The Poisonwood Bible, Peace Like a River, Sons & Lovers, Of Mice and Men, The Giant's House, Matilda. I'm drawn to books about outcasts and weirdos.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
I read mostly mysteries and "junk" so nothing too profound. But "The Lovely Bones" was one of the most difficult to get through, but at the same time impossible to put down books I have read. It really changed my perspective on death, grief and letting go. Right now I'm in the middle of "Eat, Pray, Love" and I can already tell it's one that will stay with me for quite awhile. I hope I take away from it even part of what it offers. I'm very pleasantly suprised to find a "good for you" book that is so easily readable, funny and entertaining. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.
You know this is going to sound really stupid, but the book that changed my life was Fun with Dick and Jane. That's the book that I learned to read from in first grade, so it was the book that opened the door for the thousands of other truly wonderful books I've read in the 40 years since then.
I would have to say Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Read it in 9th grade and it really opened my mind. I think it was the first time i realized I love anthropology. I think thats the first time I realized the importance of everyone's uniqueness. Love that book !!
There have probably been a few. At about 8 years of age, Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" was the first book I read of any real artistic merit, and the one that convinced me that books could be beautiful. "The Lord of the Rings", at 10, was the first book I read that was genuinely HARD (although, in three parts, it took me over a year to get through it).
Gabriel Garcia Marquez' "One Hundred Years of Solitude" was probably the first translated book I read, unless you count Jules Verne. It opened me up to international literature, although I confess that in more recent years I've been totally unable to reread "Solitude", or any of Marquez' books. My brain has probably softened with age.
I feel the same way about this book. I am not too into "self-help" books, but not sure that this really falls into that category anyway. But I was prepared n ot to like it and I have really gotten into it and I can tell it's already having an effect on me.Originally Posted by Katydyd;3073334;
Since 90% of the books I read I get from the library and only buy books that are ones I know I will love and treasure, I will probably now buy this book.
As my major was English, I have always been a voracious reader. I still have a strong affinity for these - Black like Me, Native Son, I Know why the Caged Bird Sings, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Slaughterhouse Five, Angela's Ashes, Memoirs of a Geisha, White Oleander, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Boys and Girls Together, Marathon Man, A Time to Kill, We Were the Mulvaneys, Play it as it Lays, Marjorie Morningstar, The Year of Magical Thinking, Mystic River.
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown. Read it in junior high and it always stuck with me. Also "Let Me Hear Your Voice" is quite inspirational for anyone who is facing a new diagnosis of autism in someone you love. Whether you agree with or try and implement the methods used in the book or not, it is that boost that one sometimes needs to think that progress is indeed possible.
norealityhere-I loved "A Stone for Danny Fisher". I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it. Great Book.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Absolutely true, and I still remember sitting on a teacher's lap and opening that book and reading those first words.