"Omg! That book changed my life!"

[Adso]

Hello everyone!

Since i'm new here i thought i'd give it a try and start a new thread.

Curently i'm looking for some interesting books to read, that would, perhaps, alter my perspective on things (i'm still in a sort of accumulation process at the moment...).

So what i'd like to know is: what book(s) have changed your life (if any), making you look at things in a different way?

My personal example... I've read "The name of the rose" (by Umberto Eco) and "A century of loneliness" (by G. Garcia Marquez... i hope this was the exact translation of the title). This two books that i found to be very entertaining have brought me, at a random point in my life, to a state of meditation, making me think of some aspects i had neglected before...

Anyway, i'd really like to know you're opinion... So don't be shy! :D

[Adso]

5 views and no replies... Looks like nobody's had any life shattering experiences concerning books here...

[crisaor]

Hi Adso, welcome

From where I see it, every (good) book you read alters your perspective on things. Some in a big way, others in much smaller, sutil way. Life shattering experiences concerning books are personal, nothing guarantees that you'll experience the same thing than others did. If you're looking for good reading material, check the other threads (and maybe even the archive pages), there's plenty of examples there.:)

[Koa]

I think you don't have many replies cos I'm sure there was at least one other topic about this... look for it and check it out! :)

[Robert E Lee]

The book that changed my life is American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I was recommended it at a bookstore in Switzerland and rolled my eyes at the recommendation. I bought and read it anyway. The book, though it has strongly anticapitalist themes, made me want to go to become a yuppie. Because of that book I forced myself to do better in school, which led to my acceptance (less than a week ago) to one of the best undergraduate business programs in the world. :D

[crisaor]

I haven't read the book, but loved the movie though. I don't know if it's supposed to be scary or anything, but it made laugh my *** off. The music criticism is hilarious. :D

[Robert E Lee]

Originally posted by crisaor
I haven't read the book, but loved the movie though. I don't know if it's supposed to be scary or anything, but it made laugh my *** off. The music criticism is hilarious. :D

Yeah, it was very funny. The book made me laugh out loud so much more though. It's one of the only books that ever made me laugh out loud uncontrollably. It includes two or three chapters about music which are funny. :D

[Azoic]

1984 (Orwell) changed my life, as did J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. I'll have to check out American Psycho. Also, there is a good book called "The Holy Man," (a parable) the author of which escapes me.

[azmuse]

Illusions by richard bach...such a fresh, golden way of looking at life; esp. liked "...everything you read in this book may have been wrong." so stunning and lovely in the context it was written :)

[Adso]

Thanks for the replies everybody!

I was just wondering... I heard that a perspective-changing book is "Walden" by David Thoreau. Has anyone here read it? Any opinions?

[IWilKikU]

I slept through it. Hard to do with a book ;)

[Azoic]

I never had to read that book, but I remember I had to read something by Thoreau, and after about 1 or 2 pages, I decided to skip it. I wonder why I got C's and D's in my high school lit classes...

[subterranean]

Few books which I think have changed my perspective (not my life though) are 100 years of Science Fiction (edited by Damon Knight), Sophie's World (Jostein Gardner), ans those Holmes stories (Sir Arthur C. D.)

[Munro]

I've always wanted to answer such a self-indulgent question, heh. Three novels come to mind, that have changed my life and how I see the world
'Nineteen Eighty-Four' by George Orwell
'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' by James Joyce
and most recently, 'In the Skin of a Lion' by Michael Ondaatje
which becomes more amazing every time I read it.

[sloegin]

Every book I've ever read, has changed me in some way.

The 'rat scene' in American Pyscho was great.

[subterranean]

IS that the book by Brett Easton Ellis (Hope i spell his name correctly). I'd like to read it but so far, I can't find it anywhere in the bookstores at my place.

[sloegin]

Yes, other than a couple of scenes where some people die, I did not really enjoy it.

[Isagel]

You liked the rat scene? Horrid person!

[sloegin]

Yep, sure did. Thanks, that really makes my day. You've got to give him credit--in a world filled with violence and murder as they are so publicized--he is creative enough to come up with a new way to kill someone.

[jesse sutton]

books that changed my life >>>

Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man And The Sea

My favourite book ever. It completely changed how i was as a person. I cry every time i read it, and at more then one part. It actually convinced me to make my own boat, (still working on it), and i make a note of reading it every two months. I ahve endless praise on this book, and i can proudly say that i have forced at least 50+ people to read it.

JRR Tolkien - The Hobbit

My second favourite book, and the most enjoyable to read. I love how its written. So simple and direct, yet its got much depth and many other words that sound intellectual. Its also on my every-two-months reading list.

also:

David Creighton - Deeds of Gods and Heroes.
made me interested in ancient mythology
Stephen King - IT
made me want to kill clowns
Tom Schulman - Dead Poets Society
made me want to be an english teacher (still pursuing that)
John Steinbeck - Cup Of Gold
made me want to be a pirate and ravage spanish ports (still pursuing that)

[Smae]

Check out Ragtime by EL Doctorow...not only is it historical but it is eye opening to how people feel and stuff

[Scheherazade]

The Trial by Kafka

Outsider and Plague by Camus

They made me realise that there was more to the books... Till then I was reading merely for the entertainment value without reading much into books much.

[mono]

Hmmm, interesting thread, but I cannot quite list all books that have changed my life without really thinking about it, but a few:
The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger (really got me interested in literature first),
Breakfast At The Victory: The Mysticism In Ordinary Experiences by James Carse,
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (due to its symbolism),
A Week On The Concord and Merrimack Rivers and Walden by Henry David Thoreau,
the essays and poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
anything by Immanuel Kant,
Metamorphoses by Ovid,
poetry by Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rumi, D.H. Lawrence, Sylvia Plath, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, and Robert Frost,
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

[blp]

The book that changed my life is American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I was recommended it at a bookstore in Switzerland and rolled my eyes at the recommendation. I bought and read it anyway. The book, though it has strongly anticapitalist themes, made me want to go to become a yuppie. Because of that book I forced myself to do better in school, which led to my acceptance (less than a week ago) to one of the best undergraduate business programs in the world. :D
Holy Christ! I'm not sure how you could read that book and actually want to become a yuppie, but that's an amazing story. You should write to Brett Easton Ellis and tell him.

Nothing that dramatic in my reading life, but these, in no particular order, are my top perception altering reads:

Blood and Guts in Highschool by Kathy Acker
Nausea by John Paul Sartre
Summer Rain by Marguerite Duras
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille

[red leaves]

It is the Holy Bible that changed my whole life,when I survived from suicide,when I escaped from homelessness and darkness,I had read the Holy bible,which saved me from fear and sadness,which gave me power to solution everything that I met.

[AimusSage]

For me too, the bible has had a profound influence in my life. When I was twelve, I was fed up with all the religious people around me preaching the bible and stuff. I figured I would read the whole book and see what was so special ( so far I had only heard the stories told by others.) about the book. After I had completely finished reading every book in the bible I decided Christianity was a waste of time and not worth the trouble. Fortunately I have very understanding parents, and they accepted my decision.

Another book that heavily influenced me is Foundation, by Isaac Asimov. It is responsible for my fascination for All Things SF.

[Beaumains]

Of Mice and Men and Crime and Punishment have both played a part in shaping me as a person (i.e. they made me quite cynical).

[red leaves]

For me too, the bible has had a profound influence in my life. When I was twelve, I was fed up with all the religious people around me preaching the bible and stuff. I figured I would read the whole book and see what was so special ( so far I had only heard the stories told by others.) about the book. After I had completely finished reading every book in the bible I decided Christianity was a waste of time and not worth the trouble. Fortunately I have very understanding parents, and they accepted my decision.

But,It left nothing in your heart,isn't it? it didn't change your spirit,en?

[Bianca Fransen]

Goodmorning, midnight by Jean Rhys changed my life. Though I cannot quite explain why. I read it as a warning never to become as estranged from people as the heroine. The book shook me to the core. And since I already was going through a dark time - it pushed me just over the edge. I sat at home watching my hands for weeks. I just took up the courage and leafed through it.. and now I find it incomprehensible that I read so much into just this one book. All my feelings of failing and being an outsider. I even wrote an essay that the book ends in a dreadful rape. But now that I reread the last sentences I cannot quite understand why I was so absolutely convinced of that. ?? Anyway, after that I no longer had the guts to study English and read great books. I was afraid they would touch me as much as this one did.
:D But I am back to reading now...

[AimusSage]

But,It left nothing in your heart,isn't it? it didn't change your spirit,en?

Actually it set me free, I was no longer bound and confined by religion. But don't think it is an attack against christianity, because it isn't. It is just that for me, the very concept of religion feels wrong.

I have great respect for you to find such strength, but I think it comes from you, rather then from the bible. It was the bible that showed you YOUR strength. In a way the bible set you free as it did me.

[red leaves]

hmmm...I really think so,thank you !

[Glenys]

Hi, new here too. I think you write the book that changes your life yourself.

