To ask you for your all-time favourite life-changing books?

[frogsoup]

Now my kids are getting older I'm finally getting the chance to start reading again. I'm at a bit of a crossroads in life and career terms and I'm feeling the need for books that are so amazing that they make you rethink life, the universe and everything. Any suggestions?

My starter for 10: Primo Levi's 'The truce', about his journey home from Auschwitz. One of the most astonishingly life-affirming books I've ever read.

[frogsoup]

Wow, this thread is going to keep me in books for years!

Michael Chabon has written some great nonfiction books too Tammy - 'fatherhood in pieces' is a really good read.

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

Your Money or Your Life by - Vicki Robbi and Joe Dominguez
(changes the way you think about money, work and stuff)

Longitude - Dava Sobel
Inspiring story of how a self taught English carpenter and clock maker solved the problem of determining longitude at sea.

[G5000]

Tally not yet, but have just downloaded, thanks.

[Figmentofmyimagination]

I recently read 'Mend the living' by Maylis de Kerangel - a fictional account of the journey of a heart in the context of transplants. Last year's Wellcome Prize winner. I was really impressed by this book. Beautiful writing and I learned loads. Also would recommend as a good medical ethics read for a sixth former interested in reading medicine at university.

[haverhill]

Just remembered:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Takes just a few hours to read but you'll never forget the images.

[baxterboi]

1984. The single most impactful and life changing book I have ever read.

YES!

[3luckystars]

I have ordered A Fine Balance and am looking forward to reading it.

[TulipsInAJug]

The grass is singing by Doris Lessing.

[Floottoot]

stopfuckingshoutingatme, Self Help for Your Nerves by Claire Weekes has saved my life several times, when I've been crippled by anxiety long-term. If you can listen to any of her audio stuff, even better - she had a wonderfully calming voice and manner.
I've given friends copies of this book at various times and it's helped in all cases.

[Balloondog]

.

[Amyerda]

The truth about goats and sheep
Ealinor Oliphant is ok
If nobody speaks of remarkable things
The time travellers wife
Homestead by rosinna Lippi
The book Thief
After you'd gone_maggir O'Farrell
Once in a house on fire
We were the mulvanneys. Joyce carol Oates
Rachel's holiday
Loved each and every one of them for different reasons

[duplodancer]

Agree with lots of these suggestions! Some others which had a profound effect on me. Wild (Cheryl strayed), The Unbearable lightness of Being, The Shipping News and The Conquest of Happiness.

[StepAwayFromGoogle]

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Just so compelling and well written. I quite literally couldn't put it down - it went everywhere with me.

[dementedma]

no one book has changed my life but there are some that resonate more than others and stay with me for various reasons:
The Mermaid's chair - Sue Monk Kidd
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Memoirs of a Geisha
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

[BlondeB83]

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (his novels are all fabulous)

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (still so fabulous and relevant!)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte

[BlondeB83]

You may have guessed I like an unreliable narrator! Glad of any more suggestions!

[MadMaryBoddington]

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I had always loved Jane Eyre; it was my favourite book and I used to re-read it often. Then I read Wide Sargasso Sea from cover to cover in one night and it completely changed how I felt about some of the characters in Jane Eyre. I’m not saying it spoilt it - it just gave me a whole new insight, and also taught me a whole load of stuff from a better understanding of mental illness to questioning of people’s motivations for their actions; to be less judgemental, and to see shades of grey where I once saw black and white. It really did make a huge impression on me (I was quite young).

Dark Horses and Black Beauties (I forget the author). A wonderful analysis of the relationship between women and horses. A must read for anyone who loves horses. Very insightful and a wonderful tribute to an amazing animal.

Gina Ford

[frogsoup]

My list keeps on growing

[Subla2401]

The Kite Runner is one of my all-time favourites.

[Ladybirdbookworm]

The trick is to keep breathing by Janice Galloway for anyone who struggles with depression.
Don't you want me by India Knight for laugh out loud fun and a reminder why I used to love reading.
Yes yes to Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes but even more so for the Mystery of Mercy Close .
The little House on The Prairie - just lovely and my beloved Granda was reading it when he was dying in hospital.
At the moment I am reading The Chuckling goat and absolutely loving it - it's made me want to visit the goats at the top of our street and that's a sentence I never thought I would say.
Great thread please put it in Classics

[Kaybush]

@frogsoup I'm going to read Primo Levi's book next on your recommendation!

I read its precursor If This Is a Man during my finals. I'd run out of time and picked it solely because it was the shortest read. I was dreading the content but finished it so inspired by the ability of the human spirit to overcome the most unbearable circumstances.

I can't forget what he said about how recuperating in the infirmary if you got sick was the worst part, as being taken away from the daily struggle to survive made him actually acknowledge the sheer injustice of what was being done to him. Just heartbreaking.

[Kaybush]

And Sapiens has been on my to read list for months. Can't wait to read that!

[mrbob]

Lots of awesome books here! Can I add “the divide” by Jason hickle. Incredible book about inequality. Is making me think strongly about the direction I want my life to go. Want everyone to read it! So poweeful

[bibblebobblebubble]

Late Fragments by Kate Gross, a great woman who died far too young from cancer.

Not a misery memoir - a beautifully written book about how she figured out what really mattered in her life.

[HidingFromDD]

the untethered soul, Michael Singer, but would also echo Sapiens, and anything by Brene Brown (listen to audiobooks/ interviews if you can). The state of affairs by Esther Perel, The People Whisperer, Perry Wood(?)