Books That Inspired Me to Pick Up Another Read

I love picking up a book because I’ve been inspired by another. This can happen in a number of ways. Some are more obvious; continuing a series because you liked the first book is one reason, but not one I feature in today’s Books That Inspired Me to Pick Up Another Read post. 

No, today’s features are about books with more tenuous links. They may not seem obvious in their link, but make sense when I explain them. At least, I hope so… 

 

I have read: 

Dreams from My Father… 

Because I Read A Promised Land

I just finished Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama and really enjoyed this exploration Barack takes of his lineage and heritage. The imminency makes this is a natural candidate for today’s Books That Inspired Me to Pick Up Another Read post. 

Admittedly, Dreams from My Father wasn’t on my radar until I finished and was pleasantly surprised by A Promised Land. That book made it onto my Best Books of 2025 list for how pleasantly surprised I was. 

I don’t love reading politics. It’s a topic I tend to stay away from. However, I like Barack and what he stands for as a person. It’s for him, and partly because the books are narrated by him, that I wanted to give both these titles a go. Neither has disappointed! 

 

The Giver…

Because I Read The Measure

 

After reading The Measure with my work book club, a discussion point that came up was the influence of Lois Lowry apparent in the narrative. Now I confess, having not read The Giver before, this detail passed me by. However, one of my colleagues had read The Giver already and picked up on the link. Naturally, The Giver became our next read so we could explore this more. 

I enjoy dystopian novels. No doubt, had I discovered the book in another way, I’d have read it on its own merits. It was interesting though to pick this up and then explore the concepts of the plot and society in The Giver and how it tied back to The Measure. 

If you haven’t read The Giver, it’s a fantastic short dystopian novel. It was an honourable mention in my Best books of 2025 video, just losing out on a top 5 spot! 

 

Will Read… 

Challenger…. 

Because I Read Orbital and Midnight in Chernobyl 

My first book of 2026 was Orbital by Samantha Harvey. This book was a fun read in its own right. It’s a powerful book of love, loss, dreams, and the wonder of life. If you want to hear more on this book, I reviewed it over on my YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago. 

However, this book touched on a topic that I already wanted to read more on, but this has expedited this wish. Orbital touches on the risk of space travel and highlights the events of the launch of the space shuttle Challenger. Not long before reading Orbital, I’d bought a copy of Challenger by Adam Higginbotham. I have read another investigative book Adam has written – Midnight in Chernobyl. That was so well written, picking up another book of his is a no-brainer. Between this, and having enjoyed the taster commentary on the disaster in Orbital, I can’t wait to read Challenger soon! 

 

Summary 

This is just a short sample to give you an idea of where bookish inspiration comes from. I’m especially looking forward to reading Challenger and continuing this trend of reading books that inspire me to pick up another read. 

Have you read anything that inspired you to pick up another? If so, what, and why? 

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