There are books in our lives that are/were life changers..what are yours?!
There are books in our lives that are/were life changers…what are yours??!
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There are books in our lives that are/were life changers…what are yours??!
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Ishmael by Daniel Quinn come immediately to mind.
Ishmael changed the way I thought about life and spirituality forever.
S.E. Hinton is a treasure
Charlotte’s web. I was in 4th grade. I’ve been vegetarian ever since.
Anne of Green Gables
A Little Princess and 1984
Harry Potter
Mine too. Didn’t discover the series until I was in my 20’s. However, I was in a place in my life when I needed justification and an army to fight my own dementors.
I was in my 20’s too.
1984
East of Eden. . .
Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
Invisible Man.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
I started to write about my relationship with this book, but my words would NEVER be able to do it justice!
@June I feel the same.
I heard Viktor Frankl speak in 1972.
The Dollmaker
Life of Pi
Ahab’s Wife
Awesome book!
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Bell Jar
Kite Runner
Bell Jar
Catch 22. I will forever see the absurdity of the world.
To Kill a Mockingbird
My choice, too!
Catch-22 and The Poinsonwood Bible
Gosh. Several. Too many for me to narrow down.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Giver by Lois Lowry, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Harry Potter by JK Rowling, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Shack by William P Young, The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis- life changers.
The Giver. The book thief.
Simple Abundance & Living A Beautiful Life
I love Alexandra Stoddard’s approach to life.
I think about A Brave New World an awful lot (since I read it in high school). Probably weekly. I feel like that and catch-22 have had a significant impact on my view of the world.
Feminine Mystique
One second after
Poisinwood Bible
Nancy Drew. I learned to love reading from them. The rest is history.
Well said!
Perfect response.
Same here! I loved the Nancy Drew books.
I wondered when someone would mention Nancy Drew!!!
I still have my whole ND collection. Couldn’t part with them.
@Patrick‘s Name of the Wind.
The first time was when I was about 12-13 reading Are You There God It’s me Margaret, by Judy Blume and my Mom heard me laughing while reading and she read it after me..so it was the first time we really connected with a book
Me too!
Most recently The Book of Joy. I first listened to it on CD (library)- very powerful. Purchased the book and now the CD for another listen and another and another.
When I was a teenager, reading It’s Not The End of the World by Judy Blume.
The Botany of Desire.
The Alchemist. Harry Potter.
The Five People You Meet In Heaven. I love the idea that Heaven is different for everyone, and when you get there, there are people there waiting for to to help you understand the things you didn’t quite learn in life: Everything that you do affects someone else, even in the smallest way; Sacrifice is a part of life; Forgive people, not just for them but for yourself as well; Love never dies; and Your life matters, you-without necessarily trying-make other people’s lives better. It was a beautiful lesson, and I recommend it to everyone I know☺️
I was also very struck by this little book & how it made me think about the “why,” “who,” & “when” of death.
Years and years (and years ?) ago, I read Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and It’s All Small Stuff. It was one of those books you read exactly when you need to read it. Still remember it to this day and probably should re-read after all this time.
What is the What and Say You’re One of Them tore my heart to pieces.
Totally agree with both.
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.
I second this. It should be required reading in school.
🙂 Amen to that!
Both are non-fiction books, but totally changed my life. Simple Abundance (taught me gratitude in a way where I finally got it), and The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung (newer book, but made me understand my type 2 diabetes and change the way I eat. Nothing any of the thousands of self-help books could do before.
Loved simple abundance. I reread it every few years.
I read this book when I was in college in Chinese. It enlighten me in many ways. Another book is siddahartha
The Bluest Eye-Toni Morrison
Night by Elie Wiesel
There are some good ones on this list, but I would add The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Alchemist, Sophie’s World.
Black Beauty and Call of the Wild, I read these when I was young and I grew up to be a horse/dog rescuer and active with several wildlife/wilderness conservation groups.
The Giving Tree
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. I read it at age 13. It forever changed my view of history and the lies our society tells its children.
The Little Prince
Breaking Night, To kill a a Mockingbird, House Rules,
Hardy Boys I learned how to read from them at 14 years old I have dsylexia and never have stopped ?
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.
My Year of Meats.
Changed me to a vegetarian! !!
the suh does shine,
Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees is one.
China Study
True.
In 6th grade, our teacher in Northern Lights ABC School in Anchorage, Mrs Loeck, read The Magician’s Nephew to us. After she finished it, she told us it was a series. I had to go to the school library so I could read more because I was so wrapped up with Diggory and Polly and the Wood Between The Worlds. Anyway, that was the beginning of my love for fantasy. Before that, it was Poe, mythology, Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, etc. So fantasy was a major shift for me. I didn’t even know there was such a genre until Mrs Loeck (my favorite teacher). Tip of the hat to teachers who have touched us in one way or another and are fondly remembered decades later. 🙂
The Deviners by Margaret Lawrence
The Second Sex by Simone de Bouvoir. I read it when i was a teenager. Not only was it an eye opener about gender bias, but she also wrote about independent thinking, that it isnt just about rebellion but forming ones own opinion.
I got caught up in Louisa May Alcott.
The Vietnam Doctor by Dr. James Turpin.
The Alchemist, The Chronicles of Narnia, A River Runs Through It, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Native Son.
Flowers for Algernon
Loved it. It enlightened me on the immigrant struggle.
Which book?
@Sheryl House of Sand and Fog. I was replying to the post asking for this on it.
Thanks. I’d like to read that. Somehow your post ended up separated instead of a reply.
@Sheryl oh, thanks. That’s weird.
Gone with the Wind
The Alchemist, the Red Tent, the unlikely romance of kate bjorkman.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah McDonald and The Alchemist
Exodus.
Hiroshima
The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav. It changed my view of life.
All the Light We Cannot See, Nightingale, River Horse
First two are my favs – I will have to read River Horse. My other two favs are The Postmistress and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
The Kite Runner. 1000 Splendid suns.
Both are FABULOUS!
The Book Whisperer , Donalyn Miller (I’m a teacher)
“Cry, the Beloved Country,” “The Good Earth,” “Handmaid’s Tale,” “Atonement,” “Lord of the Flies.”
Lord of the Flies was the first book that ever made me cry and I was in Junior High. That book really upset me and sometimes that is the mark of great literature.
Seven Storey Mountain
Atlas Shrugged hands down. I read it shortly after college and the mystery aspect of the plot made it an interesting read but I had a really difficult time reconciling myself to the philosophy. Rand can be difficult to digest because she challenges centuries of conventional thinking about morality. Fortunately, a philosopher friend of mine helped me to better understand her more controversial ideas and led me to view the world and the great minds who shape it in a new light. As I read more of her works, I eventually changed the way I thought about religion, about government, about what gives meaning to life and about the kind of life I want for my children. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is willing to read it with an open mind and enjoys being challenged.
I enjoyed the story, but did not embrace the philosophy.
The help
Night by Elie Wiesel. I read it first in the 4th grade, which also tells you my parents just let me read whatever I wanted. Since I was 9 that book has sparked a fire in me to educate myself the best I can on genocide.
The Color of Water by James Mc Bride.
The Drifters, James Michener. I read it when I was 10 or so. I learned that the world was/is so much bigger than my little piece of it at the time.
Oh so many…in my early years, Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird. More current The Help and Salt to the Sea, and I recently read The Radius of Us…wow!
The Nature of Personal Reality, by Jane Roberts
Diary of Anne Frank and The Hiding Place
The pure innocence of Anne Frank is what got me.
“The Selestine Prophecy” life theory in the form of a story. Highly recommended for all ages.
Doris Lessing: Briefing for a Descent into Hell and May Sarton: From the Legend of Biel
Home is a Roof Over a Pig. It’s a memoir about an American family teaching in China. It actually impacted my career.
The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald!
Handmaid’s Tale
Night – Elie Wiesel
Approaching Oblivion. It’s short stories but it did change me.
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Night, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Bury Me at Wounded Knee, The Giver, When Breath becomes Air…
The Chosen. Potok
Tomorrow by Phlip Wylie published in 1954. A book about two cities across a river from one another hit by an atomic bomb. One had good civil defense and many survivors. One had no civil defense and they were vaporized. I was 8 when I read it. I was on vacation on my grandfather’s boat in the St. Petersburg downtown marina. I was finishing as the sun sat in the west. The sky was bright orange and I was sure the atomic bomb had exploded. I told my mother I would die here one day. As it turns out, I am retired and live in St. Pete now and probably will die here. But, I can still recall how scared I was.