[mono]

Hi, new here too. I think you write the book that changes your life yourself.
Very well said, Glenys; I cannot agree more. Whether with fiction or non-fiction, through writing, I think, one gains a further understanding of one's own beliefs, opinions, and logic, of course, depending on the amount of thought one uses. ;)

[Nerd]

I agree, every book has had some sort of impact, albeit, not always a positive one. I'm in love with Catch 22 and 1984. Awesome reads.

[Sigur Rose]

I am reading a book called "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About". It's an informational book that I bought a few days ago. Truly, read this book, you'll never want to eat anything from the supermarkets or take drugs from your doctor again. It's a real eye-opener.

[Beaumains]

I am reading a book called "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About". It's an informational book that I bought a few days ago. Truly, read this book, you'll never want to eat anything from the supermarkets or take drugs from your doctor again. It's a real eye-opener.

Is this anything like Fast Food Nation? If so, I'll have to check it out.

[LoneProspector]

The first would have to be Catcher In The Rye because it was the first book that captured how I felt as a teenager...the most awkward period of your life, when you try to figure out what it is to be a man. Some of us, like Holden Caulfield and myself, struggled greatly with it. I probably would have killed myself out of a "Oh, no one understands!" type of mentality...but that book really saved me.

The other would have to be James Joyce's Ulysses. It broke down the nature of time itself....its an epic of a single day, an idea that blew me away. It taught me how rich each day, each moment of life is with detail and insight...you simply have to be bold enough to search for it and let yourself be inspired. I've always "feared" difficult literature like Joyce, I hated the feeling of not keeping up with the author. But after getting through the 876 pages and the phonebook-sized companion that explains all of Joyce's allusions, I feel like I can take on anything.
This was also around the time of my decision to be a writer...I had been looking for an "icon" to look to in the hard times and I found Joyce.

[Quixotte]

I agree with Sloegin and Nerd that every book we read has an impact on us. I remember when I read Fowl's French Leutenant's Woman, I felt that I aquired some sphynx like traits like the main heroine of the book. At one time, when I was hopelessly and desperately in love I identified myself with Fleur from The Forsyte Saga, by Galthworthy. Thanks to Adso for the question. I enjoyed reading the answers finding out what books influence others.

[scw1217]

The other would have to be James Joyce's Ulysses. It broke down the nature of time itself....its an epic of a single day, an idea that blew me away. It taught me how rich each day, each moment of life is with detail and insight...you simply have to be bold enough to search for it and let yourself be inspired. I've always "feared" difficult literature like Joyce, I hated the feeling of not keeping up with the author. But after getting through the 876 pages and the phonebook-sized companion that explains all of Joyce's allusions, I feel like I can take on anything.
This was also around the time of my decision to be a writer...I had been looking for an "icon" to look to in the hard times and I found Joyce.

This may be a dumb question, but I stumbled on this book at my local library today. Why was it banned originally? I had not heard of it.

[Calo]

Ulysses includes sexual descriptions which prompted a ban against the book in 1921.
At a trial in 1933 US District Judge John M. Woolsey issued a ruling on December 6, declaring that the book was not pornographic and therefore could not be obscene.

[scw1217]

Ulysses includes sexual descriptions which prompted a ban against the book in 1921.
At a trial in 1933 US District Judge John M. Woolsey issued a ruling on December 6, declaring that the book was not pornographic and therefore could not be obscene.

Thanks for this reply. The book I looked at at our local library, had copies of the judges ruling in the front. I did not take the time to read them as they were several pages long, but my curiousity was up for sure.

[Pensive]

The book 'Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone' was the first book I loved very much and it changed me very much and developed a reading habbit in me. Insitead of wasting my time now or feeling bored, I reads a book. Now i like many books which have changed me a little like Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudist.

[Adelheid]

The one dramatic book I've read that has changed my life, and the lives of most people who read it is the Bible. It is the Truth. :nod:

[mono]

The one dramatic book I've read that has changed my life, and the lives of most people who read it is the Bible. It is the Truth. :nod:
Honestly, I can say the same, that The Bible has changed me quite significantly, but I feel the same toward most other religious texts I have read, including The Bhagavad Gita, parts of The Koran, A Buddhist Bible by Dwight Goddard, but very little to no parts of The Necronomicon, despite, sometimes, one can strengthen his/her own faith, beliefs, or logic through disagreement of someone or a text.

[rodanho]

Gulliver's Travels has changed my perspective of the world greatly. It made me much more sceptical of ourselves. I feel quite at a loss when I finished, because it so utterly crushed my former views of people. It is a thorough discussion and investigation of the foibles and vices of the human race. It seemed that there was little difference between the human beings and those wild animals. Although now I think of it, I find the opinion of the author somewhat over heated, but at that time, I was really endowed with such disbelief of ourselves that the impression made may be indelible in my lifetime.

[subterranean]

I have to add Siddharta and The Pilgrim's Regress in my list.

[PistisSophia]

Charlotte's Web, everytime....and I am not kidding.

[Wendigo_49]

Siddhartha, 1984, Stranger in a Strangeland,The Stranger, On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematics and Related Systems (Godel's Incompleteness thereom); Godel, Escher, Bach: Eternal Golden Braid; and Demian (made me realise that there are other and better novels out there than what Tom Clancy writes)

[B-Mental]

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy. The story is about a dying civil serveant, and with only a couple of days left to live he realizes that he has lived his life poorly.
It will make you want to change right away, if you haven't already.

[Satine]

Cheesy, but "The Purpose Driven Life" is one of my favorite books. I let it sit on my shelf for two years before picking it up, and once I finally did, I regretted that I had not done it sooner. It's one that you can pick up over and over, throughout your life, and the words will ALWAYS apply.

[Padan Fain]

Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead
Watership Down by Richard Adams (got me into reading in fifth grade)
Chronicals of Narnia (opened the world of fantasy)
The Sun Also Rises - (brought me back to reality, occasionally)

[shortysweetp]

I would have to say that it Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I had to read it in my english class in high school and it opened up the wonderful love of classic literature that I have now. so i have my senior english teacher to thank.

[Satine]

I forgot about two that I haven't read in a long time:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Great Expectations

I always wished I had that ability to tease and torment the way Estella did. In reality I could not be more her opposite.

[Edmond]

The Brave New World (changed my life the biggest)
Tao De Chin (changed me a lot)
Ishmael ( changed me some what)

[Scatterbrain]

Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" is the book that changed my life
Ever since that, I've been obsessed with books

[subterranean]

I'm currently reading it and already miss some days...


but "The Purpose Driven Life" is one of my favorite books. I let it sit on my shelf for two years before picking it up, and once I finally did, I regretted that I had not done it sooner. It's one that you can pick up over and over, throughout your life, and the words will ALWAYS apply.

[Loki]

I would say that Huxley, both in his Brave New World and Time Must Have a Stop has changed my life and the way I look at things quite significantly. Also, Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics.

[Satine]

I'm currently reading it and already miss some days...


LOL, yeah, I missed a LOT of days! I think it took me 3 months to get through it, so don't feel bad!! :)

[Melancholia]

Books that changed my life, well the list is indeed long.

Without a doubt number one book has got to be

Simon Blackburn - Think, most amazing book you will ever read opens your mind to alot of new ideas and is a good foundation for further readings into Philosophy and Existentialism.

Iris Murdoch (Existentialists and Mystics) - Samuel Beckett (Waiting for gardot) Cant really get much better the king and queen of existentialism in my book really have got to give it a read.

Finally Good trio to Read Starting With Dante Allighieri's - Hell, Aldous Huxley - Limbo and John Milton - Paradise Lost. Fascinating, well written and creates an appreciation for the classic's...

[Vampire Kari]

Every book that I read changes my life in some sort of way, big or small. But the one book I can think of that will always stay with me is Susan Kay's ~ Phantom. One of the best books I've ever read and it changed me in so many different ways.

[ambrotos_aubade]

Jeanette Winterson ~ Written on the Body.
Changed my whole perspective on everything. She has an amazing gift for altering time and blending sexuality so you don't know where (timewise) the book is happening or what sex the narrator is. It's a treat to read the same book twice and get a completely different story the second time around.

[Elyse]

The Bible has changed my life. Chronicling the life of God incarnate (and the 330 documented prophecies prior to His birth), it has revealed more truth about life than any book ever written. Since I have learned of Jesus Christ, no book has ever satisified me in the same way. Learn about God through Jesus. Read His inspired Word -- the Bible.

[Daniel A. C.]

These aren't necessarily my favorite books now, but for whatever reason they clicked with me when I discovered them. A lot of them seemed almost to change how my brain worked when I first encountered them: authors that are good enough can almost change how you percieve the world, at least for a while.

