I love reading. Reading is an amazing past time that I never underestimate. Books have made me felt so many things. But more importantly, books have made me changed myself for the better. Most of these books have been assigned by college professors. Below, is a list of 10 books I have read because of a teacher. I wish everyone would ready all these books.

1. 'And The Band Played On' - Randy Shilts (Plagues Poxes and People)

This was one of the first books I read in college. In this class, we had to find a book about a disease, and I found this one and I absolutely loved it. This is written by Randy Shilts, a journalist and a gay activist. It follows the discovery of HIV/AIDS from interviews with people who had it and doctors. It notes the government's initial apathy to the disease because it was seen as a disease only gay men had. It even makes an educated guess on who patient zero was. It’s such a good read, I recommend it to anyone who wants a long read because it is around 600 pages.

2. 'The Second Sex' - Simone de Beauvoir (Feminist Philosophy)

For this class, we had to only read the first chapter of the book. But I was so into the the first chapter that I ended up reading the whole book. This is a must for anyone in philosophy. It analyzes what it is to be a woman in the western world and attempts to explain inequality. It questions the thoughts we have about conventional things that we do. It deconstructs marriage and motherhood. It honestly changed the way that I thought about things.

3. 'Stone Butch Blues' - Leslie Feinberg (Sociology of Gender)

This novel was by a transgender activist named Leslie Feinberg, but the main character is named Jess Goldberg. It follows the story of Jess going through life with constantly being asked, “Are you a boy or a girl?” In the start of the novel, the hatred of Jess’ schoolmates and parents becomes too much of an oppressive and toxic situation, and Jess runs away before age 16. Even when Jess gets a job and starts going to gay bars, Jess still feels like an outcast. Jess tends to hide in a “stone butch” persona. This book shows the struggle of transgender people in the gay and lesbian community. This is a classic when it comes to the LGBT+ community. This book makes you sad, no doubt. It makes you think about where the movement came from. It’s an amazing read.

4. 'Gender Play'- Barrie Thorne (Sociology of Gender)

For anyone who wants to be a teacher or in sociology, I feel that this is a very insightful book. Thorne recounts what it was like, being around children in such forming years at school. She pays special attention to what a “tomboy” is. This book shows how there are already gender lines that are divided within the children from such a young age. It shows that these children learn gender at school. It shows how teachers interact with the genders and how that impacts them. These years make such an impact on how children grow up.

5. 'At the Dark End of The Street' - Danielle McGuire (Intro To Women's Studies)

This book tells you about how the civil rights movement really started. Rosa Parks wasn’t some tired old woman. She knew what she was doing, she planned it all. The civil rights movement started because they needed to protect the rape of black women by white men who used fear and terror against them. This book shows the years of oppression that black women have had to suffer. This is such an amazing narrative history that teaches you things you would never learn in your American History class.

6. 'Sister Outsider' - Audre Lorde (Sociology of Gender)

This book is a collection of essays and speeches written and given by Audre Lorde. She was a black lesbian and a known feminist writer. This is a collection of her most notable and popular works. These speeches and essays deconstruct many issues that Lorde has had to deal with. She talks of her personal experiences with oppression like sexism, racism, homophobia, classism and ageism. Lorde talks about how hard it is to claim an identity in the world. Lorde is an amazing writer who addresses many issues that were overlooked by previous feminists.

7. 'Fives Faces of Oppression' - Marion Young (Feminist Philosophy)

The book is actually titled, "Justice and the Politics of Difference," but I have not read the entire book, just the model that Young proposes called "The Five Faces of Oppression." Young boils oppression down to five ways of means. I feel like this is important to read because we don’t have a definition of oppression that really shows what oppression can do. This module redefines oppression and is a quick read.

8. 'Holy Terrors' - Bruce Lincoln (Religious Texts)

This book explains the implications of the 9/11 attacks, and how it impacted our understanding of religion and how it influences politics and culture. Lincoln examines the passages that the 9/11 hijackers acted upon from the Quran. He also explains the reasons of the terrorists were justified “In the name of God.” He then compares the President Bush’s speech when he announced the US involvement in Afghanistan to Osama Bin Laden's video a few hours later.

9. 'The Color Of Water' - James McBride (English)

This is a very emotional autobiography. This was a tribute to the author's mother. The book alternates between descriptions of the author's early life and personal accounts of and with his mother. The autobiography shows the problems his mother faced as a white Jewish woman who married a black man in 1942. I’m not going to get into details of this book, but seriously, this is such a good read. It made me cry.

10. 'Class Action' - Clara Bingham (Intro To Women's Studies)

This book will probably make you mad. It made me really mad. This book followed a woman name Lois Jenson, one of the first women hired by an iron mine in Minnesota in 1975. This showed the issues that these women had to deal with. There was stalking, physical assaults, rude language and pornographic graffiti. Because the women didn’t want to lose their jobs, they kept the problems to themselves. This follows the women who tried to make the working conditions better for American women.

This honestly isn’t even close to all of the books I have enjoyed reading during my time in college. But I feel that all these are the books that impacted me and changed something about myself. I love books that make me reevaluate who I am as a person, that shows they are really a good book.