The Why and What of Reading

Personal Transformation?

An article in Psychology Today sites the work of Maja Djikic, an associate professor at the University of Toronto. She studies the psychology of fiction as part of her work on personality development. Djikic tells us that reading fiction is good for us. Indeed, it is transformative. She explains that the mechanism of transformation operates when we exit our self-narratives and simulate the mental states of others in novels.

Knowing that reading is good for us, the question becomes what to read. For many there are tall TBR stacks by their bed. But for those without a to-be-read pile, this story will help.

As a gift, my daughter gave me a book called, The Ultimate Reading Challenge. Its subtitle says, “complete a goal, open an envelope, and reveal your bookish prize.” It contains twenty-five book-related challenges and gifts. For instance, one of the twenty-five envelopes says, “Read a book that’s been sitting on your shelf, unread, for more than a year.” Opening up that envelope, there is a little journal inside. It says, “Reading Notes” on the cover and has fourteen pages, 3.5” X 2” in size. Cute, right?

So ok! I’ve been playing this game all year, and have a bunch of books I can recommend because of it. Here are five more challenges plus the books and prizes they led me to. Of course, I will also tell you about the book in case you are looking for some personal transformation as well.

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Challenge: Read a novella (a short novel, typically under 200 pages)

Book title: A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

My prize: A bookmark that says, “There are a lot of books in here.”

About the book: The novel opens with five people sitting before a devil-like character and learning immediately that unless they had followed the correct religion – Zoroastrianism – they are condemned to hell. Individualized hells are given to each person and the reader goes off to a library-like hell with one of them.

Trust me, lots of religious concepts go under the microscope and get skewered in this very hellish hell.

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Challenge: Read a book by an author whose ethnicity is different from your own.

Book title: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

My prize: Four book plate stickers that say: “This book belongs to:”

About the book: Dana is a Black woman living with her white husband in California in 1976. As they are unpacking boxes in a new home, an episode of dizziness overcomes her and somehow transports her to Maryland in 1819. Her first action there is to save a drowning white child, Rufus. He is the son of Tom Weylin, a plantation owner and the owner of many slaves.

As she interacts with the Weylins through the years – and saves Rufus many times – she earns special status as a black woman. But she is still a slave, which is hard to handle for anyone, but particularly a woman with a modern mindset.

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Challenge: Read a book in a genre you’ve never read before:

Book title: One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

My prize: Another book mark, this one with a cup of tea on it, appropriate because I found a new genre that really is my cup of tea.

About the book: A young woman and her mom plan to travel to Italy. When the mom dies, the daughter goes alone and magically meets the young version of her mom there.

This genre is called Magical Realism. I enjoyed it so much that I read two other books by Rebecca Serle. In an interview she is asked when the magic stops in her books. She said it stops immediately. In this novel, the mom is suddenly thirty and from there everything proceeds as if that is the case, no explanation given.

I liked this book immensely because I would love to see my mom again – at any age.

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Challenge: Read a graphic novel

Book title: The New York Trilogy – The Graphic Adaptation by Paul Karasik, Lorenzo Mattotti, and David Mazzucchelli

My prize: a pad of post-it notes that say, Books > Everything Else

About the book: The New York Trilogy is perhaps Paul Auster’s most famous book. Its first part was adapted to graphic format in 1994 – long before graphic novels were common – and the rest was completed in 2025.

I am a big fan of the late Paul Auster. I have read most of his books. The New York Trilogy is an early work of his and it sets the tone for all that comes after it. I love it even though it tends to break my brain when I read it. Quotes like this explain what I mean: “Blue, a student of Brown, has been hired by White to spy on Black. From a window of a rented room on Orange Street, Blue keeps watch on his subject, who is across the street, staring out of his window.”

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Challenge: Participate in a book club, in person or virtually

Book title: Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn

My prize: An adorable note pad that looks like the insert in an old-time library pocket. It shows the Author, title, date due, and borrowers name.

About the book: This book is about the Lebensborn Program, which existed in Germany for ten years starting in 1935. The word itself means the fountain of life, and the goal of the program was to increase the birthrate in Germany.

There were twenty-six Lebensborn homes – baby mills – across eight countries in Europe. It’s a part of history I had never heard of, but that everyone needs to hear about. So I helped spread the word by bringing this book to my book club for discussion.

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Through these five books alone I have tried on many different mindsets and agree with the Psychology Today article when it calls reading a masterclass in the human experience that can transform our lives.

Here’s to personal growth through reading!

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This book on reading challenges did not give me the option of writing a book myself, but that is exactly what I have done. I hope you will check out my new book, Chai on Life. “Chai” is a mystical word in Hebrew. It is pronounced “high” making this book High on Life with a Jewish slant. It is available wherever books are sold including Amazon.