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The Book That Changed Your Life

post #1 of 38
6/17/02 at 10:15am
Thread Starter 
You all know it. The book that when you put it down for the first time, you never looked at the world the same way again. You knew that something was different because of it. You knew that you had been changed.

For me, I think the three books that changed my life were:

It by Stephen King -Because, as a writer, it made me want to write something that powerful.

Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks -Because it told me that I could write something that powerful. An amazing book, by the way. I highly reccomend it.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay -Because it gave me something to aspire to. It gave me hope that life would get better. That things always work out in the end. Even though life doesn't fit into little boxes that were made for it, even though people die and romance loses its luster, you can never give up hope. Never. I love this book. I love it with every fiber of my being. Just thinking about it makes me want to sit down and read it again. I could spend weeks just reading and re-reading this book. It's amazing.
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post #2 of 38
6/17/02 at 10:39am
As far as wanting to get back into writing after about a 15-year layoff:
On the Road by Kerouac

As far as helping me sort out my life:
Fight Club By Palahiyucuivehjuyiopcjdilchuk (Sorry, I can never remember how to spell that guy's last name)
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post #3 of 38
6/17/02 at 10:46am
For me, it's probably American Psycho. It changed my outlook on a lot of things.
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post #4 of 38
6/17/02 at 10:48am
The Stranger
The Moviegoer
The Catcher in the Rye
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post #5 of 38
6/17/02 at 1:01pm
So, many. The first was probably Watership Down.
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post #6 of 38
6/17/02 at 1:07pm
The Hungry, Hungry Crocodile, The Adventures of Binkle and Flip, King's Christine, Herbert's The Rats and all of Michael Bond's Paddington Bear books.
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post #7 of 38
6/17/02 at 1:07pm
Chicken Soup For The Soul
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post #8 of 38
6/17/02 at 2:51pm
There were many in my youngin days.

The first one that I can honestly remember reading fully was "The Lord of The Flies".
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post #9 of 38
6/17/02 at 2:59pm
Lord of the Flies is another one for me.
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post #10 of 38
6/17/02 at 5:19pm
The Rosy Crucifixion (Sexus, Plexus, and Nexus)
By Henry Miller

Factotum by Charles Bukowski
Ask The Dust by John Fante
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post #11 of 38
6/18/02 at 1:02pm
"Catcher in the Rye" - just like everybody else. Other big books for me were/are "The Stand" by S. King and "Self-Help" by Lorrie Moore.
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post #12 of 38
6/18/02 at 2:05pm
I had read the Hobbit when I was around 8 years old, but to me it was a stand alone fairy tale. I loved the cartoon, and watched it as often as possible.

The book that really changed me was, seriously, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first Dragonlance book. I read it when I was 10, and in that moment I was really transformed into the person I am today. When someone said "You've LOTR, right? You can't read that fantasy junk until you've read LOTR." And they were right.

But it was the Dragonlance book that kicked things off.
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post #13 of 38
6/18/02 at 10:01pm
Book on grammar which I used when I go to highschool.
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post #14 of 38
6/18/02 at 10:06pm
Let me go ahead and shill the Bible.

But really it was the book that provided a whole new look on life and the way we choose to live it. Not to mention the countless practical aspects it possesses.
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post #15 of 38
6/18/02 at 10:20pm
Plus all the begatting....
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post #16 of 38
6/19/02 at 3:34am
Quote:
Blofeld:
Plus all the begatting....
You simply cannot forget that either.

I mean...C'MON!

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post #17 of 38
6/19/02 at 11:00am
Jose Saramago's Blindness
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post #18 of 38
6/19/02 at 2:10pm
Their Eyes Were Watching God - by Zora Neale Hurston made me realize that High School English class wasn't just about dead white guys.

Plus reading dialect = fun
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post #19 of 38
6/19/02 at 8:02pm
Quote:
Innocent Sex:
Jose Saramago's Blindness
Is it really that good?
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post #20 of 38
6/19/02 at 9:44pm
Tony,

I hate to step in here for Kirby but...the thread's called "The Book That Changed Your Life."
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post #21 of 38
6/19/02 at 10:00pm
Whoops...
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post #22 of 38
6/20/02 at 10:12am
T, the first three books I mentioned were a more general influence on my life, Saramago's book is really an influence on my writing. I think it's a badass book. I don't think it's a surprise that Saramago got the Nobel Prize right after that book was published. It's a weird, fucked up book, wonderful and scary, brilliant. But mostly for me, it's affects me because of the writerly craft in it. But either way, for pleasure or business, it's highly recommended.
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post #23 of 38
6/20/02 at 10:42am
The Power of Myth.

I know there are circles in which it is cool to read Joseph Campbell, and that there are circles in which it is cliche to do so.

Plus it's non fiction, and really a transcribed interview.

But never have I gone thrugh a book and underlined so much, or my own accord, not for class or anything else.

That book has forever changed my life. More than fiction could, I think. I interpret other fiction by what I have taken from the book actually.
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post #24 of 38
6/20/02 at 11:20am
The most influental SF book for me had to be Dune by Frank Herbert.

