2nd – 4th Grades Instead of reading 39,483,209 Sweet Valley Twins books, in which everything generally turns out sunny in the end, and which always made me feel like crap because my life was pretty stormy—I would hand my bespectacled little self the complete Series of Unfortunate Events. Things frequently suck for the Baudelaire children, and it would’ve been good for me to see how they got themselves out of catastrophes. And I know I would’ve appreciated the snarky humor and had ample opportunities to use my parents’ fat dictionary and complete set of Super Nice Encyclopedias to get all of the references. 7th Grade 9th Grade I read Wuthering Heights for the first time when I was 14, and I wildly misinterpreted it. I still love the, but not for the same reasons. Thankfully, I was too shy to love my love interest at the time, who gave me the book I KNOW I KNOW, in the way that Catherine and Heathcliff “loved” each other. This is the age at which I would have super-identified with Bella Swan from Twilight, but I didn’t need any of that noise in my life either. Instead of either of these books, I wish I could give freshman me the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde because Jane Eyre for life, and also because I would’ve had a substantial number of references to figure out, just like with the Snicket books. Those would have led me to so many other amazing reads that weren’t about obsessive love. 10th Grade Age 24 This is my Lost Year. I accepted that I wasn’t going on to get a Ph.D., mainly because I couldn’t bring myself to apply. I lost my roommate in a highly dramatic and painful fashion because she was also a very good friend. I had no job lined up for the fall semester. I had major surgery. All of that (and more!) would have still sucked, but Tiny Beautiful Things would probably have made it seem more manageable, would have illuminated the good.
That’s it for me. Now, I read what I want when I want, and my life is cool and awesome most of the time, so I don’t always need the perfect book to make it all okay. Occasionally, I get in a rut, so I explore a new genre or author. I go back to the classics or (most recently) dive into comics. If you could go back in time and give a book to yourself in a time of need, what book would it be?
