The Book That Changed Your Life - Page 2

Feifer · 10-25-2005, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unklescott

The book that changed my life is "Black Like Me" by John Griffin. It opened my eyes to racism and made me realize that you need to accept people for who they are, not what they are perceived to be. Being raised in Tennessee in the 50's there were many things that were just an accepted way of life that were no longer accepted by me after reading this book. Thank you Mrs. Seat my 8th grade English teacher for suggesting this book to our class.

I adore this book. I read it to the end and then started reading it again immediately. It opened my eyes to life as it really was. I see more clearly indeed. This book should be required reading to graduate high school.

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giz · 10-25-2005, 04:11 PM

Black Like Me lives! I just tutored a student who had written an essay on the book. It's still having an impact.

As a teenager Richard Brautigan really had an impact on me. The beauty of his language, and the promotion of a hippie ideal almost sent me to live on a commune. Unfortunately all the communards I met seemed to be pervy guys 20 years older than me, so I had to give up on that one!

As a young adult, certainly Johnny Got His Gun was huge. I was already a pacifist, and this just really entrenched those beliefs for me.

In my 30's (and this is a little crazy) it was chic lit. Sounds mad, but the whole idea that through the crap you can find something to laugh about, and that there will be redemption of some form or another seemed quite comforting. Rafaella Barker is my fave. I read loads of serious stuff, Balzac, Hardy, 2 years of reading on the Holocaust,other Euro-history too, but it was Chic Lit that buoyed me up and got me through. Now that I'm in a different place it'll be interesting to see what does it for me in this phase of my life.

DesertRose · 10-26-2005, 11:25 AM

I went to a French high school and never got to read these books. I am so going to the library this afternoon to get Black like me, A tree grows in Brooklyn and Johnny got his gun. I feel I missed out on something.

As a young adult, I read Roots. It left a big mark on me.

Lucy · 10-26-2005, 07:30 PM

I'd have to think to come up with a single book that changed my life -- I've always read a LOT.
But I do have a poem that certainly influenced me -- it's one out of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf." I was assigned the book in an African-American women authors class in college. It's a series of related poems, but there was this one called "someone almost walked off with all of my stuff" that was about how this man just kept taking this woman's "stuff," or her self, away, and by the end of it she realizes he's not taking anything she isn't giving away. Basically, it was about losing yourself in a relationship. It really applied to a relationship I was in at the time, and affected my handling of it, and since then I've given that book to I don't know how many girlfriends in similar situations. We call it our "strong-woman poetry."

Unklescott · 10-27-2005, 05:04 PM

Lucy, I'm going to have to send that out to my friend in Arizona who is in the process of getting a divorce (#2) right now.

Rattus · 10-27-2005, 05:14 PM

When I was about eight or nine, I read Animal Farm and 1984. I guess reading something at that age it's not really determinable whether it changed your life or not, but they both, I believe, instilled in me a horror of power. I have never in my life wanted to have power over another human being, any more than I would want someone having power over me. The upside to this is that I am not at all ambitious (I loathed the brief time I spent in management), I am reasonably content with my job (not career) and Mr. Rattus and I have a wonderfully comfortable and equitable marriage.

AJane · 10-27-2005, 05:57 PM

I'm hard-pressed to pick just one, too, but one would be The Women's Room, by Marilyn French - although it's a work of fiction, it made me appreciate the people who pioneered the women's movement and respect their courage and determination. I was too young in the '60's and '70's to understand what women like French's characters did to promote equality between the sexes - my generation and generations since just take all that stuff for granted.

**hepcat** · 10-27-2005, 06:11 PM

I would have to say M.M. Kaye's The Far Pavilions was the earliest book I read that had a major impact on my life. It's a historical novel that describes the Indian soldier mutiny of 1850 against the imperial British. It's the first book I read where the author was utterly enchanted by a foreign culture. I was about 10, and I knew basically nil about India. There are parts of that book that were just mind-blowing to me, such as the Muslim army serving under the British rising up and killing their officers when it became known that the cartridges they were provided contained pork grease. Each shell came greased with a little paper wrapped around it, and the soldier had to pull the wrapper off with his teeth and load it into the rifle. When they found out it was pork (which some historians say was a rumor), they were outraged at the British - it was tantamount to condemning them to Hell. It's amazing to think the British could be so out of touch with their own soldiers' religious beliefs. It was a bloody rebellion, one where women and children were not spared. I've been interested in world religions ever since, and I still adore historical novels.

**Mariner** · 10-27-2005, 07:46 PM

I'm not sure I can say there is one book that influenced my life. One that stands out though is Chaim Potok's The Chosen about the relationship between two Jewish boys in Brooklyn in the 1940s one of whom is Hasidic and one of whom has been raised as an Orthodox Jew. I was probably 14 when I read it. I also was really impacted by Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird which we read in 8th grade English (we also read Black Like Me the same year).

Namaste · 10-28-2005, 03:41 PM

To Kill a Mockingbird has always been one of those books that has stuck with me thruout my lifetime. Seems the good ones always teach me something or give me a perpective I might not have come across in my own little corner of the world. I also read, Black Like Me, in middle school and it's another that is classic, loved it.

