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I'd never been an avid reader. I don't read out of joy; I read out of necessity. I have always found it very hard to follow and return to it. I have started books but never finished them. They seem interesting and full of knowledge, but my brain drifts into other places that are not the story. I have to read multiple books multiple times throughout my life, but have i have never been able to get into them. This has led me to be a slow reader and not have any incentive to read any piece. But I do have a book that I have loved for years, a book that started a journey into another form of entertainment that inspired an amazing series, and that book's name is Metro 2033. When I started my dive into this series i would never have loved and would come to love as much as I did. I also didn't think the book could represent me as much as it has in some ways. The protagonist of the book, "Artyom," has to embark on a journey through a train station in Moscow after a nuclear war ravaged the home he hid underground from radiation and mutants, but the book is about understanding your enemy and knowing how miscommunication can lead to

disaster. When I was young, my family was forced to leave Venezuela and move to the United States. This was a massive change; my friend was gone, and most of the people I held dear were left as an afterthought. When I came, I barely spoke English and was forced to learn my way around on my own. Just like him i was shoved into a new world, a world that isn't forgiving if you aren't prepared. I struggled with my classes and never made any real friends during that time. But from that time i have learned to live here to make friends and live a good life.

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My life as a book: Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix 

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My life as a book: Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix 

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In this book, harry potter starts to fight different kinds of battles that he was earlier in his life. He’s transitioning from being the boy who was being protected from the “real world” by Dumbledore and other wizards to now being thrown into the fire. He wasn’t just a wizarding prospect anymore, he now has more responsibility and is being shown how the real world works. This applies to me because as I start carving out my career, i am being treated as an adult more and more, and sooner or later will start making money and have more responsibility around the house. In addition, harry goes through internal conflicts during this book, such as dealing with then expectation as the “chosen one” , being a leader for his friends, and starts becoming more curious about things, leading to frustration. This also applies to me because I’m also going through things such as fulfilling my expectations in school and at home, like getting good grades and helping my mom and dad. And im also more curios to find the questions to everything, and as i keep on developing myself into the person i want to be, i have my frustrations here and there when things go wrong.

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My Life as a Book 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson

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My Life as a Book 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson

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I identify heavily with this book as growing up I was always interested in Psychology and how to live a better life. Of course this book doesn't solve all your problems, but to me it gave me guidelines in which to live life. I am glad I read it and took it all in as its allowed me to deal with problems life brings while still always maintaining a clear mind. This book taught me that as hard as things may get the sun always rises and everyday is a new day. These 12 rules will not change your life, but they push you in the direction to have order in the chaos that life brings.

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I'm not an avid reader so I honestly can't compare any literature I've read to my life as a whole, but when I think about the things my life in this country, some pieces of literature that come to mind are the famous Orwell novels like 1984 and Animal Farm.

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I am not too sure on what piece of literature would resonate with me but if I had to pick one I would say Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. This book resonates with my own life and whatever inner conflicts I have had. In this book, the protagonist feels torn between his desire to be great and important, and his sense of being trapped in a life that feels meaningless, watching the world moving around him and leaving him behind. I feel like the message of this book deeply relates as I often find myself in the same position, like a piece of seaweed floating in water, with the only thing moving me being water currents or waves, struggling to find the motivation to move on my own. Like the protagonist I know I am capable of doing more, yet I still find myself drifting.

"I am a part of that empty existence that stretches its shadow over everything, yet I long to break free and live more fully." (Hesse, 1990). This really resonates with me because I often feel like I am watching my life instead of living it. Like the protagonist, I want to find meaning.

This book has been important to me and can be important to others even if they don't resonate with it, it shows how that even when people feel unmotivated or paralyzed, we are simply in a part of our lives that need reflection before we can do those greater things. I feel like many can relate to wanting to achieve but still feeling stuck.

