{"id":10808,"date":"2019-03-06T09:47:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T14:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hilbertthm90.wordpress.com\/?p=10808"},"modified":"2020-09-18T12:33:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T17:33:00","slug":"4-contemporary-fiction-books-that-actually-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amindformadness.com\/2019\/03\/4-contemporary-fiction-books-that-actually-changed-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Contemporary Fiction Books That Changed My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Since I’ve been doing my “Year of Required Reading,” I’ve been thinking a lot about contemporary fiction novels that changed my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also blog on books and do literary criticism, so I often get the question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Needless to say, this is going to depend greatly from person to person. Even if you told me you like the postmodernist fiction from the ’70s and ’80s, that’s not going to narrow down recommendations much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, I want to talk about some of the books that actually changed my life. If you search for this topic, you’re going to get some pretty cliche things. A bunch of bestselling nonfiction makes the lists, like How to Win Friends and Influence People<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eh. Did that book really change your life, or you just feel like you need to say that it did because everyone says that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you try to pin down fiction, it gets even worse. People list the “bragging” books like War and Peace<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sorry for being a cynic, but that book probably wasn’t that meaningful to you. You just want to show off that you read it. And maybe these books did change these people’s lives. Everyone will be different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I began this post not knowing how many books I’d include. If there was only one work of fiction, then it would be a post on that. If it was seven, I’d list seven. I didn’t want to force a number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m using the term “contemporary fiction” to mean anything written while I’ve been alive (since 1986) and also to include YA. I know this is a bit broader than how the term is normally used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n