# The book(s) that changed your life.



## SarahStrange (Jun 7, 2013)

To me, "the book(s) that changed my life" mean the two books that made me want to become a writer. 

First, I read The Once and Future King by T.H. White and then The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams _right _after. Once I was done I was SO impressed with the emotions both conjured in me. I wanted so badly to be like the men who created the words that gave me so much. That was what made me want to write.

So what book(s) changed your life or, like in my case, made you want to become a writer?


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## Jeko (Jun 7, 2013)

1) Neil Gaiman's Coraline
2) Neil Gaiman's Coraline
3) Neil Gaiman's Coraline

I've read it three times.


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## Dave Watson (Jun 7, 2013)

As a kid I read _The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe_ about twenty times. Roald Dahl's _BFG, The Witches_ and _George's Magic Medicine_ also made a real impression. Later, when I got into horror, the ones that really got me were _Funland _by Richard Laymon, _The Howling Part III : Echoes_ by Gary Brandner and _Watchers _by Dean Koontz. Think it was when reading _The Slugs_ by Shaun Hutson that I thought, "I could do better than that!" which I guess was quite a bold assumption for a thirteen year old!


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## Terry D (Jun 7, 2013)

The book that changed my life was volume 'S' of the World Book Encyclopedia. Before Uncle Joe smacked me up-side the head with that when I was 10, I couldn't string two words together. After I woke up, the stories just started pouring out of me. I still walk a little funny, but boy can I right!


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## Bilston Blue (Jun 7, 2013)

> I still walk a little funny, but boy can I right!



He should have hit you upside the head with a dictionary, Terry.  :icon_joker:

P.S. Congratulations on getting your second novel published.


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## Terry D (Jun 7, 2013)

Bilston Blue said:


> He should have hit you upside the head with a dictionary, Terry.  :icon_joker:
> 
> P.S. Congratulations on getting your second novel published.



Thanks,  Scott.


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## Origen (Jul 4, 2013)

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse and the Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Philip K. Dick are probably my two favorite co-conspirators.  I'll never forget finishing The Transmigation as the sun was rising, gleaming PKD's perfect prose about the apex of a vision conjoined by a furiously-fast reading of the Divine Comedy and the intense pain of an untreated toothache.  After beaming over his audacious words I decided I would actually have to quit writing forever.


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## escorial (Jul 4, 2013)

Charles Dickens/george Orwell,  before I discovered  American literature many years later


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## Kehawin (Jul 4, 2013)

For me it wasn't like that.  I wrote an assignment in second grade that won an award, but saw it more of "I'm a good student" than "I'm a born writer."  I started writing diaries two years later because my new best friend did and I thought it was cool.  I wrote religiously in my journals until I was in my twenties.  At about 21, I had to take a second English class in college, and I have never enjoyed "Literature" classes, so when I saw that there was a new creative writing class at the college, I was all for it!  On one assignment, the teacher had written, "was this story inspired by the 'Mists of Avalon'?"  I asked her what that was, she was surprised that I had written a feminist-type Arthurian perspective, and encouraged me to read it.  I had read "The Crystal Cave" series a few years before, so didn't really jump at Avalon immediately, as I thought nothing could compare with the series.  When I finally did read Avalon, it changed my life.  It changed my interests, it changed my perspective on my own religion, it made me interested in many of the things I eventually majored in.

But really, it was writing journals that influenced me most.  At first I was determined to get my own story down so I could remember details.  Then I was determined that I would keep them and re-read them so that I could be a better mother when I had girls of my own.  By the time I had something interesting to write about, I had been writing daily for years.


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## NotProper (Jul 5, 2013)

So many!

+ Matilda - Roald Dahl
+ The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
+ The Great and Secret Show - Clive Barker
+ The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
+ Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
+ On the Road - Jack Kerouac
+ American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
+ Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk
+ And the Ass saw the Angel - Nick Cave
+ Nausea - Jean-Paul Sartre


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## Skodt (Jul 5, 2013)

I never bothered reading anything but short stories as a child. Then one day my, seventh grade, teacher introduced us to Harry Potter. I read the second quickly. Then the third. I was hooked to say the least. I had to wait for the fourth book. So, I knew there had to be more good books out there. i read more and more fantasy. The fourth came out; now I am reading 800 page books. So, I begin to fear the size less. I pick up bigger fantasy books. I grow up, and start to reach out for other subjects. Science, literature, Fantasy, Religion... So, short tale is Harry Potter started my book reading life.


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## OurJud (Jul 5, 2013)

I'm still looking.


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## tabasco5 (Jul 24, 2013)

Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey


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## tony0310 (Jul 24, 2013)

Roots  (the only book I ever read that made me cry)
Lord of the Rings (for the attention to detail and the breadth of it)
Salem's Lot (which kept me awake at night)
Wuthering Heights (which made me realise that I could never write something so beautiful)
Mary Queen of Scots (by Antonia Fraser - I wrote her a fan letter and got a lovely reply)
The Mascot (absolutely harrowing but I couldnt put it down)


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## Blade (Jul 24, 2013)

Kehawin said:


> But really, it was writing journals that influenced me most.  At first I was determined to get my own story down so I could remember details.  Then I was determined that I would keep them and re-read them so that I could be a better mother when I had girls of my own.  By the time I had something interesting to write about, I had been writing daily for years.


