6 Well-Read Women Share the One Book that Changed Their Life

The beauty of books is that they open our world in wonderful, new ways. And even though ‘changing one’s life’ is a fairly grandiose claim, books, in their capacities, do have an impact that can be life-changing. We ask some of our favourite women about the tomes that they have loved and lived...that have allowed them to explore unknown realms and know themselves better. 

Shenaz Treasury, Content Creator

“A recent book that has had an impact on me is Attached: The New Science Of Adult Attachment And How It Can Help You Find And Keep Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller. It explores different attachment styles people exhibit, ranging from anxious, avoidant, to secure. After reading it, I felt like a curtain was drawn and I suddenly understood my relationships with a clarity I never had before. The book helped me evaluate my past relationships, look at new ones with a more forgiving, empathetic eye, and check my own reactions to others. I can gauge when I am being avoidant and sabotaging a relationship, or recognise when someone is anxious instead of labelling them as needy. This book is timeless as it gives an insight into one of the most essential aspects of human life—relationships and love. A quote I love from it is: ‘Attachment principles teach us that most people are only as needy as their unmet needs.’ Although I find myself reading books about self-improvement now, growing up, Enid Blyton’s books had a huge influence on me. The Enchanted Wood changed my life such, that till date, I look at trees as people with feelings and forests as vibrant, living spaces with so much magic.” 

Attached: The New Science Of Adult Attachment And How It Can Help You Find And Keep Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller, amazon.in, Rs.1,275

 

 

Shyma Shetty - Co-Founder, HUEMN

“I haven’t encountered any ‘life-changing’ book yet, but the one I enjoyed a lot, very early in my career, was Damn Good Advice by George Lois. He’s someone who has turned his art into a commercial success and this book lays it out, in 120 succinct lessons, anecdotes, and ways to navigate a professional journey as a creative person. One of the quotes that stuck with me from this book is: ‘Why just be a creative thinker, when you can be a cultural provocateur?’ My takeaway from this was that as a creative entity with an audience, we would end up doing great injustice if we don’t use our work as a means of communicating ideas that outlive seasons. This directly relates to our work at HUEMN, which is meant to be discovered over and over through years of wear, making our products an outlet for an idea whose time has arrived. Overall, I am a voracious reader. I enjoy fiction that can make me dream, non-fiction with ideas on society and thought experiments, and lately, even cultural histories to learn beyond the tightly curated viewpoint we were taught in school.”

Damn Good Advice by George Lois, amazon.in, Rs. 595

 

 

Pallavi Singh - Creative Director, Verb 

“I read The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank when I was 15, the same age as she died. Set in Nazi Germany, the book to me was all about Anne’s courage. I found myself role-playing, imagining myself to be her. I have read this book multiple times and what continues to resonate with me is the appreciation of the little things even in the face of adversity. Anne taught me that letting go and moving brings with it a novel space for new things to be explored. And although one comes to learn this as they grow older, having formalised these ideas early on helped me cherish life a lot more. As a child, I never really noticed the particularities that Anne Frank’s Diary held, as I didn’t have that kind of life experience to fully sympathise with the characters. But each time that I re-read it, I realised that I had changed and so had my perspectives and experiences, so I took back so much more. My favourite quote from the book is: ‘I have one outstanding character trait that must be obvious to anyone who has known me for any length of time: I have a great deal of self-knowledge. In everything I do, I can watch myself as if I were a stranger.’ Another book that has had a significant impact on me is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.”

The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank, amazon.in, Rs. 199

 

Nishat Fatima, Author and Photographer

“The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron has been one of the most important books for me. It is possibly what you might call a self-help, ‘process’ book for creative professionals, or anybody who would like to be creative at any point in their lives. A book with exercises such as Morning Pages, which require one to write in a notebook first thing after waking up and with Artist’s Dates logged in, prod one to simply take time out to go have fun. The Artist’s Way has allowed me to be kinder to myself in all aspects of life. The morning meditations helped me see my thoughts (and quite frankly, how boring most of them were!) better, and the Artist’s Dates helped me figure out what avenues I consider enjoyable. This is a kind of book that will help one know themselves better, irrespective of when they decide to read it. Barring this, I am mainly a fiction reader. Some of the books that have impacted me over the years are The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton, The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer, The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav, and The  Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald.”

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, amazon.in, Rs. 799

 

Kaneez Surka, Comedian

“The book that’s probably had the biggest impact on me is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It is a children’s book about the relationship between a man and a tree and how in the course of the man’s life, from his childhood to his old age, the tree continues to provide for him in all ways possible. When I first read it in my 20s, it taught me about unconditional love, a kind of love that never demands and only gives. But reading it at a later time, I saw the same relationship as toxic and unappreciative. These changes in my perspective are what make me love this book so much, it’s like a great mirror of my understanding of my own relationships at different stages in life. For some reason, the book has always served as a safe space for me—somewhere I can go to simply be and feel my feelings better. My favourite quote from the book is: ‘And she loved a boy very, very much—even more than she loved herself’. On some days, I’m moved, on others I’m angry, that she didn’t put herself first. Sometimes, I’m sad that she loved a relationship more than she loved herself, and other times I think that perhaps, we do need to love others more.”

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, amazon.in, Rs. 499

 

Kiran Shiv Nadar, Art Collector

“Two, very different books have influenced me greatly in life. The first is The Discovery Of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, which he wrote during his time at the Ahmednagar jail. With his knowledge of the Upanishads and the Vedas, Nehru goes through all the philosophical trends of India, analysing the socio-cultural and political scenarios of different times, under different conquerors. This book had a huge influence in making me realise and believe in the importance of India and its rich legacy. I am a patriot (I still get tears in my eyes when I hear the national anthem play!) and somewhere, this book and learning about the leaders of the Quit India Movement, have played a role in concretising that love for my country.  
     The second is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. At 14, I read this 753-page book cover-to-cover in less than 40 hours. Although philosophical, at its core it is a love story. It follows Howard Roark, the quasi-hero, as he fights for his individual values, unwilling to bend to the rules of any establishment. I read it at an age at which literature could influence you in the way that it made you see the value of having your own mind about things, about carving a path that was just yours, and inspire you to be strong enough to prevail.”

The Discovery Of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, amazon.in, Rs. 699