Art of Writing Poetry (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031207641X/102-5259006-5901721?v=glance&n=283155) - William Packard
Interesting book that introduced me to the idea of literature, and had a very comprehensive reading list that guided my reading when I knew nothing of books.
ABC of Reading (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811201511/qid=1146194886/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/102-5259006-5901721?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) - Ezra Pound
Not the best influence on me, I think, but there's a lot in this strange book.
The Trial - Franz Kafka
Mere Christianity (http://www.cslewisclassics.com/books/mere_christianity.html) - C.S.Lewis
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Down and Out in Paris and London (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015626224X/102-5259006-5901721?v=glance&n=283155) and Essays - George Orwell
The best first hand reporting and essay writing I've ever read.
Understanding Power (http://www.understandingpower.com/) - Noam Chomsky
Even if you don't agree with him on all points, he's got a extremely cohesive and thought-provoking view of the world, and is extremely, mind-bogglingly knowlegdable.
I am Right, You are Wrong: From this to the New Renaissance (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140126783/qid=1146196338/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-5259006-5901721?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) - Edward De Bono
Very unusual book, based on new ways of using the brain, apparently.
Walden Pond (http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/walden/) - H.D.Thoreau
The Discourses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus) - Epictetus
Incredible philosophy on how to live - not the one I follow though!
Ancient Wisdom, Modern World (http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductDetail.asp?CatNumber=8532) - the Dalai Lama
A really sane, practical method to a happer life: my first real introduction to Buddhism, though this book is not specifically Buddhist.

[rachel]

Aside from the Scriptures, which in some ways has changed me, all books that I have read, even the dreadful ones have still changed me, or rather added something to my way of perceiving the world and in fact different worlds. For each person lives in his or her little world which although appearing the same as others really is quite different; the reason being the players are different.So yes all books I have read.

[zheng89120]

I heartily nominate the following:

Thus Spake Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche)
The Dictionary (Merriam Webster)
The Skilled Helper (Gerard Egan)
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
Essays (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

[Ron Price]

In 1962 I began my final year of high school in Canada; 44 years later I am now retired and living in Australia. In a rough calculation over those 44 years, I have read approximately 10,000 books, 20,000 articles; 15,000 poems and parts of unnumbered print resources(not counting cereal boxes and other consumer trivia). When I look back at my life, a reading life which began 59 years ago at the age of 3, reading has had an influence far in excess of TV, radio and the general print and electronic media, all of which I enjoy. To name one book or even half a dozen as favorites/most influential, though, would be like picking my favorite word, sentence, paragraph, phrase, letter, atomic particle, star or one of the billions of stars/suns in the universe. It is an interesting question to ponder, though, for a few seconds. I think this is the best response I can make to this issue/question/topic.-Ron Price, Tasmania.

[davoarid]

Peter Singer's Animal Liberation had the greatest immediate impact on me (I became vegan overnight after reading it).

As for fiction, Ayn Rand had the greatest impact on my life, "Nine Stories" by Salinger had the greatest impact on my writing.

Camus's The Stranger, Orwell's 1984, Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and (I'm not kidding) Stephen King's novella The Long Walk also stand out in my life.

I've tried a dozen times, but I just can't force myself to enjoy "Heart of Darkness."

[Truth Untold]

Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie.

[Jarndyce]

Which book has most affected/changed my life?

The next one.

[Eagleheart]

Adso,
as you mentioned shattering I must say the book that eradicates all your previous views is perhaps the best example of what is art...The basic component of one"s ideology and so on...And to share my experience...I would categorically state that "Idiot "by Dostoevski is the most proper example...In fact what is revulsion in one's worldview indicates the value of the work..."idiot"if not for anything else makes you feel undisturbed in your towers of insanity...And if I must present the content of this book by few words only according to me...it sounds like this:"Dare to follow your believes, if the price is your insanity in the eyes of the others than let it be..." I highly recommend this book...and the author undoubtedly...

[Eagleheart]

And...Forgot to mention- A kind of bad taste to even discuss the impact of all the works of Niezsche...Not to aknowledge his influence on the deeply encrouched notion of individuality is without doubt a matter of infantility...For those who mentioned "1984" by Orwell- aperson must be completely insensitive to the world around him if he/she were not to appreciate this masterpiece,so I join you in this example

[Gawaine]

Wonderful thread. I am always interested to read answers to this question, and this thread does not dissapoint. My answer is as this fellow below me mentions: I have none in particular.

Then again, perhaps those of us who do not have an answer to this one haven't read the right books yet.


In 1962 I began my final year of high school in Canada; 44 years later I am now retired and living in Australia. In a rough calculation over those 44 years, I have read approximately 10,000 books, 20,000 articles; 15,000 poems and parts of unnumbered print resources(not counting cereal boxes and other consumer trivia). When I look back at my life, a reading life which began 59 years ago at the age of 3, reading has had an influence far in excess of TV, radio and the general print and electronic media, all of which I enjoy. To name one book or even half a dozen as favorites/most influential, though, would be like picking my favorite word, sentence, paragraph, phrase, letter, atomic particle, star or one of the billions of stars/suns in the universe. It is an interesting question to ponder, though, for a few seconds. I think this is the best response I can make to this issue/question/topic.-Ron Price, Tasmania.

At your age, sir, I can only hope to have been as well-read as you.

- A fellow Canadian, though over fourty-years your junior.

[mtpspur]

Arthur W. Pink's The Attributes of God read 1972 helped me form the basis of my Biblical beliefs. Emphasis on the sovereignty of God and my responsibilites towards him to worship intelligently and from the heart and I plead a lifelong struggle to be 'from the heart' and not the head.

Note to Vampire Kari--checked my bookshelf and there is was: Phantom by Susan Kay--read it when it first came out (but did not remember who wrote it) and loved it for an intelligent well reasoned out life of Erik taken from what Gaston Leroux chose to reveal. In a similar vein (if you can find it) try The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen--you'll never read Stoker's Dracula the same way twice.

[jitendra]

"Siddartha" by Herman Hesse - I liked the part on singleminded focus. This is something I have tried to cultivate all my life. I'm getting there but a bit slower than I want to. I believe that greatness needs two things, one - the ability to focus and two - the ability to forget about everything else.The second chapter is a brilliant treatise on dedication and commitment.

[Bandini]

Nausea by Sartre, The Outsider (L'Etranger) by Camus, and Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson made me think more than most - I suppose they 'changed my life'.

[kjt1981]

The Outsider - Camus
Naked Lunch - William Burroughs

Both read in the space of the last 3 months.

[Shannanigan]

"Cold New World"....can't remember the author. The author spends time living with American families with kids who are in gangs, or are drug dealers, or other things like that and reveals how nearly impossible it is for kids who are born into poverty and living in certain cities with not-so-promising schools to avoid becoming invovled in the world of crime.

"Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich (sp) had a huge effect on me. Ehrenreich abandoned her home and the money she had made writing (temporarily), pretended like she only had a high school education, and started looking for the best jobs she could find with that education and paying for her living expenses with the money she made. She wouldn't go to her private doctor and would rely solely on what she earned and what benefits she got from the jobs she found...the only thing she kept was her car. The results were incredible...she worked at a Wal-Mart, as a Merry Maid (house cleaning service) and as a waitress, each time in a different state. She could barely afford to rent the crummiest of apartments, had to rely on food stamps, and was amazed to learn that her co-workers were living in their cars and had children! She was forced to quit her experiment at one point because she got so sick she had to give in and see her doctor, and that meant she couldn't work for a while...so she couldn't continue to rent her apartment....imagine if she hadn't had that to fall back on...

[Eufrosyne]

Agree with subterranean, Sophies world really changes your way of seeing things. Otherwise, I have to say Kris (crisis) by a swedish writer, Karin Boye.

[cuppajoe_9]

Anarchism: What it Really Stands For by Emma Goldman (this is actually a pamphlet, not a book, but I don't care).

A Tale of Two Cities by Chaz Dickens

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (not very much, but it changed my life).

The Men Who Climbed by Marjorie Pickthal (actually a short story)

[thevintagepiper]

Till We Have Faces-C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity-C.S. Lewis
So Much More-Elizabeth and Anna Sofia Botkin
And, of course, the Bible.

All for various and almost obvious reasons. Till We Have Faces is amazing in that it shows the emptiness that life can have and that this void can be filled.

[Danika_Valin]

Every book I have read changed my life in some way or another. However, if I were to pick one book that had the greatest influence on me, it would be Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. In my opinion, Elizabeth Bennet is close to perfect, and I aspire to be like her. She's almost always collected, quick-witted, well-mannered and dignified. She makes mistakes, of course, but that's only human.

Also, Self-Reliance by Emerson has had a great influence on my life. The text is really dry, but it is thought provoking.

[Marlow]

I've been religious since childhood, but my the Episcopal Christianity of my youth felt too burdened by fear to inspire my adult actions.

Then I encountered the Bhagavad-gita and my soul soared. Reading it not make me non-Christian, but it gave me a perspective that I felt came closer to that of Jesus and the early apostles, to whom Jesus taught a simple doctrine of the Way, which is remarkably similar to what Krishna teaches to Arjuna in the Gita.

The Gita has much specific information about the soul, and various ways to elevate one's thoughts and conciousness, culminating in pure loving devotion to the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead.

[kheldar]

Hi,

I'm new too. This is like my second post.
Brave New World by Huxley made a big impression on me.

And strangely enough there is this little book called "Inventing Elliot".
Do anyone having any thoughts on this book.

[THX-1138]

i would have to say 1984 by george orwell,not that it changed my life just it had a huge impression on the way i think.

