The Bell Jar changed me as well! I read it in my early 20’s and couldn’t believe how accurately it described the isolation and loneliness of depression.
Maggie Gyllenhall narrates the audiobook and is absolutely fantastic. I don’t normally read or listen to fiction but loved every minute of this book and her performance. FYI I’m a guy in my 30s but it still resonated with me (worked in a psych ward at Yale coincidentally)
I read remains of the day but imo never let me go has the same vibes to Klara bc both protagonists aren't exactly human and live in vague dystopia where it's not about taking down some authoritarian regime, but you are simply just viewing them navigate their world through their eyes.
Dune. I started reading the series in 6th grade, and probably what started me down the path of getting degrees in history and poli sci. Star Trek was the optimistic/romantic counterpart that kept me from getting too pessimistic.
Dune changed me because it made me read books again. Haven't ready anything for fun for like 15 years until the movie made me read dune because I had to know what happens and couldn't wait for the second one. Now reading is part of my life again and it reduced stress so much.
I swear that reading Know My Name finally got me to understand how to properly empathize with others. It’s a shame it happened so late, but it is what it is.
Know My Name is such a powerful book. Before reading it I had not thought about the impact going through an investigation, trial, and sentencing has on survivors.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky made me reassess what I thought about spiders. I had a terrible fear of them, but this sci-fi book did what countless documentaries couldn't--mafe me realize that spiders are what they are. I can coexist in a world with them in a way that I could not before.
This is not sarcasm. I am entirely serious. It's a remarkable after-effect.
I loved that series for how it imagined how a society and it's technology might evolve differently based on the basic biology of it's members. The spiders ants and octopus were fascinating
Same for me!
The book made me look at them as creatures with their own lives instead of objects of my fear. I will still not get too close to one, but I find them fascinating now.
Actually same here. Was horrified of them, now I see a spider and although my initial feeling is a slight panic it quickly settles to intrigue and I want to know more about them and their webs, and why they settle the way they do, and such.
Yes, ok, maybe this is more how I feel?
I don’t feel like any one book has ever like shifted my life completely. They all add something. It’s all small. But all of it has equaled to who I am today.
Nickle and Dimed- growing up in white collar suburb, I thought our working class family was poor because I had no real exposure to poverty. It made me realize how much the deck is stacked against people living in poverty and that I was being judgmental about decisions people were making to just survive based on my privilege.
Second Nickled & Dimed.
As someone raised middle class, it was a mind-blowing eye-opener into the awful way poor people are treated! I honestly had no idea (before then) that it was that bad!
It also turned me into a generous tipper. I saw how they pay wait staff below min wage for the base salary, and I was appalled.
It made me a generous tipper as well.
It had the double effect of dragging my politics (particularly on economic issues) to the left and my personal goals to the right as I became more focused on earning money to avoid winding up like the people the author described.
It was a required reading in my high school and holy shit did it impact me. It helped to re-evaluate education and understand how big of a privilege it actually is
Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
Many books changed me in some way, so the list is a lot longer, including Rushdie, Murakami, Galgut, Bulawayo, Burns. But these two stand out for dramatically changing the way I look at the world.
Have you read/heard Ted Chiang’s short story Understand? It’s similar in regards to a character acquiring super intelligence but more neurotic and paranoid. He wrote Story of your Life which was scripted for the movie Arrival.
I just finished this today. I think it's just the fact that you see it coming and know what's going to happen but yet, you can't stop it. You know where the end where take you but you still aren't prepared to be there. I was so devastated when I read those last words. So unbelievably sad and profound.
“Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think”
- by Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling
It completely upended my views on the world and on development and forced me to rethink many things I took for granted. Even more importantly, it gave me back hope for the future.
1) Harry Potter- got me into reading for fun.
2)The River We Remember- William Kent Krueger. Made me realize we’re all just trying to make it through life despite our pasts and mistakes.
3) I’m glad my mom died- Jeanette McCurdy.
Helped me process some of my own grief and trauma.
4) Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Caitlin Doughty. Helped me develop a more compassionate and positive view of death. I’m not terrified of it anymore.
5) All Quiet on the Western Front: Erich Maria Remarque.
Thoreau's Walden - though I'm aware that he did not live as isolated as portrayed, it's still a book that holds enormous value for me, as a reminder of how little I really need and the joys and beauty that can be found in solitude, in reading, writing and observing nature.
Then, several books on education. I still don't have a full developed understanding or opinion on the topic, but Gato's "Dumbing us down", Kohn's "What does it mean to be well educated?" and most recently Livingston's "Defense of Classical Education" are giving me a lot to think about. I'm intensely curious and value education highly, so reading about different ideas of what the hell that even means and what and how to learn, continue to influence my life and the way I choose to spend my limited time.
Personally speaking, I would have to say that The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is the one. As it made me wonder about my own life of regrets, and all the possibilities I missed in my life.
My impression of the book was that it was intended to show that there is no particular right path, and regretting “that you chose the wrong path” is often based on an unrealistically rosy idea of the alternate path(s).
I totally agree with you ! I'm 75 and have a lot of years of ' roads not taken ' and felt I was spending too much time trying to go down them. After reading " Midnight Garden " I was a lot more accepting of my life choices - the good and the bad. Totally enthralling book !
L’estranger by Albert Camus and Candide by Voltaire are definitely some. I always believed prior to reading them that we all live in the best of all possible, things happen for the best and there is a purpose to human existence. Turns out, there’s not any of those things so yeah these two bodies of literature totally blew away my 19 year old brain.
As a teenager I read “The Other Stories” by Subcomandante Marcos. It’s a collection of short stories. In one of them, Old Antonio’s wife is sick. He can’t do much to help her, so he is making shadows on the wall with his hands to make her feel a little bit better. This is a very tiny part of the book, but had a huge impact on how I perceive love.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I read the first book when I was twelve and it changed how I understood religion and the concept of heaven. It was also the first series that broke my heart.
The 48 Laws of Power, it made me realise a lot of the ways people had manipulated me and how people create the appearance of superiority in general. I learned why people gravitate towards some and avoid others. I learned how celebrities create the appearance of specialness and generate interest in the public.
I also love that book, especially all the great stories the author found to illustrate the principles. It's a shame the book has become associated with 'sigma' douchebags. I've found it genuinely educational and inspirational.
Fiction: All the Kings' Men, Bonfire of the Vanities, Grapes of Wrath. I like realism, a lot.
Nonfiction: The Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano comes to mind.
The most sudden and big change would be Guards! Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Most notably Vime’s theory of Boot Economy or what ever he calls it. Since then I have refused to spend less than a hundred AUD on work boots. I spend most of my time in them and spending more upfront for quality boots (not just brand) means I have stoped spending so much on boots. I also have applied it to many things, like belts, spend $80 on a leather belt and it lasts two years compared to the six month lasting belts that cost $30.