This was the biggest SF book, actually the first SF book that I read.

Before that there was Stephen King.
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post #25 of 38
6/20/02 at 12:08pm
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Read it in the span of about two days which was no small feat at that age, it usually took me weeks to read a book. That book is what got me into Stephen King, and it's been all uphill since then.
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post #26 of 38
6/20/02 at 12:43pm
These are wierd, I know, but...

1. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse - I'm not sure why. I've read this book something like 50 times and I own 3 editions/translations of it. I just got so much out of it. It's such a quiet book, and thus I was really able to listen to and hear the words that were written on page. Sounds trippy, right? Well, it was, but not because of drugs. It's just a great book and it really affected me.

2. Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo - This book is a sort of self-help kind of thing. It helps one to become a better guitar player/musician by applying the principles of Zen to guitar playing. Everything in this book opened up so many creative avenues and helped me to understand my limits as a player and as a person, and how to expand those limits safely and effectively through discipline and hard work. It's very easy reading, and for me, it was incredibly easy to understand and internalize. That book fits me.
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post #27 of 38
6/20/02 at 2:23pm
Double post

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post #28 of 38
6/20/02 at 3:07pm
Kirby, that's a nice reco. I'll pick it up and maybe post what I thought about it later.
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post #29 of 38
6/20/02 at 5:18pm
Quote:
Innocent Sex:
T, the first three books I mentioned were a more general influence on my life, Saramago's book is really an influence on my writing. I think it's a badass book. I don't think it's a surprise that Saramago got the Nobel Prize right after that book was published. It's a weird, fucked up book, wonderful and scary, brilliant. But mostly for me, it's affects me because of the writerly craft in it. But either way, for pleasure or business, it's highly recommended.
Saramago's got the chops. I plan on taking his
history of Portugal with me when I head over there.

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post #30 of 38
6/20/02 at 6:18pm
Cat's Cradle By Kurt V.
Childhood's End By AC Clarke
Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
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post #31 of 38
6/25/02 at 9:57pm
My life changed when I deciphered the meaning of Joyce's "The Dead", the first story I ever deconstructed on my own, back in High School. Though I embraced practical issues of structure in college (though not without a fight), I've always considered the best storytelling to be the proverbial onion, with layers upon layers just waiting to be peeled back.

Reading Joyce has accounted for some of the more joyful moments in my life outside of sex.
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post #32 of 38
6/25/02 at 10:06pm
Yes. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

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post #33 of 38
7/18/02 at 12:12am
Erica Jong's 'Fear of Flying' has to be one of the best books I have ever read.

and

Pat Conroy's "The Great Santini"
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post #34 of 38
7/21/02 at 9:07am
yay for Cataline for mentioning "Their Eyes Eere Watching God". a fantastic book.

most of my choices have already ben mentioned: LOTR, IT. there are some Dutch books I'd recommend but since they are mostly unavailable in English there's only one on my list: The Vanishing by Tim Krabbe. amazon.com has some copies still available. and yes, that is the book on which the movies are based. read it, and see how badly fucked up the american version is, and how great an adaptation the original Dutch version of the flick is.
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post #35 of 38
7/21/02 at 9:21am
The book that changed the way I viewed adulthood and relationships was "Passages" by Gail Sheehy. It tells of the predicatble crises of adult life and the 10 year changes that happen to all of us and how to keep them in sync with your partner.

The trying 20' - The safety of home left behind where we begin trying on life's uniforms and possible partners in search of the perfect fit.

The catch 30's - When illusions are shaken and it's time to make, break or deepen life commitments.

The forlorn 40's - The dangerous years when the dreams of youth demand reassessment. Men and women begin to switch characteristics, sexual panic is common, but the greatest opportunity for self-discovery awaits.

The refreshed (or resigned) 50's - The best of life for those who let go of the old roles and find a renewal of purpose.

I read this book in my early 20's. Today I am in my mid 40's and have found it true to claim in all its various degrees of personal growth, though I'm far from sexual panic. LOL It's worth a check-out.
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post #36 of 38
7/22/02 at 9:20am
There's no single book I would nominate as having had a life-altering effect on me. Rest assured, those books that have had minimal lasting influence on my outlook and imagination are long forgotten by now, consigned to the second-hand stacks of history.

However, I do have Ramsey Campbell's brilliant collection Dark Companions largely to thank for first proving to me that modern horror tales can be as beautifully written, as grimly honest and unforgettable as real honest-to-God capital-L literature, and yet still as terrifying as the worst nightmare visions of Poe and MR James.
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post #37 of 38
7/23/02 at 11:53pm
Writing Down the Bones is a great book. Have you tried her Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life?

If you like Bones, I'd recommend A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. Not a book about writing, but very inspiring, and a big big lesson in word use.
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post #38 of 38
7/24/02 at 11:46pm
Interview With the Vampire started me on a reading frenzy about 10 years ago.

Recently, House of Leaves has kept me going.

Oh, and anything by H.P. Lovecraft
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