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Honestly I do not have a book which particularly resonates with myself and life. However, after the start of the full scale hostilities in my country, I began to take a deeper interest in politics. I started asking questions about how the state apparatus works, the economy, and how politicians manage all of this. The most basic book that I read was The Prince by Machiavelli. The book itself is a revelation of all leaders and politicians. Although many modern people do not agree with Machiavelli’s rhetoric, I fully support his ideas and his view of the world through the eyes of a realist. At the beginning of the war, people, of course, on a wave of patriotism, began to resist and help with enthusiasm, but still the authorities acted, act, and will act in their own interests rather than in the interests of the people. Therefore, when I heard the description of Machiavelli’s book, I became interested in how they continue to hold on to power. Most of the correlations I saw were with the government of Russia rather than Ukraine, although some events were very similar to what was described in the book.

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A book that has resonated with me was actually a book that I have read fairly recently called Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. The main idea of this book is a memoir of geobiologist Hope Jahren as she describes her life growing up in rural Minnesota, her growing interest in botany, obtaining her degree at the university of Minnesota, building her first lab at Georgia State before accepting a job at John Hopkins after running out of funding and eventually opening her own laboratory with her longtime lab partner and friend, Bill at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. She also shares the struggles she had to endure during her path such as her own mental health, sexism in the scientific field and the oversaturation of scientists in the field. I always liked how she relates her life as a botanical metaphor using the structures of trees to name the chapters of her life. She names her chapters "Roots and Leaves", "Wood and Knots" and "Fruits and Flowers". I like the use of botanical terminology as a metaphor of her life as I'm also a big fan of botany in my free time. I like to think of my childhood as the roots of my life as I still hold the memories close to me like how roots hold down a tree. I'm currently in the "Wood and Knots" chapter of my life as the struggles or "knots" in my academic career have definitely been hard towards me just like how wood can be hard on a tree. The final chapter "Fruits and Flowers" can describe my future in which the struggles and issues I have faced while in college and eventually medical school will pay off in the end when I hopefully obtain a successful career in the medical field. There are some aspects that I could never relate to in this book such as sexism in the scientific field but her other struggles such as her mental health and the oversaturation of scientists in research fields are problems that I have experienced before firsthand and can definitely relate to. I recommend this book to be read by anybody that is currently in a STEM field or even just in college because even if you don't have an interest in botany, this book contains many stories of personal struggles the author has been through that could mirror the life of many university students.

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I've read countless books in the past, but I slacked off big time and haven't read in years. I cannot tell you an exact reason for why I stopped reading, but it probably has to do with my phone and not putting my phone down and actually reading. I finally picked up a book, Reclaim! by Matthew Kelly. It's a book about reclaiming the areas of our lives that have been disregarded or lost. My friend read it and told me I had to read it, and she would gladly lend it to me so I wouldn't have to buy it. Well, I've been reading it every night before I go to sleep, and it's genuinely changed the way I go about my life. At the end of each chapter is the same phrase: "The life that wants to live in you is different than the life you are living." And it's true. Sometimes we say we have certain priorities, but our actions say otherwise. The book has made me think about my priorities in life, and I've made some adjustments. I definitely recommend reading the book.

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A piece of literature I resonate with is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It is my favorite book, and I especially connect with its exploration of identity and self-perception. The book illustrates how a person's sense of self can be shaped by fear and past experiences, even when those experiences are difficult to understand. Jude's (the main character) identity, in particular, is deeply influenced by an internalized fear that follows him throughout his lifetime. This idea can be captured in the quote, "What he knew was that you didn't have to understand something to be afraid of it." This quote illustrates that self-perception is often not built on clarity, but unresolved emotions and experiences. This theme is deeply impactful to me, and it is a major reason why the book has stayed with me and why it remains one of my favorites.

