Books that changed my life

I have spent a lot of time reading this month, but not much time writing. Usually, the two literally go hand in hand as I hold a pen while paging through books, and jot down notes on nearby scraps of paper. But not always.

This experience has me thinking about books that changed my life. Here's a list of some of them:

• My journal(s)
• "The Little Engine That Could"
• "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"
• "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl"
• "In a Different Voice"
• "The Princess Bride" & "Adventures in the Screen Trade"
• "Adult Children of Alcoholics"
• "Golden Cage"
• "When Food is Love"
• "Writing Down the Bones"
• "Operating Instructions"

What books have changed your life?

Comments

[Robin]

I dedicated a post to this question at The Other Mother. Thanks for the great idea.

[oceanguy]

My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok

Many Lives, Many Masters, Dr. Brian Weiss

[elswhere]

A Little Princess
House of Stairs (scary YA novel by William Sleator)
Writing Down the Bones
Girls, Visions, and Everything
Raise High The Roofbeam, Carpenters And Seymour, an Introduction
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
The Hip Mama Survival Guide

can't think of more but I know there are lots...

[Suzanne]

Great question!

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

[muse]

If you mention "the little engine," then Heidi's on my list. The natural, healthfood message for us all.

When I was pregnant with my first, I read through all of "Dr.Spock." The most important chapter (at least in the version given to me in '71) was about the food experiment, that showed that kids ate in binges, a few days tons of one type, then a ton of another type, and if you averaged it over a few weeks, balanced, but not an a daily basis, and the message was to relax about foods, as long as only pure healthy stuff offered.

Guess that jives with Heidi.

[Lunasea]

For me, it was "Operating Instructions" as well - even before I was married. Here was a story of a woman who sometimes felt her grip on sanity was tenuous. I could totally relate and it got me through some tough times (including, later, the first few months of my son's life).

[betty]

The Little House on the Prairie series, the Anne of Green Gables series, What Katy Did, Little Women, Helen Keller and many many more. My DH noticed that I loved to read books with strong, determined female characters in them who were often able to overcome adversity in their lives.

[Gary M.]

The dictionary
The phone book …
Where would any of us be without them?

Adam's Task …
Loaned to me at a pivotal point in my relationship with a woman who became my best friend and my wife. Thank you, Julie!

[VJ]

When I saw Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel in the stores about a year ago, I just had to get it for Tony. It was a book I remember reading as a small child.

Besides my journal and the Holy Bible, other memorial books include the Little House books, Swift Arrow by Josephine Cunnington Edwards, Follow my Leader by James Garfield, and The Unlikeliest Hero, the Story of Desmond T. Doss.

[Jo]

"Are you There God" was one of my all-time favorites as a young teen. Winnie-the-Pooh series holds many life-lessons close to my heart, and in recent years, poetry by Sylvia Plath, Ray Carver, and Sharon Olds have taught me about darker sides of life. All are interesting to me.

[Shelly]

The Scriptures, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Little House on The Praire books, Stand for Something, No Doubt About It, and the list goes on, just can not think of anymore now!