Books That Changed My Life

[Charlotte Rowan]

Last night in class my prof asked if any of us had ever read a book that changed our life. I hadn't really thought about it before, but right away a couple of them came to me.

Mine are:

The Catcher in the Rye. There's a part in it where he's talking about going to the Natural History Museum on class field trips as a kid, and he talks about how the museum always stays the same. Here's the quote:

Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that, exactly. You'd just be different, that's all. You'ld have an overcoat on this time. Or the kid that was your partner in line the last time had got scarlet fever and you'd have a new partner. Or you'd have a subsitute taking the class, instead of Miss Algletinger. Or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrific fight in the bathroom. Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with a gasoline rainbow in them. I mean you'd be different in some way - I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it.

That really made me realize for the first time how the smallest things can affect our personalities, outlook on life, etc. The smallest moments can change us.

Harry Potter. I read these books as I was transitioning from my late teens to adulthood... I think I read the first one when I was about 17 or so, and now I'm 27. I really feel like many times as I began to take on more responsibility or leave behind the carefree days of living with the parents and having a part-time job, my transition was aided by thinking of the responsibility that Harry and his friends were taking on. The idea in these books of the "choice between what is right and what is easy" also really helped me make a difficult decision last year, about whether to go on strike when I was already in a difficult financial time.

So what about you? Are there books that have changed your life? Which ones, and how so?

[Scotsman]

Of Mice and Men ... awesome!

[Lady Christina de Pond]

of all the books i've put my nose into and curled up with the one that had the most impact on me was Classic Christianity. It really opened my eyes to a lot of truths and the truth set me free.

[Welsh Wench]

To Kill a Mockingbird--poignant and humorous. A wonderful tableau of the Old South.

   Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning.  Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
~~Harper Lee

Forever Amber--a glimpse into the Court of Charles II in Restoration England.

Plantation Trilogy--by Gwen Bristow. It was three novels set in Louisiana spanning after the revolution and up to World War I.

I also forgot the Kent Family Chronicles by John Jakes. If you love American History, then these are the books for you. The book starts out in pre-Revolution Boston with The Bastard.

They didn't change my life but I could read them over and over again.

[Lady Nicolette]

"Bambi."  I'm serious.  Read the original.  Even though I was brought up in an environment that wasn't pro-hunting, this read clinched it for me.  Disney's film version is just pale in comparison.

"The Secret Garden."  What a great story, a young, spoiled girl comes to a huge mansion in Yorkshire after her parents die of cholera in India.  She discovers the secret of the mansion, the young son of the lord, who is bedridden and worried that he will surely die soon.  Add the animal-charmer son of the house cook, throw in a neglected garden behind a secret wall with a locked gate and you have the recipe that the three children concoct to bring the garden back to life and heal the sadness in all of them.  Along the way, they also are able to reach the heart of the lord, who had carried his own sadness of the death of the boy's mother to the point that he was unable to love his son.  A testimony to love conquers all.  *pulls out the kleenex*

Everything by Albert Payson Terhune.  He wrote "Lad A Dog," and many other wonderful books about the collies of Sunnybank farm.  He was one of the first people to suggest that muzzles were inhumane.  Along with him comes Anna Sewell, of course, really one of the first animal rights activists with her gem, "Black Beauty." 

"Fahrenheit 451," by Ray Bradbury.  The idea that people would love books so much that they would risk their lives by becoming living books by memorizing them still haunts me.  So many of his other stories and books are so incredible, he's really in a class by himself. 

Probably almost trite, but "The Hobbit, and "The Lord of The Rings,"  Most of us in here can agree, I'm sure.

I'm sure I'll come up with more, but these come to mind the quickest.

[Whistler Fred]

There are a lot of book that I enjoy, with Lord of the Rings probably at the top.  But as for books that have changed my life I'd say Huxley's "Brave New World." Its horrifying description of a completely controlled and conformist society has been a big influence of much of my social and political ideology.  Also, Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" which describes in chilling detail just how we could end up in such a world as Huxley warned us about. 

I should also add "It's Like This, Cat."  It was one of the first book I ever read as a kid and it helped instill a love of reading that has stayed with me so many years later.

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

I cannot believe I'm beating Molden to the punch on this one, but here goes...


Playboy. 



What?  You knew somebody was going to say it... 


Seriously, I'd have to say Orwell's 1984 and Huxley' Brave New World had a huge impact on my social and political views.

Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five marked the first time I really thought about the concepts of Fate and freewill, and it opened my eyes on both.

Of course, Capt. Johnson's A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates has been an invaluable resource.

[Lady Nicolette]

But, isn't that a magazine??

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

But, isn't that a magazine??

It's got pages! 

[Amyj]

But, isn't that a magazine??

Not if you keep several of them in a binder...WHAT...I'm just sayin'!!! 

I read voraciously...anything and everything...so to narrow it down to one book...wow.  I would have to say, the one book that I have actually called a former english teacher and thanked her for introducing me to is "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles.  I don't know what it is about that book, but it really touches me.

Of course, books that "shaped" me as a child...the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries..."Oh! The Places You'll Go" and the "Birthday" book by Dr. Seus..."Were the Wild Things Are"...the Little House on the Prairie series..."Lord of the Rings" trilogy (oddly, not so much the Hobbit though...go figure).  Hmmm, I sense a theme here...imagination, fantasy, intrigue....no wonder I'm a rennie!!!!

[Lady Nicolette]

But, isn't that a magazine??

It's got pages! 

Indeed, by that loose (all pun intended) definition, I suppose that it could be called a book...

[Sir Ironhead]

But, isn't that a magazine??

It's got pages! 

And only about a tenth of each issue are pictures.

[Welsh Wench]

Right--the centerfold taught him about fractions..

1/3+1/3+1/3= Heaven on earth?

I have to say 'Green Eggs and Ham' (the best Dr Seuss book ever) taught me that breakfast really ISN'T that important!

And THAT changed my life, not to mention my eating habits! 

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

Imagine my confusion when I discovered that real women DON'T have staples in their bellybuttons! 

[Anna Iram]

As a child Charlotte's Web.

As a young teen My Brilliant Career

As a young adult The Bible. I actually read the whole thing cover to cover ,beginning to end. It really made me look at the world in a different way. Politically, spiritually. It was a great stepping stone.


*I just went back and read this thread. Charlotte I so agree about Catcher in the Rye! Loved that book. I still think Hmm...if I take *this* road how will that change....