Everyone has a book that changed them profoundly – even the people who write those books. The folks over at Vulture asked 28 authors which books changed their lives the most. Check out their picks below!
The poll yielded a very diverse list. Vulture talked to everyone from memoirist and social critic Margo Jefferson to shock-lit master Chuck Palahniuk, and the answers given range from naturalist memoirs to novels about Southern minor league baseball teams. Check out a few selections from the list below, and then head over to Vulture to see the complete article.
Tanwi Nandini Islam, author of Bright Lines:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley
Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland:
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City:
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings:
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin:
The Dixie Association by Donald Hays
Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club:
The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing by Mark McGurl
Featured image courtesy of Vulture