic barriers.Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A beautiful reflection on ecology, Indigenous wisdom, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world.Evicted by Matthew Desmond
A powerful look at housing instability and the forces that shape economic inequality.
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
Ring Shout changed the way I think about the role of fantasy fiction. I have always understood fantasy as a way to imagine different worlds, but Clark demonstrates how fantasy can also reveal truths about the world we already inhabit.
Set against the backdrop of 1920s Georgia, the novella transforms historical racism into a supernatural battle, using monsters as a representation of the hatred and violence embedded in society. And it is so visceral that you can actually feel it in your body.
What makes the story so powerful is that its fantastical elements do not distance readers from the historical truths the novel reveals but brings its emotional reality into sharper focus. The supernatural becomes a way to examine the very real forces that communities have had to confront, in a way that is powerful and long-lasting.
The book reminded me that sometimes the best way to understand reality is through the darkest fantasies of one’s imagination.
Also Read:
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
A groundbreaking novel that uses time travel to explore slavery, memory, and inherited trauma.The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
A reimagining of Lovecraftian horror that examines racism, fear, and power.The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
A horror novel exploring identity, history, and cultural memory.
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses changed the way I think about the power and responsibility of storytelling. Rushdie’s novel demonstrates that literature does not exist in isolation, but enters broader conversations about identity, religion, migration, politics, and belonging that span centuries.
The controversy surrounding the book has often overshadowed discussions of its literary ambition, but what stayed with me was Rushdie’s willingness to explore uncertainty and complexity and have a little fun while doing it. The novel refuses simple categories, instead examining what happens when people move between cultures and struggle with questions of transformation and identity.
The book reminded me that stories can challenge assumptions precisely because they refuse to remain comfortable. And I would also encourage readers to check out his recent(ish) memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.
Also Read:
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
A classic satirical novel where the Devil visits 1930s Moscow alongside a talking cat, interweaving the absurdities of an atheistic regime with the story of Pontius Pilate.
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
A lyrical examination of migration, love, and displacement.The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
A deeply moving exploration of family, cultural identity, and belonging.
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
Infinite Country changed the way I think about immigration stories. Too often, conversations about migration focus on borders, policies, or statistics, but Engel brings the focus back to the human experience, where families are separated by circumstance, children navigate multiple identities, and people try to create a sense of home in unfamiliar places.
The novel reminded me that immigration is not a single event, but an ongoing emotional experience shaped by memory, sacrifice, hope, and belonging.
What stayed with me was the idea that home is not always a place we return to. Sometimes home becomes the collection of people, languages, memories, and traditions we carry with us.
Also Read:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A nuanced exploration of immigration, race, love, and identity.Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
A multigenerational story about displacement, family, and belonging.The Leavers by Lisa Ko
A story about an undocumented immigrant mother who vanishes, leaving her young son to be adopted by a new family that investigates parental sacrifice, deportation fallout, and a child’s long journey to understand identity and belonging.
Reflection: Visibility Changes Understanding
The books just mentioned reminded me that many of the world’s most important stories are not about discovering something entirely new, but about seeing something that has always been there yet not regularly acknowledged.
A powerful story can expand our understanding of another person’s reality. It can challenge the assumptions we carry, reveal the consequences of decisions we rarely examine, and make experiences that once felt distant become deeply human.
To be seen is to be recognized in full, not as a stereotype, a statistic, or a symbol, but as a person with complexity, history, and agency. And literature offers the best way to help us recognize each other more fully.
Memory, Place, and Belonging
Some stories stay with us because they change the way we think about the past, while others stay with us because they change the way we think about home and the present.
The books in the following section explore the invisible threads that connect memory, identity, place, and belonging. They ask questions that are both deeply personal and universally human:
What makes a place feel like home?
How much of ourselves is shaped by what we remember?
Can we ever fully understand another person’s reality?
