Books guide a reader with the writer’s wisdom that frequently addresses the suffering of humans, fictional or autobiographical, through a complex world, at times both beautiful and difficult. Writers help readers to understand fear, suffering, and pain from new and divergent viewpoints. The writer’s voice provides knowledge and insight on being vulnerable and human in the world. James Baldwin, Annie Dillard, and Primo Levi, among others, have influenced my development as a reader, scholar, writer, and professor. I encourage student readers to consider those writers who have most influenced them, and how they might open to literary influences as they become accomplished readers and perhaps take up their own writing practice.