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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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