Christy Lefteri: Books That Changed My Life

As a child I used to read at bedtime and I remember looking forward to going to bed to read The Worst Witch. What a relatable character Mildred Hubble was! Such a flawed, clumsy, but brave witch. I even loved how she couldn’t train her cat Sooty to ride the broom.

I guess at such a young age it taught me that we can all have flaws and still be our own brilliant selves. But it also drew me into this other world so completely. It took me away to a place of magic where humans can be turned into snails.

I read The Bell Jar at university. I’d actually applied to study Law and went to my first lecture on Contract Law and realised I had made a huge mistake. I walked out, ran to the English department, passing a bunch of students on the way who were reading The Bell Jar on the grass outside the library. When I got to the English department, I cried to a lecturer who years later would end up being my PhD supervisor. Thank goodness, she let me on the course.

So, The Bell Jar became the first book I read on my BA English lit degree. Reading about Esther’s life, her attempts to grow as a woman, to be true to herself, to push against societal norms, opened my eyes. The emotion in the book seemed so real and raw, looking so directly at women’s role in society, at passion and ambition as well as mental illness.

I read this while I was doing a PhD in creative writing at Brunel University. I wanted to understand Cyprus’ fight for independence against British colonial rule from a psychological perspective. Although I read it with that in mind, it has stayed with me since. I found it rich and beautiful and enchanting and it led me to read so much more of Jung. 

I love the way Jung embraces the depths of human experience, including the unwanted “shadow” aspects—the destructive, envious and not so nice parts of ourselves, ultimately working towards wholeness. The alternative is to disown those parts and project them outwards. I guess Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a brilliant example of a man who attempts to get rid of the parts of himself he finds undesirable.

I found Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious and of archetypes inspirational. It shifted the way I looked at various things, from religion to myth and fairytales, film and art and even war, politics, divisions and civil conflicts—it’s like I had a new and fascinating lens with which to understand the world. 

The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri (Manila Press, £16.99) is available to buy now