Books - Has a book ever literally changed your life?

Crossbow · 08-29-2004, 05:15 PM

When I read Les Miserables, I just about cried when the author predicted that in the 20th century everyone would be able to read and write. I went straight to the Minnesota Literacy Council and got trained as an adult reading tutor. I volunteered as a tutor for two years before I burned out on it.

roswellcharmed_2000 · 08-29-2004, 08:54 PM

I just read "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and I think as time goes on, it'll change how I look at things.

Soz · 08-29-2004, 09:40 PM

I've always been a very imaginative person and I loved fantasy books, but there was always something missing from them until I discovered Clive Barker's books. I read The Great and Secret Show when I was seventeen and not only did I finally find what I was looking for in a fantasy book, but it made me realize that I wanted to write books like it too. The day I finished The Great and Secret Show a new writer was born. I doubt I'll ever get published, but I realized that writing was my calling and my passion in life.

**onionroach** · 08-30-2004, 10:41 AM

The Awakening dramatically changed my perceptions of society and ones role in it. It wasn't a positive change however.

tinydancer821 · 08-30-2004, 06:30 PM

The Lovely Bones, although I read it a long time ago, will always stay with me. If you haven't read it, you should!

pixiedude · 09-01-2004, 08:11 AM

I read John Hersey's Hiroshima in high school, although it was not an assigned book. It was the first account I read of what happens to civilians when a war is fought on their home soil.

On Amazon, there are reviews from people who complain that this book is biased, because it doesn't say anything about the atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese Army during WWII, implying that the six survivors interviewed in the book (and the other >135K victims) deserved their fate because of their government's actions.

People have also defended the bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki to me on the grounds that it saved the lives of a large number of US servicemen who would have died in the Pacific had Japan not surrendered when it did. Implying that one or the other group had to die, and the fact that the Japanese civilians were of the enemy government's nationality trumped the fact that they were civilians.

What I took from this book (and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, about the Allied firebombing of Dresden, Germany during WWII, which I read a year or so later), was that there is no such thing as a good war. Wars are between national governments, but most of the casualties are just individuals who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Who was I to pull the trigger or press the button that killed them?

I graduated high school a couple of years after the draft ended, so I never had to find out what I was willing to do to stay out of a situation where I was expected to kill somebody.

Crossbow · 09-01-2004, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pixiedude
People have also defended the bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki to me on the grounds that it saved the lives of a large number of US servicemen who would have died in the Pacific had Japan not surrendered when it did.

Actually, Japan surrendered before we bombed them. The bombing was done just to test what the effects would be. We're not very nice that way.

Katherine Behr · 09-02-2004, 02:49 AM

At a time when I was having continuous disagreements with my mother, I opened up and read Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews. I was only about 12 or 13 yrs old and it opened up my eyes about how my life is so simple and how lucky I am compared to the kids in the book.
I don't think it would have impacted on me if it was a compleetly fiction but it is actually based on a true story and that's what got me. I apprectiated my mum so much more for it.

StellaSlight · 09-02-2004, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by pixiedude
I read John Hersey's Hiroshima in high school, although it was not an assigned book. It was the first account I read of what happens to civilians when a war is fought on their home soil.

I didn't read that book, but I heard good praises about it. If you like the subject, one book I'd suggest to you would be William J. Schull's study on the effects of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a period of 50 years in Japan. Man that's scary.
The debate can go on for years and years about whether or not the bomb should have been dropped (you can try the topic in the News and Politics Board), but what angers me is that today's American society seems resolute to deny any responsibility in the human catastrophe that was caused by the bombings. As if the Japanese did that to themselves alone. I'm one who is all for each country to ackowledge their past mistakes, because that's what a society needs to move on and not repeat the same mistakes. And the question of Hiroshima/Nagasaki angers me.

**NikNak** · 09-02-2004, 08:40 PM

Hmm.

I don't know about books changing my life, persay, but it has affected how I view things, or sometimes, it puts life in perspective for me.

stargazer123 · 09-02-2004, 08:54 PM

Gay Talese's piece on Sinatra "Frank Sinatra has a cold"-it's long and in depth but just amazing-because it seems like a piece where the author was SOOO close to FS and yet he just sat in a bar close to him.

leytonforever8 · 09-03-2004, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by NikNak
Hmm.

I don't know about books changing my life, persay, but it has affected how I view things, or sometimes, it puts life in perspective for me.

ya i think thats how i feel too

22 Umbrellas · 09-04-2004, 02:59 PM

Same with me, I'm not sure about there being a big change in my life because of a book, but right now I can think of 2 books that really affected my perspective on life.

Broken Chords (by Barbara Snow Gilbert): The first time I read this book, it was just a good book. Two years later, I reread it, then went out and bought it immediately. The main character in that book that just because she's a phenomenal pianist, doesn't mean she has the passion it takes to be a concert pianist, even though that's what her parents desperately want for her. After that, I always wanted to make sure that I really loved something and I wasn't just doing it because I was good at it or because other people wanted it from me.

My Name is Asher Lev (by Chaim Potok): Almost everyone I've ever spoken to hates this book, but I love it. The first time I finished the book, I picked up a sketchbook and started drawing without knowing what I was drawing. Which is really unusual for me because I'm a perfectionist and not naturally creative. Most of the time, I plan out a piece before I start drawing, but what resulted that time is one of my favorite sketches. And I will forever love this book because of what it did for me as an artist.

Stars_And_Sunsets · 09-05-2004, 03:43 AM

"Out Of The Dark" by Linda Caine.

I read it when I'd just been diagnosed with depression and was feeling extremely sorry for myself and after reading about all the things Linda has had to deal with in her life, I learned that there are other people who are worse off than me and that I should be happy with the way I am.

- Alex - · 09-05-2004, 08:26 AM

several books have changed me literally. Harry Potter (it may seem stupid, but it's true) changed my perception of things, the way I used to see some things now I think totally the opposite about them. Also I was always an imaginative person, but these books literally have made me believe that dreams CAN come true. And now I'm a more fighter person and open-minded.

Amy Tan's books changed my perceptions of life too some years ago, the influence she put on me about the ancient chinese culture was 1 of the 100 reasons why I became vegan. And nowadays I'm a freaking obsessed with everything chinese, which means that their activities like yoga and stuff changed my life too.