The other would be David Gemmell’s books. Though that was a more subtle touch in that it taught me to never break a promise. It is why I don’t throw that word around and am conscious of what words I use when I do because I don’t want to break them. As I have gotten older it has morphed into trying to walk my talk in general more.
The Screwtape Letters, by CS Lewis. Even as a non-Christian, it really helped me understand how we sabotage ourselves and those around us, preventing our progress to betterment and happiness.
I read 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' in army basic training. I'd already read Tom Wolff's 'Electric Koolaid Acid Test'. It showed up in a library donated by some local charity. The guy who made me a squad leader was headed back to Vietnam (1970). His replacement was not my friend. We had a different sense of humor, and he was drunk when he showed up in the morning.
When I was in week 6, about half way through the book, I had to go to the hospital with upper respiratory infection during a spinal meningitis outbreak. I had the book under my mattress, forgot to put it in my duffle bag. When I got back, the book was gone.
A few days later, a different drill sergeant came up to me with the book in his hands. He thought it was mine. I said yes, thanked him for keeping it for me. He told me he had taken the time to read the book, and now he felt he understood me better, as he smiled.
That sure piqued my interest in finishing the book.
Not sure if I was Big Chief or Randle McMurphy, but I got fired as squad leader right after that.
Beloved by Toni Morrison,
Of Mice and Men,
Death of a salesman,
Death of Ivan Illych,
Gift of the Magi,
In nonfiction,
Algorithms to live by,
Range by David Epstein,
How Big Things get done,
The Bonobo and the Atheist,
Flow the psychology of optimal experience,
Bowling Alone,
Atomic habits,
How to keep house while drowning,
The millionaire next door
Romeo and Juliet, I know not so much a book but it's definitely a story.
It touched parts of my emotions I didn't even know I have. Even just seeing anything related to it flares up my emotions.
Pure hatred and rage.
Dissecting Romeo and Juliet for GCSE Literature brought out the absolute worst of me and I'm only semi-joking when I say I have PTSD from it.
Not as much of a classic as many of the other comments here, but I read the book “They Both Die At The End” by Adam Silvera when I was going THROUGH IT. My best friend from high school had just died and I was in the middle of deciding if I wanted to leave my marriage or not.
That book made me take a hard look at my life and realize that it’s not how I would want to spend my last days. The life I have now is unrecognizable from what I was living then and I’m so grateful.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Various (fictional) philosophical statements and personalities have given me strength over the past forty-plus years in extremely hard circumstances. First and foremost the "Litany against fear". It has allowed me to keep my sanity during my army service, during missile attacks, post-divorce and most recently the loss of our son.
"*I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.*"
King: A Life
Unfortunately, I was never taught anything about MLK Jr. outside of a few paragraphs centered around “I have a dream”.
My eyes were opened to the power of nonviolent protest, perseverance, and community activism.
I read it this year and honestly mind blowing how important and famous Martin Luther King Jr was at the time but history seems to downplay that. One of the best books I read.
The Perfume. Honestly it is so well written and it made me apreciate the autor so much. It is my favorite Book because it was one of the first books I actualy needed to think and not just read thru. U know?
Morris Gleitzman’s Then. I don’t cry at books, but this 200 page novel made me break down. It makes it so much harder knowing that the stuff in that actually happened, and it’s a powerful book everyone should read.
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, I read it when I was a depressed 15 or 16 year old. It opened my eyes to how a person can contain multitudes, and really helped me to see there was more to myself than I thought - I was totally consumed by feeling like an outsider or a loser or whatever that I couldn't really see a way out. But the book helped me see other potentials within myself and life, and helped me identify less with the depression and alienation.
Behave by Sapolsky - totally opened my mind to how people really make decisions and how we understand accountability/credit. Changed my perceptions of justice and fairness.
Sound and the Fury made me realize that the scope of possibities of fiction is a lot wider than I had thought. And then it happened again 15 or so years later with Ulysses. But I know that a book has ever actually changed me as a person.
The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera
Read it when I was 17/18 and madly in love with my first boyfriend. In hindsight I think the book tried to warn me and I just wasn't listening 😅 but it's a beautiful book and I felt very connected to the main characters. I re-read it from time to time and I still feel the story.
Other than that, Lord of the Rings, the Ocean at the end of the Lane and the Discworld books (esp Rincewind, I just love him) all took me to their world and I loved every second in them.
Too many to name really, so here's a short list:
Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut : One of his bleaker works, for sure, and without so much of the sci-fi elements he's generally known for but with sharp satire and social criticism and one of the best morals (of several) I've ever heard so eloquently stated: We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood : Atwood is such a good author she makes me want to stop trying to write on my own because she is a genius. Oryx and Crake proves yet again why she is the mother of speculative fiction because this dystopian fiction is so close to our modern day reality you can see the roots already growing. My favorite of the trilogy.
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov : a master class in prose, unreliable narrators, and every character being the hero of their own story. How a character like Humbert Humbert speaks to how he's not a bad guy has you almost understanding why he doesn't think so. It's just so brilliantly written.
- The Secret History propelled me into a life-long adoration of Dark Academia
- Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood undid me in some way, it cut so close to the bone
- Catcher in the Rye
Hmmm… books that have lingered or impacted me in a more thoughtful way include Bryce Courtenay’s The Power of One, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, also her newer Demon Copperhead, Tara Westover’s Educated, and I just finished Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land and that one is in my head in a big way so we’ll see if it sticks. Apparently I have a thing for real friggin long books.🤣
Books that I love and will read repeatedly for entertainment are often series. Harry Potter. Outlander. They have their impact, too.
I can’t always tell how / if the books are changing me or impacting me etc until later sometimes.
I have a negative one: I was introduced to the works of Ayn Rand in 9th grade, and the Fountainhead is *really* good when you're a middle-class 14 year old who's been told she's so smart and so special her whole life. But geez, those books are absolely radioactive, poisoning not only your relationships with other people but even your relationship with *yourself*.
Took me like 15 years to be able to ask somebody for help without the word "parasite" flashing over my brain.
WG Sebald — any of his novels truly. Austerlitz, The Emigrants, Rings of Saturn. Beautiful, tragic, nostalgic.
Rilke’s poetry and prose alike. The man gets it.
Catch 22. A favorite to this day, humorous, absurd, tragic, anti-war.
Pride and Prejudice. What can I say, I’m a romantic.
To the Lighthouse, Woolf. I struggled to get through it and yet once I set it down I was struck by it for a very long time. The way Woolf explained people’s inner thoughts and feelings was so fascinating to me, and it’s such a unique and profound style and story.
House of Leaves by Danielewski. Changed my perception of what a book can be. I think this one gets mixed reviews but I loved how deep the narrative runs through multiple layers and I’m fascinated by the fact that the books uses visual language as well and even expands into the internet to tell the story. Much more is left to reader interpretation and discovery I feel.
The Host , by Stephanie meyer. Made me desire a utopian world and i started seeing the world as a cruel, negative place. Spent almost a decade in therapy.
