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Books that changed your life

Neo Genesis

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The Once and Future King: Helped me set an ideal for myself as a kid. Just recently reread it a few months ago, and has helped me start to find myself again.

Chronicles of Narnia and Just So Stories: First books I remember liking. I wasn't a big Seuss fan.

The Bible: Set off a seven and a half year journey where my faith faltered, faded, and then resurfaced, albeit in a different light.

Animal farm and Harrison Bergeron: Helped me establish my political views.
 

plaguerat

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Please add any books that changed your outlook/philosophy on life.

1. The Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

3. The Universe in a Nutshell - Steven Hawking

Loved Brave New World, also 1984 on a similar note.

however.
1. Watchmen/ V for Vendetta (similar effect, different content)
2. the ending of We the Living/ Ayn Rand
3. Voices of A People's History of the UNnted States of America/ Howard Zinn
 

Lexicon

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Please add any books that changed your outlook/philosophy on life.

(Early adulthood) The Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu.

(Adolescence) Anthem - Ayn Rand.

(Childhood) The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
& IT - Stephen King.

(Early Childhood) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - I can't recall the author. :D
 

wolfy

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The War of Art-Steven Pressfield
Tao de Ching-Lao Tzu
The Creative Habit-Twyla Thap
Mastery-George Leonard
 

Mole

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"The Wind in the Willows", and, "Doonesbury".

I love, "The Wind in the Willows".

For my friends - Mole, the Water Rat, Toad, Badger, Otter and young Portly are always with me.

And every time the wind plays in the willows, I can hear the pipes of Pan.

And as the leaves turn to gold, I hear the call of the South.

But on a more practical level, I read the Business Section of, "The Australian", newspaper every day for the cartoon called, "Doonesbury".

And I find it is not so much a cartoon as a guide to life.
 

forzen

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Animorph series,

It was the first science fiction stories I've read and what got me into books at age 10.

A song of ice and fire series ruined every fantasy novels I've read, because none of the latter ever matched up to the epic scales Ice and Fire has built.
 

JustHer

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Animorph series,

It was the first science fiction stories I've read and what got me into books at age 10.

A song of ice and fire series ruined every fantasy novels I've read, because none of the latter ever matched up to the epic scales Ice and Fire has built.

Woooow animorphs was amazing! It really got me reading
 

forzen

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Woooow animorphs was amazing! It really got me reading

Haha, yah it was an amazing series from what i remember. Although i didn't finish it since I got caught into the Dragonlance series.

Raistlin was my hero when I was in high school lol :devil:.
 

ayoitsStepho

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The Chronicals of Narnia really set my interest in bigger book reading at 10.
I remember I read all 7 books in that week. I was just so set on finishing it.

I also think that any book by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker seem to really change my views on life and spirituality. I love those two authors.

Ted Dekkers, "Red" "Black" and "White" series really opened my eyes.
The same with Frank Peretti's "The Oath" and "This Present Darkness"
 

demimondaine

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- dr. seuss's hop on pop was my first
- never big into harry potter, but really dug a series of unfortunate events.. never read the last few though.
- a clockwork orange
- the bell jar, as a sad wee thing
- tropic of cancer
- beautiful losers by leonard cohen. had avoided it previously cos i didn't like the title.. big mistake, really dig
 

neptunesnet

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Ahhh, books :wubbie:.

I believe every one I've read has had some meaning, or impact, in my life. However, if I had to choose a life-changing moment in the whole of my reading history, I'd say when I picked up my first Dr. Seuss book at age five and my first Orwell book at about eleven. The latter turned me into "serious adult" reading. It was all over for me at that point.

More recently, I read Color: A Natural History of Palette by Victoria Finlay, and that book definitely changed my perception on a few things :yes:.
 

Polaris

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In however small a way, every book I've read has somehow changed my life. I could mention many, I could mention a dozen, but instead I'll mention a couple. They are Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which introduced me to philosophy, and Being and Nothingness, which was the sneeze (if I may use such a word for that masterpiece) that lead to an avalanche. To those I will add another couple: Harry Potter, which brought my fondness for books to a new level, and the Bible, simply because I grew up in a religious home and live in a culture shaped by that book.

The Chronicals of Narnia really set my interest in bigger book reading at 10.
I remember I read all 7 books in that week. I was just so set on finishing it.
I remember loving those books at that age, but then my parents made me stop reading them because they were "Satanic." (Oh the irony.)
 

ayoitsStepho

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I remember loving those books at that age, but then my parents made me stop reading them because they were "Satanic." (Oh the irony.)

Seriously? Those are the least 'satanic' books ever. How sad :hug:
Those books spurred my imagination. :wubbie:
 

Lux

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All of these had a different impact, I love them all.

Shibumi *such a good book*
The Old Man and the Sea
Slaughterhouse Five
Moving Toward Stillness
 

hokie912

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Okay...I had to think about this for a while, and ultimately decided to include only books that changed my life, as in very significantly shaped the person that I am today. With that in mind:

Stonewords: A Ghost Story by Pam Conrad
This is the first book I ever remember being completely enthralled with. I remember staying up all night to read it cover-to-cover and being chilled and saddened both by the fate of the main character's best friend. I would count this and Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising as the most influential books in my childhood.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Reading Jane Eyre in middle school marks the first time I was truly enchanted by a fictional romance. I remember being in chills and crying while reading Jane's breakdown ("Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you.") and Mr. Rochester's proposal. A lifelong love of fictional romances ensued.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
This series will always hold a special place in my heart, but I consider it "life-changing" primarily because my interest in the Harry Potter books got me involved in internet culture. I met several very close friends through Harry Potter message boards and chatrooms. I still think that Ms. Rowling crafted some of the best-plotted books I've ever read, whether intended for children or adults.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The excesses, the tragedy...

1984 by George Orwell
I think the thing I most took from reading 1984 in high school was an appreciation for the power of written and spoken language: particularly the idea that restricting our way of expressing thoughts actually restricts the way we think. I was fascinated by the way that society phased out dissent and the younger generation had no recollection of what it was like to be free. The ending is also very affecting.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I read this in college, and I've rarely felt such an instinctive connection with a novel. It contrasts the fragility of human life with the enduring power of familial love. It's one of the only books that has made me cry every time I've read it. Reading this book shifted, in some small but significant way, the way I view people in my life and value connecting with people.
 
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