Books that literally changed your life?

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: Nothing else in my entire life has been as significant as when i was first given this book to read about five years ago. Read it twice in two weeks and four times before the year was out. Destroyed me in ever conceivable way and rebuilt me, hopefully better this time. But yeah, this book is everything to me. Raskolnikov's been a part of me since then. Always will be, methinks.

I went on this kick. Everytime I got my paltry paycheck from McDonalds, I'd make my Mom drive me to Borders and blow it all on books.

Crime and Punishment was one of the first books I bought, and it has a very special place on my book shelf. It stands out in my mind as something really special, because Rodya is alive somewhere. Dostoyevsky got me into Russian literature, which is heavy but lovely. Have not been able to get through War and Peace yet though. X0 That one's a doosey.

The Idiot was really good. It's funny because the only reason I read it was because this crazy, slightly creepy local artist would come in for a coffee or whatever where I worked. One day I was changing one the garbage cans and he walks over and says, "You look like you read a lot."

That might have just been a weird pick up line, but we talked for a while and then I left to go back to work. A little while later he finds me again and hands me a yellow slips of paper.

Recommended books:

1. Hesse, Herman
Demian

2. Dostoyevsky,
The Idiot

3. Folwes, John,
The Magus

He wrote "ez" under the first two. Which made sense, because I bought all three soon thereafter and the Magus was the hardest to get through.

I still keep that yellow paper in my wallet. I have no idea why. It definitely affected me though. I was maybe 14 at the time, and it opened my eyes to a whole new world if that makes sense.

How old are you? You seem to be quite well read for a young lady.

I'm seventeen now. (Gah.) I pretty much devout all of my time to reading, resulting in social ineptitude and a lot of heahaches. But it's all good. *thumbs up*

Oh and I have another book to talk about!

Dharma Bums! It's confounding that a lot of readers, at least in my expirience, have never even heard of Kerouac. I've read Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues(As much as a could)and On the Road.

The ideology he trapped in his books is definitely from a bygone era, which is really interesting. And also very important.

There was a part in one of his novels where he asks a gas station attendant if he can take a nap out on the lawn of the station. Perhaps that's nothing spectacular to anyone else, but its kind of gut punched me. Imagine that scenario in 2009. I don't think it'll ever happen again, or am I just being narrow-minded?

I hope you'll like it, I think there will be a lot of it that you'll be able to relate to. It does drag majorly in parts (there's a whole long chapter about the rise and fall of video phones, which you can just kind of skim) but it's also very rewarding.

On the subject of Naked lunch... I don't see how that book can be crap? To me every human emotion is pretty much punched, pressed or hidden inside those pages. Written in a way that gets ya interested...

I'd say go ahead and read all of his work, they inspired a lot of fun writing and put me trough many many important discussion in my own head. What you should try to stay away from a so called "dead end" is Hemmingway, nothing to find there...

I like Burroughs' book The Cat Inside, which is his reminisces about the many cats in his life.

Read,

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0142000256/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex?ie=UTF8&p=S...

A long while ago David Bowie (on his website) recommended this book of his,

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312278462/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex?ie=UTF8&p=S...

I agree it's hard to imagine that happening. However, I think some people may have offered him shelter else where. There are good people out there.

I loved Dharma Bums, some people dislike it because it is kind of tough to get through.. but I enjoyed it. It makes a lot of people want to travel the world and be a bum and learn about zen and such amongst other things.

I really don't like Jack Kerouac. I guess you can put most of the Beat guys in there, too. Overrated, methinks.

Yeah it's really easy for people to get pretentious about Beat sutff. I had a boyfriend like that. XO He tried (And failed) to center himself around the ideologies that exist within Kerouac and Ginsberg and Snyder and co's books.

I just like them as books, not bibles.

The only work which I could honestly say changed my life is In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past .

