AIBU?
To ask you for your all-time favourite life-changing books?
frogsoup · 18/06/2018 11:59
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.
OneDayIWish · 03/07/2018 00:16
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It's an amazing book and became an award winning play. It gives such an insight into the mind of an autistic boy creating understanding and empathy into the condition. At the same time, it's a mystery novel.
Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow · 03/07/2018 07:20
Another vote for Birdsong. I read it many years ago and it changed me and I never walk past a war memorial without stopping. It brought the First World War and it’s statistics to life (sadly) but was beautifully written
33goingon64 · 03/07/2018 09:36
The Outsider (Camus). I read it in for A level French otherwise probably wouldn't have come across it. It shaped my understanding of how the justice system works (or doesn't work) and more generally about whether it is possible to exist as a physical body without behaviours or emotions, and if so is that something human society could ever accept? It blew my mind.
Kzzzzz · 03/07/2018 09:43
Not sure if it’s been mentioned but A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is sich a life affirming book for me.
It’s such an odd story, an amazing unforgettable main character and just so original, funny and heartbreaking. I read it at least once a year and think I will continue to do so forever more.
RaquelWelch · 03/07/2018 10:41
The God of Small Things - by Arundhati Roy
A Thousand Splendid Suns - by Khaled Hosseini (cried my eyes out!)
Rachel's holiday - by Marian Keyes
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
RaquelWelch · 03/07/2018 10:47
Oh! and the Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle - The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van
khakoney · 04/07/2018 07:54
Vampire Diary(a collection of 12 books) by Morgan Rice,takes you to another world but at the end it makes sense to a normal human being.Kind of scaring but interesting..
frippit · 04/07/2018 08:03
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Beautifully written book set in South Africa about a black parsons search for his son, I love this book.
NotAsGreenAsCabbageLooking · 04/07/2018 08:12
Loved Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime.
Also.. (completely different genre) Marching Powder by Rusty Young (I think) is mind blowingly amazing.
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.