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Books that Changed Your Life
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Author:  Kitoky [ February 6th, 2010, 1:50 am ]
Post subject: 
TheThain wrote:
... obviously, I'm a Christian, so where I stand on this issue should be... obvious. ;) ... I think PD's right; like with a lot of things, what you bring into something dictates what you take out... But... it is fair to state the Bible as a book that changed your life too... ;)

Uhm, keep it cool, though, guys. Everyone's entitled to their opinions... I just don't want a mod coming after anyone here, ya know? :teehee: I'd be happy to have a PM convo with anyone about anything here... I'm sure PD would as well. ;)










I haven't been much of a book reader lately, since life has been filled with textbooks and I could probably do an indepth conversation about how knowing the function and purpose of pharmaceuticals have changed my life, but I won't 'cuz... that's just lame.

The books I can think of right now are...

<b>Number the Stars</b> by Lois Lowry. I read this my freshman year of highschool in between breaks at work and sitting at work and reading such a vividly exalting story about how so many people, not even truly involved in WWII, were affected by it. It's helped me appreciate the horrors in life, even with present-day war.

<b>Harry Potter Series</b> by JK Rowling. Yeah, I'm pretty lame, but Harry Potter was big during the years I grew up and this series is special in a way that it grows up with you. Starting out as almost innocent and lighthearted and all CHILD HERO from book 1 - 2, and then growing darker and more mature as the book series went on. It's a piece of great writing. It's not for everyone, but it is for me.

<b>The Hobbit</b> by JRR Tolkien. I feel sort of odd one out for not saying LOTR, but I think The Hobbit was what got me so involved in LOTR. Without the Hobbit, I would probably still have never read LOTR today. The Hobbit really helped introduce me to Tolkien's vision and his world. Reading it lead to Lord of the Rings, which lead to such an amazing group of people in this fandom. :)

<b>Mio, My Son</b> by Astrid Lindgren. This was my very first fantasy book that I read. I remember making a tent with blankets in my room and bringing a lamp inside and reading this book from start to finish and I <b>absolutely</b> fell in love with it. Without this book, reading fantasy would be a lot tougher for me growing up.

<b>Angel Child, Dragon Child</b> by Michele Maria Surat. This book was about a young Vietnamese girl who is constantly sad and remembering her mother who they had to leave behind in Vietnam when immigrating to the USA. The story focuses on the girl's emotional frustrations growing up in a new country, a new school, with very little friends and limited understanding of the language. I personally relate to this because I'm a Vietnamese immigrant myself, coming over to the US with my family at a very young age. I've had this book since I was 6, and I still cherish it more than any other piece of literature. The book itself is simply written, the story is clearly defined and the drawings are beautifully illustrated. I highly recommend this book.
Author:  Inwe Calaelen [ May 25th, 2010, 6:11 pm ]
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I don't know that I can think of ALL of them but here are the few that come to mind. :)

The Picture of Dorian Gray-- This novel just intrigued me. And really the only reason it was on my reading list was because of "Dorian Gray" the charrie that Seral RP'd with on the tag box on the homepage when I RP'd when I was like 12! :) Amazing, huh? This book helped me to understand the "Twisted web we weave" and it showed me that I truly am an artist. I've called myself one before because of my different "artistic traits" or "artistic hobbies" but Dorian helped me to realize that I am an artist. I think like one. I feel like one. It helped me to discover and concrete parts of myself that I was unsure of.

Harry Potter Series-- I wasn't "allowed" to read these as a child- mind you I was pretty protected- but my parents wanted me to be old enough to understand that they were fiction. These books showed me that 1) good things come to those who wait, and 2) books should be read before they are judged. I grew up dissing HP and those who read/watched HP and now I'm a HPheaded freak! :) I love the movies, the books, the clothes, the Snape... :D

aand I'll have to think back to really remember some more... I'll edit this later. ;)

I think its really neat that HP has had such a life-changing effect on so many of us but it's not had the exact same effect on everyone! :) books are so awesome.
Author:  SilverRose [ June 1st, 2010, 1:08 pm ]
Post subject: 
Hmmmm. I like a lot of random Christian fiction that nobody's heard of. :-P

The Cheney Duvall M.D. series: Pretty much, Cheney and Shiloh started me on the road of shipping. Oh, and Shiloh was my first book crush. ;) I think this series was the first adult fiction I started reading. Maybe in 6th or 7th grade, perhaps? Definitely impacted my reading habits.


Blink: Wow. This was my first Ted Dekker book, and let me tell you, it rocked my world. Because of this book, the way I view the awesomeness of literature has completely changed.

