Some books slip quietly into our lives and stay long after the final page. Others arrive like lightning, changing the way we see love, ambition or ourselves. From Fitzgerald’s gilded decadence to Patti Smith’s raw reflections and Dolly Alderton’s modern confessions, these are the stories that left a mark on us – the ones that shaped who we are.

If you haven’t read any yet, consider this your peer-reviewed TBR list.

Cassandra Dimitroff

Features and Production Editor

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith. (Maybe it’s the contrarian in me wanting to not say Just Kids, which I also adore, but this book was like a cup of hot tea on a cold day. Restorative. Hopeful. Melancholic.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (My awakening into my love of writing, world-building and storytelling with depth. The perfect novel and still my favourite of all time). The Power of Now by Ekchard Tolle (The only self help book that fundamentally changed my brain chemistry.) Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton (A memoir that consoled a broken heart better than anything, and a testament to the forms of love we overlook in pursuit of romance). Honourable mentions go to: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (don’t let the mediocre movie dissuade you), Insomniac City by Bill Hayes (will make you fall in love with life again), and Kitchen Confidential (vale Anthony Bourdain).

Alys Hale

Music Editor and Creative Producer

This is possibly one of the hardest lists one could be asked to curate. I’m going to take it as a given that the works of Shakespeare, Austen and both Shelleys changed everyone’s life, so I'm omitting them from my list. Anyone who knows me, knows at least one Virginia Woolf novel has got to be in there, and for me it is The Waves, with Between The Acts being a very close second. It’s expected that any Literature graduate would go for Ulyssees, and masterpiece though it is, I am going to put in a novel by Joyce’s pal, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood. It’s just incomparable.

I love short stories as a way to break into the writing styles of authors, particularly male ones for some reason, so I must put in some J.D. Salinger, For Esme - With Love and Squalor. It is at this point Raymond Carver deserves an honourable mention, particularly What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. In terms of poetry, Dave Berman’s Actual Air is the key for lifting me out of a creative lull. I’ve also cited Mina Loy’s The Lost Lunar Baedeker as one of the best poetry collections, but again, honourable mentions to Margret Atwood and Anne Sexton for life changing poetry. Miranda July’s art, films, short stories and novels have changed my life since my early 20s, so naturally, I was deeply and powerfully moved by All Fours, I don’t know a single woman who wasn’t.

Jaime Carmody

Digital Marketing Specialist

Every so often I find myself reading books I didn’t know I was ready for, each one a different lens on how to live and feel in the world. The Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy found me in a season of stillness. Her essays on art, womanhood and attention reminded me that the act of noticing can be its own form of creation. Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson hit like a wake-up call. Suddenly every confusing interaction, every clash of personalities, had a language I could understand. Good Material by Dolly Alderton landed messy and hilarious, heartbreak in full view and was a good reminder that getting over someone rarely looks like a neat story. Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham is an essay collection on ambition, fear, growing up and owning your flaws. All I Ever Wanted Was to Be Hot by Lucinda Price interrogates the cultural obsession with beauty and body image, asking what it really means to feel “enough”.

Sophia Serafin

Implementation Manager

I’m always choosing a new book based on my mood or emotional craving. You’ll find me trawling recommendations on Goodreads or scrolling through old screenshots in my camera roll to find the perfect fit. But there are a few (seven, to be exact) that I hold as pillars - the ones that helped me understand what I actually enjoy, even as I stay open to newness.

Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes was my gateway into sharp, witty writing that’s full of absurdity, and most importantly, fashion references. Julia Fox’s Down the Drain reminded me that rawness and reinvention are their own kind of art (listen to the AudioBook for the ultimate experience). Similarly, Patti Smith’s Just Kids made me ache for that kind of all-consuming creative devotion - and for unconventional forms of friendship and love. All Fours by Miranda July and Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan both awoke me to the ways desire, hunger and control can blur - they answered questions about womanhood I’d always been searching for. My Year of Rest and Relaxation felt like reading a quiet rebellion; Ottessa Moshfegh’s reminded me that sometimes you need to disappear to come back sharper. And Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin ties it all together - a story that made me treasure how important it is to build a world with people who truly see and challenge you.

Kirsty Thatcher

Digital Editor

I was trawling through my book shelf for this piece, and realised the best books I’ve ever read are all fairly intense. But I think they all represent very pivotal times in my life. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is one I think of often – it perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be in your mid-20s, and feel like there are a million potential avenues your life could take. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason is one of the most heartbreaking books I’ve ever read, but also manages to be unbelievably funny. A rare balance to strike. Similarly, Heartsick by Jessie Stephens is SO sad. Take it from me, read it after a breakup with caution. And lastly, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. I remember staying up all night to finish it the first time I read it.

Mia Steiber

Digital Strategy Director & Associate Publisher

The books that changed my life are interestingly far divorced from my favourite books. Harry Potter has to be in there. As a kid who grew up with two ESL parents, my English literacy and desire to read was lacking and below my peers. But discovering the Harry Potter books when I was 10 changed all that. The first time I read Candy by Luke Davies was during a very formative period in my life, and while it’s not strictly a morality tale, it certainly served as one when I read it. The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape was the first book I read that truly drilled in the importance of starting early when investing. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter showed me that genre-heavy books can still be meaningful and have an impact. And Bob Woodward’s book on the first term of Trump’s presidency, Fear truly opened my eyes to the house of cards we’re currently living in.

Samantha Corry

Social Media Coordinator and Assistant to Editor In Chief

I have to preface this by saying that Cass and I are quite alike. The first book that made me fall in love with writing and storytelling was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I used to despise writing and reading growing up, after finding it challenging with my dyslexia, but something in the symbolism and metaphors, and the creative ways you could tell a story in this book unlocked a new love for it. Clarice Lispector’s Agua Viva – there is a theme to the books I like – as this book is a meditation on life and time and Lispector trying to catch the present in written word with every page she writes. It's very poetic the way she turns the individual experience into a collective one. Another was The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, a family memoir on the Ephrussi family that broadened my love for history and the multiple ways a story can be told through one book. And the book that made me cry for the first time was Morris Gleitzman’s series of Once, Then and After. These books speak for themselves.

Stacey Gaskin

Consumer Revenue Manager

The books that shaped me at different points in my life are: Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng, the first book that truly unlocked reading for me when I was young and made it feel exciting rather than hard; Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, the schoolyard phenomenon I dismissed for a year before giving in and becoming completely wrapped up in that visceral teenage love triangle; My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell, a book I tore through in lockdown because I couldn’t look away from how uncomfortable and thought-provoking it was; The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, a story that changed me and still sits in the back of my mind whenever I think about choice or regret; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, a reader's rite of passage that stayed with me for its messiness and love; and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy, an absolute essential that everyone should read more than once.