A Book That Changed Your Life

I read "Into the Wild" about 2 months ago and I really liked it. Its probably one of the best books I have read.

 

A clockwork Orange made me think. And i really enjoyed Watership Down.

I should probably read more though.

 

Steal This Book and 1984

 

Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse was a great read when I was in high school. I think it really shaped the way I evolved into adulthood in many ways.

 

Fight Club by Chuck P. (i can't spell his last name for the life of me.)

 

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
like seriously, I loved that shit

and A Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess
and maybe a few other of his works after

but I only read Jitterbug Perfume and A Wanting Seed because of recommendations from people on HF
I fucking love this place man =D

 

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Franny and Zooey by Salinger
Johnny Got his Gun by i can't remember, but he wrote Roman Holiday too
Also, i read a really great Bobby Kennedy bio which i absolutely loved! it's by Jack Newfield, a reporter who was on the last campaign

 

Webster's dictionary. Man, that's a book, or at least when dictionaries came in the form of a book, that I've been using since the 2nd grade. Made me one smart mo fo, or something like that.

 

The Hobbit - Tolkien. As a young kid, it just really got me into reading.

The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien. Got me into the power of a well-told epic; made me appreciate fantasy on a whole new level. Inspired me to want to write.

Lord of the Flies - William Golding. Got me into the appreciation of good , classic literature. Made me (and still makes me) think about human nature on a whole new level. Still reread it every year.

Macbeth - Shakespeare. Ok, not strictly a book, but it is literature. Again, made me think about human nature and human greed and lust for power. Still very, very applicable to politics and general human interaction today.

The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born - Ayi Kwei Armah. Amazing novel about post-independence Ghana, and a massive critique of the "Big Man" syndrome so unfortunately prevalent in African politics (Robert Mugabe is the lastest current example). Again, great insight into human nature.

On The Road - Jack Kerouac. Made me want to just get out there and see the world, experience the beauty of the weird and unique, meet all sorts of fascinating characters on the way...

1984 - George Orwell. Encourages one to think about the Big Brother state; the influence that politicians and governements have over our lives and the evil of totalitarianism. Again, very relevant to the world today.

Damn I feel inspired now!

 

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It changed me more than any other book I've read. I really felt it.

 

I agree with Lying in a Field when they said, "I don't think any book has straight up changed my life but each one has pushed me just that little bit further down the path of truth or freedom."

One book that especially pushed me "further downt he path" was Be Here Now by Ram Dass.

Oh and also... All our wounds forgiven By Julies Lester


Both two AMAZING BOOKS. Both very different, but amazing.

 

to be honest, To Kill a Mocking Bird and Tom Saywer/ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Lord of the Flies and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

 

On the Road, the Silmarilion and the Electric Kool Aid Acid test... how cliche can yah get?

 

I have to say one The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho taught me a lot about the universe. It confirmed what i already suspected about the collective conscience and how you can use the expressions of it to guide you through the crazy trip that is life. I read it again when I was slightly high, and I have to say the imagery from the book was amazing. I highly recomend it.

 

There's a few..
I write what I like by Stephen Biko
Fluke by James Herbert
The Stand by Stephen King
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

 

I read EVERYTHING! All genre's, most authors. But, without a doubt, the book that changed my perceptions would have to be The Grapes of Wrath. I grew up listening to stories from my great-grandparents about their lives in Oklahoma, and moving California, but I never realized just how much courage, and back breaking hard work it took to take on that adventure. The prose, the feeling of the times, nothing had ever opened my eyes to how life was in that era. It broke my heart to see the way life was lived without a second thought to how unequal the United States was at that time. The courage it took to pack everything they owned, their 3 babies and leave, not knowing what they were going to, picking tomatoes to pay their way across to California, it is incredible.

 

Herman Hesse - Siddhartha

 

Man do I have to catch up on some good reads from this post, but alas I read some of the greatest that were already mention... but I did get completely moved by Sylvia Plath's Journals and White Oleander by Janet Fitch. But I do agreee with what the majority has said. Great taste.

 

The one in my sig, Through the looking glass, and Go Ask Alice

 

How To Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson

I read this during my first Semester of college and it majorly changed the way I did things in my classes. I took radical lessons from it at first, but I was able to form them into much more moderate and livable views.

Check it out. Also, The Freedom Manifesto by the same author.