# life altering books...



## j_blades

I'll start...

Catch 22


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## strangedaze

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler


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## A_MacLaren

The Lord of the Rings, because I can't deny how nerdy I am.
The Light Fantastic, because it was the first Discworld book I read, and they got me through highschool in relatively high spirits.
The Lady in the Lake, by Raymond Chandler, because it showed me that not all noir is neo-noir.
The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides, because it's the best book about death and grief that I've ever read.


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## RebelGoddess

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Racheal


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## Avarice

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

A very dark yet partially humourous look at utter obsession with materialism and money and how it can lead to a loss of self.


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## Lorlie

I know I have said this one before,. BUT
The lovely Bones,. By Alice Sebold.
It made me less afraid of death, and made me think of those I have lost in a different way,.


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## kalibantre

Mark Billingham's Sleepy head.

I now hate the thought of people touching my neck, and can't have anyone say night night sleepy head. My dad did it when I had the mumps and I burst into tears...


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## Felix Mawson

Madam Bovary by Gustav [SIZE=-1]Flauber. I don't know why but theres something great about it.
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. One of the best books ever written.


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## Kira the wanderer

_The Phantom of the Opera_, by Gaston Leroux.


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## strangedaze

Avarice, I keep forgetting that you rock most assuredly, until you say things like that. BEE rocks my socks in a swirl of coke.


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## gir

_The Alchemist_ by Paulo Coelho.

Also:

_Blindness_, by Jose Saramago
_Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal_ by Christopher Moore (this helped me eradicate my somewhat deep-seated distaste for Christianity).
_The Giver/Gathering Blue/The Messenger_ by Lois Lowry.  I'm a kid at heart, what can I say.
_Slaughterhouse Five_ I really enjoyed, as well as _Catch-22_.  I loved the humor in both.
Also, the typical _1984_, by George Orwell. I read this book the first time when I was about 8 years old, and I've read it every year since then. Every time I read it, I get more out of it.


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## j_blades

gir said:
			
		

> _The Alchemist_ by Paulo Coelho.
> 
> Also:
> 
> _Blindness_, by Jose Saramago
> _Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal_ by Christopher Moore (this helped me eradicate my somewhat deep-seated distaste for Christianity).
> _The Giver/Gathering Blue/The Messenger_ by Lois Lowry.  I'm a kid at heart, what can I say.
> _Slaughterhouse Five_ I really enjoyed, as well as _Catch-22_.  I loved the humor in both.
> Also, the typical _1984_, by George Orwell. I read this book the first time when I was about 8 years old, and I've read it every year since then. Every time I read it, I get more out of it.


 4 of the books you listed are my favorites- catch 22, slaughterhouse 5, 1984, and the alchemist... the first three really add to one's perception of reality and life... the alchemist gives some hope! but i'll add another

J.D. Salinger- 9 stories 
One of the best collections of short stories I've ever read... full or originality and it leaves you dreaming about the characters.


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## strangedaze

Nine Stories is another grade A book. I remember not liking Catcher much, but I'm going to give it another read.


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## wowzer77

Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The Shannara Series, by Terry Brooks


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## Dookie

The Saga of Seven Suns by Kevin J Anderson, so far quite a read.


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## Syren

Watership +1

The Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Where White Men Fear to Tread: Autobiography of Russel Means
Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls


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## Anguirus2005

Altared Carbon

Essentially was the book that made me want to write, dark, gritty, noir in a fascinating sci-fi universe, plus I just love a good anti-hero.

Harry Potter

 At the age of 9 that was the book that actually got me interested in reading. At this point I am only still reading the series due to momentum... I figure if I started the series I should finish it...


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## Miscreant

War and Peace


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## pinkpanther191

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. It's a very quick and easy read, and it has an intriguing story told through a series of short vignettes. The figurative language is like none I've ever seen. Just awe-inspiring imagery, similes, etc. The unique style of the author keeps it entertaining. Overall, it's not life-changing, but more than pleasant.


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## Hodge

_1984_ - George Orwell
_Brave New World_ - Aldous Huxley
_Watership Down_ - Richard Adams
_Stranger in a Strange Land_ - Robert A. Heinlein


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## Archduke Robert of France

Napoleon: A Political Life - I forgot who the author was...
Napoleon - Paul Johnson
I have a whole collection of Napoleon books I'll share with you later...


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## jta_8888

_The Outsiders_ by S. E. Hinton,
_Bridge to Terabithia_ by Katherine Paterson,
and _Chasing Redbird_ by Sharon Creech.

Three great reads!


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## Gazin

Fairytales such as Rapunzel and Rumplestiltskin, life lessons such as three little pigs, Richard Scarrys books had me into reference books at an early age..

