5 Written Media Works That Shaped Me
Introduction
A big part of my life, since as early as I could read, was books. Starting in early college, this expanded from just books to become a real appreciation for other written media as well, including most notably manga and comics. Over the years, I've had periods where I read less and periods where I read more, but written media consumption has always been a part of my life. Written media has been a way for me to feel heard, a way for me to learn about the world and myself, and a way for me to connect with people and communities. So, below, I'd like to make a list of what I'd say are, at the time of writing, the 5 most impactful written media works that I've had the pleasure of reading and experiencing.
The Story of B - Daniel Quinn
It's not often you read something you're so intently following that you find yourself nodding your head and breathing sighs of defeated agreement with the way the book portrays the world. For me, that was The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. Reading this was almost a cathartic experience; it felt like reading it described the world in a way I had known for so long, but I had never heard someone explain it in such an elegant way. This book is comfort to me; it reminds me of what's important, what's not, and acts as an almost religious text in its wide-sweeping knowledge and understanding of the human existence.
No Longer Human - Junji Ito
I think a really rare thing in life is to feel fully heard by someone. Everyone has such enourmously different experiences in life; that's one of the greatest things about it. Hearing about what other people like and how they differ from yourself is a lot of what life is about. That being said, at least for me, this has caused me a lot of loneliness, especially when it comes to mental health struggles I've had. Dealing with depression looks different for every person affected, but for me, reading this horror phenomenon's manga adaption of the classic Osamu Dazai novel of the same name was the first time I ever felt like someone really understood my feelings of depression in a raw way. Its darkness is captured in a way I've never quite seen replicated, and while the story itself is tragic, I got the rare, fleeting feeling of being understood when I read it.
Paper Girls - Brian K. Vaughan
30 issues, 6 arcs, and a great art style. Something I always say to friends is I never want child actors in movies and TV shows I care about. Not only do I just think they never act quite up to par with everyone else, but it's also hard for me to relate to someone so young, even in a retrospective sense. This series completely turned that belief on its head. Paper Girls is a nostalgia trip, but moreso, it tackles the complexity of growing older, and not in the sexy, successful way media often tries to portray in an effort to feed our deeply internalized-capitalism brain-rotted minds into thinking everything we do must be to the point of "bettering ourselves", whatever the Hell that means. BUT I digress. This was also one that I read in a very vulnerable time in my life, as well as one I read with my mom, so it holds a special place for that reason as well. In my opinion, this is the pinnacle of Brian K. Vaughan's work, a man who is, without a doubt, the most sucessful author in all of modern comics.
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Purpose is one of the most difficult "buzzwords" I've grappled with in my life. I'm not necessarily proud of it, but fear of regret drives and has driven a lot of my decisions. And to me, that's the crux of The Sirens of Titan. We're taught to build up to stuff in life: go to school to set up for a job, go on dates to set up for a marriage. This was a book that questioned and put many of these thought patterns into perspective. Another thing this book does well is explores people thinking differently. Especially now, where most people live in echo chambers within deeply niche microcultures (thank you social media algorithms), showing the value and freedom you gain breaking out of this was a powerful and important message to me.
Ice Cream Man (Issues 32 and 38) - W. Maxwell Prince
Ice Cream Man (2018) by W. Maxwell Prince is my favorite comic series of all time. It's an anthology, so each issue is made of completely different characters, settings, etc. The one constant? They're all made by one of the most brilliant people in comics. People sometimes label this as a "horror" series, but I find that incredibly naive. This series is horrifying because it puts you in situations and relationships that you don't want to be in, but likely have been in or will find yourself in. The amount of understanding Prince clearly has with all of these topics is nothing short of incredible. I don't know if he has first hand accounts of all this stuff (drug addiction, abortions, racism, you name it) but he certainly portrays it in a way where it feels personal. Issue 32 is my favorite issue. It displays the process of a man coping with addiction who is admitted to residential treatment, something that I've had to go through. I even emailed him, thanking him for his realer than real depiction of it, and I got to learn about his history with it a bit. I've never seen a better depiction of treatment, and it validated me. 38 is about daring to believe there is more to life, and it's something I go back and read often as a motivating example of how I want to live my life.
Honorable Mentions
- A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (1962) (The book not the movie)
- Saga - Brian K. Vaughan (2012) (Comic book series)
- Heir to the Empire Trilogy - Timothy Zahn (1991) (Book trilogy)
Last Updated: 11/01/2024