"Omg! That book changed my life!"

[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 (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!

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!

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