The mouse and the motorcycle, Beverly Cleary

Little House on the Prairie books,

Fire From Heaven and the rest of the series, novels about alexander the great, Mary Renault

The 12 Ceasars

Illusions by Richard Bach

The Holographic Universe

Each and every book I have read has its effect..some more than others and I love a good novel...


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## Spook

Dune, by Frank Herbert.

It made me realize that through extensive knowledge and proper logic, one can figure out anything, no matter how miniscule.


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## perseph1ne

Night by Elie Wiesel because it really happened and is one of the most honest books I've read.

The Long Death (I forget the author) because I didn't realize until I read this book just how amazingly cruel the US government was to the Native American when they were being forced off their lands. This book makes you angry at the people of the time (also proves just how unintelligent and overly arrogant Custer really was).

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card because I learned a lot about politic, perception, and war through this book.


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## TheInklings

Frankenstein by Marey Shelley
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

both books create such a wonderful picture of human nature. In my eyes they both define how we all think inside.


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## Alberich

I'll play, too.  (And hey!--My first post!)  In random order:

(1) Umberto Eco's "The Island of the Day Before"
(2) "Corelli's Mandolin" by Louis De Bernieres
(3) Washington Irving's "Sketch Book"
(4) "Leaves of Grass" by Whitman ...and...
(5) the Sherlock Holmes canon written by Conan Doyle.

Alberich


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## DesolateValkyrie

hmm. many, actually. lol. The Bell Jar, Jonathon Livingston Seagull, How I Live Now, A Dog's Life(I was six! Give me a break!!), etc. it depends on what part of my life i'm in. i could go on! haha. they're all great. try any of them.


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## ruksak

All depends on who you were when you read them.  For me there have been a few books, which upon completion, I knew I was no longer the same person.  Sometimes I became better - other times worse to be honest.  The books which had these impacts on me are in the order listed:
1. Lord of the Rings (because it was the first ever book I read which I hadn't been told to read - I was 22)
2. Nineteen-eighty-four (my first introduction to what I would call genuinely thought-provoking literature)
3. The Grapes of Wrath (staggeringly cruel and beautiful)
4. Almost anything by Henry Miller (just read him)
5. Crime and Punishment (perhaps the most dangerous book to have ever been written)

And, yes, I am a pretentious ar*e!


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## M. L. Doyle

Very true about depends and when you read them...but in recent memory 
The Known World
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
Crossing the River by Cormac McCarthy


There are a million more but these are what come to mind at this moment.


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## Anarkos

Camus - The Stranger


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## red lantern

I have a thing for the 'Complete idiots guide to: 'books (I swear the luird orange covers draw me to the shelves) and I am a slighlty rotund individual so I can honesty vouch for these three:

The complete idiots guide to weight loss
The complete idiots guide to mediation

and funnily enough

The complete idiots guide to writing a novel??


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## Shven

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
1984 - George Orwell
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series - Douglas Adams


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## Galivanting

i read slaughterhouse five and cats cradle one after the other
both were life changing to me


many books have strongly effected me, most of which have been listed


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## audacity

This thread could be far more interesting if more people explained what these books have actually changed in their lives. I personally love Lord of the Rings, but don't understand how it could be life-altering.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance helped me to think logically and critically as opposed to having a disorganized mass of thoughts in my head. It gave me the ability to better distinguish between rhetoric and logic. It set me to thinking about basic philosophical questions such as "What exists?" and "What is right?".


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## Anarkos

Anarkos said:
			
		

> Camus - The Stranger


...will quite possibly sap you will to live by pointing out just how stupid, absurd and meaningless life/humanity can be.

Soren Kierkegaard's work, however, may provoke mild insanity as you attempt to comprehend his thirty seven thousand bizarro pen-names and self-contradictions, but it might just give you a new reason to live.

If I ever get around to writing something that is more than fragmentary ranting and stop scratching my armpits long enough to edit it and somehow get published, I might call Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code life changing.  Well, the first three chapters of it.  The rest is why I too this day have ink stains on my arse.  Not even good for loo-paper I tell you.  But it told me this _if that chump can get published, so could a dead cat._


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## Peejaydee

For a long time in my mid to late teens I didn't read at all.  I literally didn't pick up a book for years.  When I was about 18 or 19 (I'm now 36), my younger brother persuaded me to pick up Gridlock by Ben Elton, followed closely by Complicity by Iain Banks (aka Iain M Banks of sci-fi fame).  I loved them and they kickstarted me back into reading.  Around then, a large UK bookshop was hawking its 100 classic reads, so I embarked upon Catch 22, Brave New World and a whole host of others.  I suppose you could say these changed my outlook and therefore my life.  They're not earth-shatteringly important books but it's what they mean to you at the time that makes the difference.

Only one book since then has actually affected me and my outlook on life.  I would urge you to read Dangerous Parking by Stuart Browne.  Don't read the notes about the author until after you've read the book - that's what blew me away.


