Books that changed your life

OK, so we all have books we've read, perhaps during our formative years, which had a significant impact on our mental life, which altered the way we think about ourselves.

A few of mine are:

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; the first anti-war book I read when I was about 14/15, I loved the dark ironic humour and the absurdity not only of war but of life itself as Heller envisioned it.

Utopia by Thomas More, the first work of philosophy I ever read. Fun!

Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, first read during my university years, closely followed by Camus' The Outsider. Responded with great enthusiasm to the utter hatred for humanity and existence that exudes from this novel!

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift - where I learned to be a misanthrope

What are yours?

 

i would choose the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky. from this book, i understand more about my ideal. i know myself better.

 

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer and 1984

 

My mum seems to think 'Fantastic Mr Fox' made me the socialist I am today....

 

mrs dalloway, the waves, virginia woolf
blood and guts in high school, kathy acker
last exit to brooklyn, hubert selby jnr
the lord of the rings, tolkien
the woman destroyed, simone de beauvoir
the hunger, knut hamsun
wuthering heights, emily bronte
the yellow wallpaper, charlotte perkins gilman
the wall, sartre

 

got hit with one once yeah man totally changed me life .

 

The Little Prince (lol) changed my life
a book called The Greatest Miracle in The World (author forgotten, book lost a few years ago) did to a much lesser degree

 

I actually Lol'd

 

twee maybe but the occaision and the sentimentality worked wonders and meant a great deal

Jonathen Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach

 

The Hungry Caterpiller.

 

Magic Mountain, Tonio Kroger, Death in Venice, Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann - he was my teacher, I've read all of his books in high school and that was something that totally changed my outlook.

Before Mann it was Sartre - very depressing, made me sad for a long time, then Emile Cioran - so depressing that almost comforting and paradoxically it gave me strenght - I knew I'm not alone with my sadness.
I love his dark sense of humor and his black despair - almost enjoyable.

Then Proust, J.J.Rousseau with all his mental problems and honesty, and then books by Polish writer Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, probably none of you knows him.

So i guess these books taught me how to live with sadness, now I will try to learn on my own how to be happy

 

And how did that change your life, cunthooks?

 

It taught me that things change in this world. We go through our own changes and then we form into something beautiful at the end.

Most importantly though, it inspired me to read at an early age; and that's one thing that no other book by Orwell, Vonnegut, or Shakespeare can do. If a book can change your life without making you think, then that's the best book in the world.

 

Aww sweet I just loved 'The Hungry Caterpillar' because it had holes in the pages! I had the same thing as you with a book called "The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark", that's the book that first got me interested in reading, I would read it over and over again. That and Ted Hughes' "The Iron Man", a children's classic, I would gravitate towards that book at primary school - had impeccable taste even then

 

I also loved The Jolly Postman.

 

I've been having trouble thinking of a book or books that changed my life.
But, I think I finally figured out what books probably changed my life in the sense of giving me a new perspective on life, culture, and even in the last case religion.
So, I'll go back to some old classics which I haven't read in ages and should really add to my burgeoning collection.

First two being Homer's Illiad & Odyssey. I read both these when I was about 13-14ish and they gave me a love for classical literature. They both also opened up a love of Greek mythology and lore.

Shortly after reading those, I decided to venture into even more philosophical classical literature and read the next two books that I'd say changed my perception of religion and developed an early interest in philosophy. Those books being Dante's Inferno & Purgatorio. Needless to say, I never did read the last book Paradiso as again I read them when I was about 14ish and after the first really deep two books I think my brain felt fried and I needed a break. Unfortunately, I've yet to go back and finish or re-read them though. But I may just have to do that sometime in the near future.

 

The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff
Simple, I know, but it really did change my life. I had so many "aha!" moments reading, so many things clicked, a different life seemed possible.

Valencia - Michelle Tea
I read this book really young, and it really opened my eyes to this crazy world, I never knew existed. I read this book a lot, it taught me of people who though have lives they struggle in greatly, they find their happiness, and though they have little, it doesn't matter. It showed me this freedom, though tragic in the story, a freedom I wish I could have. It showed me how life is not like Hollywood, it's real and tragic, but beautiful at the same time.

 

While I don't think it actually changed my life as such, 1984 certainly helped set the way I look at things that the corps and governments do.

Fight Club taught me that there is more to success than money, and that each of us has the power to change the world in our own way.

 

In my original post I said that I was talking about books that had a significant impact on your mental landscape, books that added to your awareness and perhaps changed the way you look at the world

 

i got the same thing from herman hesse - steppenwolf

kind of felt bitter towards society and didnt really have anyone to talk to about it and then one day someone gave me this book and i didnt feel so alone anymore.