A book that changed your life (or at least your mindset...)

[rosie79]

I'm sure this has been done before but an curious to hear about what book or books people think helped changed their life or the way they view the world, or helped them in some way. For me it has to be:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho when I was 20

The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck (first discovered a few years ago but have read it four times now!)

What about you?

Brother in the Land, at school about 13. Just made me so aware of how the world could go, and still scares me.

to kill a mocking bird is an excellent book

Before I Say Goodbye by Ruth Picardie

As a child, the book that probably got me hooked was The Wind in the Willows. Sorry, just been reminded of one of my favourite lines - Mole has just been on Rat's boat for the first time and Rat says:

'What?' cried the Rat, open-mouthed: 'Never been in a ... you never... well I... what have you been doing, then?'

Angela's Ashes and To Kill a Mockingbird also struck me profoundly as an adult.

Grapes of wrath too

When I was about 18, my best friend at the time gave me Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and that changed my outlook on things for quite a long time.

The Bell jar by SYLVIA plath

sorry didnt mean to scream the Sylvia bit!

discovering nabokov (sp?) as a fifteen year old who grew up in ahouse wehre the required readin was jackie collins. was a revelation - just didnt know words could do that, be like that, make me feel so very... sure it directed me towards acadaemia.

lolita is a wonderful book

Pale Fire is better than Lolita IMO. But I'm not a big fan of Nabokov

Awakenings by Oliver Sacks a fascinating Book, read it whilest I was a Student Nurse and things like illnesses and discovery of how to heal them or at least make them better just interested me!

Walking on water by Anthony De Mello

American Psycho is the one and only book I have ever parted with because I knew that there was no way in hell I would read it again.

A book called 'Confident Children' by Gael Lindenfield had a very big influence on my parenting and especially how I interact with children (both my own and my pupils). Has anyone else read it?

3andnomore Oliver Sacks is a favourite of mine too. It was after reading 'the Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat' at 16 that I decided I wanted to study psychology (even though his books are more neuroscience really).

'To Kill a Mockingbird' will always be a special book for me. We read it at school (for all races) in South Africa during the apartheid era - I can still remember how the room was full of tension when we read passages out and how, when we watched the film, many of us cried.

My Dream of You by Nuala O'Faolain.

That's it's okay to be happy on your own.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Just two.

agree with pruni about Not on the Label by Felicity Lawrence,quite shocking and has changed the way we shop .

Has anyone read The Boy with no Shoes,about a boy in a concentration camp and a nazi's son?Can't remember the author.

that sounds like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

ah,that's it thanks molesworth!

that was utterly chilling wasn't it

I read it in one sitting

The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom. Yet another book about WW2, this was about a Christian Dutch woman who hid Jews and ended up in a concentration camp as a result. However for me it was less about the horrors of camp and more about the spirit of Christian forgiveness (which, at the age of 15 and a fervent Christian, sat rather well with me!) But it's not so crushingly religious that it would put off secular readers iirc. Made me think a lot about being less self-centred and seeing the good in people.

There was another one in my mind when I started this post but I've forgotten which it was now

I've just finished The Boy in The Striped Pjamas, chilling - a great word to describe it. The one and only book to make me cry.