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## krazyklassykat

_Luna_

Absolutely wonderful book, opens up your eyes to the persisting issues of gender identities.  Or for that matter, Identity.


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## Anarkos

Peejaydee said:
			
		

> When I was about 18 or 19 (I'm now 36), my younger brother persuaded me to pick up Gridlock by Ben Elton, followed closely by Complicity by Iain Banks (aka Iain M Banks of sci-fi fame).  I loved them and they kickstarted me back into reading.



Your brother has good taste.


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## Peejaydee

Anarkos said:
			
		

> Your brother has good taste.


 
Absolutely.  Anything less might not have done it for me.


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## Swift84

Penthouse changed my life. Don't have to use my imagination anymore.


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## Arin

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. 

It gave me an answer as to why people do horrific things to each other. It made me see someone who committed one of the basest crimes of humanity (raped his own daughter---don't worry, didn't ruin anything for you) as someone that I could love and feel compassion for. She is also a master with words and manipulating them beautifully.

That is the book that inspires me to know people.


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## pebbles

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay.  I have needed the type of reprogramming, from negative outlook to positive outlook, that she teaches.  I refer to it often.


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## quarterscot

Catch-22 taught me that most people are liars.

The Raj Quartet taught me that most people are weak and helpless.

Lucky Jim taught me that it doesn't matter, because you can always laugh at them for being weak, helpless liars


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## SteMcGrath

You should read some Herman Hesse. He writes very deeply about spirituality in an indirect way. Steppenwolf - Must read!


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## Luzici

SteMcGrath said:


> You should read some Herman Hesse. He writes very deeply about spirituality in an indirect way. Steppenwolf - Must read!


 
Seriously, Steppenwolf is the only book by Hesse I couldn't stand at all. I'd rather recommend _The Glass Bead Game _(probably the only novel he wrote for adults) and _Narzissus and Goldmund_. I like Hesse, although I can understand why he is so often considered adolescent literature.


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## m alexander

*The Great Pyramid Decoded*

By Peter Lemesurier.

  The most amazing book I ever read, non-fiction.  Mathematics is a common language understood by all languages, if complex mathematical know-how was incorporated into the architecture of a building thousands of years later people of different languages would be dumb-struck by the messages being passed from one era to this later one.
  Did you know the Great Pyramid of Gizah has a side base length of 365.242?  The precise amount of days found in the solar year.  Representations of Pi are also found all over the internal architecture of this mathematical marvel of a building, but Pi wasn't supposed to have been discovered till thousands of years later.  It is also lined up perfectly with the true magnetic north.  The hardest stone known to man cut perfectly, which by today's stone cutting hand tools could not be done.
  The Great Pyramid of Gizah is a mathematical message for humanity, the oldest pyramid in Africa so all the rest were copies of it, and the only pyramid that appears not to have been completed.  No mummified remains were ever found in this pyramid, and with its two sister pyramids the three line up perfectly with a particular set of 3 stars.
  It is a mathematical marvel and the architect was a mathematical genius, surpassed only by the men who built it to perfection down to thousands of a millimetre, which could not be done in outside atmosphere with the heat of the day and cold of the night expanding and contracting the stones used.  By today's technologies humanity would struggle to build an identical copy of it.
  NASA have studied this pyramid!  And Peter Lemesurier studied languages and linguistics at Cambridge, so he knows what he is talking about.
  The future and the past can be read from the architecture of this marvel of a building.


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## edgar1981

I recently read John Krakauer's 'Into the Wild', and can safely say that was a life changing story. It really made me think about what's important in life and what I want from it.


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## Niklas

Malazan: Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson

First large series I've read in a long time and I find myself applying a lot of the culture and ideas to my life, mainly altered ideas of the books perspective on gods and the Deck of Dragons.


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## Jinotega

_All Quiet on the Western Front_ was the first book the really struck me deeply and gave me an appreciation for literature.  

_Heart of Darkess_ because of its depth and it taught me to read between the lines and find what the author is really saying.

_Horesman Pass By_ by Larry McMurtry for anyone living in Texas.  It captures the dilemma of living in modern Texas.


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## Cath Humes

The Women's Room by Marilyn French.  
I avoided so many of life's traps by being pre-warned by this book.


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## RandolphCarter

The Privilege of Youth by Dave Pelzer. I don't particularly gravitate towards publications of this kind, yet this was the first autobiography that I had ever ready, and I enjoyed it from cover to cover. The story is told of Dave as a young boy, abused by his mother and being tossed through a revolving door of foster families. Dave dropped out of school to become a car salesmen, trying to save enough money to make it on his own in the world, a choice he would later regret.  The book is one that tells a tale of abuse, sadness, rejection, wonder and misery, but also of hope, of determination and of acceptance. It is a sad book, but also positive and happy in a way. Personally, I highly recommend it. It is a great read for anyone that can relate, or not.


