7 books that changed your life

[expectantsteelerfan]

This has been going around facebook, post a picture of the cover of a book each day for a week, no explanations, of the books that most changed your life.

Mine were:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Carrie by Stephen King
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Emma by Jane Austen
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

A friend of mine included the first Babysitters Club book on her list, and I thought that really should have been on mine too.
I'd love to see everyone else's lists!

[travella]

To Kill a Mockingbird
Number the Stars
A Tale of Two Cities
Sunset Island series
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Tuesdays with Morrie
A Time to Kill

[abs]

Babysitters Club—These books made me a reader!
Ramona Quimby series
Remember Me by Christopher Pike
Of Mice and Men
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harry Potter series
The Nightingale

I wouldn’t say any of these changed my life exactly but they all meant something to me in a certain stage of life. BSC were the books that made me fall in love with reading. Ramona because my mom and I read the whole series together and it’s a great memory. Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird because they pushed me to think and mature in my reading choices. Harry Potter because well, Harry Potter. The Nightingale because again it made me think and seemed to be the book that changed what I read as an adult.

[travella]

I agree with Abs. These books didn't necessarily change my life, but they meant something to me at the time that I read them.
Number the Stars-where I found my love of reading.
A Tale of Two Cities- the first classic I ever read on my own. My teacher had told me not to read it because it was too advanced for myself and independent reading so I became determined to read it for my book report. I aced the book report and continued reading many more classics.
To Kill a Mockingbird- it made me start thinking about my career path.
Sunset Island (series)- it inspired my desire to travel and study abroad.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People- I read this when I was really young and it helped foster my love of organization and time management. As an adult, I reread this book and hated it. It was too rigid.
Tuesdays with Morrie- I read this as a teen. It made me really think about how time with my loved ones is limited. I think it helped break me out of the selfish teenage years and focus on my relationships with my grandmother and parents.
A Time to Kill - I ended up buying and reading all of Grisham's books for many years after this book.

[scribellesam]

Mine are memorable to me not because they were my favorite books ever, but because they were the beginnings of my love affairs with specific sub genres of books.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (dystopian/post-apocalyptic )
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (female-led fantasy)
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey (fairy tale retelling)
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (historical romance)
The Watchers by Dean Koontz (supernatural thriller)
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (stories set in boarding schools)
Redwall by Brian Jacques (books with excellent food descriptions)

The last two are only sub genres in my head lol but they are two types of books I really enjoy, and those are the first two of their kind I remember discovering as a kid.

[oliviapope]

I can say they changed my life. Reading them brought about a good deal of introspection and growth at the time I read them.

1. Harry Potter series
2. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
3. Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
4. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
5. The Diary of Anne Frank
6. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
7. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

[bex]

oh hmmm. This is tough. I would say that these all changed my life in some way - changed my perspective, made me think about something I hadn't considered, shaped my worldview, etc. So some had bigger impacts than others but these books have all played a part in who I am today.

1. Anne of Green Gables series.
2. The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
4. The Other Wes Moore - One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
5. Walking with the Wind by John Lewis
6. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
7. Tender Rebel by Johanna Lindsey (this was my first romance novel lolol)

[Gato]

Hmm, it's so hard to pick just seven!

1. The Little Princess - a lot of my little friends hated this book, but I loved that Sara was a storyteller and that her kindness was rewarded.

2. Atlas Shrugged - my parents gave it to me, I read the whole thing, and it really affirmed for me at 16 that I would never, ever agree with any sort of heartless individualism. Their answer to the world's problems was to all fly away to a hidden mountain retreat? Who do you think is going to clean your toilets there, Dagny? John Galt?

3. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson - my first encounter with genius

4. Notes from the Underground/The Sorrows of Young Werther - as a 19 year old I totally connected with the angst in these novels

5. Pale Fire - more genius. I love everything by Nabokov.

6. Friend of My Youth - Alice Munro is the best; Her female but not motherly point of view always feels empowering to me.

7. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry's book took my breath away.

8. Remains of the Day - I'm cheating now but Ishiguro is so good at the unreliable narrator, and this book moved me so much.

[mx27]

Aug 19, 2018 6:31:04 GMT -5 abs said:

Babysitters Club—These books made me a reader!

Love this and loved those books! I feel the same way.

[krystee]

Anne of Green Gables
The Last Lecture
The Awakening
Nickel and Dimed
Between the World and Me
Diary of Anne Frank
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner (first time the main character and not the fat best friend was someone who was plus size like me!)

[mrspez07]

A classic Nancy Drew my mom handed down - summer reading on a blanket under a tree. This is when I remember kicking reading into high gear.

Of Mice and Men - deep for selfish jr high students

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - I was burned out on reading after college, this book and series reignighted my love of reading

This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel - a book I connected with as a mom

Press Here by Herve Tullet - interactive children’s book changed up the drudgery of reading the same kids books over and over. Also have many as gifts.

Diary of Anne Frank

Choose your own adventure books. Loved to read them and wanted to write them too.

[AJL]

1. Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
2. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
3. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
4. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
5. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rivka Brunt
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
7. All the Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan

[dorothyinAus]

Ohh this is hard. In no particular order and for a variety of reasons:

The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Courson
Just Desserts by Mary Dahiem
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

[litskispeciality]

Oh this is fun. Not so much changed my life, but like others had an effect on my love of reading, or meant a lot where I was in life at that time:

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis
Pretty much anything by Lois Lowery, but I'd say A Summer to Die or Number the Stars
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Who Put That Hair in my Toothbrush by Jerry Spinelli
Little Women
Fear Street books by R.L. Stein - my friends and I read these like crazy and traded to avoid buying more
The Pact - more so that this got me back into reading after a slump and got me into Jodi Picolt




AJL, I was just thinking about Witch of Blackbird Pond this weekend. I was in the second highest reading group so I never got to read that. I was thinking I should pick it up and read it now.