LotR: I think I read this at about 11? 12? I remember shivering on the back porch from the intensity of the Mines of Moria. "They are coming" never fails to chill me. This series introduced me to the world of LotR, which naturally led me here. :hug: Oh, and it gave me A/E. Duh. ;)

Lord of the Flies: Yeah, definitely loved this book. The darkness in it just spoke volumes to me about what people can do when rules are taken away and there are no guidelines or moral authorities. Very striking.

As Sure As The Dawn: The first book I absolutely could not put down during school. Doing math in math class? Not a chance! I've loved this book since 8th grade, and I'm not planning on giving it up.
Author:  Sairahiniel [ June 15th, 2010, 1:33 am ]
Post subject: 


The Whale's Song - This is a children's book that I received as a gift from my grandmother on the only occasion that she came to visit Canada. I don't know why, but the paintings which are the pictures, and the story, made a really big impression on me. I was seven years old, and now Im almost nineteen, and I still pull it out and read it from cover to cover and smile. It just made me realize that it's the little things in life that matter, and that you have to learn to listen to your heart. A little cheesy? Definitely :P

The Hobbit - My parents used to sit on the end of my bed when I was six and tell me the story every night. I definitely have it to thank for my adventurous nature and the fact that I love to read.

Otherwise, I tend to learn more from real-life experiences... I haven't read anything that's inspired me enough to have an impact in the last ten years or so...
Author:  Larael [ July 2nd, 2010, 12:22 am ]
Post subject: 
Interesting idea for a thread, TT. I salute you. :)

The Hobbit: This is one of the first books my dad read to me when I was a kid, and I believe it paved the way for my love of not only Tolkien's world but of fantasy and reading in general.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The trilogy itself opened me up further to the idea of reading for enjoyment. It also introduced me to my first fandom experiences.

Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death"/Edgar A. Poe's "A Tell-Tale Heart"/Keturah and Lord Death/The Book Thief: These four titles [two poems and two books] encompass the several factors that led to my fascination and study of death, immortality, and love that transcends mortality. It is still a time consuming study that I continue in my literature reading today.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: By far one of the most influential books/series in my short lifetime. In some ways Harry Potter has consumed my life. Just like LotR, I have met friends through HP, I have laughed over HP, and I have cried over HP. Never in my life have I felt such love for characters and places and objects that are not real. What JK Rowling created in that series is truly magical.

The Bible: Despite Harry Potter, the Bible has obviously been very influential in my life. There are parts of it I have yet to read and some parts that I need to reread, but that is one aspect I love about it. The Bible is the cornerstone of my faith in Christ, and without Him I would be lost.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl: This book began my love for WWII/Holocaust novels. I hate to say it, but horrific stories often make good and moving reads.

Lord of the Flies: One of the first novels I studied in depth for school. It took me beyond the literal and opened me up to hidden meanings and symbols in writing. In fact, it showed me a side of writing I had never seen before. It also sparked my love for utopian/dystopian literature.
Author:  Nurrantiel Mashiara [ July 2nd, 2010, 1:26 pm ]
Post subject: 
SilverRose wrote:
Hmmmm. I like a lot of random Christian fiction that nobody's heard of. :-P

The Cheney Duvall M.D. series: Pretty much, Cheney and Shiloh started me on the road of shipping. Oh, and Shiloh was my first book crush. ;) I think this series was the first adult fiction I started reading. Maybe in 6th or 7th grade, perhaps? Definitely impacted my reading habits.


AAAAH! I totally read that series!


Hm, I've read so many books it might be hard to narrow it all down. :lol:

The Unicorns of Balinor/The Lost Years of Merlin: These two series basically put me firmly into the fantasy genre, which is my favorite genre to read and, I'm sure, has helped my imagination. :P

The Bible: As it is very influential on how I live my life. I haven't quite read the entire thing, but I'm getting pretty close.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The symbolism, and the place, and the writing, and CS Lewis.....Gah. If had to choose a favorite book of all time, it would have to be from this series.

Various other books by CS Lewis, such as The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce: Because they are such thinking books and really make me examine/strengthen things about myself.

Various InterVarsity Press books, for the same reasons.

Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts: I shall never not like these comics. They're humorous and absolutely wonderful.



I guess that would be the main ones. I know, I didn't mention LotR. While I love the books, they didn't actually influence me. The movies did greatly, putting me in my college major, practically, but the books didn't. I think that goes for a lot of my favorite books - I love to read them, but they don't impact my life.
Author:  Minuialwen [ July 2nd, 2010, 1:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
This is actually a lot harder than I thought...I have lots of favourite books but I can't think of very many that actually changed my life.