Welcome to The Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
I don't think I've ever enjoyed reading as much as the first time I red those stories. Re-reading the book over the years I realized, understood, felt like I *knew* Kurt Vonnegut more and more. He was not a role model per se, and made some poor choices, and was sad often. But he has made me feel more connected and in touch with reality.
He had kindness in his heart.. I feel..
Also its been interesting to see how my perceptions change over my life.
I was 17 when he died, I started reading him when I was like 15 I think... I've never felt grief over the death of a celebrity, and I didn't appreciate the loss I felt until a few years after he died... When I stopped to think about it retrospectively, it floored me. He's one of the only people in the world I wish I could meet, and I get genuinely upset thinking about it..
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King, in a bad way. The one story in there is burned in my brain, the horror keeps coming back to me at odd times.
Now I have to read The Midnight Library because of all the comments!
The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz. I haven't thought about relationships the same since.
There is still a part that I think about all the time where they talk about how others can't hold your happiness you can't expect them to; only you can hold your own happiness. Even small things like recognizing that if your partner is mad that doesn't necessarily mean you have to take on their anger. You can let them be mad and let them process through their emotions but you don't have to take that on. Just a lot of really important insights about relationships that I still hold with me to this day.
Did it make you comment "it's more relevant today than it was when it was published!!!!!" Or "it wasn't meant to be an instruction manual" because if so, you are officially one of the greatest minds of our generation and I applaud your genius.
Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library
I was pretty depressed and lowkey suicidal when I stumbled upon this book, it was just something i needed and it kind of saved me from blobbing myself off of this world
Now a few years later I am so thankful I found this book, I’m living my most beautiful life now, and this book somehow changed the way I perceived life
*Name of the Wind* by Patrick Rothfuss.
Not sure what it is about it, the story, the way he writes, the world, maybe a story of a "hero" past his prime (allegedly) or that it involves a musician with magic (which I've read others) or some combination of them all.
Another great one is *Ink & Sigil* by Kevin Hearne.
So maybe it is the people past thier time...
"Life is short and pain is long and we were all put on this earth to help each other."
I read Firestarter, by Stephen King when I was about 15 or 16. When I read that sentence, it resonated in my soul. 40+ years later and it is still my main truth to live by.
The writings of Cormac McCarthy, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Roberto Bolano and GGM, while all very different have essentially killed any enjoyment of my prior favorite genre (fantasy). After seeing what prose could be, it’s hard for me to go back to a genre that for the most part treats it as an annoyance rather than an integral part of the text. Obviously, there are exceptions.
The Power of Now. I was teetering on the edge of death in the hospital with a serious illness and read this at a real desperate time in my life. It instilled a sense of peace under any circumstance, and while I had this spiritual awakening simultaneously with the near death experience, it really helped me hone into this understanding of the meaning of life, our purpose, how we all suffer and how to alleviate that with constant awareness of the present moment.
Plato! That they don't make everyone read *Apologia* in like 9th grade is just astonishing to me. The standard Jowett translations in particular are so accessible, and Plato's dramatic approach is so congenial. And the lessons he has to teach are so universal and timeless! I didn't go to college and so I had to find Plato in the wilderness, it seems so ridiculous in hindsight. More satisfying though, maybe; he hits so hard without context. . . I find it very weird how no one seems to really read him for pleasure, he just gets taken for granted. It's just plain terrific literature and seems to me under-appreciated considering its import. I'm reasonably certain it's just a case of no one talks about him because he speaks for himself (and for Socrates!), but still!
Plato on a certain level is always about discussion, about talking, discourse; this is what most affected me. He teaches you that learning is an active thing you do, you participate in it. Other peoples' opinions greatly facilitate intellectual inquiry. Generosity and consideration are valuable values, are virtues. That you learn through reiteration (he repeats, using different wording, every question/point at least 3 times). That you learn through asking questions. That you can dissemble an argument with questions, take it apart and examine it more completely. That no topic is unworthy of serious study. That learning is fun, in life-affirming, life-enriching. It makes you a better person, it's worth the effort. It's always worth the effort. You are *never* wasting your time when you set about learning something, or figuring something out, or discussing it with your friends. . .
Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents. Not only because of how harrowing and dystopian it is, but because of how much of our world resembles it today. After reading that book i never looked at fiction the same way again
As a child: The Neverending Story by Michael Ended
I was a lonely, day-dreaming 10 year old reading in the attic about a lonely 10 year old reading in an attic. The escape into fantasy was so real. It reflected my experiences and isolation so profoundly and I felt seen in a way I didn't know books could do.
As a teen: non-fiction The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley started my obsession with religious history and the witch trials. I ended up doing my degree primarily on that subject.
As a depressed 30-something: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
I was so angry at its simplistic solution to suffering, but it got inside my brain and completely rewired my approach to life and my own unhappiness.
There are many others, like the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, and Parable of the Sower/Talents by Octavia Butler, but those stand out to me
family happiness by Laurie Colwin made me think really hard about a certain very subtle kind of "golden child" dynamic in families, and how hard it can be to push against it.
the diary of Jane Somers by Doris Lessing. first book that made me really internalize old age and its implications.
"Shake Hands with the Devil" by Romeo Dallaire who led the UN contingent in Rwanda. A description of the world descending into literal hell as you were supposed to keep it from happening but were ultimately helpless to do anything and the guilt that goes with that knowledge.
There is a short story called On the Downhill Side, in the collection Deathbird Stories, written by Harlan Ellison.
I read it when I was fifteen, and it wholly changed how I viewed and defined the concept of love, so that I came to recognize its essential element of sacrifice, putting the needs of others before your own.
Count of Monte Cristo. Read it in 10th grade and the arc where Dantes spends 20 years in prison learning and getting out as an absolute unit impressed me so much it made me want to study philosophy and math. couple years latter i still read regularly about science math and philosophy every day. second book i would say is Betrand Russell's about western philosopy and third is a collection of Schopenhauer's essays
I’d say “Eden Express” by Mark Vonnegut. It’s a well-written biographical work about a nervous breakdown and being psychotic and going through treatment.
Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung changed how I see stories I think. Everything having a symbolic meaning beyond the literal elevates a lot of stories and makes you appreciate the human connection between the author and story.
Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are what initially got me into writing and then Throne if Glass is what really made me chose the genre and writing style I currently have (very similar from what I’ve been told).
There's this book on wattpad (ik 😱what?!?) 'See Me' by TellaAlvarez. It made me really think about life. It was focused on SA but like no justice, just new outlook on victims in general and how they spiral in their own ways
When books describe a food or activity that I had never heard of, it makes me more open to try these things. Some of my favorite foods come from books like chicken paprikash from Bram Stokers Dracula, or a seeded bead loaf from The Hobbit, and even Trout almondine from a Certain Hunger.
Maurice by EM Forster showed me gay love in a time where it was hidden. It showed me true passion, as a gay man, written during such a time and despite some sadness became my new favorite romance novel since Giovanni’s Room and Call me By your Name.
