10 Books That Made Me + The “Five Questions” Tag

I first spotted this tag on YouTube (probably at CriminOlly), and thought I would also give it a shot. The goal is to list 10 books that influenced or shaped you the most as a reader. The books listed below awakened my curiosity about literature, introduced me to its true power, and also shaped my literary taste (something that cannot be taught, but can only be acquired, right?) I do not think I will ever outgrow my existentialism reading phase that I started as a teenager, and I will also not list books that influenced me in my childhood as I had already done a similar list – see here, where I included such authors as Jules Verne, Jack London, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Alexandre Dumas, Gianni Rodari, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Below is also the “five questions” tag, which is a variation of questions found in the Pianist magazine.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens 🏠
The Cave by José Saramago 🦇
The Stranger by Albert Camus 🏖️
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 🪖
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 🚆


Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 🏚️
Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo ⛪
The Trial by Franz Kafka ⚖️
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James 🪞
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen 💌

If you could read only one book from now on, what would it be?

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. I have to choose something big with an exciting inner journey, and it also has to be philosophical so I won’t get tired, so Mann’s masterpiece is an obvious choice for me. I am sure I will keep discovering new things in it after each reading.

If you could read only the books of one author from now on, who would it be?

Thomas Hardy. His novels have everything: drama, engaging plot, vivid characters, thought-provoking social commentary, and beautiful writing. I will never tire of them.

Things you want to see more in contemporary fiction.

Sentences as though written by Dickens, Hardy, Wharton, or Nabokov. My wishful (pretentious) thinking. If seriously, just less formulaic storylines, more characters with depth, and more stories with substance. In other words, I want to see less “vibes” and more depth and meaning.

Things you want to see more in modern non-fiction.

More rigour and insight in non-fiction and less aimless, personal musings about the authors themselves or their lives (unless it is a memoir). Also, I want to see fewer pop culture references or other irrelevant information in science non-fiction. I guess I want to see more knowledge and insight shared. I think non-fiction authors should have more faith in their readers, their intelligence and attention spans.

An author you are not quite ready for?

William Gaddis.

What are the 10 books that made you? And/or, how would you answer the five questions above? I tag everyone who is reading this post and is interested in doing this tag. The feature image is a painting by Winslow Homer titled The New Novel [1877].

19 thoughts on “10 Books That Made Me + The “Five Questions” Tag”

  3. Nice! This is a tough question, plus I think most of the titles I would choose are not even available in English.
    I want to revisit The Magic Mountain, and I just saw yesterday that a French woman has done an audio recording of it recently, and it sounds well done – on an equivalent to Librivox

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  4. I think Hardy writes beautifully descriptive prose! After having read a couple of his novels and loved them, a friend and I decided to go back to the beginning and work our way through his novels chronologically. Hardy knows how to craft a story! Although, I will say that I was underwhelmed by Under the Greenwood Tree. But I’ve really enjoyed every other book I’ve read by him so far!

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    1. Thanks and for the link! Yes, Mann was a no-brainer for me. I surprised even myself. I guess I was trying to land on an author who is capable of capturing the unsaid, the spiritual/emotional life within. I could re-read something like this endlessly. I love that we instinctively recognise truth in his novels, and in a way his stories become symbolic reflections of the human condition/life itself. I see your last review was Confessions of Felix Krull. I would love to read it this year.

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  7. What a great book list!
    I thought about the question of just one book—and realized I couldn’t give up the others. I also couldn’t give up Dino Buzzati’s “The Tartar Hermitage,” Philip Roth’s “American Pastoral,” John Coetzee’s “Waiting for the Barbarians,” and so on and so forth.
    Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reflect on this and remember the special works that had a key influence on me.

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  8. Loved this post! I have never thought of which books “made me” but it is an interesting exercise! Though I think I’d have to read again a lot of books that I read when I was too young to understand them really. I share your thoughts on modern non-fiction! I read a lot less of these books now because I got a bit tired of reading the authors’ personal musings on topics that didn’t really require them…

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