Have you ever read a book which significantly changed your life?

[sorkycake]

If so what was it and why did it change you so?

My most recent is John Holt's "why children fail" and a close second comes Alfie Cohn's "Unconditional love".

Toxic Childhood

Which btw is about the modern world's effects on our children and what we can do to palliate them.

I'm going to store these up and spend my Christmas Waterstones vouchers on them.
Both my chosen books were a revelation for my own childhood memories and spurred me to change the way I parent to avoid the same mistakes. If there is one gift I would love this Christmas it's the reassurance that I don't parent the same way I was parented, priceless
Thank you sm

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. I think I should read it again right now actually! I'm just too cautious and inward, I love books (and movies) which make you want to soar.

Spiritual Midwifery.

It was very inspiring at a time when I really needed inspiration (and still is, actually).

I had a very strong, visceral reaction to it, and that in itself persuaded me I was on the right road, iyswim. I don't think it changed me, it just revealed bits of me that were previously very well hidden

The Politics of Breastfeeding Gabrielle Palmer

No Logo Naomi Klein

Right, that's the 47th time I have seen that Gabrielle Palmer book mentioned on here - am ordering it right now.

It's fantastic.
Bloody hard to get hold of at the moment though-try through Assoc. of Breastfeeding Mothers' website.

Yes, have just seen on amazon that new ed isn't out until Aug 08. Bugger. Will scour around and try ABM too, ta moondog!

try abebooks snaf, it's where I head for outta print, hard to find books.

That must be a reprint.
Due to phenomenal demand created by me bleating about it continually on MN I am sure.

Bad Food Britain by Joanna Blythman changed my shopping/eating habits, which I suppose is pretty significant.

Otherwise I could say The Second Sex because it was the first feminist book I read, but OTOH I think I would have been a feminist no matter what I read.

I'm rather to admit that it was The Rules - how to get him to marry you (or something like that!)

It wasn't just about sexual relationships athough I did practise them on a couple of blokes and - hey ho, married one of them but there was also quite a bit on friendships and I realised that there was one friendship I had where I did all the running and it had got me very upset and I managed to sort that out.

Mine is The Rules too

Borrowed a friends copy and passed it on - all in all six of us did it at the same time about 8 years ago:
4 of us married our next boyfriend (though one is now divorced!)
1 of us is still with her next partner but as they don't want kids the wedding part has never come up - they do live together though.
1 of us is still single and has a shit time with men - she never stuck to The Rules properly though and has paid the price ever since

Now whenever a friend gets dumped or divorced I buy them a copy

How To Spot a Right-on Thread If Ever There Was One
by Imfartoo Shallow-Clearly.
'mazing read.

The celestine prophecy. Made me realise that it is ok to but in if you really have something to say, politely though !

yes, but none of them were works of fiction

The Magus - John Fowles.
I was pressured when I was a teenager to loose my virginity and there is a whole passage in there that totally helped me with the way I felt about it. Each time I felt pressured to do things I didn't want I have gone back to reading it.
I read alot but that book and that passage is stuck in my head forever.

The bone people by Keri Hulme just blew me away. So many undercurrants, the magical side of life written about in a very beautiful poetic way within a very realistuic and quite shocking story/subject

Lots of fiction books have renewed, inspired, and changed my life... but can I think of them right now?!

One of them though is Boxy an Star by Daren King - not sure why even.

Message withdrawn

almost ashamed but YES

The Peppermint Pig by Nina Bawden
I have been vegetarian 26 years!

The Second Sex - absolutely. Not so much the feminism, more the chapter about adolescence was the first time I realised that I wasn't an abhorrent freak of nature and that other people were as self conscious and full of self-loathing.

On a more shallow note - recently "He's just not that into you" has made the horror of dating again in my forties so much more simple, in fact it's my bible.

Andre Gide - Strait is the Gate.

The Bible! I know that sounds trite, and perhaps odd, but absolutely true! I started with the gospel of Mark; it was amazing. (Which is probably not a word you might associate withe the Bible)......