10-26-2005, 07:30 PM	#14
Lucy Wonky snarkmistress Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Playing kickball for the beer Age: 32 Posts: 8,733	I'd have to think to come up with a single book that changed my life -- I've always read a LOT. But I do have a poem that certainly influenced me -- it's one out of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf." I was assigned the book in an African-American women authors class in college. It's a series of related poems, but there was this one called "someone almost walked off with all of my stuff" that was about how this man just kept taking this woman's "stuff," or her self, away, and by the end of it she realizes he's not taking anything she isn't giving away. Basically, it was about losing yourself in a relationship. It really applied to a relationship I was in at the time, and affected my handling of it, and since then I've given that book to I don't know how many girlfriends in similar situations. We call it our "strong-woman poetry." __________________ It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever. -- David St. Hubbins

10-27-2005, 05:04 PM	#15
Unklescott Leukemia sucks Join Date: May 2003 Location: Columbus OH Posts: 20,528	Lucy, I'm going to have to send that out to my friend in Arizona who is in the process of getting a divorce (#2) right now. __________________ Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Francis Pharcellus Church Sept. 21, 1897

10-27-2005, 05:14 PM	#16
Rattus Wild thang Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: In the trees Age: 48 Posts: 3,517	When I was about eight or nine, I read Animal Farm and 1984. I guess reading something at that age it's not really determinable whether it changed your life or not, but they both, I believe, instilled in me a horror of power. I have never in my life wanted to have power over another human being, any more than I would want someone having power over me. The upside to this is that I am not at all ambitious (I loathed the brief time I spent in management), I am reasonably content with my job (not career) and Mr. Rattus and I have a wonderfully comfortable and equitable marriage. __________________ Right wing talk radio: helping wackos defend against imaginary enemies since 1992. .

10-27-2005, 05:57 PM	#17
AJane Provoked Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: bear country Posts: 6,668	I'm hard-pressed to pick just one, too, but one would be The Women's Room, by Marilyn French - although it's a work of fiction, it made me appreciate the people who pioneered the women's movement and respect their courage and determination. I was too young in the '60's and '70's to understand what women like French's characters did to promote equality between the sexes - my generation and generations since just take all that stuff for granted. __________________ All my life, I have felt destiny tugging at my sleeve. ~ Thursday Next The truth, like humor, is where you find it. - Henry Rollins

10-27-2005, 06:11 PM	#18
hepcat Phooey. Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: here Posts: 24,916 Blog Entries: 3	I would have to say M.M. Kaye's The Far Pavilions was the earliest book I read that had a major impact on my life. It's a historical novel that describes the Indian soldier mutiny of 1850 against the imperial British. It's the first book I read where the author was utterly enchanted by a foreign culture. I was about 10, and I knew basically nil about India. There are parts of that book that were just mind-blowing to me, such as the Muslim army serving under the British rising up and killing their officers when it became known that the cartridges they were provided contained pork grease. Each shell came greased with a little paper wrapped around it, and the soldier had to pull the wrapper off with his teeth and load it into the rifle. When they found out it was pork (which some historians say was a rumor), they were outraged at the British - it was tantamount to condemning them to Hell. It's amazing to think the British could be so out of touch with their own soldiers' religious beliefs. It was a bloody rebellion, one where women and children were not spared. I've been interested in world religions ever since, and I still adore historical novels. __________________ THE SMEAR: Barack Obama got 100% on "Through the Fire and Flames" on Guitar Hero. THE TRUTH: Barack Obama is a DDR fanatic.

10-25-2005, 04:11 PM	#12
giz FORT Fogey Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 1,895	Black Like Me lives! I just tutored a student who had written an essay on the book. It's still having an impact. As a teenager Richard Brautigan really had an impact on me. The beauty of his language, and the promotion of a hippie ideal almost sent me to live on a commune. Unfortunately all the communards I met seemed to be pervy guys 20 years older than me, so I had to give up on that one! As a young adult, certainly Johnny Got His Gun was huge. I was already a pacifist, and this just really entrenched those beliefs for me. In my 30's (and this is a little crazy) it was chic lit. Sounds mad, but the whole idea that through the crap you can find something to laugh about, and that there will be redemption of some form or another seemed quite comforting. Rafaella Barker is my fave. I read loads of serious stuff, Balzac, Hardy, 2 years of reading on the Holocaust,other Euro-history too, but it was Chic Lit that buoyed me up and got me through. Now that I'm in a different place it'll be interesting to see what does it for me in this phase of my life.

10-26-2005, 11:25 AM	#13
DesertRose When coffee just won't do Join Date: May 2005 Location: Reno hell Posts: 3,322	I went to a French high school and never got to read these books. I am so going to the library this afternoon to get Black like me, A tree grows in Brooklyn and Johnny got his gun. I feel I missed out on something. As a young adult, I read Roots. It left a big mark on me.

10-27-2005, 07:46 PM	#19
Mariner Parody Heaven Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: I'm just gonna have to get back to ya Posts: 15,699	I'm not sure I can say there is one book that influenced my life. One that stands out though is Chaim Potok's The Chosen about the relationship between two Jewish boys in Brooklyn in the 1940s one of whom is Hasidic and one of whom has been raised as an Orthodox Jew. I was probably 14 when I read it. I also was really impacted by Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird which we read in 8th grade English (we also read Black Like Me the same year).

10-28-2005, 03:41 PM	#20
Namaste FORT Fogey Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: St. Louis Posts: 837	To Kill a Mockingbird has always been one of those books that has stuck with me thruout my lifetime. Seems the good ones always teach me something or give me a perpective I might not have come across in my own little corner of the world. I also read, Black Like Me, in middle school and it's another that is classic, loved it.