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I am originally from Broward, and as a child my mother would take my siblings and I to various public libraries for activities. My favorite was the Alvin Sherman Library located at NSU and even as I grew older, I continued to go there for study groups or personal reading. When I was in high school studying for my SATs, I took a break and began to explore the shelves when a small book with the word Vertigo written on it drew my attention. Initially, I thought it referred to the condition Vertigo, which occurs when there is a shift in the crystals within the ear leading to dizziness that feels like spinning. However, when I began to read to prologue, I was immediately drawn to the life of Louise De Salvo a writer and Virginia Woolf Scholar. De salvo recounts her life chronologically and mirrors several of her experiences to that of Virginia Woolf. I was enthralled by her strength as her world seems to be spinning continuously following her sister's suicide and all that came along with it. I also admired her perspectives on feminism and found them to be profound and grounded. Although, I have not had to experience many of the things she did, I am grateful I read her life story when I was 17 years of age. I could mostly relate to the emotions she described during her childhood, but I found that reading about her in college, motherhood, career, led me to better understand those around me. I began to make connections between stories from my mother, grandmother, and aunts and found a bit of comfort in these new perspectives I had gained. It is a novel I would truly recommend and deeply impacted my life.

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A document or piece of literature that I resonate with is the book The Great Gatsby. The novel is set in the 1920s in times where there were many changes ranging from economic to social in Western Society. I do not find myself resonating with all the themes explored in the novel. However, I do find myself resonating with the overarching theme of the "American Dream". As a boy who immigrated with his family from Italy as an adolescent, my family and I moved to the United States with the hopes of living the American dream. Still now to this day, I still hope in living out my dream and I am grateful for my family and the opportunities life has given me. Another aspect of the book I resonate with is the main character, Nick. Nick is seen as an observer of the book in which he analyzes and tries to understand people who many not even have a full grasp on who their identity. That characteristic of Nick is something I resonate with since I do not think I am a very extroverted person and I like to stay as an observer. However, that does not mean I do not like to the be proactive or take initiatives. A short segment I recall from the book that I find interesting and also resonate with is: "Gatsby believed in the green light." To Gatsby the green light represents the "American Dream" and his hopes/aspiration. That is a phrase I resonate with since my one of my green lights is the dream of pursuing a career in the medical field.

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This is one of the few books that I have read several times. It was recommended to me by a dear friend. I started putting tabs in pages that had quotes about wisdom in several aspects of life, suddenly I realized my book had tabs almost every other page, and in several pages, there was more than one tab added. This memoir became a tribute as the author could not finish it himself. His wife took over. I recommend this book to anyone because it can illuminate, inspire and drastically make anyone reflect of what is life, are we really struggling, how to deal with situations, how to live beyond death and how do die knowing that your legacy will persist. Here is a link to some citations.

https://www.coleschafer.com/blog/when-breath-becomes-air

Amilcar Castellano-Sanchez, MD

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Read 48.3k reviews from the world's largest community for readers. For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exqui...

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I will mention that I have read many books, so it's hard to pick one specific piece to relate to me and my life. However, I feel the one that resonated with me the most recently was a reread of a book I read when I was younger, which is "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Obviously, a story set in a dystopian world with a death competition at its core to stop rebellion doesn't explain my life. However, the main character, Katniss, is someone I find was always easy to relate to, even now, both of us older siblings, both of us headstrong and clever. Reading this book again allowed me to realize that I have changed and transformed over time. mistakes and hardship transform people to become stronger, and that transformation can bring many faces into one's life. This series, overall, is a message of change and transformation. Katniss changes viscerally throughout the series, both physically, mentally, and personally. She finds herself throughout her challenges and successes, and she realizes the world around her and chooses to want to change it for the better of all those around her. If you haven't read the Hunger Games series, I highly recommend it. "May the odds be ever in your favor."

