"Omg! That book changed my life!"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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?

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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....

qu'ran,......

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

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

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?"

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?

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.

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...;) ;)

"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 )

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 ;)

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

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Originally Posted by grace86

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

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I can't wait to visit Russia:D

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.

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Originally Posted by bazarov

I can't wait to visit Russia:D

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Here here baz! ;)

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)

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Originally Posted by Quark

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

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

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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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)

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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!

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

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!"

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Originally Posted by Quark

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.

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Originally Posted by bazarov

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

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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.)

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Originally Posted by chaplin

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

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

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.

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)

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...)

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

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.

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.

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)

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

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

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)

Sidartha...
ere..I slept

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.

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.