The Three Agreements
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Also her Prodigal Summer
The Bible.
Peace Like A River
I loved that book!
Just finished that book few days ago. I enjoyed it, although it wasn’t personally a life-changer
Atlas Shrugged
The Little Prince and Charlotte’s Web. Also On the Day That You Were Born.
The Game of Life and How to Play It- Florence Schovel Shinn
Bright Side by Kim Holden.
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voscamo
Outlander
The Bible..
Absolutely, Cyndi, I totally agree.
100 Dresses
Johnny Got his Gun
Read that in jr high
Kept me out of war
A Prayer for Owen Meany. Its lessons of perseverance and friendship and awareness and responsibility of self still motivate me to be better
Re-reading for the third time right now. So well written, so many levels.
@Liz It’s time for me to revisit too.
I’ll Give You The Sun.
The Goldfinch. Secrets from our past need not haunt us.
Centennial by James Michener : made me want to study History, which made me want to be a teacher, which made me want a divorce, which gave me a whole NEW LIFE !
We all rush to the bookstore!!
Gorillas in the Mist really opened my eyes as a teen to the plight of animals all over the world.
there’s been a lot of books I’ve Loved over the years, but only two that I can consider as changing my actual life and not just my reading life–Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Won’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain and The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
QUIET definitely changed my life!
Mine, too!
Follow The River by James Alexander Thom. Much like @Catalina, it was the first time I actually fell in love with US history and wanted to explore further. It began a love for history that has led me to study, read and learn about things I might never have discovered.
My favorite author! I need to read that one again. Since I read it the first time I found out I had family in that area at that time.
Mists of Avalon
One of my very favorites!
Final Gifts, written by two hospice nurses, brought my whole family such peace as my mom was dying from esophageal cancer. I read it and shared insights with my dad, brother, and grandparents through mom’s stay in hospice care. It was a Godsend, and I share it with friends experiencing a loved one’s slow passing.
5 People You Meet in Heaven and For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I love his books, they discuss faith, but not much religion.
Let It Go by T.D. Jakes.
Still Alice and Love Anthony. The compassion and understanding the author shows towards the characters with early onset Alzheimer’s and autism respectively was very eye opening.
Another real good one about autism is House Rules by Jodi Picoult.
To Kill a Mockingbird
I read the Handmaids Tale when it first came out and didn’t understand or appreciate it. Reread it two years ago, and it impacted how I think and observe civilization, and how easy women’s liberty can erode.
I remember at the time, thinking “people will never stop carrying cash”. Ten years later, I didn’t know anyone who did. This book is so relevant right now.
I agree!
I read it every couple of years. When it first came out, I wasn’t a mother, so the next time I read it I had a whole different view of how Offred would feel having one daughter taken away and now another child who would be taken, and each time I read it different things going on in the world and in my life illuminate another part of the story.
Just read it and cried. It’s scary because of what’s going on right now!
The Catcher in the Rye
These Is My Words by Nancy Turner. It has helped me persevere during hard times.
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Artists Way. Harry Potter
I am so in love with THE ARTIST’S WAY.
Grapes of Wrath
The Alchemist
Loved that book.
Tuesdays with Morrie
Catholic-Protestant Marriages can succeed by Paul and Jeanne Simon
Seat of the Soul
Shogun led directly to a minor in Oriental History in college.
That’s a good book!
Great expectations
Redeeming Love
Blue Mind
She’s Come Undone
The Poisonwood Bible
A Day No Pigs Would Die.
When I was Puerto Rican
The Catcher in the Rye!
Mine is life-changing for a different reason. I found it at a garage sale for $1, and I’ll keep it forever. The Couple’s Guide to Infertility. My son starts college in 6 weeks. ❤️
Congratulations!! That post made my day!
@Susan, I’m so glad! I am a life-long reader and there are so many novels that have impacted my life. So it is appropriate that it was a book that completely changed my life. My son will study cello and pre-med, and I couldn’t be a prouder mom.
If I say this, it’s fact, and not meant to be a religious comment, though it is a spiritual comment….the Bible. It answered all the unanswered questions about the universe and mankind, that the leaders of Christendom couldn’t answer….that can really make a difference in your world, lol! Go, books!
East of Eden
Into Thin Air
The Last Lecture
Mila 18; by Leon Uris, suggested by a friend, 40 years ago, opened my eyes to The Warsaw ghetto .
Since then I liked reading historical fiction.
Clan of the cave Bears
Atlas Shrugged
Tuesday’s with Morrie
All of them. If I weren’t somehow grown what was the point?
The Phantom Tollbooth. I was in 3rd grade, had really just caught on to reading, and got really sick (caught the chicken pox; followed them up with the mumps. missed about 4 weeks of school) and my aunt, an elementary teacher, sent me this book in the mail. I re-read it every couple of years. Kids love it, but adults enjoy it more, because they get the word play!
Lord of the Flies.
Roots, The 12 Habits of Highly Effective People, Beach Music, Brighty of the Grand Canyon, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, The Hiding Place. Probably more but these come easily to mind.
Oh my goodness, totally forgot two of the most important, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Tempest (I know this is a little off topic from the rest, but it was when I learned that words could be as beautiful and perfectly constructed as music)
Yes! Roots is one of my all times too!
@Kim omg, at the end when it revealed that it was Alex Haley’s family, I almost lost my ish.
Yes!!!!
The Grapes of Wrath
A Gentle thunder.
The Yearling in 7th grade.
Gone with the Wind
The Grapes of Wrath
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Razor’s Edge taught me the meaning of life: you do not do the right thing for a reward or recognition; you do it because it’s the right thing to do!
The Bible.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl . . . No matter what the circumstances, you can manage your attitude. ?
Of Mice and Men
Tuesday’s with morrie!
To Kill a Mocking Bird
A Child Called It… Read it when I was a teen. Made a crazy impact
Quiet by Susan Cain. It really helped me understand and accept myself as an introvert.
Me, too!
Just requested this at the library!
Her TED talk is awesome!! Made me realize I am not alone in preferring solitude and quiet and not antisocial just because I don’t like parties! @Tammy – if you don’t have time to read “Quiet,” then search for her TED talk on YouTube. You will hear references to your family, guaranteed!
Americanah
A Loss for Words, Lou Ann Walker
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Nobody Knows My Name, James Baldwin
Baldwin is one of my favorites
“Watership Down”
Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das
Reading the Diary of Anne Frank as a 12 year old girl with brown hair and brown eyes. I couldn’t wrap my head around me being where she was at that age. It taught me compassion for all human beings no matter where they lived or who they worship.
Agreed, and it also reminded me of how tenuous life us.
Taught Anne Frank to 8th graders for 16 years. She still inspires me.
Patience and Sarah…it didn’t as much change my life as broaden my understanding and sensitivity towards the challenges in some of my friends’ lives.
As a youth , To Kill a
Mockingbird. As an adult, Quiet.
to kill a Mockingbird was a very impact filled read.
Waking up White by Debby Irving
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
The Outsiders by S E Hinton.
Black Like Me, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, and A Woman of Independent Means
Gwen Cooper’s Homer’s Odyssey, the story of a blind wonder cat. It led me to involvement in animal rescue and my local shelter.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Langston Hughes poetry. I Know Now Why the Caged Bird Sings. Out on a Limb. Fear of Flying. The Tortilla Curtain.
Loved the tortilla curtain
@Beth It was heartbreaking. And still timely.
I LOVE The Tortilla Curtain!
I always enjoy peoples’ book lists!!!☺️
Fightclub. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. Lol.
That has one of the best twists. I thought the movie was a good representation of the book.
Even though I prefer the ending in the book, I love the movie. Lol.
Me too- great character choices. I saw the movie long before I read the book, so that influenced how I read it :).
I have the “Fight Club” bathrobe!!
We Need to Talk About Kevin –
Black like Me, Dante’s Inferno
Secrets for the mad by Dodie
That was a great book
Diary of Anne Frank
The autobiography of Malcolm X
Me too! It affected me on so many levels!
Looking for Mary.
