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Books that changed your life
brandie:
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn *I can't recommend this enough* It literally has affected my entire world view.
I'd agree with whoever said Kate Chopin's The Awakening
And Charles Bukowski - You Get So Alone At Times...
I forgot: The Great Gatsby too.
toolazytothinkupaname:
--- Quote from: lifelesseyes ---The Perks of Being a Wallflower - everyone I know who's read this says it changes their life, and it's true.
--- End quote ---
It didn't change mine :P Honestly I thought it was pretty bad. The characters were inconsistent and the plot as a whole seemed rather contrived, ESPECIALLY the ending, my specific criticisms of which I will not go into lest I "spoil" it for other people.
Have to agree with the earlier poster that Brave New World is way better than 1984. As far as life-changing books go, I'm not really sure. Obviously I have favourite books, almost all of which have been listed already, but I'm not sure I could really name a book that's changed my life.
KharBevNor:
Life changing eh?
JRR Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings: Forever set the tone for everything I enjoy in life.
Philip Jose Farmer - The Riverworld Series (To Your Scattered Bodies Go/The Fabulous Riverboat/The Dark Design/The Magic Labyrinth/Gods of Riverworld): Opened my spiritual horizons. Turned me away from the 'Big Man' view of history at an early stage. Made me paranoid. Turned me into a pervert. Great series.
Mervyn Peake - The Gormenghast Trilogy (Titus Groan/Gormenghast/Titus Alone): Blew open my horizons of what literature could be and how it could work.
Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - Illuminatus!: Taught me that really non-traditional novels can still have a great plot, ripping pace and be loads of fun, after having to study Virginia Woolf at AS.
Lots of books have affected me in little ways though. Almost all of them science fiction and fantasy. For example, my parents complete collection of Ursula K. LeGuin books, which I finished reading when I was about 14, are probably the reason I hold the political views I do now, and for that I am bloody glad. Particularly, and actually I suppose it deserves a mention for this, The Left Hand of Darkness, which basically helped me come to terms with my sexuality by impressing on me that gender and gender roles don't mean shit beyond what the man says they mean. Basically.
Cartilage Head:
Well..I'm not sure if I could tell how every one of these books affected me..but they definitely did.
Wicked by Gragory Maguire:Simply because it was the greatest book I've ever read in my life.
Rose Madder by Stephen King.
Of Mice and Men.
Sandman-The Dream Hunters:The book that left me depressed for a week.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
Watership Down by Richard Adams.
elcapitan:
--- Quote from: KharBevNor ---Philip Jose Farmer - The Riverworld Series (To Your Scattered Bodies Go/The Fabulous Riverboat/The Dark Design/The Magic Labyrinth/Gods of Riverworld): Opened my spiritual horizons. Turned me away from the 'Big Man' view of history at an early stage. Made me paranoid. Turned me into a pervert. Great series.
Mervyn Peake - The Gormenghast Trilogy (Titus Groan/Gormenghast/Titus Alone): Blew open my horizons of what literature could be and how it could work.
--- End quote ---
Yes, yes, yes. The Riverworld series was great, a friend and I read them when we were eleven or so.
And man, the Gormenghast trilogy is brilliant. I remember reading the field in the clouds part towards the beginning of Titus Groan and thinking, wow, this is an impressive book. Only got better from there on out.
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