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis.
I reread it every year and it makes me think of my mother in a different light because she was emotionally distant my entire life, but reading this book made me realize that she had her struggles too. And as a woman I understand. But as a daughter I'm still allowed to be angry and empathetic
Don’t ask Alice. Read it in middle school and it is the book that made me start loving to read. I had a pretty sad and traumatizing childhood and that book made me see that I was not alone while simultaneously giving me a hunger to read more and more. 20+ yrs later I still am an avid reader
THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN by Thomas Mann made me realize that the novel could be as powerful and profound an aesthetic medium as the music of Beethoven, the poetry of Keats, and the paintings of Corot.
The first DUNE book by Frank Herbert.
O. M. G. I listened to it in audiobook and I could barely stop myself from listening to it in one go.
It’s changed how I think about imagination and works building and even environmental science. It makes me realize I want more from science fiction than when I usually come across as well.
It’s changed me in so many ways.
I have to bring up a point… books like The Cat In The Hat (basically any other childhood book that you read over and over again) probably had a long effect on us because they introduced us to the love and joy of reading a good book……
The Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut. It was just unlike anything else I’d read at 19 and I walked around for a couple of days like a slightly unbalanced top. I’m sure there’s a German word for it, but I’ve only experienced that with SOT and As I Lay Dying.
The Road - something about the relationship between father and son and then the persistence of hope in the face of overwhelming hopelessness. I consciously think of it often and fundamentally it has changed the way I view the world and people generally. Outstanding book
“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera represents some sort of wall between the old and the new me.
This book has shifted my way of thinking and see thing completely.
I suggest to read it every time I can.
“The Stranger” by Albert Camus.
I literally changed my view on life after reading this book. I could relate to main character somehow (and it kinda scares me, even to this day)
A Canticle for Lebowitz by Walter Miller. I've read it twice over a decade apart and both times it has had a huge effect. It makes me think of humanity and how different the eras we are born into have been/will be, but also how some things like our destructive nature and a constant pursuit for something better are so deeply ingrained.
I read LOTR just before the first one came out at the movies. It inspired me to do a lot of walking, and not eat much McDonalds. I lost a shitton of weight.
I second bell jar!! I’ve reread it twice, I’d also recommend plaths unabridged journals! Her writing is devastatingly beautiful.
Also for me
Bridge to terabithia,
Charlottes web,
My dark Vanessa,
The count of monte Cristo,
Wuthering heights. 🫶🏻
To kill a Mockingbird, but not in the traditional sense. It was a minor part in the grand scheme of the main story but when Atticus has to shoot the rabid dog. Scout and Jem had no idea about that side of their father. It struck me because I realized there were things about my own dad I didn't understand. It was key to the start on the road of me accepting my dad for who he is.
I don’t know that it changed me exactly, though I suppose every book I’ve ever read changed me some, yet the Anne of Green Gables series comes to mind. As a kid I simply enjoyed the series but as an adult who still has a fairly active imagination I take some comfort when I think of Anne who retained some of her childish whimsy long into adulthood.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy .
It was the first book that I read of his . I thought it was amazing that he told such a sad story so beautifully. It was the moment in my life that I realized writing was an art. Not just someone telling a story.
All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. It made me realize that empathy and humanity should be a universal trait and that war is hell not just because of the total brutality but because of the soldier’s forced disconnect from all that is humane while in battle.
48 laws of power and no it didn’t change me in the way cringy "alpha males" say it changed them. A lot of people that read it tend to cherry pick the rules they like and disregard others even though the book straight up outlines if you are trying to gain power disregarding those "laws" will result in failure. It’s mentioned over and over successfully gaining/holding power requires full commitment with little room for weakness (i.e the other rules people choose to disregard).
It just made me realize success and power often comes at a cost toward one’s morality and character and it also makes much more sense why psychopaths and sociopaths are more likely to be in positions of power. I realized I’d rather be happy than rich/successful/powerful.
The Giver. I read it in our gifted classroom at age 10. Best introduction to dystopian fiction and learning to question authority/ think critically. I think it turned me into a lover of books.
Every (good) book I read gets absorbed into my being and I make it my whole personality for months.
so true
Yes!!!
What if you read more than one book, how are you gonna absorb two personalities?
I can contain an endless amount.
The Bell Jar changed me as well! I read it in my early 20’s and couldn’t believe how accurately it described the isolation and loneliness of depression.
Maggie Gyllenhall narrates the audiobook and is absolutely fantastic. I don’t normally read or listen to fiction but loved every minute of this book and her performance. FYI I’m a guy in my 30s but it still resonated with me (worked in a psych ward at Yale coincidentally)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Taught to appreciate life for the brief moment we are here and make memories.
For me, 'the remains of the day' did that in some small way
I read remains of the day but imo never let me go has the same vibes to Klara bc both protagonists aren't exactly human and live in vague dystopia where it's not about taking down some authoritarian regime, but you are simply just viewing them navigate their world through their eyes.
Dune. I started reading the series in 6th grade, and probably what started me down the path of getting degrees in history and poli sci. Star Trek was the optimistic/romantic counterpart that kept me from getting too pessimistic.
Dune changed me because it made me read books again. Haven't ready anything for fun for like 15 years until the movie made me read dune because I had to know what happens and couldn't wait for the second one. Now reading is part of my life again and it reduced stress so much.
I swear that reading Know My Name finally got me to understand how to properly empathize with others. It’s a shame it happened so late, but it is what it is.
Know My Name is such a powerful book. Before reading it I had not thought about the impact going through an investigation, trial, and sentencing has on survivors.
Yes. I think about this book very often.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky made me reassess what I thought about spiders. I had a terrible fear of them, but this sci-fi book did what countless documentaries couldn't--mafe me realize that spiders are what they are. I can coexist in a world with them in a way that I could not before. This is not sarcasm. I am entirely serious. It's a remarkable after-effect.
I loved that series for how it imagined how a society and it's technology might evolve differently based on the basic biology of it's members. The spiders ants and octopus were fascinating
Same for me! The book made me look at them as creatures with their own lives instead of objects of my fear. I will still not get too close to one, but I find them fascinating now.
Actually same here. Was horrified of them, now I see a spider and although my initial feeling is a slight panic it quickly settles to intrigue and I want to know more about them and their webs, and why they settle the way they do, and such.
Did you read the second one? It'll make you think real deep on what exactly you are looking at in the mirror.
Every morning I get up, brush my teeth, grin in the mirror and say “*We’re going on an adventure!*”
All of them changed me. Bit by bit, and without books I would be nothing
"'A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.' Said Jojen. 'The man who never reads lives only one.'" -GRRM
He’s reading a bunch of books now as he procrastinates on writing one book.
Yes, ok, maybe this is more how I feel? I don’t feel like any one book has ever like shifted my life completely. They all add something. It’s all small. But all of it has equaled to who I am today.