Testament of Youth- Vera Britain / I capture the castle – Dodie Smith
Mine are Testament of Youth – think it was when I became a die hard feminist and also really learnt about the results of war and The women’s Room by Marilyn French
1984
The Wizard of Oz; The Stand by Stephen King; Roots by Alex Haley; Star Wars
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Outsiders
I had given up fiction until I read Jan Karon’s Mitford Series. I went on to Anne Tyler and now am back in love with fiction.
Harry Potter. I’ve made so many friends through our shared love of Hogwarts. Not to mention lessons on bravery, friendship, loyalty and acceptance.
James Herriot’s books – made me fall in love with his part of England and gave me the incentive to go there. Have been back many times since that first time 30 some years ago.
Reading his books as a child influenced my career choice. Just retired from 30 years as a veterinarian. Loved James Herriot.
@Kendyle During that trip to Yorkshire I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Herriot at his “surgery” in Thirsk. He could not have been more down to earth or more welcoming. I also met another vet from Indiana there – he was her hero. One of my favorite travel memories. That trip was magical.
J.a. Beck I also met him when he came to speak at a national veterinary meeting shortly after I started practicing. It was like a dream come true, meeting my idol!
@Kendyle Oh, that’s great – I’m happy that you did! I think he was a wonderful person. His surgery is now a museum and very well done. I think the last time I was there was about 6 years ago. I worry that people won’t be still reading his books and remembering him. I would love to re-read his books.
Carlos Castaneda…all.
The God Delusion, The Ascent of Man, All Dune books. The Tao of Physics.
Recently, Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
The Women’s Room by Marilyn French.
Why is it that discussions about feminism always devolved to ” who does the dang dishes” or something like that: )
Me too!!! I read it twice in my twenties and helped me see that SO much was possible, if I had the guts to go for it. Mira had the syreng
Oops..wasn’t done..not used to my new phone yet…Anyway, Mira had the strength to punch through and follow her gut and go for the intellectual life she wanted, in a time when that was almost unheard of..and she became this strong, cool, interesting person. A good lesson for us all. I loved this book. Now, thirty years later, I think I’ll read it again
Good pick!!!
@Margaret It’s part of my permanent collection.
OMG! I have been trying to remember the name/author of this
Book, thank you! Yes, life-changing
yes!
Yes this is one of mine – think about it all the time after so many years
The Yellow Wallpaper!
Wow! Reading HERLAND now! Yellow Wallpaper next.
Joan Anderson the 2 works are quite different, but very powerful. In her day, Charlotte Perkins Gilman was comparable to Oprah in popularity and positive influence for Women. She toured the world advocating for Women’s economic independence, beginning with knowledge of $$.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It was then I realized the history books lie. I was shook.
The Four Agreements
Yes!
The teachings in this book carried me through an awful work situation. ?
Amityville Horror – read it one day in 5th grade. This cemented my love for reading. Night taught me about the horrors of what people could do to each other. Eat, Pray, Love taught me to make my own destiny.
“Lights Out: A Cyberattack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath” by Ted Koppel. Scary how our country is unprepared should another country take out our power grid.
Also: To Kill a Mockingbird put the love of literature in my 14yo self.
Night Road by Kristin Hannah changed my approach to parenting my teens. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas solidified my support for groups like BLM and is so valuable in understanding why police treatment of POC is an urgent, complicated, and volatile matter.
The graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman was haunting; both the holocaust take as well as Spiegelman’s tale of his own relationship with his father. One life changing takeaway from that book was that you cannot compete with someone who died young and virtuous (in his case, a brother) because they will remain forever perfect, while the living are judged in their actions and thoughts. How can you compete with a dead brother? I cried throughout this graphic novel. But it was sooooo good.
The Choice.. a recent read .. made me think about all the blessings in my life and how we each have choices to make the most of each day .. a beautiful memoir.
The Handmaid’s Tale, The Poisonwood Bible, She’s Come Undone, White Oleander, and Roots.
The Star of the Guardians by Margaret Weiss. This was the series that introduced me to SciFi/Fantasy and I’ve been and huge fan of the genre ever since.
Books that make me think. The Diary of Anne Frank, To kill a mockingbird, I know why the caged bird sings, 12 Years a slave, Grapes of Wrath.But also, when in my20s, personal, philosophical favorites like “The Worlds Religions” and “Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis” by Erich Fromm. Also read a lot of Carl Jung and I still enjoy reading the Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Casteneda.
Black Like Me
The Bible
I don’t know if I would call it a life changer but The Outsiders was pretty moving it still taken me 40 years to figure out that book man that’s quite a deep book that
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The selfish gene. Godel escher Bach. Chaos: making a new science
The stand
Stephen King is under appreciated in the prestige league, but his stories are incredible
You can heal your life- Louise Hay
I haven’t thought about that wonderful book in years. I read Louise died. RIP
The Shack! Are you there God it’s Margaret, Harry Potter
The alchemist
the anne morrow lindburgh diaries
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick riordan
Breakfast of Champions
Nancy Drew, because that is where I fell in love with reading.
A Prayer for Owen Meaney
Man’s search for meaning
Absolutely! For me too.
The Kite Runner
The Shack
A friend in my church recommended it and I was in a group that read it. I thought it was weird and didn’t enjoy it all. But then I admit to not having a lot of imagination.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
Omg I loved that book. Read it in 5th grade
Me too!!
This book earned me an A on a make-up essay test in middle school history class. I had to describe Puritan culture.
Flicker
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Márquez.
In the 1980s I attended a genealogy meeting. I was sitting next to a young man from France. He noticed my name tag and said, “Ahhhh, Marquez–like Gabriel Garcia Marquez the famous author.” When he saw my blank stare he turned away with obvious disdain. The next day I went to a bookstore and purchased “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” And thus began my passion for Latin-American/Iberian literature. Thanks to that young man who will never know how he changed my life.
Gone with the wind
Eating animals by saffron
Harry Potter. I was always a slow reader, and classmates would make fun of me. When I got to high school, and had a study hall for the first time, I didn’t know what to do with my time after finishing homework. The only books that I owned were the first four Harry Potter books that my parents read to me when I was younger (the others had not come out yet). I decided to bring them and read them during study hall, and it was like someone flipped a switch. I went from a slow reader, who hated to read, and NEVER read for pleasure, to an instant fast reader who reads everyday ever since.
Girl Interrupted
The Poisenwood Bible
The Shack, the Alchemist
Loved the Alchemist
The Bible.
if god is love, lost in the middle, why men love bitches
Same Kind Of Different As Me
Besides the Bible…
Wrinkle in Time and From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler are two books that locked me in as a life long reader.
Mixed up Files!!! Yes!
After thinking about it, these were introduced to me in sixth grade but I was already an avid reader by then. So maybe it was Beverly Cleary (Socks was a fave) or Syd Hoff (like Danny and the Dinosaur) or Judy Blume’s Fudge books?
My parents got me books from the Scholastic book club (I loved those take home pages! ❤️) and I think maybe a Disney book club (I had the Mickey Mouse book holder for years after).
Really weird, but The Thorn Birds. My own very Catholic grandmother recommended it to me as a teenager, along with Clan of the Cave Bear. These were definitely adult books, and I felt I had arrived somehow. 😉
I think I gave both of these to my grandmother. She was a big reader of Zane Gray and Louis L’Amour. Opened some doors for her.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
In Between My Tears By Me, Kim Kelsey
How to Be Your Own Best Friend
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Bible of course. And also Lightening by Dean Koontz, because it was the first grown-up book I was allowed to read. And Outlander, which completely ruined other romance novels for me. All other love stories must live up to the Diana Gabaldon level of writing.
Johnny get your gun and All’s Quiet on the Western Front. Pretty much became a pacifist after that.
Johnny Get Your Gun, also changed me. i read it 40 years ago and it stills haunts me.
@Janis yes I agree. I also read it that long ago.
Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I learned compassion from this book at an age when I needed to learn it. I have reread it so many times, and I love it so much
Cinderella doesn’t work here anymore Spiral-bound – 1991
by Louise Spears McCants (Author). A business book that discusses women in the workplace. How professional women were expected to make coffee for everyone in the office and type for men who didn’t know how to type, and other things, plus do their own work. Taught ways to stop doing things like that. Changed my life.
It sounds crazy, but a book called Who Moved My Cheese literally changed my course to the career I now have.