When I was sixteen my best friend died of an overdose. I began reading Swann's Way (Vol. 1) days before she died. Without delving into my intense feelings about her death and/or a meandering excavation of all things Proustian, I'll simply tell you that I had severe insomnia for several weeks; one night I picked up Remembrance (mine is an old hardcover two-book edition, from when Remembrance was still the translated title) again and found reading 60 or so pages every night helped me fall asleep. I was comforted by the strong theme of memory - particularly that of involuntary memory. Probably because I loved the idea that beyond trying to voluntarily/intellectually remember every single thing about her, I could depend on my own senses: things which smelled like her might always smell like her; songs which reminded me of her might always remind me of her, etc. It's not easy to explain; somehow those sentiments eased my panic about allowing her transition into memory.

Relatedly or not, one of the first shorts I wrote and the very first to see publication was a story involving involuntary memory with smell as a catalyst.

Stephen King's "Everything's Eventual" got me into reading, ever since I've adored reading.

Praise by Andrew McGahan. It was the first book that I read that was real and gritty. I was so taken with it that I drunkenly talked about it at a party and convinced the guy who ended up being my husband to read it.

I will try to put my 2 cents here:

In my own opinion there are 4 kinds of books in everyone's "already read" universe:

1. The books you have already read and don't remember. Those one are rubbish. I scratch author's names from my book copies when i don't i like them, I prefer that it is orphan to having so bad father. It also keeps safe the author from me blaming his ineptitude and my wasted hours. The author of "It" has a big bunch of this books.
2. The books that you have already read and barely remember. Those are the zombie books to me. Better keep all of them together and away from new human flesh, they do narrate simple things but doesn't tell you anything. They are always easy to read , easy to manage , nothing to think about. "The Call of Cthulhu" and the like.
3. The books that read you, and they can barely remember you.. Those are the books who are in his 4th step at the twelve steps (;)Asfixia) to get over his screwing ppl addiction. Of course you can't forget those books, once you start reading the book starts reading you, at the end, you both like each other, but you are not enough for that book, so he leaves you as another error. You stay stroked for sometime, just noticing you are just another bullet o that book 4th step. I found many books from the author of Choke in that one
4. The books that you read, and meanwhile they read you. You both can't forget each other forever. A couple has been done, and everything will need to be revisited by you together. You and the book just have the best sex ever.
There isn't an author for that one, there is an author and a moment in your life.
I'm proud to introduce my wife's there as:

Crime and Punishment.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
The twisted lines of God. (spanish author, not really translated).
A confederacy of dunces.
Valis.

Vik.

oh, this is fun.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I don't think a tear came to my eye for any other book. That book just kills you emotionally at the end, and in the middle, and the beginning.

Survivor. I can't really give an explanation, it just opened me up to the genre of philosophical books. So it inspired the reading off all these other books that have changed my life. Its also my favorite Chuck book. (Of the four I've read)

And Raw Shark Texts. Not sure if this has actually changed my life... but, it gave me a few metaphors that I'll value forever.
(Bleeding stars, conceptual ocean/sky)

EDIT: oh, and the teenager series: Pendragon. If I hadn't started reading that so many years ago, I probably would've been blind to the fact that books aren't all like the ones schools give you.

Nice, I'm glad this thread is still getting some attention.

I posted the Great Brain books because like you they really hooked me on reading. That and the Mrs. Piggle books in second grade.

Survivor is my second favorite after Invisible Monsters and I've read everything besides Snuff and Pygmy. Snuff, no interest, Pygmy, soon.

I know it may seem like a tool thing to pick, but I'm going to go with Fight Club. I read now because of it.

I will forever regret not making a "Books that figuratively changed your life" parody thread. Just couldn't think of anything for it, other than the title.

I always wanted to make "Books that literally beat your wife."

Fight Club, because without it I wouldn't be here on the forums, and y'all changed my life, y'hear!

Like Water for Chocolate in middle school because it was the first book I read and lost track of time.

This book didn't change my life but it definitely stands out because I'm so not the girl who likes hippie-era, folksy music kinda stuff. I picked it up because I felt like I should read Kerouac and consequently wound up listening to Ray LaMontagne at the same time. A life changer? No. But definitely a very specific deviation.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami and Invisible Monsters. Those two got me venturing into general, more "Adult" fiction, and out of books at my age level which I had lost interest in long before.

