Books that changed your life

[curmudgeon]

Changed my life? Probably not. Affected the way I think and look at life? Yes, definitely.

The Miracle of Mindfulness - Thich Nhat Hanh
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
The Art of Loving - Erich Fromm
Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Lots more, I am sure. Too early to think.

[Cerpin_Taxt]

Anna Karenina.
The Death of Ivan Illyich.
Crime and Punishment.
The Brothers Karamazov.
Notes from Underground.
Siddartha.
1984.
The Age of Reason.
Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Beyond Good and Evil.
Geneology of Morals.
The Prince.
Hamlet.
Blood Meridian.
Suttree.

[Natrushka]

There have been books all my life that have had enormous impact on me. I love books; I love the writen word. Lately, there have been two (lately being the last few months).

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works (Evelyn Tribole, Elyse Resch)
The Schwarzbein Principle II, The Transition (Dr. S)

[wildcat]

You read these things at 5 and 7?

Fine. I read Caunterbury Tales in the 6th grade. *hairflip*

Seriously-- you must've been a pretty advanced kid. I was a remarkable reader but I was still on Little House and Nancy Drew at 7.

As for the thread topic, I've been changed by many books. Many have already been mentioned in this thread. The bible, yes. Maybe not for the reasons people might think. Frederick Douglass's autobiography helped me to shake off the vestiges of racism I was brought up with. And A Wrinkle In Time and Ender's Game introduced me to sci-fi, NF style.

Also, I read a book a few years ago that I've carried with me since: Children of the Self-Absorbed, which helped me in the way that cafe said her boundaries book helped her. My parents and in-laws can be difficult to get along with and it has helped to know where I end and they begin.

It is good that you mentioned Frederick Douglass.

You said it helped you to be free of racial prejudice.

I never suffered of it because I was brought up in Europe in a bohemian liberal family.

Even then the book altered my thinking.

I have read also other books written by former slaves.
All these books have the same theme. Power.

Racism and slavery, as well as sexual prejudice are about power.

Frederick Douglass gives an account of a mistress who was initially kind to him.
The new mistress never had a slave before. Her first response to the challenge was the natural response.

She had not discovered she had power -yet.

Like a child who has not yet discovered that no one has set boundaries for her.
Then the child makes the discovery.
First she is confused. Then she is afraid.
In the end she has no other alternative but to accept the fact. She has the power.

By acceptance she becomes a tyrant.

[The Ü™]

Mein Kampf, of course.

[Ivy]

It is good that you mentioned Frederick Douglass.

You said it helped you to be free of racial prejudice.

I never suffered of it because I was brought up in Europe in a bohemian liberal family.

Even then the book altered my thinking.

I have read also other books written by former slaves.
All these books have the same theme. Power.

Racism and slavery, as well as sexual prejudice are about power.

Frederick Douglass gives an account of a mistress who was initially kind to him.
The new mistress never had a slave before. Her first response to the challenge was the natural response.

She had not discovered she had power -yet.

Like a child who has not yet discovered that no one has set boundaries for her.
Then the child makes the discovery.
First she is confused. Then she is afraid.
In the end she has no other alternative but to accept the fact. She has the power.

By acceptance she becomes a tyrant.

That's quite a poignant metaphor, wildcat.

[TinyCerebellum]

Some memorable books I've read, in order ...

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Jules Verne - His adventure books sparked my imagination, and they prompted me to start a collection of his titles during my early teens.

Shogun - James Clavell My first introduction to the asian culture. It prompted me to read the rest of his Asian Saga books.

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas Somehow, I identified with the protagonist in a lot of ways when I read this. I also loved Dumas' talent for adventure writing in his Three Musketeers series.

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy It took me a year to finish reading this book, and a lot of patience, but some parts of it were tremendously inspiring in understanding human nature.

The Idiot - Fiodor Dostoievsky This is another book that put a lot of ideas in perspective for me, in terms of human interaction and underlying motives. I highly recommend it.

[ladypinkington]

1.) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (from it I learned that I love to read)

2.) The Boundaries Book (from it I learned when it was okay not to help people)

3.) The Bible (has pretty much shaped my thoughts on morality, etc)

Oh my gosh, it's like you read my mind! Since you've already claimed my top 3 I'll share these,lol, but seriously those are all my top three as well.

The Five Love Languages- taught me how I register feeling loved and accepted and helped me understand why my closest friends are my closest friends- because they speak my love language which is Words of Affirmation and made me aware of knowing my husband's needs in registering love

The Financial Peace University Book-my husband and I went through this before we got married and in 5 years of marriage we have fought about money once- no exaggeration- and that was in the very begininng when we were just starting to budget- have never fought about money ever since that one time I highly recommend it!

Freakonomics- Showed me how fascinating and wonderful economics was and how it can be so creative and funny even and everywhere. I don't know how to really describe it and my experience.

[indigo2020]

"Every book I've read has changed my life. Even if the book doesn't stick with me for the long haul, it's impacting my life at that moment." ~Rajah

This has been my experience as well.

However, some books have made more of an impact than others (for various reasons).

They are:

The Little House on the Prarie Series (first set of books I read at age 7 and made me fall in love with reading)

The Wizard of Oz Series, by Frank Baum (age 9) sparked my imagination and took me to a whole other world

The Phantom Tollbooth, don't remember the author(age 11)

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (age 15) This book sparked a longing to know more about human evolution, anthropology, psychology and history.

Running with Scissors, a memoir (by Augusten Burroughs) - this is one of the best memoirs I have ever read and I have read many. It is humorous, authentic, dry and witty.

I also loved Watership Down, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings series, A Wrinkle in Time, The Belgariad, His Dark Materials (excellent fantasy series).

[GZA]

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Chronicles by Bob Dylan

Those books both just... explode the human spirit and the possibilities of the soul. They both just tear open from freedom, and thats how I want to live...