Roots.
Night
The Alchemist
Fatelessness by Imre Kertész.
Bible. Someone challenged me to read it. I started with Matthew. Life changing.
What is the What, Dave Eggers
Your money or your life
Boys & Girls Together by William Goldman. I love the way he wove his characters together, their lives from children to adults.
Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret.
Captains Courageous by Kipling
The Feminine Mystique… Betty Friedan….. a game changer for women in the 60’s……
Nonfiction, A Civil Action, also A Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Ulrich and in fiction, The Chamber by John Grisham.
The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. I never saw the world the same afterward.
A worthy book to recommend to young people!!
Black Boy
Go Ask Alicw
Rain, Reign impressed me with how painful is is to make the right decision.
Books that got me reading in gulps? I can hardly remember–I started reading pretty young. Couldn’t hear a thing when I read! But books that marked me and got me to think differently? A Wrinkle in Time by L’Engle. Left Hand of Darkness and The Earthsea Trilogy, both by LeGuin. The Color Purple. Night by Wiesel. A Handmaid’s Tale.
L’Engle books are among my favorite’s!
Little Women made me want to write, The Handmaid’s Tale cemented my burgeoning feminism, and The 900 Days (non-fiction) made me a pacifist
Nickle and Dimed
Great book
I haven’t read it but was familiar with it. I remember a little video I saw about awhile back
Hurry Home Candy as a child; The Women’s Room in college; The Stepford Wives in my early 20s; and The Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird EVERY time I read them.
Road Less Traveled & People of the Lie.
People Of The Lie was good.
@Cindy – have you read Shadow Syndromes? It’s a real awakening
@Cathy, I have not. Thanks for recommendation.
Just because someone is not “full-blown” doesn’t mean they aren’t on the spectrum.
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Gift of Imperfection by Brene Brown
There have been many but To Kill A Mockingbird was among the first.
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair Grapes of Wrath. Count of Monte Cristo.
I remember you talking about The Jungle and what an impact it had on you.
I think everybody should reread The Grapes of Wrath right NOW! Hey Jim, maybe we should start a book club
@Kerry You remember that? Wow.
Black Like Me
I read that when I was a kid.
The Source
By James Michener
Flowers for Algernon – read it in college and was so moved by the big picture of what we value as a society vs. an individual’s pursuit of their best life
I didn’t read the book until after I’d seen the movie on which it was based (Charly). Truly a marvelous book.
Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Crucible, 1984
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I re-read it every few years and still marvel at its beautiful prose and themes of idealism and nostalgia.
Blue Highways – William Least Heat Moon
The Art Of Motorcycle Maintanence
Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: one of my dear departed dad’s favorites!
It started me on the path of reading all about Zen Buddhism. Which I must say calmed me down
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. That’s the book that hooked me into being a lifelong reader.
This is another favorite!
Little Women
The holy Bible
Walden by Thoreau
Many years ago in college I took a course in the American Transcendentalists. Reading Thoreau and Emerson were beautiful mind opening experiences for me!
Little Women, Hawaii by James Michener, Ordeal by Hunger (about the Donner Party), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and many more.
The Ungodly, which is also about the Donner party made a big impression on me as a teenager and fueled my love of history
Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindberg, I read it every summer
‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton really got me in the feels.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin made me feel so deeply and see love in many ways.
I think for me reading was kind of the opposite. I chose and loved books based on what changes I was already going through. They made me feel less alone a lot of times, less stuck, less different. They took me to new places and expanded my life.
Diary of Anne Frank and Night. After Anne Frank I read so many books by survivors of the Holocaust.
A wrinkle in time
Do you mean “ A wrinkle in time”?
@Marian opps
I don’t know the general stance in the group on the series but – Harry Potter shaped my life since I grew up with him!
Oh Katie… I listened to the Sorcerers Stone as my son-in- law read it to my grand daughters. Then it was all downhill. All night reads, midnight dress up and book purchases, new friends and long bouts of sugar highs. A GREAT source of enjoyment!!
The Chronicles of Narnia❤I remember reading The Lion,The Witch and The Wardrobe 1st then begging my mom to take me back to the bookstore to get all the rest
Kisses from Katie and Daring to Hope by Katie Davis/Majors
Goodbye is not Forever/Amy George
Through the Gates of Splendor/Elisabeth Elliot
so many but a few are Little women, house of the spirits, to kill a mockingbird, a tree grows in brooklyn, harry potter.
Bloomabilty by Sharon Creech.
A Wrinkle in Time; The Celestine Prophecy; Conversations with God.
Love A Wrinkle in Time.
I’ve been an avid reader as long as I can remember but have never read a book that I feel changed my life. There–I said it.
I actually made a note of this from Hillbilly Elegy, ‘I don’t believe in transformative moments, as transformation is harder than a moment’. This is how I feel about books. There is one book that I’ve read over all the years that really made me think and that was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Other than that, it has been the overall reading I have done instead of just one book, that has changed my life,.
I loved the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid and continued reading CS Lewis as an adult and Mere Christianity definitely changed my life!
Horton Hatches An Egg. This is my favorite Seuss book among many, and touches me to the core. I have become the Horton to more than one egg from a Lazy Bird Maizey in my life, and still remain faithful 100% ?
Hyperbole and a Half and Let’s Pretend this Never Happened really helped me understand what it’s like for someone who deals with depression or mental illness. I think both should be required reading.
Or it might be Jenny Lawson’s other book Furiously Happy that really opened my eyes to the realities people with mental illness face. I mix them up. Anyway both are really good.
David and Lisa was about two schizophrenic kids who fall in love while in a mental health facility. Read it in the sixties. Eye opener for me.
My daughter loves Hyperbole and a Half.
Pride and Prejudice and The Road
Love Pride and Prejudice! ❤️
The Tucker’s Way series
“Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert Heinlein, and “The Once and Future King” by T.H.White.
Stranger in a Strange Land was very good.
@Mary I agree. I read it when I was a junior in high school, I think. It polarized my thinking about religion, for one thing, and helped me form bigger adult ideas. And, Heinlein is very entertaining.
The Once and Future King was a life changer for me too. Still one of my favorite books.
There was a book I read a long time ago where it was written from the wife’s perspective, then it would switch to the husband’s perspective. The book continued in this manner. I wish I could remember the name of it as I would reread it. It was so enlightening and opened my eyes in so many ways. Seems as if it had Hannah in the title.
Mr. and Mrs Bridge?
@Marsha I don’t think that was the name, but if that is a good book I’ll check it out.
@Marsha it appears to be a movie I haven’t seen either.
@Kary The novels, by Evan S. Connell, were Mrs. Bridge (1959), then Mr. Bridge, originally published separately; so they probably aren’t the book you were thinking of? The movie is quite good, I think, featuring Paul Newman and JoAnn Woodward.
@Marsha probably not as it was one novel, but I will read these. I will watch the movie as I see Joanne Woodard was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for best actress!
And her hubby Paul is very good, as well!
The Hobbit, Gone with the Wind, Strangers in a Strange Land, The Joy Luck Club, Don Quiote, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Leaves of Grass, The Jungle, The Little Prince, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, Grapes and Wrath.
This might sound weird but for me it was the Beezus and Ramona Quimby books. I learnd how to read at age 2 and by the time I was 5 I was reading at a 5th grade level. Kids and teachers treated me like a freak and called me names so my mom bought me those books to show me what a creatie, imaginative little girl can do in life.
Lord of the Rings showed me a wider world view than I’d ever known as a 16-year-old. Definitely changed me.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl changed me. Only love matters. When all else is stripped away, you can still control your attitude toward humanity. I’m hanging on to it now.
@Caryl Yes.
Culture Against Man by Jules Henry and Man Against Himself by Karl Menninger and The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck shaped my adult thought.
Otherhood by Melanie Notkin.
Gifts From The Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, can’t remember authors name.
Richard Bach
The Bible☘️
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
When Breath Becomes Air
the Drifters
That was my favorite Michener!?
Sounds silly, but reading the Nancy Drew series when I was a kid.
Not silly at all. I think a lot of young women became lifetime readers from getting hooked on Nancy Drew. ?
I read Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and Vicki Barr
The Bible of course.and nursing textbooks. Lol
LOL, I have both! Though unlike the Bible, I don’t think I’ve opened the nursing texts since graduation.