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I do not often identify myself with any piece of media or art, but 'Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life' by Bell Hooks does resonate with me in some ways. The book focuses on Bell Hooks' journey of growing into the masterful writer she became. She explains how her childhood experiences as a black girl growing up in the south and going to university in a city impacted her values and writing. She touches on how the concept of intersectionality was greatly lacking in her education and how that realisation, as well as the encouragement of her at the time lover, motivated her to write her first ever book 'Ain't I a Woman'. I mostly resonated with how her relationships (familial, platonic, and romantic) all greatly influenced her perception of herself and how she handled the many pitfalls she encountered in her youth. She expresses a certain fear of love due to the dangerous situations she's seen people close to her fall into because of it. The book focuses quite a bit on her life when she was 19, so a lot of her experiences involve learning through trial and error, moving past the naivety of childhood, and learning how to understand herself and the people around her. As a 19-year-old myself, this, of course, greatly resonated with me as well. Overall, the book focuses on Hooks' struggle with balancing love, relationships, and her passion for writing with her own feminist thinking, a struggle that I think many people are goign through today as well.

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I must mention that I have experienced many changes during my life, and the book I believe represents it better is the classic Odyssey by Homer, as in late 2016, my family and I fled Venezuela due to the sociopolitical state of the country, and we had to restart our lives here in the US. I must mention that these last 9 years have been full of changes, challenges, and surprises. Regardless, I am grateful, as its thank to these last years that I am the man I am today; I had the opportunity to learn many new things, meet great people, (including my incredible Wife), and its thanks to the support of my family that I have reached so far, this chapter of my life have turn into a solid foundation of my family's future so I would not change it. A quote from the Odyssey I would like to share is "If some god wrecks me when I am on the sea, I will bear it and make the best of it. I have had infinite trouble both by land and sea already, so let this go with the rest" (Homer, Odyssey book 5), as I have learned that we can't chose what life throws at us but we can always chose to make the best of it.

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A piece of literature that I resonate with would have to be the book " It Ends With Us" by Colleen Hoover. A segment of this book that is very inspirational to me would have to be, "All humans make mistakes. What determines a person's character isn't the mistakes we make. It is how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses." This highly identifies with me because in the past, I have been the type of person who struggles with letting go of past choices that I have made, and I would dwell on them for a long time. However, as time went on, I realized the importance of reflecting on the fact that certain mistakes individuals make don't define them as a person, and that what matters is what you choose to take from your previous decisions. I have learned that reflecting on past experiences not only shows interest in growth, but also a human's character as a whole. All in all, I think it is crucial to be able to move forward in life to develop as a person and be able to know what can be done better for future reference.

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I feel identified with the book Roots by Alex Halley. "In every generation, we must strive to understand our past, for it shapes our present and guides our future." It is a journey of multiple generations of the lineage Kunta Kinte, showing the struggles and resilience, as well as the triumphs of each individual throughout generations. This book was my grandfather's favorite and the first one he gave me to read when I showed interest in literature in my teenage years. Reading Roots brought me closer to my grandfather and deepened my appreciation for literature. He used to share stories about why the book meant so much to him and the importance of family bonds, perseverance, and cultural heritage.

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I feel that a piece of literature that I resonated with the most is "A Tale of Magic" by Chris Colfer. This story follows the main Character, Brystal Evergreen, who learns that she is a fairy and goes to this magical school to learn magic but here is the kicker: magic is outlawed. a quote that has stuck with me is, “I can't imagine a greater compliment for an author than making the banned book section.” This Resonates with me because it reminds me of real life with all the banning of great books under the veil of "protecting the children" but it really is an excuse so that children can't have any different thoughts than from the system. I like to break free from it and read books that are banned to open my world view more and more. I don't want to be ruled by an oppressive system.

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A piece of literature that resonates with my life is The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho. "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." This part of the book resonates most with me because my goals in life have recently been changing and evolving. I used to want to go into medical school to become an Anesthesiologist, but life directed me to another path. After a lot of self reflection and experience, I came to realize that nursing aligns more closely with who I am and who I want to become. Like Santiago in the book, my journey has not been a straight line, but each curve, bump, and pothole has helped me better understand my purpose in life. The quote written above reminds me that changing paths in life is not a failure; it is a redirection, filled with growth and trust, guiding me towards what truly is best for me.