I'm looking for life-altering books to read.
So tell me, what book changed your life? And How/why?

There were a few for me:

A door near here, was one about growing up quickly, dealing with an alcoholic mother. It's amazing. Unfortunately, i'm terrible with authors.
Smack- was another. It's about two teenagers in england who struggle with heroin addiction.
The Last of her Kind- Is an AMAZING book, about life in the seventies. Very polictical and really can get you thinking about life today.

Hope you'll read one!

Sophie's World. I'll never think about life the same way again.

war and peace helped me i used it as a stepping stone to get food from the top shelf

LOL.

I don't know how life-altering these books are but it shed some light on how those of us who grow up with money or clothes or all of those things take them for granted. At least that's what I got from it. It's actually 3 books starting with Angel's Ashes, Teacher Man, & finishes with 'Tis. Written by Frank McCourt. It is about his life growing up in Dublin, Ireland & then when he moved to America. It does get a little sexual but nothing too graphic & doesn't really last more then 2 sentences.

OMG! That's why Angela's Ashes ends with a chapter that only says " 'Tis " !!! I loved that book! It was so amazing I didn't know it had a second and a third!!! *runs off to get the 2 other books* XD

Thanks for sharing this =] =]

your welcome. yeah Angela's Ashes was a summer reading book when i was in high school & i liked it so much I kept an eye for more by Frank McCourt & found the 'Tis book.

I have tried to read Angela's Ashes so many times, and I always end up leaving it half way through. I WILL finish it one day! The film is bloody brilliant though, if you haven't seen it. I recommend it a LOT.

when did they make a film of it?! I totally want to see it

Years ago! Hold on let me Wiki it... 1999!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela%27s_Ashes_(film)

It has Robert Carlyle in it as the dad. Genius.
And the guy who plays the teenage Frank is currently in Shameless, a brilliant British comedy which is very racy haha.

sweet i will keep my eyes open for that

Correction: 1st book is Angela's Ashes, 2nd book is 'Tis, & 3rd book is Teacher Man.

*insert obligatory reference to religious text* has saved my life! OMG I love jesus/allah/krishna/Luke Skywalker!

Krishna is which religious god(dess)?

Krishna is one of the deities from hinduism, in the book of mahabharata or however it's spelled (and missing much of the punctuation over the letters.)

oh ok. i kinda new the name just could place the religion. thank you for telling me :D

I really enjoyed Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart by Epstein.

Oh- another great book is The Power of Myth by Joseph Cambell

Sorry- I just remembered one more...Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

The book that totally changed my life was called Lies My Teacher Told Me(Everything Your American history Book Got Wrong) by Professor James W. Loewen.

I heard about that book. I still haven't read it yet. I'm starting to think I should.

It's a brilliant book. It will TOTALLY change your view of American History and the events that shaped this country. There's tons of other books like it as well.

i'll keep my eyes open for it. :D

I love Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. It's essentially about growing up and independence. It was not appreciated when Hurston was alive, but in recent years it has become the subject of a lot of study and review, and people have discovered how good it was. It is really is beautiful.

(And if you saw the ridiculous Oprah produced TV movie with Halle Berry.....you need to read the book. It's so much better than that crap!)