Books that have changed your life?

[Lief Erikson]

One book, "The History of the American People" had impact on me by showing me how bad history books can be. It was so biased, so one-sided, and so poor at choosing what subjects were worthy of attention, that I was strongly revolted by the book.

The problem is, I didn't know very much about the earlier periods of American history when I started reading the book. I knew more about later on events. Therefore it was only after I got to the later parts of the book that I realized how poorly the historian chronicled things. I read the whole book, all its hundreds of pages, and I did learn some interesting things. However, I also have trouble now because I don't know how much of my education I'm able to trust. Sometimes I have information in my head about an issue, but I don't know whether that information is reliable or not, or whether it's biased or not.


The Bible had a mighty impact on me when I was fifteen, and since then has been greatly important in my life. Before I was fifteen, I wasn't interested in the Bible much at all, and never read it of my own accord. Some ugly events in my life led to a dramatic encounter with God, and that completely changed my outlook on the Bible.

My other favorite book is "The Case for Christ," even though it's nonfiction.


I really like fantasy and science fiction books, but I can't think of any of them that made me think .

Nerdanel, you really should read "The Grapes of Wrath". It's excellent.

[Bombadillo]

*bump*
I would have started this thread if I didn't find it just now. I was wondering if having your life changed by a couple books was uncommon, but apparently not. That's good.

I read an abriged version of Tuck Everlasting in sixth grade. That was the first thing that ever got me thinking about how complex and eventually boring life is and how death is actually favorable after a lifetime of that. Sparked some deep thoughts.

To Kill A Mockingbird made the biggest impression on me, by far. I literally ask myself quite often "What would Atticus do?" I just reread it, and noticed that I've become very much like him. It actually made me proud. He's the man who I try to be like. It also affected me to a lesser extent by introducing that confortable Southern setting that I'm now in love with and wish I could live in permenantly.

Catcher in the Rye also saved my ass in high school. I don't know what I was doing, but I snapped out of it after reading this book, and it's kept me aware of certain things ever since. We read it as a sophomore, and afterwards, just for fun (we had the best teacher and class ever), we decided to cast our own film version of it. Then someone suggested that I should play Holden, and the teacher was so distraught about just how much I was like him, she thought the suggestion might depress me or something, and made us stop that game. *reminisce* I'm her T.A. now, and teaching this book. Half the class is bored by it, and the other half totally loves it, and there are no in betweens. I love teaching it to them all. I hope it's never removed from high school required reading lists.

Oh, I knew I had one more, but this is still working itself into my mind. Heart of Darkness by Josef Conrad. I read it earlier this year, and loved it. I've never read a book like that before. It was all surreal. Anyway, now, solely because of Kurtz, I'm making a conscious effort to be fully aware of my motivations all the time, and re-evaluate them regularly. His story actually scared me that much. Did anyone else read it?

[eowyngirl14]

pretty much every book Iv read has affected me in some way. the big ones are probably Riding Rockets, Rocket Boys, The Forever War, Into no Particular Night or Morning (a Bradbury shot story), Into the Wild, The Poisonwood Bible, and Touching the Void.
I let myself be affected by everything I read, its pretty amazing how much I will change my outlook on life or a particular subject just by reading a book, I dont know if that's a good thing or not, but its jsut how I operate.

(PS this is my first post in about a year! how is everyone? yea i know this is the wrong thread for this...)

[Spock]

OK, a year long slump and we get some new input.

For me; "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" qualify.

[E, LoR]

The stones of Mourning Creek like broke my heart. It was so sad!!! very well written though. I'd recommend it to anyone.

[GreyMouser]

Originally Posted by Spock

OK, a year long slump and we get some new input.

For me; "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" qualify.

Why am I not surprised?

Liked "The Fountainhead", never made it through "Atlas"- went through a Libertarian phase for a short while.

I'm more impressed with Rand's non-fiction, largely because in her later fiction she stops the narrative while she throws in 50- page expositions. I found it extremely ironic that she condemned Tolstoy for just that- motes and beams...

Still think her best fiction on artistic merits was "We , the Living", though "Anthem" ranks up there with "1984", "Brave New World" and "We"

[littleadanel]

So many books around here which are on my need-to-read list.

And, unfortunately, the writer who made the biggest impression on me is one of me fellow Hungarians, so I can't really share it here... *wanders off to read some more*

[Spock]

Then too the writings of Charles Schultz and Scott Adams have had a huge impact on me.