[Bluebiird]

i would have to say 1984 by george orwell,not that it changed my life just it had a huge impression on the way i think.

I was just about to say the same thing. Though, I keep wondering if I really am being watched all of the time. You can never be sure, can you?

[dramasnot6]

Hi,

I'm new too. This is like my second post.
Brave New World by Huxley made a big impression on me.

And strangely enough there is this little book called "Inventing Elliot".
Do anyone having any thoughts on this book.


oh i also loved Brave New World, just read it for 11th grade Eng Lit a few months ago and its scary how similar it is to today, even more so then 1984 i thought. really made an impression on me.

Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut also changed the way i view the world...it was so surreal yet made such sense. I just think of people a different way now.

[Helga]

I think all books have some impact on me. But the once I'll never forget and made me feel like a different person...

Black Beauty (I read it when I was 9 and then about 20 times after that and it's the only book I have loved and don't own. I don't remember the authors name)
Machbeth by Shakespeare (read it when I was 12 and fell in love with Will S.)
The Collector by John Fowles (read it for school and it is my fav book ever, it's so beautyful! I bought all of his books and his biography)

don't remember any more....

[you_per7]

qu'ran,......

[Niamh]

Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams. It gave me an odd sense of humour.

[jon1jt]

Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman; Walden, Henry David Thoreau; On The Road, Jack Keroauc; Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
:)

[omegaxx]

For me, it will have to be George Eliot's "Middlemarch". I abhorred the very idea of morality before. That book turned it completely around for me. Orwell has famously said that all writing is political. I think Eliot can add that all writing is moral, and all decisions are moral ones. Her moral message is also the wisest and most humane of all those that I have come across. I can no longer do anything without wondering, "Now which character in 'Middlemarch' would that make me?"

[Wintermute]

Well, I've recently been on an Elizabeth Peters binge--my sister and I are both reading her Amelia Peabody books. In a couple of weeks we're leaving for a 2 week vacation to Egypt. This is a direct result of reading her wonderful novels. Is this what you mean?

[Schokokeks]

There have been many books I liked and digested when reading, many I liked after reading, and many that are still waiting. But I hope that it will still be me changing my life, and books to inspire me thereto.

[Demian]

These will always be a few of my favorites:
The Last Temptation of Christ by Kazantsakis
Steppenwolf and Demian, both by Hermann Hesse
The Valis trilogy, esp. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Phillip K. Dick
The Colossus of Maroussai and the Nexus trilogy by Henry Miller
The Stranger by Camus
Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
and of course On the Road by Kerouac, which propelled me through much intercollegiate disillusionment...;) ;)

[Durgamol]

"The God of Small THings" y Arundhati Roy - i've found out that i can not only read but even like romantic stories (especially when it doesn't have a happy ending)

and

"The Silence of The Lambs" by Thomas Harris - because of it i chose a subkect for my MA paper and i am constantly studying it for more than 2 years (the subject not the book :p )

[grace86]

Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, Fahrenheit 451, The Chronicles of Narnia....so far...but I am always taking parts from all my books with me to alter the way I view the world.

Haven't gone to a foreign country because of one yet ;)

[bazarov]

Ana Karenina, War and Peace, Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, Fathers and Sons...




Haven't gone to a foreign country because of one yet ;)

I can't wait to visit Russia:D

[Quark]

I can't say if these are the book that have changed my life the most--that may be for a neutral observer to decide. But, I can list the books I have learned the most from and recall most often.

Heart of Darkness: Kurtz's decline from a humane--almost philanthropic--leader to a raving lunatic is a constant reminder of the peril involved with high moral principles. Morality can cause us to do great things, but, when it fails, exploitation, violence, and greed can dominate the mind. As Bertrand Russel said, "He [Conrad] thought of civilized and morally tolerable human life as a dangerous walk on a thin crust of barely cooled lava which at any moment might break and let the unwary sink into fiery depths.

Paradise Lost: A great epic and a warning against self-importance and vanity:
“His Pride
Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host
Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in Glory above his Peers,
He trusted to have equal'd the most High,
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
Against the Throne and Monarchy of God” (I, 36-42).

Critique of Pure Reason: For me it was the beginning of critical thinking and reason. Kant explains how we have modes of understanding that precede and alter experience. The book explores this metaphysical terrain at a slow and careful pace which can sometimes seem dull, but the discoveries that Kant makes are worth the incomprehensible prose.

The Death of Ivan Ilych: Here, Tolstoy takes the lessons that Levin learned in Anna Karenina and brings them home to his middle-class Russian audience. Ivan Ilych lives a pointless, uninspired, and selfish life which he repents of moments before his death.

"Resolution and Independence" and "Ode to Duty": Wordsworth weighs the advantages and disadvantages of commitment and freedom.

Walden: Important because of its idea of self-reliance, its distrust of a casual and thoughtless existence, and its poetic language.

Culture and Anarchy: Mathew Arnold suggests that liberty should not be the only goal of an enlightened society. He argues that selfishness would become the guiding principle in a free society. This selfishness is caused not by anything innately human; instead, it is forced on people by society. Arnold argues that people should follow "Culture" which would remind people of their humanity.

[grace86]

I can't wait to visit Russia:D

Here here baz! ;)

[kenikki]

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath. When I read it, I thought finally a book I can relate to and a book I could have possibly written. The language and imagery conveyed emotion like no other book I had read. I was so touched by it being a student of literature and a sufferer of mental illness. I regained my faith that books are not just not meant to analyzed and there is a message in every text.
(I am also a bit of Plath-ite though)

[bazarov]

The Death of Ivan Ilych: Here, Tolstoy takes the lessons that Levin learned in Anna Karenina


Tolstoy's main problem was that he didn't came up with something new; he just repeated himself...

[Aiculík]

I can't say that some book changed my life, and I don't think that will ever happen. I don't think book has that power. It can give some impulse, but not really change.

But there were (still are, in fact, because when I really like some book, I read it again after some time... and again... and again :p) important in my life:

Lord of the Rings - I discovered the book during worst years of my life (no matter how long I lived and what will come, these will always be worse). This book saying that even small, weak, common man can change the future, save the world, that even worst and most despisable creature deserves second chance, saved my life. Literally. :)

Then two Slovak poets, Milan Rufus and Ivan Krasko, when reading their poetry it seems to me they know my feelings, they know what I'm afraid to say aloud and so they say it instead of me.

And then Foucalt's Pendulum and A Chronicle of Death Foretold, which cured me from my apathy towards books and literature that lasted almost two years.

[LizB]

Another Country, James Baldwin.

Read it when I was 15 and had never read anything like it. Whole new worlds appeared. I have only just joined the forum so have only had a quick look about but haven't seen any Baldwin mentioned as yet.


The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath. When I read it, I thought finally a book I can relate to and a book I could have possibly written. The language and imagery conveyed emotion like no other book I had read. I was so touched by it being a student of literature and a sufferer of mental illness. I regained my faith that books are not just not meant to analyzed and there is a message in every text.
(I am also a bit of Plath-ite though)

As a woman and one that has been to the shallower depths of despair, I am drawn to Plath. In fact, I have a fascination with Plath and Hughes. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury to spend hours reading and contemplating, reading some more and researching. But I will again!

[andave_ya]

I can think of no other one than the Bible with such an impact on me.

[setPhree]

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - "Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is you soul that I am buying for you. I am withdrawing it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I am giving it to God!"

[chaplin]

The Death of Ivan Ilych: Here, Tolstoy takes the lessons that Levin learned in Anna Karenina and brings them home to his middle-class Russian audience. Ivan Ilych lives a pointless, uninspired, and selfish life which he repents of moments before his death.

Tolstoy's main problem was that he didn't came up with something new; he just repeated himself...

Of course he repeated himself, he's hit that topic several times, but the way Tolstoy presents the whole thing is incredible. Nabokov thought it was the greatest short story ever written, and I almost agree (Chekhov, in my mind, has some stuff in front of it.)

[bazarov]

Of course he repeated himself, he's hit that topic several times, but the way Tolstoy presents the whole thing is incredible. it.)

I meant that there are too much similar things between Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

[andave_ya]

I thought of another one.

The Complete Unabridged Sherlock Holmes, oddly enough. Got me interested in old English mysteries and on the road to Anglophilia.

[.closed.]

Malcolm X Autobiography, Macbeth (Shakespeare), To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee), Master and Man (Tolstoy), Confessions of a Condemned Man (Hugo), War and Peace (Tolstoy) and
Rough Crossings (Schama).

One more title my to my above list is The Prince (Machiavelli)

[Aunty-lion]

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
This book really made me re-examine my life, my community and my world.
Where are we going?? It's worth thinking about.

Also, The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm. This book affected one aspect of my life in a very strong way. I no longer buy tabloids.

I used to think, oh well, you're famous and rich, I deserve to hear about your drunken misbehavior and see all your pimples, but after this book, I felt a real self loathing for that kind of desire to see the 'mighty' fall.

I guess I just came away from the book feeling really sorry for Ted Hughes and his kids. (please don't hate me Plath-lovers for siding with Hughes...)