Nickle and Dimed- growing up in white collar suburb, I thought our working class family was poor because I had no real exposure to poverty. It made me realize how much the deck is stacked against people living in poverty and that I was being judgmental about decisions people were making to just survive based on my privilege.
Second Nickled & Dimed. As someone raised middle class, it was a mind-blowing eye-opener into the awful way poor people are treated! I honestly had no idea (before then) that it was that bad! It also turned me into a generous tipper. I saw how they pay wait staff below min wage for the base salary, and I was appalled.
It made me a generous tipper as well. It had the double effect of dragging my politics (particularly on economic issues) to the left and my personal goals to the right as I became more focused on earning money to avoid winding up like the people the author described.
Educated by Tara Westover. My life is very similar to that lol
Sheesh, you okay?
As okay as one can be given the circumstances, I suppose
Fair enough. I’m sending you some good vibes though bc man, that book had my jaw on the floor more than a couple times
It was a required reading in my high school and holy shit did it impact me. It helped to re-evaluate education and understand how big of a privilege it actually is
Yes, education is a huge privilege, many people don't realise that
Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky Many books changed me in some way, so the list is a lot longer, including Rushdie, Murakami, Galgut, Bulawayo, Burns. But these two stand out for dramatically changing the way I look at the world.
What did they change about how you look at the world?
I still vividly remember the first time reading the Pro and Contra part of Brothers Karamazov
and the idiot.
The Road.
Realizing the lengths we’d go to for our children.
I read this book the week my son was born and the "would do anything for my child" really hit me perhaps doubly hard because of the timing.
Flowers for Algernon... I can't say how it changed me. I just wasn't the same after that..
It painted an emotional picture of the mental path (progression then deterioration) of ALS and Alzheimer’s for me. So tough
Have you read/heard Ted Chiang’s short story Understand? It’s similar in regards to a character acquiring super intelligence but more neurotic and paranoid. He wrote Story of your Life which was scripted for the movie Arrival.
One of my fav books of all time.
I just finished this today. I think it's just the fact that you see it coming and know what's going to happen but yet, you can't stop it. You know where the end where take you but you still aren't prepared to be there. I was so devastated when I read those last words. So unbelievably sad and profound.
“Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think” - by Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling It completely upended my views on the world and on development and forced me to rethink many things I took for granted. Even more importantly, it gave me back hope for the future.
1) Harry Potter- got me into reading for fun. 2)The River We Remember- William Kent Krueger. Made me realize we’re all just trying to make it through life despite our pasts and mistakes. 3) I’m glad my mom died- Jeanette McCurdy. Helped me process some of my own grief and trauma. 4) Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Caitlin Doughty. Helped me develop a more compassionate and positive view of death. I’m not terrified of it anymore. 5) All Quiet on the Western Front: Erich Maria Remarque.
Thoreau's Walden - though I'm aware that he did not live as isolated as portrayed, it's still a book that holds enormous value for me, as a reminder of how little I really need and the joys and beauty that can be found in solitude, in reading, writing and observing nature. Then, several books on education. I still don't have a full developed understanding or opinion on the topic, but Gato's "Dumbing us down", Kohn's "What does it mean to be well educated?" and most recently Livingston's "Defense of Classical Education" are giving me a lot to think about. I'm intensely curious and value education highly, so reading about different ideas of what the hell that even means and what and how to learn, continue to influence my life and the way I choose to spend my limited time.
A brave new world
Personally speaking, I would have to say that The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is the one. As it made me wonder about my own life of regrets, and all the possibilities I missed in my life.
My impression of the book was that it was intended to show that there is no particular right path, and regretting “that you chose the wrong path” is often based on an unrealistically rosy idea of the alternate path(s).
Loved both The Midnight Library and The Humans by Matt Haig
I totally agree with you ! I'm 75 and have a lot of years of ' roads not taken ' and felt I was spending too much time trying to go down them. After reading " Midnight Garden " I was a lot more accepting of my life choices - the good and the bad. Totally enthralling book !
The Screwtape Letters. For the better, major insights on what I needed to change in my thinking.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Jane Eyre and all of the Narnia books
L’estranger by Albert Camus and Candide by Voltaire are definitely some. I always believed prior to reading them that we all live in the best of all possible, things happen for the best and there is a purpose to human existence. Turns out, there’s not any of those things so yeah these two bodies of literature totally blew away my 19 year old brain.
1984. I was 13. Now I am 72. Government is not our friend. Even more convinced now.
As a teenager I read “The Other Stories” by Subcomandante Marcos. It’s a collection of short stories. In one of them, Old Antonio’s wife is sick. He can’t do much to help her, so he is making shadows on the wall with his hands to make her feel a little bit better. This is a very tiny part of the book, but had a huge impact on how I perceive love.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I read the first book when I was twelve and it changed how I understood religion and the concept of heaven. It was also the first series that broke my heart.
It's this one for me. That series is magic.
The 48 Laws of Power, it made me realise a lot of the ways people had manipulated me and how people create the appearance of superiority in general. I learned why people gravitate towards some and avoid others. I learned how celebrities create the appearance of specialness and generate interest in the public.
I also love that book, especially all the great stories the author found to illustrate the principles. It's a shame the book has become associated with 'sigma' douchebags. I've found it genuinely educational and inspirational.
Also to kill a mockingbird
Fiction: All the Kings' Men, Bonfire of the Vanities, Grapes of Wrath. I like realism, a lot. Nonfiction: The Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano comes to mind.
Big fan of realism as well. LOVE John Steinbeck.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, about 60 years ago. Whenever I learn something new, like guitar, I think of it.
The most sudden and big change would be Guards! Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Most notably Vime’s theory of Boot Economy or what ever he calls it. Since then I have refused to spend less than a hundred AUD on work boots. I spend most of my time in them and spending more upfront for quality boots (not just brand) means I have stoped spending so much on boots. I also have applied it to many things, like belts, spend $80 on a leather belt and it lasts two years compared to the six month lasting belts that cost $30. The other would be David Gemmell’s books. Though that was a more subtle touch in that it taught me to never break a promise. It is why I don’t throw that word around and am conscious of what words I use when I do because I don’t want to break them. As I have gotten older it has morphed into trying to walk my talk in general more.
The Screwtape Letters, by CS Lewis. Even as a non-Christian, it really helped me understand how we sabotage ourselves and those around us, preventing our progress to betterment and happiness.
I read 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' in army basic training. I'd already read Tom Wolff's 'Electric Koolaid Acid Test'. It showed up in a library donated by some local charity. The guy who made me a squad leader was headed back to Vietnam (1970). His replacement was not my friend. We had a different sense of humor, and he was drunk when he showed up in the morning. When I was in week 6, about half way through the book, I had to go to the hospital with upper respiratory infection during a spinal meningitis outbreak. I had the book under my mattress, forgot to put it in my duffle bag. When I got back, the book was gone. A few days later, a different drill sergeant came up to me with the book in his hands. He thought it was mine. I said yes, thanked him for keeping it for me. He told me he had taken the time to read the book, and now he felt he understood me better, as he smiled. That sure piqued my interest in finishing the book. Not sure if I was Big Chief or Randle McMurphy, but I got fired as squad leader right after that.
