A book you'd give someone hoping to let them see the world the way you see it, in all its exquisite (or horrific, if you'd rather that) detail! You can feel free to pick more than one!
For me:
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
“Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance.”
Its not that I blame my parents for bringing me into the world, since they are among the sweetest/most considerate people you'll ever meet, and did EVERYTHING within their power to give me a good life. I view the creature's plight from a wider lens than just a child who has been wronged by a parent. I think about the mythical and religious origins of the book found in Milton's Paradise Lost, which seeks to justify all our suffering and woe at the hands of a supposedly benevolent creator, while (like Frankenstein) actually making the demonic monster of the tale more interesting and sympathetic than the being that birthed him. I'm not even religious, but I can be open-minded to certain metaphysical thoughts while studying philosophy, and I have to ask what kind of cosmos/god would allow such massive suffering? To allow its creations to flounder and struggle so aimlessly. And to what end? Life doesn't have to be defined by only suffering of course and I still find meaning and amusement as much as I can, but as someone who just ALSO is empathetic to the mass suffering of others, i will never be able to get that eternal "why?" out of my head
by jesster_0
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Jane Eyre
Anil’s Ghost or The English Patient. I read Ondaatje’s books, and it feels like he looked into my soul and wrote a book just for me.