Calvin and Hobbes: It might sound weird but seeing the world through the eyes of a 6 year old kid, in such a winsome and funny comic, has given me a much greater appreciation for the wonder of the earth and the weirdness of people (in a good way.) :-D

The Bible: While I can't really say it's changed my life (I was born into a Christian family and have been one all my life) it certainly has a great influence on my life.

The Screwtape Letters: I read this for the first time in a book club I go to and wow, has it changed how I think about living as a Christian.

The Lord of the Rings: Aw, my first fandom! *huggles*

The Chronicles of Narnia: Um, basically what Nurr said?

The Shadow Children: This series preoccupied me for weeks; the author weaves such amazing characters, and shows the complexity of the issue so well while still showing what's right and what's wrong. I did find the last book a bit of a let down, a bit anti climactic, but interestingly enough I think that's because the final showdown was very real-life; no grand battle and clean victory but a strange, kind of messy overthrow. Amazing books.

Also, Silvereh: As Sure as the Dawn; I know I've read that book but I can't for the life of me remember the plot. Is it Francine Rivers? Oh, Atretes and Rizpah?
Author:  Nurrantiel Mashiara [ July 2nd, 2010, 6:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
Minuialwen wrote:
Also, Silvereh: As Sure as the Dawn; I know I've read that book but I can't for the life of me remember the plot. Is it Francine Rivers? Oh, Atretes and Rizpah?


OH MY GOSH. HOW DID I MISS THAT?

*ahem* The Mark of the Lion series, Redeeming Love: These books put me on an emotional roller coaster and I could not set any of them down. They're just so impactful. They didn't change my life, not really, but considering I think about them and relate things to them all the time means they had some sort of impact.
Author:  Maethoriel [ July 7th, 2010, 7:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
The Raven: Not really a book, but when I was younger around 9 my Mom introduced me to Edgar Allen Poe (her favorite author) and since I was a strange child raised on Beetlejuice, the Munsters and Adams Family the halloween spark in it definitely caught my eye. It was the first piece of literature that I could actually quote and it opened up my love for characters and stories that had a little more than the happily ever after fairytales, though I still love those too.

Julie of the Wolves: My first series that I fell in love with. All the characters are beautifully written and it has basically steered me to my career with wildlife. I can now say, proudly, that I to have a wolf friend like Julie.

Harry Potter: Expanded my imagination ten fold. I grew up with these books. I started reading them when I turned 11 and was lucky enough for the characters to grow up with me. My friends and I joke that we knew more about Hogwarts gossip than gossip at our own school. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings: I began to read them at the same time. I started Lord of the Rings on the suggestion of my firend and then found we were going to be reading the Hobbit in class. It was probably one of the greatest things because I got to compare the different character interactions better. It's also where I found that my favorite race wasn't the elves like I'd originally thought but the Dwarves because they were so much more real in their actions. I think they expanded my mind and made me much more inclined to read books that others thought to lofty in writing.
Author:  Alatáriël Telemnar [ November 27th, 2010, 8:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books that Changed Your Life
Darkheart wrote:
TheThain wrote:
A Little Princess - I dunno. This book just... touched me in some way I can't really describe.


I've gotta second that. The book was amazing and I can't say I've ever read anything quite like it. I've had it for years and I don't think it's going to be one I get tired of.


Ditto on this one; it was simple and for children but yeat so deep and touchy.
Author:  Hanasian [ November 9th, 2013, 5:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books that Changed Your Life
Here's a few.......
  • The Lord Of The Rings Book series
  • The Black Company Book Series
  • The Bible
  • Issac Asimov's Foundation Series
  • Frank Herbert's Dune Series (1st 5 books)
  • The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic series

Each had a place in my life at one time. Each has faded in some sense for various reasons. Still love Lord of the Rings books and Middle Earth, but the incessant PJ co-opting of the tales have quenched some of my fire. Love the Black Company series, but am not sure where it could go from where it left off. Probably why Glen Cook hasn't written another in over 10 years. The bible was a big part of my life for some years, but what people have done with it has driven me away from the religion (s?) that claims it as their sacred scriptures. I read many of the Foundation books before I had read Lord of the Rings. Was interesting but I needed to put it down and read something else. I have yet to pick it back up after 40 years. I read the first Dune book after I went and saw the Lynch Dune movie in the 80's. It didn't make any sense to me, but interested me enough to read the book. I then read a few more. I put it down after the 5th book in the series. Gilbert Shelton's Freak Brothers was a good laugh to read during my counter-culture days.
Author:  Randiriel2003 [ June 14th, 2014, 11:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books that Changed Your Life
LotR, without it I wouldn't be the same person I am today
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