I stopped reading for many years because I just lost interest in reading when in middle school, until my cousin made me read Harry Potter. It didn't really change any of my perceptions, but it renewed my interest in reading.

To Kill a Mockingbird changed my perception of prejudice.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas altered a lot of my perceptions of reality, and drugs and writing.

Moll Flanders was eye opening. It's the first time I really understood women's struggles from another woman's perceptions aside from my own.

Alice in Wonderland still caters to my imagination to this day.

Touched with Fire: Bipolar and the Artistic Temperment, helped me come to terms with having bipolar disorder.

A Million Little Pieces
I could care less if its fabricated or not, doesn't change how it has influenced me...especially Frey's spiel on his inability to shake the feeling of loneliness. I was skeptical reading this book based on Oprah's book club publicity, but I snatched it from Chapters one day randomly--good decision by far.

Atlas Shrugged
Read it.

Being and Nothingness
Love Sartre.

on a side note... Infinite Jest has now caught my attention due to this dicussion, thanks for that

That's quite a diverse three. AS and B&N are on my short list.

it took me almost a year to read this book, with many pauses to digest and read other things and let my brain rest in between jags of total absorbtion. i agree, there is nothing that can compare to his analyzations of addiction and depression, i've never read anything remotely like it, and had no idea one person could tap into so many types of brains - even the section about the misinterpretation of marlon brando(easily one of my favorite parts) blew me away.

Tropic of Cancer changed me. it had never occurred to me before reading that book that i could just write whatever i wanted, write everything, and not try to apologize for it or break it up into sections that i passed off as "free verse poetry". the beautiful and the ugly are all mixed in together. i love him for it.

Atlas Shrugged - Obviously

Galapagos - When I was in elementary school I really loved to read. I loved to read so much, I read all the time. Then I moved to Fayetteville, NC at the start of middle school and abandoned reading in order to spend all my time making friends and doing frivolous social things. Then when I was in the 8th grade I read this book. It reinstated my love for books and I haven't looked back since.

A Brief History of Time - This is the book that helped shape me into the rational person that I am today. This book also played a part in my becoming an atheist.

Kerouac "On The Road" Bukowski "Tales Of Ordinary Madness" Selby Jr. "The Demon"
For those of you who think Kerouac was "hippie-folk", please go and know of what you speak. Jazz. To be more exact, Be-Bop. When you read "On The Road", listen to some Charlie Parker and notice how the story is written. You will start to see the book in a different light. Bukowski changed the style of writing poetry in this country and his short stories and his novels were able to be read by the bums on skid row because he wrote in an everyday persons language. Selby Jr. did the same. I notice A LOT of Selby Jr. in "Fight Club". By the way, for those of you who like Allen Ginsburg, keep in mind that the man was a member of NAMBLA. As for Burroughs, Naked Lunch was good but Junkie is the "shit". Great description of withdrawl by "cold-turkey".
Tell me i'm crazy, tell me i'm a dick. Let it be known that i'm not right, i'm just me."

I pick these three based on different matters of change.

The first book I cried during: Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

The first book that had a shitty ending that made me realize that sometimes shitty endings are better because they make more sense and teach you: 1984 By George Orwell.

The First book that I really just loved everything about: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

This post made me scratch my eyebrow, and I accidentally jammed my index finger into my eye. Thanks, guy!

thanks for this, for wedging the crowbar in and seperating these writers from the hippies. hippies were the next generation, that took all the knowledge and experimentalism and new thinking that sprung from this generation of writing and thinking and 50's sub-culture, boiled it down into a few key catchphrases, and used it as an excuse to get fucked up all the time, not work, fuck everbody, all under the name of a "movement".
am i in the rage thread? i'm not? oh sorry.

my dad came from a long line of hitchhikers and trainjumpers, he loved On the Road. so did i.
Burroughs' last book, Last Words, made me so sad. i read it right after Junkie, and it was crazy to hear him go from a "seriously i'm clean, this is how to do it" voice to the voice of a 70-some year old addict with all his cats and guns. i left off reading the last 2 or 3 pages, because i knew that when i read those it meant he had died.

that idea I had about making little sig banners for books you liked and disliked. Yeah, i'll take the Naked Lunch is Shit banner.

you could just use it as your signature. that would save you the time of designing an actual banner, selecting fonts and colors, etc.

