To ask which books have actually changed your life?

[backtoworkhiho]

For me Marie kondo's book or the power of now had a lasting impression but both need re-reading currently

Yours?

You can heal your life by Louise Hay. It helped me to work on healing and forgiving my past and to love myself for who I am.

I so wanted the Allen Carr book to work for me, but every time I tried to stop smoking my anxiety was so high that I felt really ill. Finally managed to stop 2 years ago with vaping, but I do still have my copy of The Only Way... as it can be helpful reading if I feel bad and my thoughts turn to old habits.

Self Help for Your Nerves by Claire Weekes was a big one for me. I'm by no means 'fixed' in terms of my anxiety disorder but when I read that book I started to feel that the way to live with this was to accept it, understand it was horrible but that I wouldn't always feel so bad, instead of fighting it or sticking a cork in it with a cigarette or other 'safety' behaviour.

The Chimp Paradox - helped me in so many ways it is hard to really articulate, I feel like I have a much better understanding of myself and others and feel much stronger at handling difficult situations

Marie Kondo, the life changing magic of tidying up.

Agree with Feel the Fear and do it anyway, well worth reading. Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Successful Pp is v good too.

Oh and Novel- wise
-Keep the Aspidistra Flying (George Orwell) : gave me a good head wobble and made me pull my socks up and get my career going again after time out from it

The Bible

The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin. Might not have the same impact now but taught me to start questioning what I'd been taught about politics and political systems, and then to think for myself. The Left Hand of Darkness also got me thinking, but in a different way.

Veronica decides to Die by Paulo Coehlo.

It's a book that deals with suicide and despite the depressing title and theme, it's an incredibly uplifting book. I found it at a time in my life when I was severely depressed and (I can admit now) that thoughts of suicide had crossed my mind...

Marie Kondo fans - how do you keep your house Kondoed? I bought the book and thought it was amazing and spent a few days sorting and chucking, but it's now a total mess again. Do you have to keep doing it every couple of months or did I just do it wrong?

Liar Moon by Ben Pastor.

It's a history mystery, so definitely not your typical life-changing book, but I read it when I was in a very dark place and it resonated with me and gave me the strength to pick up the pieces and make a fresh start. I'll cherish it forever.

The Women's Room by Marilyn French. I read it when I was a young mother with two DC, and recognised my life. It was the beginning of my interest in women's rights and feminism and it led (indirectly) to the end of my marriage...
I asked my (then) DH to read it - he got about twenty pages in and abandoned it as 'boring'... I remember standing in the kitchen yelling, 'Yes -and it's MY LIFE'

The Women's Room for me as well, also started reading Spare Rib.

The bible

Men, Money and Chocolate by Meena Van Praag.

^^ Menna van Praag.

Lolita by Nabokov. Showed me what beautiful writing really is.

@JustHappy3 I think that was The Undomesticated Goddess by Sophie Kinsella.

The Baby Whisperer - Tracy Hogg. Helped me so, so much after DC1.

Illusions by Richard Bach (he of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull)

• you can't change what people do, but you can change your reaction to it

Probably A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin.

There is a line in it that really resonates for me:

"...had taught him much of the healer's lore, and the first lesson and the last of all that lore was this: Heal the wound and cure the illness, but let the dying spirit go"

"My family and other animals" by Gerald Durrell. Started my interest in conservation leading eventually to my career.

The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer. I read it when I was 16 and had an incipient eating disorder, and it got me out of going further down that path.

I am forever grateful for Germaine Greer for this!

nocool and BarbarianMum your two picks are among my favourite and life-changing books, too!

(Barbarian have you ever been to the Durrell Zoo? It's amazing.)