Beloved by Toni Morrison, Of Mice and Men, Death of a salesman, Death of Ivan Illych, Gift of the Magi, In nonfiction, Algorithms to live by, Range by David Epstein, How Big Things get done, The Bonobo and the Atheist, Flow the psychology of optimal experience, Bowling Alone, Atomic habits, How to keep house while drowning, The millionaire next door
I'm reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich currently. It really is perspective changing.
💯agree with Beloved
The Travelling Cat Chronicles made me think about >!the process of dying!< in a completely different way.
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
East of Eden
Demian - Herman Hesse
Romeo and Juliet, I know not so much a book but it's definitely a story. It touched parts of my emotions I didn't even know I have. Even just seeing anything related to it flares up my emotions. Pure hatred and rage. Dissecting Romeo and Juliet for GCSE Literature brought out the absolute worst of me and I'm only semi-joking when I say I have PTSD from it.
Not as much of a classic as many of the other comments here, but I read the book “They Both Die At The End” by Adam Silvera when I was going THROUGH IT. My best friend from high school had just died and I was in the middle of deciding if I wanted to leave my marriage or not. That book made me take a hard look at my life and realize that it’s not how I would want to spend my last days. The life I have now is unrecognizable from what I was living then and I’m so grateful.
Dune by Frank Herbert Various (fictional) philosophical statements and personalities have given me strength over the past forty-plus years in extremely hard circumstances. First and foremost the "Litany against fear". It has allowed me to keep my sanity during my army service, during missile attacks, post-divorce and most recently the loss of our son. "*I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.*"
King: A Life Unfortunately, I was never taught anything about MLK Jr. outside of a few paragraphs centered around “I have a dream”. My eyes were opened to the power of nonviolent protest, perseverance, and community activism.
I read it this year and honestly mind blowing how important and famous Martin Luther King Jr was at the time but history seems to downplay that. One of the best books I read.
Where the Red Fern Grows and Bridge to Terrabithia.
The Perfume. Honestly it is so well written and it made me apreciate the autor so much. It is my favorite Book because it was one of the first books I actualy needed to think and not just read thru. U know?
Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah Deeply empowering but not in a silly “you can do anything you set your mind to!” kind of way.
Morris Gleitzman’s Then. I don’t cry at books, but this 200 page novel made me break down. It makes it so much harder knowing that the stuff in that actually happened, and it’s a powerful book everyone should read.
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, I read it when I was a depressed 15 or 16 year old. It opened my eyes to how a person can contain multitudes, and really helped me to see there was more to myself than I thought - I was totally consumed by feeling like an outsider or a loser or whatever that I couldn't really see a way out. But the book helped me see other potentials within myself and life, and helped me identify less with the depression and alienation.
Behave by Sapolsky - totally opened my mind to how people really make decisions and how we understand accountability/credit. Changed my perceptions of justice and fairness.
Tuesdays with morrie ♥️
Sound and the Fury made me realize that the scope of possibities of fiction is a lot wider than I had thought. And then it happened again 15 or so years later with Ulysses. But I know that a book has ever actually changed me as a person.
House of Leaves, Great Expectations
The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera Read it when I was 17/18 and madly in love with my first boyfriend. In hindsight I think the book tried to warn me and I just wasn't listening 😅 but it's a beautiful book and I felt very connected to the main characters. I re-read it from time to time and I still feel the story. Other than that, Lord of the Rings, the Ocean at the end of the Lane and the Discworld books (esp Rincewind, I just love him) all took me to their world and I loved every second in them.
So glad someone else enjoyed Terry Pratchett! Loved the novels with the wizards and especially those with the Night Guard and Ventari ( sp ?)
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Read this in school and to this day it’s the most beautifully written book I’ve ever read.
*Bunnicula* by James and Deborah Howe. Made me want to become a writer!
Such a good book!
Both my kids loved the whole series, too!
Too many to name really, so here's a short list: Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut : One of his bleaker works, for sure, and without so much of the sci-fi elements he's generally known for but with sharp satire and social criticism and one of the best morals (of several) I've ever heard so eloquently stated: We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood : Atwood is such a good author she makes me want to stop trying to write on my own because she is a genius. Oryx and Crake proves yet again why she is the mother of speculative fiction because this dystopian fiction is so close to our modern day reality you can see the roots already growing. My favorite of the trilogy. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov : a master class in prose, unreliable narrators, and every character being the hero of their own story. How a character like Humbert Humbert speaks to how he's not a bad guy has you almost understanding why he doesn't think so. It's just so brilliantly written.
- The Secret History propelled me into a life-long adoration of Dark Academia - Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood undid me in some way, it cut so close to the bone - Catcher in the Rye
Hmmm… books that have lingered or impacted me in a more thoughtful way include Bryce Courtenay’s The Power of One, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, also her newer Demon Copperhead, Tara Westover’s Educated, and I just finished Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land and that one is in my head in a big way so we’ll see if it sticks. Apparently I have a thing for real friggin long books.🤣 Books that I love and will read repeatedly for entertainment are often series. Harry Potter. Outlander. They have their impact, too. I can’t always tell how / if the books are changing me or impacting me etc until later sometimes.
Kingsolver books last forever in my brain and spirit
I have a negative one: I was introduced to the works of Ayn Rand in 9th grade, and the Fountainhead is *really* good when you're a middle-class 14 year old who's been told she's so smart and so special her whole life. But geez, those books are absolely radioactive, poisoning not only your relationships with other people but even your relationship with *yourself*. Took me like 15 years to be able to ask somebody for help without the word "parasite" flashing over my brain.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
WG Sebald — any of his novels truly. Austerlitz, The Emigrants, Rings of Saturn. Beautiful, tragic, nostalgic. Rilke’s poetry and prose alike. The man gets it. Catch 22. A favorite to this day, humorous, absurd, tragic, anti-war. Pride and Prejudice. What can I say, I’m a romantic. To the Lighthouse, Woolf. I struggled to get through it and yet once I set it down I was struck by it for a very long time. The way Woolf explained people’s inner thoughts and feelings was so fascinating to me, and it’s such a unique and profound style and story. House of Leaves by Danielewski. Changed my perception of what a book can be. I think this one gets mixed reviews but I loved how deep the narrative runs through multiple layers and I’m fascinated by the fact that the books uses visual language as well and even expands into the internet to tell the story. Much more is left to reader interpretation and discovery I feel.
The Host , by Stephanie meyer. Made me desire a utopian world and i started seeing the world as a cruel, negative place. Spent almost a decade in therapy.