[blackowl]

I have understand that you liked the 'name of the rose' so.. you will like the 'Sibumi' from Travenian and 'Cengiz Khan' from Homeric but everbody must read the 'Misrabelles' from Victor Hugo also you must read 'the grape of wrath'.
Hope I did my help

[Glitterdust]

In sort of chronological order because these books changed my life in different ways

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Yep. I read it when I was nine and it was my first real book I guess. Before that I only read the baby-sitters club (remember those?) Since Harry I've never looked back.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - When I was 14. The prologue blew me away and it showed me there was more to reading than just entertainment.

1984 by George Orwell and Wild Swans by Jung Chang - I don't think 1984 would have impacted me in the same way if I hadn't read Wild Swans first. For those who don't know, Wild Swans is an autobiography by a woman who grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China. When I read 1984 afterwards I was amazed by how much Orwell predicted became true in China.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - made me see modern life in an entirely different way. I can't believe this was written in the 30's - and I think that modern life is actually closer to huxley's dystopia than Orwell's.

Yeah...so that's it really. The Metamorphosis by Kafka should be in there as well for introducing me to Existentialism and Absurdism but there you go.

[franco]

The reason I am responding to this message is that during my Library Tours where I spoke about my life experiences as well as the why and how I wrote my memoir,that was exactly what the Librarian said after reading my memoir.
I attended many events at Libraries and Universities, but the Librarian from Sinking Springs,PA. was so taken that she thanked me for writing my memoir titled "I Wouldn't Die." as it changed the way she views life and her family after reading it.
This may sound pretty powerful, but kindly visit Amazon or just type my full name(Franco Antonetti)on Google or Yahoo and see what others have said.

[Francis Parker]

Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, If The River Was Whiskey (TC Boyle), Welcome to the Monkey House (Vonnegut), The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien), Camp of the Saints (Raspail)

[synesthesiac]

Waiting for Godot ( Samuel Becket )
I thought it was amazing how he applied the motifs conveyed to the reader.

[AChristieFan]

The Lord Of The Rings changed my life by opening my imagination & transported me to other places.

[synesthesiac]

Oh my god, you actually liked that? In spite of the vivid imagery and the amazing plot, I really believe that the book's wonderful composition was overshadowed by the horrible description. At times, I was forced to skip chunks of the book (full of descrpition) just to contrain myself from throwing the book at my dog (who loves eating books, literally :D)

[Captain Pike]

Sidartha...
ere..I slept

[cows]

The Lord of The Rings was the biggest bittersweet series I have ever read. To me, writing is immensly important because its an excercise in creating an alternate reality, which is probably the most spectacular thing a human being can do. On the other hand, the story was compormised by writing that was too lengthy and appologetic.

Anyhow... When I was in my teens I read "Memories, Dreams, and Reflections" by Carl Jung. Not a fiction, but it definately changed my life.

[andave_ya]

Yeah, I love LOTR too. heart and soul. even with the huge descriptions. Every time I read it, though, I think I read some more of the descriptions, so eventually I'll have gotten thru the whole thing.

[hockeychick8792]

Has there ever been a book you read that gave you a new outlook on something? Tell us about it here!


I just finished reading Drowning Anna it was a very sad book that made me cry so much:bawling: ! I was about a new girl in school and how quite bullying and touture lead to a beautiful smart girl attempting to kill herself. It is bery sad but a great book that tells the story from the point of view of the diary of Anna , her bestfriend, and the narrator. I think anyone should read this moving book!:)

[BibliophileTRJ]

The Best Little Boy In The World

It's a "coming out" book about how a man comes to terms with his homosexuality, how he tells his friends and family, how he makes his way in the world.

For me it removed that "I'm all alone in the world" feeling.

[Bakiryu]

OOh, Bib I think I read a similar book called Dream Boy, I cried for hours!


Anyway, the book that changed my life was Ender's Game, It inspired me to write (and yes, i also cried.)

[katie9trent]

I never had a book that changed my life. But when people do I think its great!

[Mortis Anarchy]

Has there ever been a book you read that gave you a new outlook on something? Tell us about it here!


I just finished reading Drowning Anna it was a very sad book that made me cry so much:bawling: ! I was about a new girl in school and how quite bullying and touture lead to a beautiful smart girl attempting to kill herself. It is bery sad but a great book that tells the story from the point of view of the diary of Anna , her bestfriend, and the narrator. I think anyone should read this moving book!:)

I couldn't read this book...my name is Ana and it made me sad to think that someone would do this kind of stuff. I still have it, so maybe I should read it.

[poofyhead15]

i would have to say 1984 by george orwell,not that it changed my life just it had a huge impression on the way i think.

I feel the same way about 1984. I only read it recently, but it definitely impacted me greatly. There are just some writers who are able to capture what you are thinking, and can articulate it so well. I think there are some truths that we know or have known deep within us, but it takes someone else to come along and put them into words.

[kiobe]

I know it's a lightweight book but, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

[Pendragon]

When I was a boy, an aunt gave me a little book I still own. It was a copy of Rudyard Kipling's epic poem "If". That little book had a great influence of my life and continues to be read when I am down, though I could probably quote it by heart now.

[cranberry]

harry potter books changed my life , living with those beautiful charecters :)
thanks for the thread!

[Nightshade]

Now generally speaking I belive that everything you read leaves some kind of mark on who you are but there are books that you read that for some often unclear reason just change a part of who you are, how you see yourself and the world around you forever. Sometimes it is some big important work and yet sometimes it the silliest books that does it. Has anyone else ever had one of these? Can you remember exactly which book it was and why?
And more importantly would you go back and reread the book?

[andave_ya]

Besides the Bible, there are two in particular which I'll read again and again.
1. Lord of the Rings. The heroism and altruism in it has just imprinted on me and has inspired me even more to be loyal and true.

2. the Lord Peter mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers. Lots of fun and whimsy with just the right amount of brains and gallantry and a whole lot of references to Homer equals Lord Peter. Not to mention that every time I read it I get more out of it.

[bazarov]

I will surely read some classics again in 10 years, but until then, Brothers Karamazov once per year is a must read. I am really fascinated with that book, questions of life, love, faith, religion and family.
There are many books which I've read in childhood for 5 times at least but those were all books for kids, I am not sure now.

[Nightshade]

humm...not quite my question... take me the 2 books that really stand out in my mindas dramatically altering the way I think or feel about something were strangley 2 children/teenage novels....A ring of Endless light by Madeleine L'Engle and A Tree grows in Brooklyn By Betty Smith. Both of them changed me definetly how I look at death anyway and something else although I couldnt pinpoint it. Now I have the chance to reread them but Im scared that if I do they wont be as amazing as I rember them being and Ill wind up hating the books.....

see the dilemma?


:D

[Demian]

Besides the Bible I would have to say I was most deeply influenced by The Last Temptation of Christ and Steppenwolf. I get someting new out of either one each time I pick them up. There are so many fine sentiments embedded in the text that I can open them at random and read an awe-inspiring quote for the day every time.



The Last Temptation of Christ-Nikos Kazantzakis
Steppenwolf-Hermann Hesse

[chasestalling]

i had never aspired to be writer until i had read the mayor of casterbridge by thomas hardy.

as for rereading it, i don't think i will as the cat's already out of the bag as they say.

[dramasnot6]

I have never re-read a book, but I have read some really impactful pieces of literature, some of which include:
Crime and Punishment
Cat's Cradle
Nineteen Eighty Four
Catcher in the Rye
Macbeth
Hamlet

[Pensive]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (the first HP book that I read)
Siddhartha
Sons and Lovers
Midnight's Children

[mcvv09]

I enjoy rereading Notes from underground various platonic dialogues

[*Classic*Charm*]

The Crucible

I cannot even describe what that play did to me.

[Bakiryu]

Ender's Game. It got me into futuristic literature. And Twenty Questions, which turned my into a philosopher :D (Curse Nietzche!)

I re-read the first one, and flip around the second, aimlessly.

I also loved the Book Thief, an amazing book I got from the library and will buy soon.

[Granny5]

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit
The Stand
1984
Animal Farm

I re-read these books several times and will continue to read them. I get something new out of them everytime I do read them. The first two are about heros, good overcoming evil even within ourselves. The second two are to keep me aware that bad thing can and do happen if we let them and follow the herd.

[Saynotodrugs]

Now generally speaking I belive that everything you read leaves some kind of mark on who you are but there are books that you read that for some often unclear reason just change a part of who you are, how you see yourself and the world around you forever. Sometimes it is some big important work and yet sometimes it the silliest books that does it. Has anyone else ever had one of these? Can you remember exactly which book it was and why?
And more importantly would you go back and reread the book?

I don't really get what you mean! Quote back on here!:confused:

When you need help with a word who do you ask? Ask that person how they know what that word means. I bet they're going to say either I've been there done that, I had to look up words in a dictionary or, they asked someone when they were younger. Well what are you waiting for?

[Nightshade]

I don't really get what you mean! Quote back on here!:confused:

What I meant to say is would you if you could reread a book that on first reading influenced you deeply?