Right! Besides most nursing stuff is online anyway.
Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield.
I read Little Women at about age 9 or 10 and decided to change my name to Jo and become a writer. Obviously I didn’t have enough of an imagination to write so just continued to read.
My daughter is named Avalon after this book and a Roxie music song. It means Isle Of Apples or Woman’s Paradise
Unfortunately, after reading what the author was like, it ruined the book for me.
@Pamela, I still love the book but am repulsed by the author. I will not let her ruin it for me.
I am reading The Alchemist right now and there are a lot of pearls of wisdom that I can relate to in my life.
“Diary of Anne Frank,” “Night,” ” Great Expectations.” But the best was “Where the Lillies Bloom”by Vera Cleaver. It was the best description of my family.
I was a pretty lonely, sensitive kid, so every book I read as a child and in my teens changed my life, because they reminded me there was a world out there, and allowed me to dream.
I can relate
Can so relate. I was a shy and lonely kid. I am a shy and lonely adult. I live through books.
@Stephanie books become our friends, our treasures
Tkam
The Things They Carried amazed me. Still not sure I totally understand it, but the writing is frankly, the best
Once I realized it was a series of short stories it made more sense to me. Absolutely amazing book.
I only read the first chapter of The Things They Carried for my World Lit class but I loved it so much I want to get the book and read the whole thing! I think my husband would like it too though he’s not much of a reader. He might just because it’s about the Vietnam War.
I loved it.
@Kris: I need to research on this! It is interesting to understand ourselves
Go Ask Alice. read it before my “hey days” and kept me out of what could have been some major errors in judgement
Gave it to my daughter and prayed that it would do the same she was a wild child.
I read Go Ask Alice in high school and instead of being scared I wanted to be her. Especially when she moved to San Francisco and was working in that shop.
I read that in 8th grade and it made such an impression, I was NEVER tempted to try drugs. It doesn’t sound like a big deal now, but I was a teen in Miami and Dallas in the mid/late 80s and drugs were everywhere.
Diary of Anne Frank when I was in fifth grade. Beloved as an adult. Both gave me a new frightening view of our world.
Siddhartha, about the Buddha’s young life, and Autobiography of a Yogi, by the Great Saint Yogananda, both opened my heart to Eastern Philosophy and the truth that there is much more to Reality than the material world. I am forever grateful.
“Are you there God its me Margaret”,
Forever Amber. It turned me into a reader after I was already an adult.
There are a few that quite impacted me during my teenage years.. She Said Yes by Misty Bernall, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Diary of Anne Frank and Night by Elie Wiesel. How such turmoil of people real and not so real allowed me to be grateful for my life… another book that changed the course of my life is Harry Potter because they turned me into a true bookworm at the age of 28. I can’t get enough.
You should read the Book Thief…I never would have found it had it not been on the list..it touched me like Night and Diary of Ann a frank from a perspective I had never considerec
@Mary Thank you for your recommendation. I will have to add it to my growing list of GAR books!
Of Mice and Men. I read it as s teenager and I think it was the first time I cried because of the story in a book.
Great book. That scene at the river
I read it right after Tobacco Road. Both were so tragic, so moving.
As a child Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books made me love to read. In adulthood, The Stand perfectly depicted the concept of good/evil which I carry with me to this day. Finally George R.R. Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire taught me that reading is a wonderful journey that I never want to end.
You just triggered a memory of the Misty of Chincoteague and other Marguerite Henry books.
@Marie, Marguerite Henry books were also books I enjoyed, however I didn’t read those until I had children.
Walter Farley and Marguerite Henry books were staples of my childhood.
I had mentioned, Little Women, but as a young adult, I loved The Yearling, Robinson Crusoe, , Freckles, Annapurna, Diary of Anne Frank,The Lost World, Kon-Tiki,.
Today, I have read poems of Robert Louis Stevenson to my grandchildren.
I read them to my mom when she could no longer hold onto whole books, now my grandchildren each have a copy of RLS ‘s Children’s Garden of Verse, my Christmas gift to myself this year was a 2 vol. set of “Home Book of Verse” … music for the soul
Monica Ten i have the same book.love the illustrations and verse
I loved Robinson Crusoe & Kon-Tiki!
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.
I loved that book.
Now that I have a 3 year old granddaughter I have bought books and it is fun to read them again!
Have any of them changed your life?
@Marna I wrote about my books earlier it was Little Woman I learned girls and women can do anything
When your rope breaks and Between two Worlds .
Weirdly enough — Dietland by Sarah Walker. I hear they are making it into a movie.
It’s a tv show in AMC.
When I was growing up it was The Nancy Drew mysteries! Thanks to my Mom for always encouraging me to read
Me too!
I have the entire set!
“Ellen Tebbits” by Beverly Cleary. I remember picking this from the treasure box in Mrs. Bennett’s 2nd grade class. I think this is when I officially became a book lover ?https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/ellen-tebbits-by-beverly-cleary/
Ms Cleary is now 102 years old I understand.
I loved this book & remember laughing out loud while reading it..so many hilarious scenes ?
Brothers and Sisters by Bebe Moore @Campbell
Little Women when I was 10 was my favorite single book growing up…and I also loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. I also read the Walter Farley and the Marguerite Henry series on horses, and am surprised I rarely see them mentioned.
I loved Little Women too!
Walter Farley’s books made me love to read.
Yes to all of those. Black Stallion, Misty, Pa Ingalls, Jo and Laurie.
Little Women and Pride and Prejudice
My most dramatic one was Animal Farm when I was 13 in 1983. It was during the Cold War and it helped me understand a lot about the world. On a personal level, The Once and Future King and Watership Down (at 17 and 16, respectively) taught me about loyalty, leadership, and honoring ideas greater than myself.
I have heard lots about animal farm.. not sure I can handle it…??
The Once and Future King-an all time favorite.
You should definitely read it. It explains the progression of communism from the “ideal” to the sad “real” and beautifully tells the story of how power corrupts…all done in form of a fairy tale type story.
@Susan you can
Watership Down…one of my top ten favorites
@Shelley I love Watership Down!
At the time, “the Lovely Bones”
To Kill a Mockingbird, Diary of Anne Frank, I was pre-teen and turned me from a child who loved books into a reader of serious literature, still read for fun, but started me onto classics and never looked back!
Anne of Green gables
The Velveteen Rabbit
Grapes of Wrath, The Jungle, Elmer Gantry
Pride and Prejudice & Farenheit 451.
Black Beauty, Little women, Anne of Green Gables, Misty, Diary of Anne Frank — these are a few.
Books by Maeve Binchy older books.. Lilac Bus, Circle of Friends and Firefly Summer all spoke to me during periods of my life. She had such a a way of creating characters that I could identify with. Every Christmas I reread This Year It Will Be Different.
I love The Scarlet Door (I think that’s it).
Maybe it was just my age at the time, but I never could get into Maeve Binchy…?
The Velveteen Rabbit, Desert Solitaire, A Room of One’s Own, The Solace of Open Spaces, Silent Spring
Ceremony of the Innocent.
A Dog’s Purpose changed the way I think about my dog. Pride and Prejudice because I used to detest old classics foisted upon me by well meaning English teachers. Jane Austen helped me to overcome my loathing of books with tiny print ?
Outsiders.
Oh so many! I can’t tell you one consequently! For this purpose I will choose Christy by Catherine Marshall and a book called Tisha (can’t remember the author). Both showed me a path, that to this day I wish I could have followed!
Robert Specht is the author of Tisha. Yes, it is excellent!
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. Helped me to go in the field of neurodiagnostics.
Love all his books
My husband and I are major fans
@Martha if you like great NF try Stephen Jay Gould and Simon Winchester, and David Grann
I loved Oliver Sacks. He was interviewed on NPR numerous times and he was a man before his time
@Cass he was, loved him as a compassionate man and a writer
I read The World According to Garp in 7th or 8th grade (probably way too young) and realized that grown ups were just as clueless as me. It was both alarming and comforting. I’ve read it many times since and learn something new each time.
I read Junkie, Queer, and Naked Lunch in 7th grade.
Explains a lot.
Everything by Kurt Vonnegut.