These stories reminded me that belonging is not always about where we are from. Sometimes it is about what we carry with us.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Klara and the Sun changed the way I think about artificial intelligence. Rather than focusing primarily on technology, Ishiguro uses the perspective of an artificial friend to explore much deeper questions about love, consciousness, loyalty, and what it means to be human. And it was so emotionally surprising.
Klara’s (the artificial friend’s) observations are simple and sincere, yet they reveal the complexity of human emotion. Through her eyes, readers are invited to reconsider whether empathy, devotion, and love require human origins, or whether they are qualities we recognize wherever we seek them.
What stayed with me was the idea that humanity is not defined only by what we create and consume, but by the relationships we form and the ways we care for one another, and how all that transpired from a technically non-human perspective.
Also Read:
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
A charming yet profoundly moving novel following Roz, a robot who must learn to adapt to a harsh wilderness, understand emotions, connection, and what it means to care for others.Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
A thoughtful examination of artificial intelligence, ethics, and human imperfection.The Measure by Nikki Erlick
A speculative story about choice, identity, and how people respond when confronted with uncertainty.
Delirium by Laura Restrepo
Delirium changed the way I think about truth and perspective. Restrepo creates a story where reality is constantly shifting depending on who is telling it, revealing how memory, trauma, family history, and social circumstances influence what we believe.
The novel moves through different voices and timelines, creating a portrait of a family and a country affected by violence and instability. What fascinated me was how the fragmented structure mirrors the fractured nature of human consciousness and understanding.
The book reminded me that truth is not always a single, complete version of events. Sometimes understanding comes from listening to multiple perspectives and recognizing the pieces that each person carries.
Also Read:
Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
A haunting exploration of memory, identity, and the boundaries between life and death.The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
A multigenerational story blending history, politics, memory, and magical realism.The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
A beautifully structured novel about family, memory, and the lasting impact of childhood.
Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi
Parasol Against the Axe changed the way I think about a fictional setting and what it could do. Often, we think of a setting in a novel as a backdrop to its story and characters, but Oyeyemi treats the city setting in this novel as something that is alive, something with its own contradictions, histories, and mysteries.
The novel explores Prague not as a simple location but as a collection of memories, myths, stories, and interpretations. It reminded me that places are shaped by the people who inhabit them, and that people are also shaped by the places they move through.
What stayed with me was the idea that every city contains countless versions of itself depending on who is experiencing and moving through it.
Also Read:
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
A poetic exploration of imagined cities and the relationship between place and perception.Open City by Teju Cole
A reflective journey through a city, memory, migration, and identity.The City & the City by China Miéville
A genre-bending exploration of how perception shapes the worlds we inhabit.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
The Correspondent changed the way I think about letters as a form of storytelling. In an era of immediate communication, letters preserve something increasingly rare: patience, reflection, and the willingness to sit with complicated thoughts before sharing them.
Through correspondence we are able to see not only what characters experience but also what they choose to reveal, what they hold back, and how their relationships evolve through words written across time and distance.
The novel reminded me that writing is an act of connection. A letter is not simply a static piece of mail, it is an offering, and even an invitation in a lot of ways. It asks another person to pause, listen, and enter a moment of shared understanding.
What stayed with me was the power of written communication to capture the parts of us that are sometimes easier to express on the page than verbally.
Also Read:
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
A charming collection of letters that celebrates friendship, books, and the unexpected connections that form through writing.The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A story of resilience, community, and relationships built through correspondence.Possession by A.S. Byatt
A literary mystery that uses letters, journals, and historical documents to explore love, scholarship, and discovery.
Reflection: We Carry Our Stories with Us
These books reminded me that belonging is not simply about geography. It is about memory, relationships, language, and the experiences that shape how we understand ourselves and one another.
We carry places with us long after we leave them. We carry people with us long after they are gone. And we carry versions of ourselves that existed in different seasons of our lives.