[Granny5]

I read some books again and again if they are very good books and if the message I get from them are important to me. Also, I read books that I've read because I've forgotten that I've read them! I'll start and things seem familiar then realize I've read it. Usually, if it's interesting I'll finish. There was a time I would read 4 to 6 books a week so it's easy for me to forget if I've read something or not. It's the important (to me) books I seem to remember.

[papayahed]

When you need help with a word who do you ask? Ask that person how they know what that word means. I bet they're going to say either I've been there done that, I had to look up words in a dictionary or, they asked someone when they were younger. Well what are you waiting for?

I just look it up in the dictionary myself.

I can't think of any books that have had a profound effect on me.:(

[SleepyWitch]

I can't think of any books that have had a profound effect on me.:(

me neither. but maybe that's a good thing :) shows we're immune against propaganda and brainwashing.
hahah, I don't mean to say that books are propaganda, of course.

[*Classic*Charm*]

shows we're immune against propaganda and brainwashing.
hahah, I don't mean to say that books are propaganda, of course.

interesting thought, but does it also mean that you're immune to insight? I obviously don't mean to offend, but I think the point of a book is not to sway the reader to the author's opinion, but offer insight into the author's mind and therefore the mind of another human being, and isn't that what everyone wants? To know how others think and feel?

[SleepyWitch]

heehee, yep, I guess I'm pretty immune to insight :) I'm still as arrogant and self-centred as I was the day I was born :)

haahaahaa. nah, seriously, when it comes to books, I can identify with almost any character.. at least I don't have any major trouble accepting them even if I don't understand them 100%. so probably I've had some insights but I didn't realize it myself :)

[ballb]

Very few books make the sort of impression on me that you have in mind. In that very limited list I would include the "Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" by Robert Tressell. It is a book that is stunning in its simplicity and profoundity. I would also add "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" to be read back-to-back with "De Profundis" by Oscar Wilde. Never has despair been so eloquently described.

[loe]

There are two books that told and still tell me something (or everything?) about the innermost part of the human being:
"Notes from the underground" by Dostoyevsky - a very terrifying look into the mirror.
"In Searching for Lost Time" by Proust - in my point of view the best substitute for a whole study of psychology.;)

An another very important book for me is "Walden" by Thoreau - I learned that life could be really precious and everyone can chose his/hers own way of living.

There are lots of other books and authors that impressed me (e.g. Emerson, Sartre, H. Miller), but I think these three are the most important.

Greetings

[*Classic*Charm*]

heehee, yep, I guess I'm pretty immune to insight :) I'm still as arrogant and self-centred as I was the day I was born :)


Haha Sleepy. You don't strike me as self-centred at all.

[Bakiryu]

I just look it up in the dictionary myself.

I can't think of any books that have had a profound effect on me.:(

Have you read: The Book Thief? Or Night? Or Dawn?

[papayahed]

Have you read: The Book Thief? Or Night? Or Dawn?

Nope. Perhaps that's why.

Don't get me wrong, there have been books that made me think, even broaden my horizons but nothing that has made me change my views.

[BlueSkyGB]

The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
Although I do not, at this moment, practice one faith over another...
this book really makes me think...:)

[Timur]

Siddhartha by Hermann Hess

[Virgil]

As much as I've read I can't say any single book has changed my life. I will say that Faulkner has been very profound to me, and D.H. Lawrence somewhat, and perhaps Joseph Conrad.

[jon1jt]

i've mentioned my favorites elsewhere so no sense in repeating them here. others that come to mind are:

Drinking the Rain, Alix Kates Shulman
Eric Sloane books, esp. The Diary of Noah
House by the Sea, May Sarton
On Grammatology/Dissemination, J. Derrida
Empathy, Edith Stein
The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt
Nature & Spirit, Robert Corrington

[Lullaby]

Have you read a book which changed your life, and if so, why?

For me, it's Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. This book made me really aware of the destruction and downfall of society around me. Clay (the protagonist) is my anti-hero and embodies so much of how I too feel and think.

Also, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, and Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk; for the simple reason I could not relate to the protagonists in both of these novels (Esther Greenwood and Shannon McFarland) if I tried.

[Paulclem]

One book that changed my view of life was To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. It was the stream of consciousness that gave a new template to the internal dialogue. It seemed to be a more authentic representation of the inner workings of an individual.

[Three Sparrows]

The Shack, by William P. Young.
I was very deeply moved, there has been no other book that has changed my life so much. I would recommend it to everyone.

[Manchegan]

For me, it would have to be Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I don't entirely accept her ideas, and I think the book itself was barely above mediocre, but no other book has so drastically challenged my beliefs.

I used to be aggressively liberal, but now I find myself agreeing with conservatives more and more. Greed is virtuous, and welfare is armed robbery. I can't argue with her there. Atlas Shrugged transformed me from a bright eyed anarcho communist, to a cynical anarcho-individualist.

[DanielBenoit]

One notable book would be James Joyce's Ulysses.

I remember starting it in the early morning as I watched the sun rise on the beach. I remember reading Stephen Dedulas's thoughts while walking along the shore in chapter three, realizing that I was doing the same thing.

And after finishing Molly's epic soliloquy that I had went outside, and after being infiltrated by those words, my mind was racing and I just felt ultra-sensitive. It was like no other feeling in the world.

[sinjinjoe]

The book that changed my life was carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World. A great way to look at the world with a skeptical eye.

[stlukesguild]

I used to be aggressively liberal, but now I find myself agreeing with conservatives more and more. Greed is virtuous, and welfare is armed robbery. I can't argue with her there. Atlas Shrugged transformed me from a bright eyed anarcho communist, to a cynical anarcho-individualist.

So where wee you when I was being vilified on the Oxford-Cambridge thread... in spite of the fact that my own political views lean far more to the left than the right... for daring to suggest that there may be something inherently wrong with the notion that everyone is entitled to a share of what labor hard for? Further on this topic, my daughter in New York sent me the following:

I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes, and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to earn that pay check, I work hard. At any time I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem. HOWEVER, what I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Understand - I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their a**, drink beer and smoke dope. Could you imagine how much money this country would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

Hmmm???

[stlukesguild]

By the way... if there were a book or books that changed my life they most certainly must include Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal and J.L. Borges' Labyrinths. Just why will need to wait until I'm not so drunk.:goof::p

[JuniperWoolf]

As much as I've read I can't say any single book has changed my life. I will say that Faulkner has been very profound to me, and D.H. Lawrence somewhat, and perhaps Joseph Conrad.

Yeah, Conrad was a big one for me too. I've always thought that there was something inside of people that we didn't have a name for, and Heart of Darkness was the first time that I'd heard it mentioned in print (because how can you write about something that doesn't have a name?). That was probably the best book that I've read up until now concerning humanity itself.


I used to be aggressively liberal, but now I find myself agreeing with conservatives more and more. Greed is virtuous, and welfare is armed robbery. I can't argue with her there. Atlas Shrugged transformed me from a bright eyed anarcho communist, to a cynical anarcho-individualist.

Maybe you're just becoming an old man.


Just why will need to wait until I'm not so drunk.:goof::p

:lol:

[WICKES]

Philip Larkin's Collected Poems. In him I found someone expressing my own conclusions about life- made me feel less alone.

Aldous Huxley's early novels, especially Chrome Yellow and Those Barren Leaves. His descriptions of the ultra sophisticated, urbane English (or British) upper classes gave me a glimpse of truly sophisticated, civilised conversation.

Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. That was the first time I fell in love with the beauty of language and learnt to appreciate a novel for that alone.

[Emil Miller]

Maybe you're just becoming an old man. :lol:

Maybe he is but it's pretty much an accepted fact of life that that 'The older you get, the wiser you get.'

[Paulclem]

Maybe he is but it's pretty much an accepted fact of life that that 'The older you get, the wiser you get.'

So where does the phrase "no fool like an old fool" come from? You only have to look around to see plenty of old fools giving the young fools a run for their money.

[Manchegan]

Maybe you're just becoming an old man.



:lol:

I freaking hope not. I'm much too young to be old.

...not that old folks are bad, but I was hoping I'd be at least 30 before anyone accused me of becoming an old man.

[susan_p]

Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. That was the first time I fell in love with the beauty of language and learnt to appreciate a novel for that alone.

I need to re-read this, it's been far too long!

[Paulclem]

I freaking hope not. I'm much too young to be old.

It's not looking good Manchegan, but at least you are using the word freakin'.That gives you yoof potential. :lol:

By the way, are you familiar with Victor Meldrew?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9cR8OTkcdo

[Emil Miller]

Maybe he is but it's pretty much an accepted fact of life that that 'The older you get, the wiser you get.'

So where does the phrase "no fool like an old fool" come from? You only have to look around to see plenty of old fools giving the young fools a run for their money.

The old fools are the exception that underline the rule. Hence the expression.

[Mr Endon]

The quiet madness of
Kafka's short stories and his novella The Metamorphosis
and
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Murphy and Watt
had quite an impact on me. Before that,
Orwell's 1984 (especially the appendix on 'Newspeak', for me the very best part of the novel)

[Paulclem]

The old fools are the exception that underline the rule. Hence the expression.

