The Unexpected Books That Changed My Life

by Shannan Hunt

I wouldn't call myself a literary expert, but I have read a lot of books. Books by authors such as Vonnegut, Dostoevsky, Kerouac, and the like. Classics by Dickens, Woolf, and even Shakespeare. I usually pride myself on the fact that I can talk about almost any classic book ever published. Despite all of this, I am so in love with the Shopaholic series that I cant stop telling people about them!

It all started when I was in line at Barnes and Noble and noticed a cute little book with a taxi cab on the cover. I picked it up and read the title: Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella. I read the back because, being a part-time Manhattanite, I am always curious about books that take place in the city. It sounded like some fun, light reading. I saw that it was the second book in a series, so I grabbed both it and the first one Confessions of a Shopaholic, and headed for home. I read both three-hundred-plus page books in a day.

The main character, Becky Bloomwood, was so likable and had so many of the same character traits as I do that it was like I was reading my own misadventures. I couldn't believe I had found a book where a character so blatantly disregards debt and bill collectors and was so adorable at the same time. It made me laugh at my own problems with shopping too much, making them seem trivial by comparison. I had found something that made me want to pay my bills: there was no way I was going to get in as much trouble as Becky did!

I soon made it a point to buy the third and fourth books in the series, Shopaholic Ties the Knot and Shopaholic & Sister, and they were as enjoyable as the first. I didn't feel guilty about reading them, because in a way they inspired me to be a better person--as much as I would say any book has. I even bought the book Can you Keep a Secret?, revolving around an entirely new set of characters but also by Sophie Kinsella. That book was just as pleasant to read, but was about a blabbermouth who spills a bunch of secrets to the wrong person just as she thinks she is going to die in a plane crash. She has just as much conflict as Becky in the Shopaholic books, but her problems are completely different.

I would say that Sophie Kinsella must be a truly genuine person who has gone through real problems to be able to write about the subjects she covers so accurately. I identified so much with the lead characters of the Shopaholic books and Can you keep a Secret? that it was scary. I think many other women would identify as well, and that's why I tell so many people about them. It's like book therapy.

I can say that now, after reading these books, I don't open my big mouth as much to people I don't know, and I don't go to the store with maxed-out credit cards and buy everything I see, because I learned from the mistakes of Kinsella's heroines. I would never have thought that books like these would come with lessons. I always thought you could never learn from reading "fun" novels, but instead had to read Meaningful Books, by Genius Authors to get any sort of edification. Boy, was I wrong. I probably learned more from these few books than from a lifetime of reading the classics.

The Author

Shannan Hunt was born and raised in Washington State, where she now lives with her adorable four-year-old son. She briefly lived in New York and considers herself an expert on all things Manhattan. She is currently taking time off from work to write the Great American Novel, simultaneously adapting it into the Great American Screenplay. Her hobbies include trying to figure out TiVo, trying to figure out the internet, and wondering when she is going to decide to finally figure out blogging.