I read “Catcher in the Rye” when I was 13. My parent did not restrict my reading choices, luckily. Then I read more J D Salinger and The Diary of Anne Frank. This was around the time I discovered my paternal Jewish heritage. That created a place for novels like Exodus, Mila 18, and other Jewish-themed books of the time (1960 -1970 era). I’m still reading that genre, though I prefer personal narratives to fiction.
I went through all of Salinger in high school. At the time, I felt it all highly sophisticated, but I am fairly sure I didn’t understand all of it.
I read most of Leon Uris novels
It was eye awakening
Diary Of Anne Frank!
The Prophet, and so many more
The Prophet is No. 1 on my list.
The soul of an Octopus!
Go ask Alice., Night ,Rebecca.
Go Ask Alice, yes. I played Alice in an 8th grade play. I didn’t know it was a book until after. I read it, and it was very moving. Very sad, but eye-opening. Probably the best anti-drug…(word I’m looking for???) I ever experienced during the “War On Drugs” years.
Tropic of Cancer sorta changed my life. Specially page 5..
Eat, Pray, Love; Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey; and All the Light We Cannot See.
Read the 1st and 3rd and loved them, haven’t read the 2nd. Have you read Gilbert’s THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, one of my favorite books
Loved Eat, Pray love laughed so hard in the beginning when she was praying. I thought what a good writer to be able to make such a painful moment funny.
@Shelley yes, loved it! Looking forward to more fiction from her.
@Kelly yes, she has that ability to make us laugh and cry!
@Michele she does!
To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron completely changed my life. I was an actor from age 16 to 32 but when I was about to get my Equity card my wife said I had to choose between her and acting. I chose her. After 25 years of repressing the artist within myself I had to finally admit my unhappiness in my marriage and reclaim my life. This book was a big part of that process.
No Language But a Cry. Has anyone else read this? I was in middle school (?, young teen anyway) when I read it. It was terrible and inspiring. That was the first story of horrible child abuse I ever read, but then to see how Laura, the nuns, and the therapist worked to overcome all the obstacles was a WOW moment for me. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1192549.No_Language_But_a_Cry
The first was Member of the Wedding. I was 12 and all angles and hair. I knew Frankie. I saw her in the mirror every day.
You write vividly yourself
@Martha Thank you so much! That made my day. ?
Frankie is one of my favorite characters!
Martha Williamson she does use vivid words that make me see the scene and characters in that way…also in love with quirky ones too.
@Shelley you are too nice. Thanks from one Frankie-phile to another. ❤
She may be my favorite fictional character, because she was so vividly imagined–or maybe remembered? I’ve always thought Carson had to be like that at 12. ?
@Vista-Kay yes I know I tend to see autobiographical natures and happenings in fiction…when we all know that’s bs, not to say that some aren’t auto bio.
@Shelley LOL
So true. I thought Mick in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter had to be Carson, too. ?
Vista-Kay McCroskey yep, wanted to ask didn’t Miss Eudora Welty write MEMBER OF THE WEDDING? Prob got them confused, sorry…but McCullers was so great…Ballad of the Sad Cafe? and of course the one you mentioned…wonderful! Did you ever get into Tennessee Williams…so talented..Reynolds Price? Loved Faulkner…one of my all-time favorite short stories is his ” A Rose for Emily” please get an anthology of his short works, love them.
@Shelley I am a Southern Gothic fiend (aka having too much time on my hands). Member was Carson. Miss Eudora wrote The Optimist’s Daughter. I had a teacher who used to call her that. Lololol
I love Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor and Tennessee Williams and Erskine Caldwell. I read “A Rose for Emily” and loved it. The Barn Burning is wonderful, too. But Sanctuary is my favorite Faulkner. If you need a good laugh, read ir listen to (even better) Welty’s “Why I Live at the PO.” That Gothic humor is hysterical in a very bent way. I like Katherine Ann Porter, too. “Flowering Judas” is a beautiful little gem. I’m so excited that someone else reads the Southern Gothic writers!
Oh, I honestly haven’t read Reynold’s Price. I will look for him.
Thanks so much! ?
@Vista-Kay I call her Miss Eudora after reading some bio sketch that people called her that in Jackson…yes, you’d like Price, I’ve read all you mention..was Splendor in the Grass a book, saw the movie, also, what was the film not sure if a book, but Natelie Wood, Redford, and she ‘s young and becomes famous , Ruth Gordon plays her mother, such a great movie, always wanted to read the book if there was one?? Love all southern gothic
@Shelley Splendor in the Grass was great. Natalie Wood was a marvelous Deanie. It’s a heartbreaker. The title comes from a William Wordsworth poem. But that movie really captured the mood of the Roaring Twenties. I saw Inside Daisy Clover, too. Loved Ruth Gordon as her mom in that one. She was always amazing. As weird as it was, a sort of modern Gothic, I loved Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude. But she was great in Rosemary’s Baby, as well. That’s a great book–very weird in a bizarre sort of counter-culture way. You’ve probably seen or read all of these ?
@Vista-Kay yes, read and saw Harold and Maude years ago and loved it, saw it again last year…read and saw Rosemary’s Baby ..the one I couldn’t think of was Inside Daisy Clover..watched it several times, was it a book? Yes know the Wordsworth poem…love poetry. I watch the TCM classics or any channel that I come upon with some of the Great ones of my youth. Love good modern films as well, but don’t watch a lot cause it interferes with my reading. Has to be a great one or great series for me to give up my reading time. But Harold and Maude was such a quirky, strange movie, loved it.
@Shelley I don’t know if Inside Daisy Clovervwas a book. That’s worth looking up. I watched old movies more as a kid. I grew up on a farm. Movies were my occasional break from reading–especially since my mom loved them so much–especially old ones. Really great how alike our tastes are. I think, but don’t quote me , that the Splendor in the Grass movie was based on a play. Maybe William Inge??? I have no idea why I think that.
I’ve really enjoyed chatting with you!?
@Vista-Kay yes enjoyed it too, I’ll try to look up those queries…let you know, I’m 66 and tend to forget I can Google stuff..hehe, my granddaughter is 12 and says, Grandmother, don’t worry about it, you can’t help that you’re not a millennial like me, I’ll help you…isnt that sweet? No I’m an early baby boomer….old!!
@Shelley
Lololol I am a Baby Boomer, too. I will be 57 next month. No wonder we remember and like so many of the same things!!! That is hysterical!! ??
For whom the bell tolls. First “adult” book I read at about age 12. Stlll have the book edition published in 1945. It was my mother,
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.
Helan Keller’s autobiographies.
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. I reread it every couple years. My dog-eared and yellowed copy is one of my great treasures.
One of my favorite writers
One of my favorite authors and books!
Watership Down. I read it in 6th grade. I’m sure the finer political allegory points were lost on me but it’s when I fell in love with reading!
Loved it since 1st read it, have reread it every few years since my early youth and I’m 66…Hazel and Fiver and the General …tharn…
.
Hey, I still reread so-called children’s books, Beatrix Potter, all of hers, The Rainbabies, The Velveteen Rabbit, Harry the Dirty Dog, The Silent Meow, Uncle Remus, all of Richard Adams’, The Jungle Book, Jabberwocky from Alice in Wonderland, The Walrus and the Carpenter, Wind in the Willows, many more
Winnie the Pooh, forgot him and Paddington Bear.
I loved Watership Down…one of my favorite books growing up
@Mary yes, mine also and still a favorite as a 66 year old adult!
Little Women, life together, Anna Karenina, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Poisonwood Bible
Poisonwood was so great!
Out of Africa, the Color Purple.
Both favorites, love all Karen Blixon (Isak Denison) and Walker’s..
Invisible Life, Little Women, The Long Dream (Richard Wright), Meridian (Alice Walker), The Bluest Eye, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
Invisible man
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Infinite Jest, Confederacy of Dunces, The Color Purple, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Song of Solomon…
CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, INFINITE JEST, THE COLOR PURPLE, THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, THE MEMORY KEEPERs DAUGHTER, LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, A NAKED SINGULARITY, AGAINST THE DAY, THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, TheTrilogy by Amitov Ghosh, THE KILLING OF FLOWER MOON, THE LOST CITY OF Z, THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN, All the Natural History magazine columns, This View of Life, made into Stephen Jay Gould’s anthologies, at least 8 of them, any of Simon Winchester, Malcolm Gladwell ‘s books, Christopher Hitchens books of essays, oh so many more, but these are wonderful, please check.em out, book lovers
Breakfast of Champions
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
I could relate with Francie on many levels in her home life. However, I also felt I learned so much about life in early New York.
