John Green on the books that shaped his reading and writing
American author John Green reflects on the books that shaped his reading and writing, from childhood series to works he discovered as an adult. His account shows how books can influence a person’s values and creative ambitions, and how their meaning can change with age.
Green says Toni Morrison’s novels transformed his sense of literature when he was 16, while Kurt Vonnegut’s humanism continues to inspire him. Michael Chabon’s *The Mysteries of Pittsburgh* made him want to write, and rereading *The Catcher in the Rye* as an adult revealed a sadness he had missed at school. He also praises Robert Penn Warren’s *All the King’s Men* as a lasting comfort read.
- Toni Morrison changed how Green understood literature.
- Kurt Vonnegut’s humanism still inspires him.
- Rereading can reveal new meaning as readers change.
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John Green is an American novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for books including The Fault in Our Stars. Readers and writers often look back at books that first drew them into reading or showed them what they might do with words.
The books Green discusses span different stages of life, from childhood reading to novels he encountered as an adult. Their influence can take several forms: shaping a writer’s ambitions, introducing new ideas or feeling different when read again years later.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “John Green: ‘I devoured the Sweet Valley High books in the 1980s’”.