Since we are reading The Walk-In Closet by Abdi Nazemian this week for the Summer Reading Challenge, we decided to dedicate this week’s edition of “Inspired By” to the five books that inspired Abdi to become an author.

Along with the thousands of Archie comic books Abdi read as a child, here are his top five most inspirational books…

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Charlotte’s spiderweb shares her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur who simply just wants to be a friend.  A tender novel exploring friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be a classic for generations to come.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Four mothers, four daughters, and four families whose histories shift with four winds depending on who’s perspective the story is told.  Four Chinese women that are recent immigrants to San Francisco in 1949, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play Majong and talk calling themselves the Joy Luck Club.

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

The first of nine novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane.  Tales of the City is a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that forever changed the way we live.

Another Country by James Baldwin

Another Country is a novel of passions that is a standout for it’s emotional and artistic intensity and haunting sensuality.  exploring men, women, blacks, whites, stripped of gender and race.  Baldwin illustrates the best and worsts of liberal America in the early 1970’s.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

An insanely hilarious coming-of-age story dissecting class, gender, and race in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ambition.  A fourteen-year-old intelligent girl, is dropped off at her boarding school only to find out that the school’s glossy brochure of prestigious boys and girls was far from the jaded, attractive and intimidating students really turned out to be.

PINTEREST PS!  Follow along with our Summer Reading Challenge Pinterest Board!