I use to read it every year until I got too busy with life.
Once the kids got older, I read it now and can relate with Katie.
I recently read that “Tree” was the most popular novel sent to the G.I.’s in World War II. It must have seemed like home to so many.
@Annette, I had never heard that, but I’m sure you’re right that it seemed like home to many.
Black Like Me
I read that book too, in the 60’s. I think it changed me forever. Thinking back, it stymies me why I would choose that book at such a young age, growing up in white Utah. Thanks for the memory nudge. Wow.
I read my first series “The Little House Books”, when I was in 3rd grade, and became a reader. Now retired, I call reading my social life. I am particularly disabled and don’t get around to well. I still like historical books. Also Amish series. Actually I prefer series.
I have bad disks in my neck and back, and migraines. The only reasons I go out anymore are to go to the store, and things involving my sweet daughter. But for her, I’d be a happy hermit! 😀 I have gotten into audio books. When I am really hurting and maybe it hurts to hold a book, or my neck down to read, or I have a migraine and light hurts, audio books have been great for allowing me to continue reading when I would otherwise just be stuck in bed staring at the wall.
@Stefanie sorry to hear you are disabled, you sound so young. Hopefully there will be a surgery to alleviate some of that pain or physical therapy. I am glad you enjoy reading ❤️
@Diane Thank you <3. I am trying to hold out for disk replacement (3D printed??) or ANYTHING other than fusions! 🙂
??
@Stefanie I had a fusion and two artificial disks. PM me if you ever want to talk
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
One of my top 20 favorites, one of my favorite quotes of all time is the last paragraph.
so beautiful!
Room by Emma Donaghue rocked me: How to survive the unspeakable with intelligence and grace and help your child do the same. ?
Great book
Didn’t read Room but LOVED The Wonder by Emma Donoghue.
Haven’t read Room yet, but did read The Wonder. Did not like it. I thought that the English nurse was very bigoted towards the Irish and Catholics. Also, I thought that she was a bit slow on the up take about the brother being dead and the mother’s trick. Did like the Anna, the little girl and the Irish newspaper man.
The Talent Code and Servant Leadership
The Awakening. And the short stories by Kate Chopin.
In The Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall.
Also Inside the Brain by William Calvin.
My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. It’s the true story of how Dr. Bolte Taylor had a massive stroke at 37 that wiped out the left side of her brain and the 8 years of her recovery. It was , oddly , one of the more spiritual books I have read but more than anything, she helped me understand my neurologically disabled child in a way that I would have never understood him before. It literally changed my life as a person and as a parent ❤️
Barking to the Choir by Father Greg Boyle
The Bible. I actually read and discussed The Bible as literature in one of my college English courses. I learned a great deal about the history and culture of the people in the times that the Bible was written, as well as the theology. Also, The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank was my first introduction to the Holocaust from the perspective of someone my own age. Another enlightening read was The Freedom Writers’ Diary by Erin Gruell. It my first inkling of how inner city kids live and what obstacles they have to overcome to achieve what we often take for granted, a good high school education and great, inspiring teachers/mentors. Having grown up on a farm in a rural area and never venturing into large cities, except for a school trip or two, I had no exposure to inner city kids. As an adult, I liked The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, because it explored an alternate theory regarding Jesus’ life, which intrigued me.
I’m reading The Triumph of Christianity by Bart Erhman. I am /was not a religious person if anything I was completely jaded by organized religion growing up in a highly Mormon populated town. Reading the aforementioned book has brought me such clarity in the history of The Bible and the prevalence of the Christian faith throughout history. I have been reading the Bible with a renewed, cleansed perspective.
The Great Gatsby
Oh my list just gets longer…
Mine is sooooo long, like Betty Boop says, “I don’t know how much more I can handle” …but how can I pass an interesting sounding book by and not add it?
@Shelley I read voraciously and I can’t keep up with this growing list
@Mary no way I can keep up either and I have lots of reading time, but the list grows a lot faster than my ability to read, NOT a speed reader, though I read relatively fast…that burgeoning list is way up ahead of my reading!
@Mary I know I have let some of the hundred slide for same reason…only need 26 to finish the 100 but other recs keep slipping in sideways somehow, teehee
@Mary ok that’s a good idea, I got it and accepted….thanks for the request
The help. Outlander.
Just started rereading The English Patient. Amazing writing.
One of my favorites, read his memoir and enjoyed it too
I loved The English Patient. It’s really uncanny how an author who is primarily a poet can translate his style to prose, but maintain the beauty and lyricism of his style.
@Lauralyn yes, indeed, it is a mystery
The Secret Garden was the book that made me go from liking books and reading, to loving books and reading.I was in 4th grade.
It is my favorite musical too. Lovely music.
Thanks, @Jennifer !
@Amber It is really great. I have always wanted to play Lily.
I read that book as an adult and love it! I recommend it to my students and adults alike all the time.
I love that book, too!
Night by Ellie Wiesel
What is the book about
@Diane the Holocaust and survival
@Deena thank you, definitely will read
CEREMONY OF THE INNOCENT by Taylor Caldwell
It was depressing and disturbing but I was very young and innocent until I read that book.
I Know This to Be True by Wally Lamb.
Just going through my Kindle library and saw this one…such a great writer, going to reread soon
One of my favorite books!!
Brothers and Sisters by Bebe Moore Campbell, The Power of Now by Eckard Tolle.
The Diary of Ann Frank
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Where the wild things are
The Ginger Tree, West With the Night.
The Deep EndOf the Ocean
Yes!! I read this when I was like 16. I stayed up all night reading it.
Also. The Shack.
Catcher in the Rye..J.D. Salinger. I read it very young and thought it was funny. Then several years later and it was sad. I loved it though and is one book ai have always kept, just watched the movie about him..he was his character, he says. It made me understand more about his book.
The other book that never has left me.. Crime and Punishment.. Dostoevsky
Love this list!
Mans Search for Meaning…
Without a doubt!
A child called it
Yes…this book.
“Are you there God it’s me Margaret” lit my fire to read since I was a 12 year old girl when reading that book. Today, (many years later) “A Monster Calls” is still a seed planted in my soul because I lived that storyline in 2007.
Friendly Persuasion by Jessamine West. Read it when I was about 12 because I was interested in the Civil War era. It was my introduction to the Quaker way.
The Little Prince. I feel like it’s just packed with life lessons. Very philosophical and really stirs my emotions. I’m a teacher who gets to select what she teaches, so I’m lucky enough to share it with students every year. ❤️
Favourite book of my 8th grade English teacher; she shared it with us.
following
Night by Elie Wiesel
Little Women
My all-time, very favorite book!
Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol
Yes this book is a game changer.
Crime and Punishment. It was bibliotherapy for me. The question of why it is so easy to cast blame on an individual who has sought to help rang true to me.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Bible
Not only informative, but beautiful poetry runs through it
Possession by A.S. Byatt.
Loved it!
As a teenager it was Gone with the Wind. Lord, my wedding dress looked exactly like Scarlet’s dress in the first few scenes! As a woman in her 20’s (no college degree, YET) it would HAVE to be Stranger in a Strange Land. I found the ability to grok was a jolt to my brain! And in my adulthood it’s definitely any book by John Irving. I even thought I could get my masters with ‘The narrator as observer’.
I’m always surprised by how many of my freshmen have read and recommend Gone with the Wind!
Another book that I absolutely love and really impacted me is The Kite Runner. So good!!! I love how the book explores redemption.
Man’s Search for Meaning
I really like Kelsey Timmerman’s non-fiction works: Where Am l Wearing, Where Am I Eating, and his new one, Where Am I Giving.
The Shack
The Jungle
Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph @Steph
He is one author that I’ve been meaning to read for many years..just haven’t done it. Thanks. I’m making a note of the title. Can you tell me more about the book?
It’s a comparison of cultures throughout the world through hero stories. We are more alike than different in our values and needs. You come away knowing that every person is a hero and has an epic journey to follow. I read it in college many years ago and I find myself relating much of what I read today to all that is in that book. My copy is well worn.
I have it from the the library. The title tells it all, doesn’t it! Many thanks.