It was pretty well that way with me as well. It was never a daily thing but more a series of bursts that I eventually realized I was quite attached to. It has kind of expanded from there. I always was a big reader but writing is a whole different, mostly, ball game.

Some books that impressed at the time.

_Heart of Darkness _by Conrad
_Old Man and the Sea _by Hemingway
_Slaughterhouse Five _​by Vonnegut


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## rockoo315 (Jul 27, 2013)

All of Paul Coelho's books changed me in some small way.  The spiritual and self exploration aspects of his books struck a cord with me.  Since then, I've always tried to improve myself.  I guess the book that had the most profound impact on me is Veronica Decides To Die.  It made me appreciate life more.


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## auyl (Jul 30, 2013)

Umm there's a few for me.  The Call of Cthulhu and other weird tales by H.P Lovecraft, The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker and The Beetle by Richard Marsh.  Anyone picking up on a theme here?


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## lordzden (Mar 12, 2015)

Hey! mine is *Lost and Found - Dr Arthur Caliandro. *Inspiring!  Let me know if you agree.[h=3][/h]


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## SMScoles (Mar 22, 2015)

A Scanner Darkly, by Phillip K Dick
The Tao Te Ching 
The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell/Bill Moyers
The War of Art, Steven Press field

To name a few.


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## escorial (Mar 22, 2015)

i picked up an ex libarary book Cannery Row..read a page..bought it...sat down and read more..finished it and had the pleasure of all his other work to read and it felt good


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## LeeC (Mar 22, 2015)

escorial said:


> i picked up an ex libarary book Cannery Row..read a page..bought it...sat down and read more..finished it and had the pleasure of all his other work to read and it felt good


I agree as I thought it one of Steinbeck's best


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## Theglasshouse (Mar 24, 2015)

Demolished man by Alfred Bester made me appreciate it more.
All his short stories, and his other novel that created cyberpunk.
The fahred and the mouser series and novels (they are really short stories). Fritz leiber created sword and sorcery and his style holds with the best today in my opinion.


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## Loveabull (Mar 25, 2015)

When I was maybe nine or ten my Dad had "Black Boy" by Richard Wright on his nightstand. I picked it up and began to read. I was a good reader and precocious but most of the content went way over my head. But in the opening chapters...Richard burns down his grandmother's house, goes on to become a drunkard, spies on a brothel with the neighborhood kids...The issue of racism didn't even sink in yet. 
I read and re-read that book over the years until I fully understood it. He and James Baldwin became two of my favorite writers, which led to getting top grades in my African American lit courses.


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## RhythmOvPain (Mar 25, 2015)

Kyle Mills: Rising Phoenix and Sphere of Influence

Of all the Mark Beamon stories, his first and his most harrowing are without a doubt my favorite books in the world. Sphere of Influence IS my favorite book.

Stephen Hunter - Point of Impact

The movie was horrible - the book, phenomenal. I'm sooooooo glad I read it first.

These three books are definitely my favorites.

Other very notable books:

Pet Semetary by Steven King (I love the movie, but the book despite its vast differences is very fun to read)
Interview With A Vampire by Ann Rice (The only book from the series I like, I find the book a better read than the movie)
The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler (The best John Rain novel IMO. It's extremely entertaining)
Jackknife by William W. Johnstone (It showed me how simple a story could really be while still being thrilling at the same damn time)

I can't think of anything else that really sticks out like these books.


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## Este (Mar 25, 2015)

During a holiday to Centre Parcs, I bought Nothing to Lose by Lee Child at a supermarket. I did not want to read a book that was part of a series, as I felt I couldn't be bothered to start from the beginning, but now I have read every Jack Reacher thriller at least once. Lee Child has a way of describing settings and people in brief detail, but it is detailed enough that you can envision it. It was a great book and a good way to introduce myself to Reacher.


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## EnglishmanRob (May 4, 2015)

I've got to say "the bible" as a Christian, but to give more detail - Ecclesiastes. It is like an emo-kid's diary. Everything is meaningless, good people and bad people die the same etc. BUT it made sense to me. Logic wise. And it has a kinda happy ending - We are all going to die, but it's better to die wise than die stupid. 

Secondly - Alice in wonderland and Alice through the looking glass (CS Lewis). I was 8 or 9 when I read it. It blew my mind to realise how fiction can re-write ALL the rules of reality. How wordplay becomes powerful, or humorous. It allowed me to realise how amazing fiction is. 

Thirdly (and lastly) would be The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. Specifically the short story "Fear of Heights". It taught that it is OK to try and fail. Sometimes failing gives you something even better. "It is sometimes a mistake to climb. It is always a mistake never to make the attempt."


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## Phil Istine (May 4, 2015)

Some that spring to mind, but far from exhaustive:

"Your Erroneous Zones" by Dr. Wayne Dyer

"The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams

"The Road to Wigan Pier" by George Orwell


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## Ariel (May 4, 2015)

"Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by Edgar Allan Poe.
"A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

In that order.  I first starting reading Poe in the first or second grade.  I read the other two within a year.  Those were and still are my favorites.  I loved the play on language and how the words just flowed.  I've always loved reading and writing didn't come until later, when my brother died.  It was the only impartial outlet I had.  Everyone else was either 1) too close to the death themselves to help me through or 2) didn't know how to listen or help.  Writing saved my sanity.


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## Loveabull (May 4, 2015)

Another one was " I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", I own or have read every book she ever wrote.


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