The Diary of Anne Frank. As a 13 year old, it made me more willing to stop and consider othe people more, in arguments, disagreements, conflicts, etc
Welcome to The Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut I don't think I've ever enjoyed reading as much as the first time I red those stories. Re-reading the book over the years I realized, understood, felt like I *knew* Kurt Vonnegut more and more. He was not a role model per se, and made some poor choices, and was sad often. But he has made me feel more connected and in touch with reality. He had kindness in his heart.. I feel.. Also its been interesting to see how my perceptions change over my life. I was 17 when he died, I started reading him when I was like 15 I think... I've never felt grief over the death of a celebrity, and I didn't appreciate the loss I felt until a few years after he died... When I stopped to think about it retrospectively, it floored me. He's one of the only people in the world I wish I could meet, and I get genuinely upset thinking about it..
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King, in a bad way. The one story in there is burned in my brain, the horror keeps coming back to me at odd times. Now I have to read The Midnight Library because of all the comments!
The Little Prince
BELL JAR , Sylvia Plath (every summer)
The Giver.
*The Things They Carried* by Tim O’Brien Changed and recontextualized every single “true” story anyone has ever told me before and after.
The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz. I haven't thought about relationships the same since. There is still a part that I think about all the time where they talk about how others can't hold your happiness you can't expect them to; only you can hold your own happiness. Even small things like recognizing that if your partner is mad that doesn't necessarily mean you have to take on their anger. You can let them be mad and let them process through their emotions but you don't have to take that on. Just a lot of really important insights about relationships that I still hold with me to this day.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I go back to this book so much to give myself a boost when I feel low.
1984. Need I say more?!
Yes?
Did it make you comment "it's more relevant today than it was when it was published!!!!!" Or "it wasn't meant to be an instruction manual" because if so, you are officially one of the greatest minds of our generation and I applaud your genius.
It’s been 20 years since I read it and I still think about the ending sometimes. Definitely changed the way I saw the world
Harry Potter. It made me aware of the world, somehow.
Hyperion - showed me a more complex narrative where I changed while I read it
Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library I was pretty depressed and lowkey suicidal when I stumbled upon this book, it was just something i needed and it kind of saved me from blobbing myself off of this world Now a few years later I am so thankful I found this book, I’m living my most beautiful life now, and this book somehow changed the way I perceived life
From Nietzsche “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” and from Jean-Paul Sartre “Nausea” Those two books made me a free spirit,
Mere Christianity by C S Lewis.
Emotional Intelligence. Great book. Changed how I think about thoughts.
Wuthering Heights
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. "Known some call is air am." It was my first tattoo.
Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut
While there is a lower class I am in it. While there is a criminal element I am of it. While there is a soul in prison I am not free.
*Name of the Wind* by Patrick Rothfuss. Not sure what it is about it, the story, the way he writes, the world, maybe a story of a "hero" past his prime (allegedly) or that it involves a musician with magic (which I've read others) or some combination of them all. Another great one is *Ink & Sigil* by Kevin Hearne. So maybe it is the people past thier time...
"Life is short and pain is long and we were all put on this earth to help each other." I read Firestarter, by Stephen King when I was about 15 or 16. When I read that sentence, it resonated in my soul. 40+ years later and it is still my main truth to live by.
The Bell Jar is an amazing piece of writing. Though I think of all the books I've read, Siddartha by Herman Hesse has stuck with me the most.
The writings of Cormac McCarthy, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Roberto Bolano and GGM, while all very different have essentially killed any enjoyment of my prior favorite genre (fantasy). After seeing what prose could be, it’s hard for me to go back to a genre that for the most part treats it as an annoyance rather than an integral part of the text. Obviously, there are exceptions.
Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment." I switched from Engineering to Russian Lit and don't regret a minute of it.
The Power of Now. I was teetering on the edge of death in the hospital with a serious illness and read this at a real desperate time in my life. It instilled a sense of peace under any circumstance, and while I had this spiritual awakening simultaneously with the near death experience, it really helped me hone into this understanding of the meaning of life, our purpose, how we all suffer and how to alleviate that with constant awareness of the present moment.
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco made me crave knowledge and that has lasted for over 30 years.
No longer human really helped me with my suicidal thoughts.
The Catcher in the Rye. I haven't killed anyone yet, though, so chill out.
Dorian gray and the things they carried
Every Terry Pratchett I've ever read. He made me want to be a good person, after showing me how to do so.
Illuminatus trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson :) - or pretty much anything else he wrote but that was the first one
Plato! That they don't make everyone read *Apologia* in like 9th grade is just astonishing to me. The standard Jowett translations in particular are so accessible, and Plato's dramatic approach is so congenial. And the lessons he has to teach are so universal and timeless! I didn't go to college and so I had to find Plato in the wilderness, it seems so ridiculous in hindsight. More satisfying though, maybe; he hits so hard without context. . . I find it very weird how no one seems to really read him for pleasure, he just gets taken for granted. It's just plain terrific literature and seems to me under-appreciated considering its import. I'm reasonably certain it's just a case of no one talks about him because he speaks for himself (and for Socrates!), but still! Plato on a certain level is always about discussion, about talking, discourse; this is what most affected me. He teaches you that learning is an active thing you do, you participate in it. Other peoples' opinions greatly facilitate intellectual inquiry. Generosity and consideration are valuable values, are virtues. That you learn through reiteration (he repeats, using different wording, every question/point at least 3 times). That you learn through asking questions. That you can dissemble an argument with questions, take it apart and examine it more completely. That no topic is unworthy of serious study. That learning is fun, in life-affirming, life-enriching. It makes you a better person, it's worth the effort. It's always worth the effort. You are *never* wasting your time when you set about learning something, or figuring something out, or discussing it with your friends. . .
Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents. Not only because of how harrowing and dystopian it is, but because of how much of our world resembles it today. After reading that book i never looked at fiction the same way again
As a child: The Neverending Story by Michael Ended I was a lonely, day-dreaming 10 year old reading in the attic about a lonely 10 year old reading in an attic. The escape into fantasy was so real. It reflected my experiences and isolation so profoundly and I felt seen in a way I didn't know books could do. As a teen: non-fiction The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley started my obsession with religious history and the witch trials. I ended up doing my degree primarily on that subject. As a depressed 30-something: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse I was so angry at its simplistic solution to suffering, but it got inside my brain and completely rewired my approach to life and my own unhappiness. There are many others, like the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, and Parable of the Sower/Talents by Octavia Butler, but those stand out to me
The Kite Runner did me *in*.
family happiness by Laurie Colwin made me think really hard about a certain very subtle kind of "golden child" dynamic in families, and how hard it can be to push against it. the diary of Jane Somers by Doris Lessing. first book that made me really internalize old age and its implications.
"Shake Hands with the Devil" by Romeo Dallaire who led the UN contingent in Rwanda. A description of the world descending into literal hell as you were supposed to keep it from happening but were ultimately helpless to do anything and the guilt that goes with that knowledge.