Good one.

[meh!]

I used to be aggressively liberal, but now I find myself agreeing with conservatives more and more. Greed is virtuous, and welfare is armed robbery. I can't argue with her there. Atlas Shrugged transformed me from a bright eyed anarcho communist, to a cynical anarcho-individualist.

So where wee you when I was being vilified on the Oxford-Cambridge thread... in spite of the fact that my own political views lean far more to the left than the right... for daring to suggest that there may be something inherently wrong with the notion that everyone is entitled to a share of what labor hard for? Further on this topic, my daughter in New York sent me the following:


Having an argument isn't vilification. Not to bring it up again though as apparently we're not allowed to discuss politics...




Anyway, book that changed my life...

hmm...

Gombrich's 'The story of art' if I'm honest. Picked it up randomly one day a couple of years ago and it literally opened up a whoe new world I hadn't even considered. Doing an english lit/history of art degree now. So yeah, that had a pretty lasting effect. Hah.

[mal4mac]

The Philosophy of Schopenhauer by Bryan Magee - and Schopenhauer's own works, but this is a good place to start. Also many writers in his vein, including Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Conrad, Hardy, stoics, Epicurus,...

[Homers_child]

Hmm. Can't really think of too many at the moment.

Macbeth by Shakespeare changed the way I looked at good literature. Meaning, I gained an appreciation for it. I no longer walked into the teen section in the bookstore because of it. Basically after my whole English Lit. class I felt sickened by the teen books that were on my shelf, I couldn't take the simplicity and cliches any longer. I just remember being blown away by that play.

Hmm... 1984 would be a biggie. It really changed my perception of the world around me. I'm a lot more attuned to what's controlled around me and the use of language by the government. Also made me a little paranoid. :lol:

[FoghornBellows]

I often hear an individual claim that a novel changed his or her life. However, he or she rarely explains how or why it changed his or her life.
What is a novel that "changed your life," why did it do so, and how?

[Red-Headed]

If I had to name one book that changed my life I would go for Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment. Why? Because it introduced me to that author & then years of studying him, his novels, his fascinating ideas & many other Russian novelists including Tolstoy, Turgenev & Gogol.

[DanielBenoit]

Ulysses, as I've always said, everything I read afterwards was different. Words were just never the same to me.

[Balak]

I don't really know. I think all books change my life in some way or another.

[IceM]

Slaughter-House 5 just reinforced my belief that life is filled with insequential events, yet has enough sequential events to deceive most people.

Dante's Inferno is making me think though, whether or not it's too late for mankind to redeem themselves now.

[Veva]

Hey,
well I would go for Paulo Coelho... I know, I know... how people say that you get tired of Coelho and maybe it's true, maybe not {won't discuss it here}... but his book Veronika decides to die changed my life.... :p made me a much happier person...

[Red-Headed]

About eight years ago I bought the original 1979 edition of The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction edited by Peter Nicholls (Granada) from a local library. They were having a sale of old books. This was a 'reference book only' originally & probably because of that it was in excellent condition. When I first saw it I thought it would just be a load of old Klingons & Daleks or something equally bad. In fact it is an incredibly academic work & apart from the fact that it is thirty years out of date is still a valuable reference book. It introduced me to many authors & critics so I nominate it as a book that changed the way I look at a lot of things.

[Barbarous]

certainly the works of Joyce have completely altered me. My first European novel I had ever read was A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I soon after moved into Ulysses and Finngeans Wake. the latter two have now influenced me more so than Portrait, but I feel indebted to Portrait. As of right now, I've read Ulysses twice, and Finnegans Wake once and a half times, I'm so close to that second! I have not limited myself to James Joyce's works, here's a couple that have had a considerable amount of impact on my life:

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Sterne
The Recognitions by William Gaddis
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Ficciones by Borges
The Waves by Virginia Woolf

of course the collected works of such poets and philosophers as Wallace Stevens, Yeats, Nietzsche, Donne, Kant & Hegel (I'm certain I'm close to comprehending these colossus giants),

[DanielBenoit]

certainly the works of Joyce have completely altered me. My first European novel I had ever read was A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I soon after moved into Ulysses and Finngeans Wake. the latter two have now influenced me more so than Portrait, but I feel indebted to Portrait. As of right now, I've read Ulysses twice, and Finnegans Wake once and a half times, I'm so close to that second! I have not limited myself to James Joyce's works, here's a couple that have had a considerable amount of impact on my life:

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Sterne
The Recognitions by William Gaddis
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Ficciones by Borges
The Waves by Virginia Woolf

of course the collected works of such poets and philosophers as Wallace Stevens, Yeats, Nietzsche, Donne, Kant & Hegel (I'm certain I'm close to comprehending these colossus giants),

Wow, we have a lot of the same tastes. And we are obviously both dedicated Joyce fans ;)

[JuniperWoolf]

I don't really know. I think all books change my life in some way or another.

Mhmm, I dig that. It's like a build up. Not stationary, then one big change, then stationary again... more a bunch of constant little changes. The Grapes of Wrath hit me pretty hard though, and I wouldn't be who I am today if my fifth grade teacher hadn't read us The Secret Garden.

Oh, and then there's The Swamp Thing saga, the ones written by Allan Moore. I was really affected.

Oh yeah, and the second time that I read Heart of Darkness was pretty revolutionary (I didn't think much of it the first time I read it).

[stlukesguild]

Books that changed my life...? I see I haven't posted a real answer to this as of yet. I think that there must be a number of such books:

Baudelaire- Les Fleurs du Mal- As I high-school student I dutifully read all the poetry assigned... and continued to do the same in college... but this book is really the one that turned me seriously on to poetry. Baudelaire was someone I discovered on my own (not required reading) and I found him immediately seductive... laden with dark imagery, eroticism, dangerous seductresses, a blurring of the senses, a mastery of form and a daring use of the same.

Dante- The Comedia- This work left be simply stunned. It was... and continues to be... the greatest single piece of literature I have ever read. I was simply overwhelmed by the mastery of form, the wealth of characters, narratives, history, philosophy, and theology that were explored. I was enthralled by the variety of language and style as the author moved from the sulfurous pit of hell to the wonder of heaven that virtually surpasses the ability of human language and results in the most eloquent and visionary poetry.

Kafka- The Short Stories and J.L. Borges- Labyrinths (and absolutely everything else)- I came to both of these writers with a certain expectations... and in both instances these were not met. I expected something more blatantly surrealist... rooted in the senses... establishing a clear sense of atmosphere. In other words... with a certain concept of Surrealism I expected an dark, sensual, "gothic" atmosphere ala Poe or Baudelaire with the dream-like unreality of Dali. I got none of this... but for some reason... in both instances... the writing slowly worked its way under my skin until it completely seduced me. Both writers opened me up to an endless array of other works of literature: Julio Cortazar, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Tomasso Landolfi, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, John Barth, Donald Barthleme, Lawrence Sterne, DeQuincy, The Arabian Nights, etc... They also led to a dramatic re-thinking of many other writers and works of literature: Robert Burton, Cervantes, Jonathan Swift, the Book of Job, etc... Both authors opened me up to the appreciation of a sort of dark, dead-pan humor, a playfulness with ideas taken to their logical... albeit absurd... extremes, an ability to laugh at the absurdities of modern life, an appreciation of a sort of clean, simply prose, a fascination with the blurring of genres and forms (prose and fiction, history and science fiction, criticism and short stories, etc...), and an appreciation for the truncated and fragmentary.

William Blake- Collected Poetry and Prose- Blake is another who stunned me. As with Borges and Kafka I found myself discovering something far different in Blake than what I had expected considering his reputation as a "lunatic" and what I had already come to know of the other Romantic poets. As a visual artist I was (and continue to be) absolutely enthralled with his efforts to combine the notions of the book as a work of visual art (ala the medieval illuminated manuscripts) with the book as the means of the transmission of text. Blake insisted... 100s of years after Gutenberg had effectively killed the hand-made book in which everything from the binding, the scale, the imagery, the writing/calligraphy down to the choice of paper were carefully considered... that all of these elements... were essential to the readers experience. This alone would have made him an essential figure in my own personal pantheon... but to this we must add the brilliance and originality of his imagery and paintings (made for books), and his visionary poetry in which he nearly achieved his oft stated goal of inventing his own system rather than living under that of another man's.

Considering Blake... I must say that the illuminated manuscripts... especially The Book of Kells, The Lindesfarne Gospels, The Tres Riches Heurs of the Limbourg Brothers, and the Shanameh of Tabriz changes my life as a visual artist through the masterful merger of my two great loves: art and books. These works have inspired my continued fascination with the book as a physical and visual object. The Celtic books especially challenged my expectations with regard to art and opened me up to an appreciation of abstraction. All of these books continue to impact my own artistic efforts to a greater or lesser degree.