Hey guys, I'd like to keep this thread on track as much as possible. Can you PM about the sig banner or start a thread? Thank you!

The Brothers Karamazov changed my life for the better.

Me too, but just so me and my Dad could be friends again. It took me three times to start and finish it. It's his second favorite book and he complained that every time he turned around I had my nose buried in Crime and Punishment again.

Crime and Punishment wasn't his first favorite i'm taking it?

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is his favorite book of all time. That changed his life and all that. He loves Crime and Punishment very much, but he thinks Brothers Karamazov is pure genius.

I loved Crime and Punishment!

I think I've I were ever to commit a crime like that - that would be my downfall. I would feel so paranoid that I just wouldn't know how to hide it right.

That book would probably be on a list of books that changed my life.

Yukio Mishima, Silent Snow. I recently read it and certain parts forced me to set it down. I am currently working on the rest of the tetralogy.

Hunter Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt. Several times I was laughing so hard I couldn't read.

Crimethink, Days of War, Nights of Love. The only book that, once I was done, I started over again.I have quoted this book on many occasions, and have purchased a dozen copies and handed them out to friends.

Invaders from Rigel by Fletcher Pratt.

I plan for it to be the last book I read before I die.

The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger...first and only book I've read and thought "Jesus, this is me. I'm not the only one." I really enjoyed Perks of Being a Wallflower, and as Catcher-esque as it is, it's just not even close.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton...first book I read over and over, and first book I clearly remember crying in school while reading.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood...aka the woman's 1984, haha. Incredible, sickening, thought-provoking.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews (yes, THE Julie Andrews). Still just as awesome now as it was in 5th grade. Read it before it's too late! Salvage your childhood and imagination!

Jack Kerouac's Book of Sketches...poetry that made me only want to read poetry for the rest of my life

I hope we weren't just supposed to pick 3 or something, but ahhhhh books.

Sometimes i think my head will never really get outside of The Magus by John Fowles, which becomes more perfect in my mind the longer i think about it.

And i guess this isn't a book, but the story of Orpheus is always racing through my head. It's kind of everything and i see it everywhere.

I'm glad this thread is still active.

Samanywhere, there is no limit, you can post as many books as you like. You can even add books as they continue to change your life.

I didn't post my very favorite books, there is some overlap of course, but books that really changed me.

Speaking of books that changed my life or views. This would not mean favorites. Although they are up there - they are not in my top 10 lists or anything like that.

Here are a few that really changed me:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. This book really let me know that the way I write - or was trying to write - wasn't wrong like I've always been taught. I can write about whatever I want - even if it isn't deep. Even if it's a little garbled. I'm not saying I copy his style at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. But his style gave me permission to use the style that I wanted to use.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I don't know what it is about this book. The main character isn't the teller. The person telling the story is crazy. So unreliable. The characters. I really don't know what it is. But this is the first book I ever read more than once. It's the first book that hit me. And I can't even put my finger on why. After Thompson, Kesey was the first author that I really got into.

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson. The tone. The voice. It's perfect. I really don't think this one needs to be expanded on. Although - as cliche as it is to say around here - I've reread this one countless times. Each time coming away with something different.

Also worth honorable mention:
Crime and Punishment (How our own thoughts can lead to our ruin. I find it so interesting how this man totally changes and how true this story is.)
Helter Skelter (I couldn't believe how easy people were to manipulate. I had to do more research on this ability.)

There are more. But I'm drawing a blank right now...

appropriately enough, "this book will save your life" by AM Homes.

That makes me very, very happy. I'll have to reread it again soon.