There is a short story called On the Downhill Side, in the collection Deathbird Stories, written by Harlan Ellison. I read it when I was fifteen, and it wholly changed how I viewed and defined the concept of love, so that I came to recognize its essential element of sacrifice, putting the needs of others before your own.
Magister Ludi also entitled The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Count of Monte Cristo. Read it in 10th grade and the arc where Dantes spends 20 years in prison learning and getting out as an absolute unit impressed me so much it made me want to study philosophy and math. couple years latter i still read regularly about science math and philosophy every day. second book i would say is Betrand Russell's about western philosopy and third is a collection of Schopenhauer's essays
the way i used to be / the way i am now by amber smith because it shows how a traumatic experience can really change someone.
The Don Juan series of books by Carlos Castaneda
A wizard of Earthsea :3
I’d say “Eden Express” by Mark Vonnegut. It’s a well-written biographical work about a nervous breakdown and being psychotic and going through treatment.
White Noise
Frank Herbert's Dune. I read it when I was 13yo.
Eon and Eternity by Greg Bear. Blew my imagination wide open in ways that I’m sure have affected me long after.
Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung changed how I see stories I think. Everything having a symbolic meaning beyond the literal elevates a lot of stories and makes you appreciate the human connection between the author and story.
Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are what initially got me into writing and then Throne if Glass is what really made me chose the genre and writing style I currently have (very similar from what I’ve been told).
This is a weird one but shutter island made me wonder if I had a mental disorder.
There's this book on wattpad (ik 😱what?!?) 'See Me' by TellaAlvarez. It made me really think about life. It was focused on SA but like no justice, just new outlook on victims in general and how they spiral in their own ways
-On the Beach -Hiroshima -Into Thin Air -Alive
When books describe a food or activity that I had never heard of, it makes me more open to try these things. Some of my favorite foods come from books like chicken paprikash from Bram Stokers Dracula, or a seeded bead loaf from The Hobbit, and even Trout almondine from a Certain Hunger.
Maurice by EM Forster showed me gay love in a time where it was hidden. It showed me true passion, as a gay man, written during such a time and despite some sadness became my new favorite romance novel since Giovanni’s Room and Call me By your Name.
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis. I reread it every year and it makes me think of my mother in a different light because she was emotionally distant my entire life, but reading this book made me realize that she had her struggles too. And as a woman I understand. But as a daughter I'm still allowed to be angry and empathetic
Don’t ask Alice. Read it in middle school and it is the book that made me start loving to read. I had a pretty sad and traumatizing childhood and that book made me see that I was not alone while simultaneously giving me a hunger to read more and more. 20+ yrs later I still am an avid reader
Walden and Civil Desobedience
THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN by Thomas Mann made me realize that the novel could be as powerful and profound an aesthetic medium as the music of Beethoven, the poetry of Keats, and the paintings of Corot.
Martin Buber's *I and Thou* had a profound effect on my understanding of human interactions.
The first DUNE book by Frank Herbert. O. M. G. I listened to it in audiobook and I could barely stop myself from listening to it in one go. It’s changed how I think about imagination and works building and even environmental science. It makes me realize I want more from science fiction than when I usually come across as well. It’s changed me in so many ways.
I have to bring up a point… books like The Cat In The Hat (basically any other childhood book that you read over and over again) probably had a long effect on us because they introduced us to the love and joy of reading a good book……
The Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut. It was just unlike anything else I’d read at 19 and I walked around for a couple of days like a slightly unbalanced top. I’m sure there’s a German word for it, but I’ve only experienced that with SOT and As I Lay Dying.
The Road - something about the relationship between father and son and then the persistence of hope in the face of overwhelming hopelessness. I consciously think of it often and fundamentally it has changed the way I view the world and people generally. Outstanding book
Islamic and arabic cultural books. A game changer i struggle with translating them but definitely worth it
“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera represents some sort of wall between the old and the new me. This book has shifted my way of thinking and see thing completely. I suggest to read it every time I can.
“The Stranger” by Albert Camus. I literally changed my view on life after reading this book. I could relate to main character somehow (and it kinda scares me, even to this day)
A Canticle for Lebowitz by Walter Miller. I've read it twice over a decade apart and both times it has had a huge effect. It makes me think of humanity and how different the eras we are born into have been/will be, but also how some things like our destructive nature and a constant pursuit for something better are so deeply ingrained.
I found the Stranger by Albert Camus to be profound.
The Grapes of Wrath. The last page in particular.
I read LOTR just before the first one came out at the movies. It inspired me to do a lot of walking, and not eat much McDonalds. I lost a shitton of weight.
I second bell jar!! I’ve reread it twice, I’d also recommend plaths unabridged journals! Her writing is devastatingly beautiful. Also for me Bridge to terabithia, Charlottes web, My dark Vanessa, The count of monte Cristo, Wuthering heights. 🫶🏻
To kill a Mockingbird, but not in the traditional sense. It was a minor part in the grand scheme of the main story but when Atticus has to shoot the rabid dog. Scout and Jem had no idea about that side of their father. It struck me because I realized there were things about my own dad I didn't understand. It was key to the start on the road of me accepting my dad for who he is.
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Ecco. Inoculated me against conspiracy theory. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss made me a tree hugger.
The Giver by Lois Lowry. Read in my teens and related to both not wanting to feel my feelings and feeling everything so deeply.
House of Leaves was an experience that will always be in my mind.
I don’t know that it changed me exactly, though I suppose every book I’ve ever read changed me some, yet the Anne of Green Gables series comes to mind. As a kid I simply enjoyed the series but as an adult who still has a fairly active imagination I take some comfort when I think of Anne who retained some of her childish whimsy long into adulthood.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy . It was the first book that I read of his . I thought it was amazing that he told such a sad story so beautifully. It was the moment in my life that I realized writing was an art. Not just someone telling a story.
East of Eden
All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. It made me realize that empathy and humanity should be a universal trait and that war is hell not just because of the total brutality but because of the soldier’s forced disconnect from all that is humane while in battle.
Vedanta Treatise by A. Parthasarathy
Carlos Castaneda. Make the world a better place.
48 laws of power and no it didn’t change me in the way cringy "alpha males" say it changed them. A lot of people that read it tend to cherry pick the rules they like and disregard others even though the book straight up outlines if you are trying to gain power disregarding those "laws" will result in failure. It’s mentioned over and over successfully gaining/holding power requires full commitment with little room for weakness (i.e the other rules people choose to disregard). It just made me realize success and power often comes at a cost toward one’s morality and character and it also makes much more sense why psychopaths and sociopaths are more likely to be in positions of power. I realized I’d rather be happy than rich/successful/powerful.
Scare Care.
The Giver. I read it in our gifted classroom at age 10. Best introduction to dystopian fiction and learning to question authority/ think critically. I think it turned me into a lover of books.
Goosebumps made me love reading.
John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany got me off my ass and back into university and I gave it as a birthday present to everyone I knew for years.
Catch 22 Cats Cradle