Lawrence Sterne- The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman- This book was another mind-blowing experience. James Joyce was nothing after Sterne... an also-ran coming 100s of years later. Sterne was virtually there at the very birth of the novel as an art form and (much like Cervantes) he has the audacity to literally deconstruct the very mechanics of this new art form from the very beginning. Long, rambling, digressions; setting himself up as an omniscient narrator of his own life and then describing events he could not possibly have known about in such detail (such as his own comic conception), blank pages, end-sheets and dedications placed half-way through the novel, variety of letter forms, pages left blank in which the reader is expected to fill in the missing "delicate" bits from his own imagination... all of this could have resulted in a mere exotic novelty... but it is all held together through the strength of the narration and the creation of the brilliant characters... especially the author's father and Uncle Toby who stand (again, alongside Cervante's Don Quixote) as one of the finest examples of friendship ever rendered in literature.

[Red-Headed]

Did I forget to mention the Beano annual?

[Etienne]

Lawrence Sterne- The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman- This book was another mind-blowing experience. James Joyce was nothing after Sterne... an also-ran coming 100s of years later. Sterne was virtually there at the very birth of the novel as an art form and (much like Cervantes) he has the audacity to literally deconstruct the very mechanics of this new art form from the very beginning. Long, rambling, digressions; setting himself up as an omniscient narrator of his own life and then describing events he could not possibly have known about in such detail (such as his own comic conception), blank pages, end-sheets and dedications placed half-way through the novel, variety of letter forms, pages left blank in which the reader is expected to fill in the missing "delicate" bits from his own imagination... all of this could have resulted in a mere exotic novelty... but it is all held together through the strength of the narration and the creation of the brilliant characters... especially the author's father and Uncle Toby who stand (again, alongside Cervante's Don Quixote) as one of the finest examples of friendship ever rendered in literature.

Not that I want to diminish Sterne's achievements or works (I absolutely love his Tristram Shandy) but Sterne did not come out of the blue, but in fact is probably the pinnacle of decades of experimentation with the novel form. And before that, Cervantes, Rabelais, Swift, etc. were already "ahead of our times". It seems like the "canonical" rigidity of the novel form really came with the 19th century and that the 20th century merely rediscovered or reinvented the wheel.

[bluesun777]

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

[Kevets]

I have a much less impressive list, but the criteria was "life-changing."

In 2nd grade, I checked out a Sherlock Holmes anthology. The school librarian tried to convince me to leave it for an older child who could understand it. I dug my heels in (life lesson number 1) and read it while my mother was cooking. I would ask her every 10th word, and she would patiently explain each to me. I distinctly remember "prophylactic" making her blush a bit, so I knew there was deeper nuance to this word. So today, I can trace my love of vocabulary to Sir Arthur.

In Junior High I read Shogun. That led me to study Japanese in college. That in an involved but direct way led to me meeting my wife (of 28 years now). So Shogun certainly changed my life.

[Lynne50]

I work in a library and am working right now,( don't tell anyone I'm on Litnet) and a book just came across my desk. It's called The Book That Changed My Life, edited by Roxanne Coady and Joy Johannessen. Copyright 2006

This book lists 71 writers that celebrate the books that matter most to them.

Just thought I'd share this title.

[Taliesin]

I might pile a block of serious literature here and say, raising my brow really high, "well, yes, this book gave me a deeper insight to the human soul" etc, but in all honesty, the book that changed my life by giving me a taste of the high art that I am now a humble student of would be:
"The Number Devil" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Number_Devil)
I remember quite well the moment when I was sick while eleven years old and my father bringing my some books from the library. And it got me hooked. It felt like hearing real music for the first time in your life when all musical you have heard previously are just scales and, what's worse, they claim that scales are real music.
I do think that this book was really influential in my life.

[maddystewart]

The obvious one would be 1984. I don't think anybody who reads this can really help but see the world differently.

In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje was really a big one for me. It also turned me on to The English Patient, also by Ondaatje, which remains one of my favourites to this day. Really everything by Ondaatje captures the essence of the human condition, and translates it in a way that is poetic beyond belief.

In terms of non-fiction, A People's History of the United States was THE definitive book which really interested me in both history and politics and bridged the gap between ignorant youth and conscientious young adult-hood.

[marcolfo]

100 years of solitud

it was as if i was dreaming the entire time i was reading it.

[Red-Headed]

100 years of solitud

it was as if i was dreaming the entire time i was reading it.

Have you read 'Love in the Time of Cholera' or 'The General in His Labyrinth'?

[purplybob]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41DTR5F1CYL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

[CaptainHatteras]

I feel that every book that I've read has enriched my perspective on life in one way or another.

[Red-Headed]

I've been thinking about what books have genuinely really changed my life since looking at this thread. I think Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land was one of them. I read it when I was a teenager, not long after I had left school. I believe it has made me think more about language & different cultures in general. Well, I grok (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok) language better now, I think... :alien:

[Scheherazade]

I've been thinking about what books have genuinely really changed my life since looking at this thread. I think Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land was one of them. This is one of the most disappointing books I have ever read. I felt like Heinlein sat down and penned his daydreams... And in a rather sexist fashion too.

[Red-Headed]

This is one of the most disappointing books I have ever read. I felt like Heinlein sat down and penned his daydreams... And in a rather sexist fashion too.

Well, I was very young when I read it. I know exactly what you mean though. It is still a classic of the genre however. It may not be The Brothers Karamazov & I am pretty sure I wouldn't have agreed with much of Heinlein's politics but it left a profound effect on my young mind. It is a product of its time I suppose.

[baddad]

At the tender age of 15 years old (a trite, as I'm infrequently described as 'tender') I received as a gift a 5 book set of American writer Kurt Vonnegut's satirical tales. A perspective is a reality. Vonnegut's views opened my eyes to a world never before seen, a world greatly in need of explaining! I have expected and demanded explanations ever since..........for the world is a fully complicated and fascinating place.......

[Dinkleberry2010]

There are three books that have altered my perspective: Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground, Robert Nathan's Portrait Of Jennie, and Daniel Keyes' Flowers For Algernon.

[Lit.Rox]

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood is really good. You might find it a bit slow in the beginning but once it gets going, its good.

[Red-Headed]

After more thought, I am firmly convinced Patrick Tilley's Mission has had a profound impact on me. Predominantly because the book is such a clever premise & often hilariously funny whilst often being quite profound. Plus it has one of the cleverest endings I have ever seen in a novel. It is one of the handful of novels in English that I have read more than three times (it is not uncommon for me to read multiple translations of novels that were originally written in a language other than English).

[marcolfo]

Have you read 'Love in the Time of Cholera' or 'The General in His Labyrinth'?
and chronic of a death foretold, and leafstorm, and memories of my melancolich whores, and (la triste y tragica historia de la candida erendira y su abuela desalmada) sorry about the spanish, i just like the title better that way, anyway almost every book Gabo has wrote.
Note that I said almost.

[Red-Headed]

and chronic of a death foretold, and leafstorm, and memories of my melancolich whores, and (la triste y tragica historia de la candida erendira y su abuela desalmada) sorry about the spanish, i just like the title better that way, anyway almost every book Gabo has wrote.
Note that I said almost.

I've read a fair few of his short stories. 'Solitude' 'Cholera' & 'General' are great novels though! I look forward to reading others.

[marcolfo]

I've read a fair few of his short stories. 'Solitude' 'Cholera' & 'General' are great novels though! I look forward to reading others.



you should read Juan Rulfo. he was a mexican writer also considered one of the greatest in magical realism , Garcia Marquez was greatly influenced by his work. May I recomend 'Burning plain' and 'Pedro Paramo' .

[Red-Headed]

you should read Juan Rulfo. he was a mexican writer also considered one of the greatest in magical realism , Garcia Marquez was greatly influenced by his work. May I recomend 'Burning plain' and 'Pedro Paramo' .

OK, thanks. The name, like Borges, is familiar to me & I know a little bit about them but I have only really read Marquez. I'll get around to Rulfo!

[Theunderground]

By a million miles Hamlet was the most mindblowing and complete piece of literature i have ever read.

[Mr.lucifer]

Why do those old theads keep getting resurrected?

[ChicagoReader]

The Power of One was probably the first book that really struck me on a personal note and inspired me to keep reading. Also, Siddhartha was very enlightening.

[WyattGwyon]

With the understanding that "books that changed my life" are not necessarily the best ones I have read:

The Recognitions by William Gaddis
The Brothers Karamazov (Really I should just say all of Dostoyevsky's novels more or less equally)
The Lord of the Rings
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

I take it back. The novels listed above really are among the best things of their kind I have read. The Recognitions is my all-time favorite of the bunch.

[Vonny]

:nod: The Women's Room. oh boy. Read it at 18. Come to think of it, that book is probably the reason I'm not married ...and won't be making that mistake any time soon.

[Trollzane]

Thanks to a book called The sword of Shannara. ever since i read that my thought patterns and way of thinking while writing have been different. The book also raised my expectations of all other books. =P

[Gregory Samsa]

"The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Changed my political ideology.

[chipper]

my list is rather predictable but these are some of the first books i read as a child and if it wasn't for these ones, i would have never found the joy of reading:

1) Little Prince
2) To Kill a Mockingbird
3) Catcher In The Rye
4) Centennial by James Michener
5) Dragonlance series