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## themooresho

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Not exactly an easy read for compassionate people, but one look at the state of third world countries receiving foreign aid, and you have to admit that he's on to something here.


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## Cesar

For me it has to be *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*. It was the first book I ever read just because I wanted to. I'd seen the first 2 HP movies so I decided to read book 3, when I noticed reading can be even more fun that watching a movie it changed my life.
*
Cut*_ by Patricia McCormick_*. *The book itself isn't amazing, but it made me aware of a world I didn't know existed while being part of it.

*Lolita* _by Vladimir Nabokov_.  This one isn't so much a life changer, but an eye opener. I didn't know the English language could be as exquisite as Nabokov's prose. He said Lolita was the product of "his love affair with the English language". I believe him.


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## Missy

Lorlie said:


> I know I have said this one before,. BUT
> The lovely Bones,. By Alice Sebold.
> It made me less afraid of death, and made me think of those I have lost in a different way,.


_
The Five People You Meet In Heaven_ - Mitch Albom made me feel the same way. It gave me a completely new perspective.


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## Stealth

Can't tell you why exactly, but I felt something change right after finishing _Inheritance_ by Christopher Paolini
_Escape from Davao_-John D. Lukacs might also qualify as life-changing.


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## wavegirl36

This is probably already on here somewhere, but I loved "Divergent" by Veronica Roth.  It's a YA novel that takes place in the dystopian city of Chicago and even though I'm twenty years older than the characters themselves, I couldn't put it down!  It was very different from the typical YA fantasy novels I'd read before.  Interesting story idea, characters and plot.  Good read!


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## LaughinJim

I Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves.
A lame fool may not be as foolish as you think.


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## Isabelle_Cooper

Dostoevsky's _The Brothers Karamazov_.  

I was going through a really difficult time in college, and when I got to Ivan's big speech rejecting the theodicy that somehow good and evil balance in the end, like light and dark in a work of art, I felt like someone was explaining better than I ever could what seemed so wrong with life and yet the world was not shattered.  The story continued, and even though it was fiction, Alyosha's faith and perseverance in the face of human treachery and unnecessary cruelty helped me to start sleeping at night.  I've been okay ever since...so thanks, Dostoevsky.


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## Bloggsworth

Volume III of_ The Encyclopedia Brittanica_, it fell on my great aunt's head and killed her...


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## Shorty Dawkins

SteMcGrath said:


> You should read some Herman Hesse. He writes very deeply about spirituality in an indirect way. Steppenwolf - Must read!



Magister Ludi (The Glass Bead Game is an incredible work. And don't forget Siddhartha. Hesse is fantastic.

Also, The Suns Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea, by Hemingway.

Another writer I haven't seen mentioned is Par Lagerkvist. His The Dwarf is remarkable. He demonstrates the power of words upon the human psyche; the ability to manipulate perception. 

Shorty Dawkins


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## Sol2062

Isabelle_Cooper said:


> Dostoevsky's _The Brothers Karamazov_.
> 
> I was going through a really difficult time in college, and when I got to Ivan's big speech rejecting the theodicy that somehow good and evil balance in the end, like light and dark in a work of art, I felt like someone was explaining better than I ever could what seemed so wrong with life and yet the world was not shattered.  The story continued, and even though it was fiction, Alyosha's faith and perseverance in the face of human treachery and unnecessary cruelty helped me to start sleeping at night.  I've been okay ever since...so thanks, Dostoevsky.



Yes, thank you. I came into this thread to say something very similar but you summed it up quite nicely.

I recently finished _Women_ by Bukowski, it's still too early for me to say but his character's blatant honesty about sexuality was eye opening in more than one sense.


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## elfwriter

A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson


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## Senserial

"The catcher in the rye"
"The Lord of the Rings"
"Tuesdays with Mori"


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## blazeofglory

Different books alter life at different phases.. When I read the Prophet by Gibran I was so much moved by it and that book immensely altered the way I perceived things those days, and of course even today when I matured into a thinking man I still find the book greatly inspiring. There are some lines which have been written prophetically and there are certain ideas and themes not found elsewhere. 

Today the book that I find interesting is the Brothers Karamazov and this book gives me something different and it defines or delineates some facts about life. He is a mature writing and his books are deeply soaked with imagination thoughts and sensitivities. 

The greatest book I have ever read is the Mahabharata and no book can rank with in terms of its profound philosophy.


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## Origen

The Bible.  Even for unbelievers it is indispensible for its depth and richness.  Steppenwolf.  On the Road.  The Last Temptation of Christ.  And The Little Engine that Could.


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## escorial

American Literature....so many hours of joy.


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