Perhaps that is why stories about memory and belonging resonate so deeply. They remind us that identity, and how we understand our place in the world, is not fixed. We are constantly being shaped by what we experience, what we remember, and what (and who) we choose to hold onto.
The stories that move us most often reveal something we already knew but had not yet found the words to express.
Creative Courage
Some of the most memorable stories are memorable because they take a risk. They risk a new structure, a new voice, a new perspective, and sometimes even risk disappointing readers who loved what came before and expect something similar.
Creative courage does not always mean creating something completely unfamiliar. Sometimes it means taking something familiar and looking at it from a different angle. It means trusting curiosity over certainty and allowing a story to become what it needs to become.
The following books changed the way I think about creativity because they reminded me that growth requires a willingness to step beyond what is comfortable.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life made me think differently about what happens when an author steps outside the expectations that come with their success, as she pushed the limits of what she typically includes in her romance novels with this work.
When readers love a writer’s work, they naturally develop expectations. They return for certain rhythms, themes, characters, and emotional experiences. But creative growth often requires a writer to resist the temptation to simply recreate what already worked.
What impressed me about this book was how it navigated new genre territories and involved new levels of risk for Henry. The book differs structurally from her previous works by shifting focus toward women’s fiction, family history, and an old Hollywood dual-timeline mystery rather than centering entirely on the main couple’s romance.
The book reminded me that artistic courage is not only required when beginning but also at every stage of a creative’s life.
Also Read:
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
A story about friendship, creativity, ambition, and the risks involved in making something meaningful.The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
A novel that balances historical tragedy with deeply human storytelling.The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
A thoughtful exploration of memory, family, and an author continuing to evolve.
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
The Favorites changed the way I think about stories built around competition, ambition, and performance. At first glance, a high-stakes world can seem like it is primarily about winning, achievement, or public recognition. Fargo reveals something more complicated instead— that beneath every performance is a person navigating desire, pressure, vulnerability, and the need or yearning to be understood.
What stayed with me was the way it revealed how emotional depth does not have to be sacrificed for a story’s momentum. A story can be propulsive while still exploring the more profound questions underneath it like: Who are we when we are being watched? How much of ourselves do we give away in pursuit of excellence? And what happens when the version of ourselves we perform becomes difficult to separate from who we truly are or want to be, or who we love?
The novel reminded me that the most compelling stories often exist in the space between the public self and the private one, and that they must be as engaging as they are insightful.
Also Read:
The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan
An intense behind-the-scenes look at the bonds and dramatic breakup of an infamous early-2000s girl group.Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A story about excellence, reputation, competition, and the cost of being exceptional.The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
A layered exploration of memory, choices, and the hidden lives people carry.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Although Daisy Jones & The Six is also a story about strong characters and voices (literally), it belongs here because of the creative risk behind its form.
Its interview structure could have created distance between it and its readers, but instead it creates intimacy. By allowing characters to contradict each other, reveal different versions of events, and reinterpret the past through their interviews, TJR transforms the story’s format into a meditation on memory and truth, as well as intimacy.
The novel reminded me that a novel’s form is not just a container for its story, and that the way a story is told can completely change what readers experience.
What stayed with me was the realization that a novel’s structure can become a force that shapes meaning, emotion, and understanding.
Also Read:
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
An oral history led by a music journalist digging into the complicated past of an iconic rock duo.World War Z by Max Brooks
A collection of post-invasion interview transcripts from survivors of a global zombie war.Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
An extensive, tape-recorded interview between a vampire and a young reporter.
Reflection on Creative Risks and Style
Reading these books alongside each other made me think about an important truth worth considering— that creative risk looks different depending on where a writer is in their journey. For a debut author, a risk may entail attempting something no one has seen before. But for an established author, a risk may entail refusing to repeat what made them successful in the first place or trying to change or evolve what they want to write.
Still, for any artist, taking risks usually requires listening closely enough to their own intuition to know when a familiar path is no longer the right one, as the stories that endure are often the ones where the creator followed curiosity instead of comfort.
