Short Tooth

I would like to think I had changed my life because of a book or a film but I never really have dramatically changed my life. But I certainly aspire to live up the message of some books.

Perhaps the biggest influence on my life has been Danny Wallace's YES MAN.

A hilarious and often moving story it is an uplifting and optimistic tale of what our lives would be like if we all said yes to things a bit more instead of wimping out due to laziness or embarassment.

Only he says YES to everything over the course of a year as an experiment. A great read.

theemeraldskull

Books that changed me??? As a writer...

Redwall series by Brian Jacques

The Squire's Tales by Gerald Morris

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, although I'm not sure if the question in this thread meant only Fiction....

The Bible

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There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
W. Somerset Maugham
Never tell anyone that you're writing a book, going on a diet, exercising, taking a course... They'll encourage you to death.
Lynn Johnston

ruksak

I mean any book on any level - thanks. I'm looking this one up right now. What made it better than other 'how to write' books?

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RuKsaK

theemeraldskull

Oooh, what made it better? First it had awesome information, second it was funny, very well written, also it really challenged you to DO. It was just VERY inspiring, and it never gets old, I've read it 10 or 15 times now, still find it helpful and amusing. Don't know if it's *better* per say than any other writing book, but I found it very helpful in keeping me wanting to write my book. also, it was written by someone who was an editor, and know has his own literary agency, so he does know the business very well.

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There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
W. Somerset Maugham
Never tell anyone that you're writing a book, going on a diet, exercising, taking a course... They'll encourage you to death.
Lynn Johnston

VinrAlfakyn

Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I don't know why, but as I read these I found that my heart rate quickened, even when I wasn't reading, and I couldn't breathe very well. Considering I just finished New Moon today, I suppose I should mention that I feel this way at this very moment. This has never happened to me before. Besides the strange, physical change in me, it changed something inside me. I'm still not sure exactly what it's done to me. But tonight I was able to do something that I've never been able to do before, and I give the credit to the books. They were absolutely amazing, and I'm so glad I read them!

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it's a long long road, it's a big big world
we are wise wise women, we are giggling girls
we both carry a smile to show when we're pleased
both carry a switchblade in our sleeves
- Ani DiFranco, from "If He Tries Anything"
also in "Somplace To Be Flying" by Charles de Lint

gülümse

Chicken Soup for the College Soul...
gave too much lesson about life and my character

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Look, know that you can not open pearls in front of porks..
Only money agents understand the value of diamonds, no one can know..
What of it, for a blind,glass and diamond is same..
If the person who looks you is a blind, don't think that you are made from glass
Mevlana
I loved you but you first broke my heart, then you've gone..

Mike

Books that changed me? How about The Metamorphasis by Kafka.....okay, just kidding.

Ten years ago, I read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. It changed me, then. But having read it within the last year, it's not as insightful. I don't agree with as much of the philosophy as I did then.

Hawke

Hellfire
By John Saul

I already know what you’re thinking (Oh come on! It’s no The Catcher In The Rye or War And Peace or A Clockwork Orange, lady. Heck, Hellfire wasn’t even Saul’s best work), but bear with me.

I can remember a particularly boring period of my life during a particularly boring teenage summer, and having nothing to do because my friends were on vacation coupled with my dad postponing our own out of the blue (Dad was very much a spur-of-the-moment type of man). I purchased Hellfire, by John Saul, and for a space of about a week (I read it more than once) I wasn’t even having a relationship with that novel; I was utterly engrossed by it (my favorite part was when Beth actually became Amy for a little while, saw what Amy saw, felt what she felt—an eleven-year-old, paid-by-the-piece leather cutter in a mill in 1886, and how Amy would purposely shut herself down, letting herself be hypnotized by the dull routine of the work to get through the hours one at a time... and the fire). Needless to say, I spent the rest of that summer devouring anything and everything John Saul, and by the end of it I began to write my own stories. And that’s why Hellfire is a book that changed my life.

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heatherlouise

a book that changed me.

The silence of the Lambs. by Thomas Harris. it made me think i want to work for the FBI, so it has sort of shaped my future career. although whether i stick with that career choice is unseen.
Heather

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~ HεαтнεяLøυιѕε

Kusumita

Flowers in the Attic- V.C Andrews.
Yes, I know it's rather old but to me it's one of the greatest books about human nature I have ever read. It shows that touches on so many subjects with mere symbolism =] I love symbolism in stories and movies therefore this book, not really the entire series, changed me to write the kind of stories I write now.

Counterfeit Son-Elaine Marie Alphin
I read this following FITA and I enjoyed it. I had borrow it from my library a year or so back but this book really has brought out my interest in serial killers and their mental state so much that it has me considering writing on serial killers one day.

Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov
My dad had this novel and soon after noticing the types of books I read he gave it to me for my birthday. One of the most amazing insight to the twisted, self justified minds of a pedohpile and a girl who tries to make her own sense of freedom and control. It's pretty twisted, I agree, but also another book and inspired me to write stories like I do today.

Lunatic

Bridge To Terabithia - Katherine Paterson and Donna Diamond

Was supposed to read this in 3rd grade for an advanced reading group... Still remember and feel the same emotions I felt then about the ending to this day.


Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Not really sure why, exactly, but this story, and all of the stories after it really struck a chord in me.


House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

Good lord, this book still gives me nightmares and I read it several years ago. It's just so... strange... consuming... innovative... I still cant go into pitch black rooms without hearing strange horrible roars and imagining the walls changing, my exit no longer existing.

/shiver...

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novu

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

It totally changed the way I write.

J.S.S

Fight Club, but not at first it was a few months later when something happened, some one said something and I read it all again. After reading Dante's Inferno I couldn't help but reference it to people and I was definitely inspired by the circles of hell. American Psycho also affected me.

Short Tooth

Anyone else read Yes Man? It's so uplifting, makes you wanna be optimisic abou every single thing in the world.

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Dear mother, I'll come home again

Mike C

I couldn't even come up with a short-list.

We are all the sum of all we have seen and all we have read; therefore all books change us. Some help us grow, some diminish us.

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