To ask which book changed your life?

[SunshineYello]

I'm after some inspiration, as I realised I haven't read a good book in so long, mostly due to being glued to the same old rubbish on my 'smart' phone. Coupled with lockdown, I think my brain is grinding to a halt.
I will offer up Wuthering Heights; bit of an obvious one, but I love how my perception of it changes year to year, from 'how romantic' (impressionable teen) to 'dysfunctional much'?!

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

It's funny and strange and confusing for the first 2/3 of the book. Then you realise what he is doing and it starts to make sense and it slowly becomes heartbreaking.

This is a wonderful thread. What a question! I'm going to be thinking about this all day now, op :)

Tuesdays with Morrie for me

Do They Hear You When You Cry? By Fauzia Kassindja

I hadn't heard of FGM until I read this.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Probably the best book I have read, it's beautiful.

Also a vote for Harry Potter, not as complex, but has always been an escape for me.

Not quite "lifechanging" in the way you meant but I am very glad I read lots of James Herriot as a teenager because when I had an external prolapse whilst out and about with my baby I guessed what it might be and knew I wasn't dying and you had to push it back in because of remembering the vet treating it in sheep....I had never heard of it happening to humans. :-S

The one on Sartre made me think of Kate Soper's Humanism and Anti-Humanism. Changed the way I think about a lot of things. Also:

Sally Morgan, My Place
Homer, The Odyssey
James Joyce, Ulysses
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Betty Mahmoody, Not Without My Daughter
Franz Kafka, The Trial
Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
John Milton, Paradise Lost
Penelope Farmer, Charlotte Sometimes
Mark Zusak, The Book Thief
Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials triology
Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Kate Millett, Sexual Politics
Arundahti Roy, The God of Small Things

And probably lots of others I haven't thought of yet! Great thread, I love a nosey at what other people are reading.

Straight Jacket, overcoming societys legacy of gay shame by Matthew Todd

I had heard it was good, but I was amazed at how many parts I read and thought “that is me”. It really changed how I think about certain things and experiences throught my life.

@WotWouldCJDo I think the breakthrough takeaway for me was that business doesn't have to look like corporate business to be successful - and you can do it as an introvert.

It took me eight years from my first contact with Marianne (before the book but the book gave me a kick when it first came out) but I doggedly pursued the business setup and lifestyle that I wanted and was told was unrealistic, and now I have it 🤩 this year's been interesting with covid but I'm still here!

Lots of little actions were easier than trying to flip my life upside down all at once

(And full disclosure, I'm a case study in the second edition, which was one of my very proudest moments).

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

Down came the rain by Brooke Shields.
I had terrible PND after both my DSs and it made me realise that I wasn’t alone. Also being able to hand over the book and say “This is how I feel” was such a big thing

Wow, thanks so much for the inspiration!!!! I will need to start another thread, "AIBU - to hide my baby in a cupboard whilst I read all these amazing sounding books"! On a serious note, I love all these personal recommendations and relate to a lot of the comments (Mumsnet is just fab!!). I am going to make a real effort to get cultured and wean off the bloody phone!

@SummaLuvin

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Probably the best book I have read, it's beautiful.

Also a vote for Harry Potter, not as complex, but has always been an escape for me.

I started Flowers for Algernon yesterday and am now 2/3rds through - it's heartbreaking and beautiful. Best book I've read in years

As a result of this thread, how much money have you all spent?

I'm pleased to have spent only a tenner.

The one that springs to mind for me is 'Women Don't Owe You Pretty' by Florence Given. She's quite young and I didn't expect the book to have the impact on me it did but it's done a lot for me this year. I don't agree entirely with her understanding of feminism but the bones of the book is good and I've had a few lightbulb moments because of it.

Not really high literature but in a very personal way Lethal White by Robert Galbraith.

I read it having watched the Cormoran Strike TV series...loved it, read the first three books, then googled for fan fiction.

18 months later I've written nearly 400k words of Strike fanfic, made loads of online friends in the process and the positive feedback I've received has given me the confidence to begin writing my first novel.

On a more general level...

Jane Eyre, A Thousand Splendid Suns and La Cucina for fiction, and in non-fiction Life Strategies by Dr Phil McGraw

I find a read a book, it makes a difference for a while, then I forget...and carry on as normal.

Sapiens
The Gift of Fear
If this is a man (Primo Levi)

All made me think at the time.

On the fiction side I've always love Jane Austen. I really liked Zadie Smith's White Teeth

For me it would be The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence.

The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung. I am now 3 stone down plus I have so much more energy because I have stopped eating any sugar. I don't feel half as anxious as I did either.

Mila 18 by Leon uris, always surprised more people don't talk about this book.

When I was going through a shitty period of my life I read the secret.

I really tried to take it on Board.

Ended up with a new job new fella (he turned out to be a twat) but I did try and do what it said.

At the time it worked.

The Name of the Wind - utterly beautiful, outrageously brilliant fantasy novel. I've been waiting 12 years for the third in the series though so be warned.

Came on to say exactly this! It's my favourite book in the world. And, for the record, I've read quite a lot of 'proper literature' too - I'm not just a fantasy fan.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

I studied it for O Level and I found this line particularly poignant:

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb inside his skin and walk around in it."

The Handmaid's Tale, by Atwood. I read it at 15 and despite being an English teacher, it has always remained at the top of my list.

Others:
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
The Chess Master - Ah Cheung
Surfacing - Atwood