Final Reflections on the Books that Made Me See Something Differently
When I look back at the books that have stayed with me in recent years, I realize that the stories I remember most are not always the ones with the most surprising plots or the most beautifully constructed sentences, though surprising plots and beautiful prose certainly don’t hurt. Instead, they’re the ones that changed the way I understood something I thought I already knew about others, the world, or the creative process itself.
Some of the books above deepened my empathy by inviting me into lives and experiences different from my own. Others challenged my understanding of history by reminding me that every event contains countless individual stories, many of which have been overlooked or forgotten. Some transformed the way I think about creativity itself, showing me that the most meaningful work often comes from writers who are willing to take risks, be vulnerable, question expectations, and explore unfamiliar territory.
What ultimately connected these stories to me, whether fictional or not, was their ability to expand my perspective. They reminded me that people are more complicated than the roles we tend to assign to them, that places hold memories and perspectives beyond what we can immediately see, and that every person carries a narrative shaped by experiences we may never fully know or realize without stories like this being told.
This is one of the many, many reasons I continue returning to books. Reading allows us to practice curiosity and better understand creativity as we build greater empathy for others. It gives us the opportunity to step outside our own assumptions and consider another person’s fears, hopes, choices, and circumstances. A powerful story does not require us to agree with every character or share every experience they have, but it does ask us to pay much closer attention.
The books that have changed me most as of late, as you can see, are not necessarily full of dense, lyrical prose, and aren’t always fueled by the need to impress committees giving awards. Instead, they are the ones that leave me with better questions about identity, belonging, justice, creativity, and what it means to not only be human but a human who writes and wants to connect with others via writing and storytelling. And they have become part of how I want to see and experience the world.
Most stories can usually entertain us for a few hours, but the right story can subtly reshape the way we notice, understand, and connect with the lives and world around us.
As we continue exploring this month’s theme of creative courage, I think it’s important to take note of those stories that make us see the world in different ways, don’t you?
Next week we’ll be turning toward how and why we should share our creative work, and the role creative courage plays in that. So, stay tuned, and feel free to share your own creative work with us!
I’d love to hear from you!
What is one book that changed the way you see something? What perspective did it give you that you still carry today? Let me know in the comments or chat.
And please don’t forget to like and share this post if you enjoyed it so others can enjoy it too. Thank you!
Want to read with us?
The Egalitarian Book Club is currently reading Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond.
Week 1 (July 1-5 )— Prologue- Chapter 1
Week 2 (July 6-12)— Chapters 2-4
Week 3 (July 13- 19)— Chapters 5-7
Week 4 (July 20-31) — Finish Book
July 31st: Discuss entire book in Substack chat thread
Continue Exploring July’s Creative Courage Theme
This week’s Posts: Taking Creative Risks
Taking Creative Risks: Writing Prompts to Build Creative Courage
Should writers prioritize creative risks or readers’ expectations?
20 Books That Prove Creative Risks Are Worth Taking
Balancing Artistic Vision and Creative Risks with Readers' Expectations
Week 1: Beginning Before You Feel Ready
Beginning Before You Feel Ready: Writing Prompts
Do writers need to feel ready before they begin a new project?
Beginnings and endings are linked in a lot of ways…
Why Beginning Feels So Difficult, But Doesn’t Have to Be
Books That Made Me Want to Write and Take Creative Risks
Consider going more in depth with this month’s theme with July’s Creative Courage Writing Collection.
The writing collection is designed to help you explore creative courage from different angles: discovering your voice, strengthening your craft, experimenting with new approaches, and reflecting on the writer you are becoming.
The free posts that will be published every day this month will explore the outward side of creative courage—beginning, risking, and sharing— and should complement this collection quite well, which invites you to go much deeper into the internal work of creativity with 30 guided writing prompts and craft exercises, reflections, as well as three options for guided monthly writing challenges for those who want to go even further than that.