which book influenced you greatly?

Wild at Heart helped me so much... I am a completely diferent person.

And the Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings

Especially by Confucius, Laozi,and Sakyamuni.

All the books by John Fowles:
"The Aristos"
"The Magus"
"The Collector"
"A Maggot"

Many Shakespeare's plays but especially:
"Othello"
"Hamlet"
"King John"

W. Somereset Maugham:
"Of Human Bondage"

Charles Dickens
"Great Expectations"

Agatha Christie
"The Mystery of King's Abbot" ("The Murder of Roger Ackroyd")

E.L. Doctorow
"Ragtime"

William Makepeace Thackeray,
"Vanity Fair"

John Updike
"Couples"

Lawrence Sterne
"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman"

Other than the Bible, Jane Eyre, in particular Jane's independance and sense of her own identity were really important for me at the time I first read it.

the bible? are you people insane???

books-

the catcher in the rye
animal farm
the odyssey

Even though I'm not religious, let alone Christian, I can see what importance and influence the Bible as a text would have in a religious person's life. The Bible to a Christian is like the Complete Works of William Shakespeare to a lover of literature, at least that's how I think so.

It'd be okay to choose the Bible as a book that influenced one greatly, as opposed to the Bible as the greatest work of literature ever written?
Apparently it's a pretty good read, as well.

Thank you Munro! As a christian, the Bible is the number one book in my life and it is "a pretty good read." Song of Soloman is probably the most beautiful love poem I have ever read, and the book of Job is an amazing story of faithfullness no matter what happens. (I couldn't imagine going through what Job went through!)

The books that influenced me most were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and My Antonia by Willa Cather. And I can't forget The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein which was one of my favorites as a kid.[/u]

The Left Behind series influenced me greatly in all ways of life. I'm a Christian, but this series isn't just for religious readers. It has a lot of suspense and it took up my time, in a good way, for a while since there are, I think, 10 books in the series. I strongly recommend reading them. The first book in the series is called Left Behind and the authors are Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.;) :)

The Outcast (L'Etranger) by Albert Camus. I read it when I was 19, perhaps that was too early.

Oscar Wilde's "De Profundis".

I also like "The Simple Soul" by Flaubert. I don't know why.

Recently - "April Witch" by Majgull Axelsson (Sweden).

a book that has greatly influenced my life? There is only one book like that for me, one which has changed who i am inside, that i believe would be called "The Wounded Spirit"- By Frank Peretti . It brought me to tears, not only because of the cruelty depicted, but because it was a true story.
~T.Phoenix

All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren and Catch-22 have greatly influenced me. I love both the books and would recommend them to nearly anyone.

Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms and Black Hawk Down have mildly inflenced me...

Fathers and Sons and Crime and PUnishment nearly made me nausiated of reading to the point of abandoning it... but I got over it.

For me it's actually The Diary of Anne Frank. I was Anne's age when I first read it, and maybe that's why it left such a mark in me. It's one of the few books I actually own. (I don't buy books when I can check it out for free from the library. :p) It's also one book I would reread and reread again. (I'm being redundant, but oh well.)

"The Lord of the Rings"
fairy-tales written by Andersen
"1984"
"The Waves"
and many poems :)