Little Women, Jane Eyre and Christy as a preteen girl. Eugenia Price books and Redeeming Love were fantastic. A spiritual read that is remarkable is Inside Out by Larry Crabb…
And so many more!
I loved Jane Eyre and Christy. I will check out Eugenia Price and Inside Out
I had forgotten about Christy. I read it many years ago and really like it!
Half the Sky by Kristof and Sophie ‘ s Choice.
Catcher in the Rye. I still read it once per year.
The Ginger Tree, West With the Night.
To Kill A Mockingbird, Grapes of Wrath, Sophie’s Choice, Life in The Time of Cholera, Of Mice & Men
All changers for me, great list, Susie
TY
Love your list. Would add Charlotte’s Web
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts. It was a game changer
When I went to college, I had to read The Greatest Salesman by Og Mandino…I do not remember the details of the story, but what I do remember is that I recommended it for my Mom to read…My mom had never read much before as she was born in another country and did not know much English. Well, this one little book changed our relationship and it forged about three decades where we shared books and reflected on literature. My Mom became one of the most prolific and well-read people I know. Her bookshelves spanned everything from Tolstoy to Capote. Thank you for allowing me to relive this memory. Why didn’t I name my son Oggie, haha!
Incredible story!! Reading can and will change lives no matter what age or phase in life. Those that say a childhood deprived of reading is the worst disservice brought on by teachers and parents are gravely mistaken if an individual doesn’t continue to read into adulthood. I picked up reading [jaded by ‘required reading’ my entire school career] at 28 years old. I read Station Eleven, then Harry Potter, then Steven King… 1 year later I’ve read 125 books plus so much more through articles and journals and now I’m starting graduate school. Reading can change anyone, anytime in life and it’s so great to hear another such wonderful story about books and relationships!
I forgot that I loved and kept that book as well. For space and other reasons, I now use a kindle and have given away/donated most of my books. I kept that one though. It’s small and powerful. It’s been years though and I have forgotten the details as well. Thanks for the reminder.
The Hiding Place, (Corrie Ten Boom) Night (Eli Weisel)
Oh, goodness. Where the Red Fern Grows… that broke my heart as a kid. I think that is what helped develop my love for the sad books. My grandmother buying my first three set of Nancy Drew, I love all mysteries and thrillers because of her and that set. Those are some early books.
My mom instilled a love of reading in my life. We were at the library weekly. We shared the mysteries by Phyllis Whitney. Also I loved A Wrinkle in Time and all her books.
Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult, things are not always as they appear and with any medical break through lies the potential for a negative consequence. ?
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult-wow! That was a book that changed me.
@Sonya me too, it had me question my thoughts and actions. With most every book of hers I have had strong emotional reactions.
I just read this book and our bookclub is going to see Jodi Picoult in Oct and we’re reading one of her books for Sept but don’t know if this will be a good one for discussion? What do u think Lisa?
Small Great Things will make ppl look real hard at themselves. Discussions will have strong emotions. At one point early in the book, I paused a few days because I was afraid of where it was headed. Our modern society is charged and ppl are too quick to call everything racism when behaviors, although not nice, I don’t feel come from a place of racism. I love Jodi s books. Always have so I finally trusted that and read it. Lots of empathy, sadness and clarity of all perspectives.
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Red Tent.
Great book!
The Red Tent an amazing read.
The Diary of Anne Frank…I was about the same age as Anne was when she died when I read the book. I found her attitude so inspirational.
Not so much one book, but a course freshman year of college (1969) in international literature. It blasted my narrow view of the world and the people in it. Duh! Africa, India, China, etc. they all have children to worry about, spats with neighbors, struggles against governments. And it made me want to travel and meet all these people. And I did. ?
Good for you
Excellent!
Yes, I read so much about people outside the US starting from a very young age, that when I went abroad it did not feel foreign. Certain country felt like home. Strangely, it was reentry to the US that made me feel like a foreigner some times. I just get so immersed with other cultures.
Also, after I see places and hear about what happened there, I’m much more interested than before. I often then want to read non-fiction to “know”. I guess I need the visual to get my curiosity up.
I had to take 10 credits outside of my field during graduate work. I chose World Literature. I’d say Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Margaret Atwood, Achebe, Neruda, all greatly influenced me and One Hundred Years of Solitude will be my choice for the book read.
@Janis I vote for ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE every day along with CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES
The hiding place never read nonfiction I was young) and discovering real peoples in books gave me life long interest outside my little world.
Ah, a few come to mind immediately: “So Big” by Edna Ferber and all three of Lillian Hellman’s memoirs — “Pentimento,” “Scoundrel Time,” and “An Unfinished Woman.” I first read all of them as a young woman in college and return to them often; they taught (and teach) me about courage.
All great books! Thank you for reminding me!
Night by Elie Wiesel. It had a profound impact on my life.
Tough to read but such a good writer!
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Really liked it, read years ago
I really liked the western movie The Hanging Tree with Gary Cooper,
Was it a book?
I don’t know, @Marie.
Walden, The Grapes of Wrath, The Handmaid’s Tale, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler.
Loved this book
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.
I started reading her books when I was a teenager and always loved them!!
I was in middle school and our school librarian gave me that book because she knew I read Nancy Drew. I love her writing style. Have you read any of the Merlin books she wrote?
@Teresa For some reason, I didn’t read the Merlin books when they first came out. Thank you for reminding me about them. I just ordered the Audible version of The Crystal Cave and plan to start it when I finish my current book!?
@Kaye i absolutely loved them. Its set around King Arthur but from Merlin’s perspective. Loved them. Be sure and let me know what you think when you finish.?
I will!?
Grapes of Wrath
Believe or not…Twilight.
It wasn’t the story as much as I finally felt that I could dive into something that was just mine. I have been an avid reader most of my life and during Nursing school my free reading time was replaced by wanting to spend time with my boyfriend (who is now my husband). Then we had kids, 3 in fact, back to back. I was too exhausted to enjoy anything. But as my girls grew up they heard about this great new series that was being turned into a movie and not only did they want to read it but they wanted to see the movie. So I read the book first then saw the movie. Then an avalanche occurred and I fell back into reading consuming everything I could.
Menfreya in the Morning, it was in a readers digest condensed books edition. Started my gothic novel teen addiction! By Victoria Holt, she wrote under several pseudonyms, Jean Plaidy, Amy something and another. Often think I should go back and read them again!
Oh my goodness! Victoria Holt was one of my mom’s and my favorites! I started reading her around fifth or sixth grade. I think I’ve read every VH book. My favorite was The Shadow of the Lynx. I have gone back from time to time and reread some.I think I’ll add her to my book club pick! Thanks for the reminder!
I devoured those books! I often wonder if the romance was as clean as I remember or if I just didn’t understand it!
I used to love reading her. I had forgotten about it.
@Stephany my Mom also enjoyed all of her books! She also read Phyllis Whitney books, which are extremely similar!
@Roberta yes! I’ve rediscovered PW in the last few years, too.
Phyllis Whitney was one of her pseudonyms! Not Amy! Haha!
I am going to look for them.
Did anyone read the Ruby in the Smoke series by Phillip Pullman?
Yes! Loved it
Also enjoyed it very much
Yes 🙂
The Chronicles of Narnia, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Stand
I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb. Grapes of Wrath and Gone With the Wind
One of my favorite books!
Divine Secrets of the YaYa sisterhood and Hyperbole and a Half
Outlander. The help.
“Anne of Green Gables”. I didn’t like to read until a librarian introduced me to the Anne series. It was the beginning of a life long love of books.
I have never been so emotionally moved as much as I was at the end of Of Mice and Men
The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck
to kill a mockingbird
Slaughter House 5
Billy Pilgrim was unstuck in time.
Lad , a Dawg ( just kidding ) Lad ; a Dog
Salem’s Lot
The Grapes of Wrath
The Secret of Nimn
Siddhartha
1984
Black Like Me
“the Mis education of the Negro ” Carter G woodson “The thesis of Dr. Woodson’s book is that African-Americans of his day were being culturally indoctrinated, rather than taught, in American schools. This conditioning, he claims, causes African-Americans to become dependent and to seek out inferior places in the greater society of which they are a part. He challenges his readers to become autodidacts and to “do for themselves”, regardless of what they were taught:
History shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning. ” quoted from amazon
“The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck.