What book has had the greatest influence on your life & why?
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The Bible...0
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Green Eggs and Ham0
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'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins0
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"Emotional survival for law enforcement: A guide for officers and their families" by Kevin M Gilmartin0
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Green Eggs and Ham
Yes!! This one!! I still find myself quoting this book with my kids:)0 -
Well this is going to sound super nerdy... but one day at Barnes and Noble my daughter asked me to ready "Oh the places you will go" by Dr seuss to her....
No ****, that was the day I started to get my life and career back on track. Such a simple book made me realize that the choice is always mine!
That is one of my all time favourite books and I've bought several copies for gifts. Great message.0 -
Life After Life
Growing up, we didn't attend church very often. When we went, it was rare and I had no idea what was going on...I was just going through the motions.
As I got older, I found this book, starting reading it and couldn't put it down. It was after that book that I started to research Biblical things. Needless to say, it inspired me.0 -
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.0
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Unbearable Lightness
by: Portia DeRossi
I read this book not too long ago. It was actually over Christmas and the beginning of January of this year. It is about Portia's long struggle with anorexia/bulimia. I myself have struggled with mild to severe anorexia for about 7 years and I could really connect with her on a level I didn't think possible. Since I read this book I have maintained a healthier weight (not always my doctor's idea of healthy, but much better than I was), I've had a better attitude towards myself, and I have just been trying so much harder to keep a healthy mentality. It isn't always easy but that book is embedded into my brain and heart now and when things are going bad there are many parts of that book that'll surface into my thoughts and make me think again about what I'm doing. For anyone else who has struggled with an eating disorder I definitely suggest this book! Have a box of tissues next to you!!0 -
The kama sutra cause it taught me how to be bendy in all the right ways for all the right reasons.0
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'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins
This.0 -
When I was 14, I read a lot of philosophy. Sarte and Nietzsche were my favs. They helped through a bunch of trouble.
Recently, Eckhart Tolle and his book "A New Earth" is amazing. His other stuff is good too. I am learning how to live in the present.
Also, "Letters From a Living Dead Man" is kind of blowing my mind and seems to be fixing some thoughts I have had about life and death.0 -
Helen Keller's Teacher by Margaret Davidson. I must have read it twenty times between grades four and ten. It gave me this overwhelming sense of gratitude for the fact that I could see and hear and speak, as well as the inspiration and motivation to make the most of everything I've been given.
One of my favorite passages was the day Anne finally got through to Helen by pouring water over one hand and drumming the sign language for the word "water" into the other. It clicked, and when it did it sparked an insatiable curiosity to understand her world. After learning what it was, she wanted to be a part of it. For the first time in her life, she was excited about the world instead of feeling trapped in it.
I felt blessed and powerful and so very lucky every time I finished the book - whenever I think about how far off I am from my goals and how annoyed I am with the things I have to do to reach them, I think about how exhilarating it feels to have goals, to be moving toward them, and to have a clear idea of what I want in my head.0 -
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay - this book taught me to listen to my body and understand that pain and disease are only physical manifestations of negative thought patterns. In the most basic terms: if you can change your mind, you can change your life.
a late night DJ on my local station used to mention this book alot ...
For me its "The Power of One" Bryce Courtney can read it over and over .... one person can make a difference0 -
"You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay! I love that book. Louise was diagnosed with cervical cancer and she supposedly used mind body techniques to heal herself. I don't know if that is true but I do believe that you can use the power of thought to transform your life..
"Shrink Yourself" by Dr Roger Gould, MD deals with emotional eating
"Dealing with the Crazy Makers in Your Life" by Dr David Hawkins: Helped me in dealing with the nuts in my family lol
"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte: When I was a child, my Dad brought home a clef comic book version of this and it pivotal in influencing my love of classic literature especially the Gothic genre.0 -
In the Meantime by Iyanla Vanzant.
Not everybody who comes into your life was meant to last a lifetime. It taught me to stop hanging on to toxic people in my life and to search for happiness. Don't settle for living in a 'in the meantime ' relationship
Going to go get a copy right now!
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The Drifters, James Mitchener. Read this at about 14, it helped me realise a few things about myself. And possibly triggered my itchy feet.
Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley. I was already questioning Christianity, this book helped me see that there are many other belief systems out there.0 -
I'm not going to think too hard about this because I'm just recently getting back into reading. I'm reading more serious stuff now.
I'd say the concepts in Animal Farm are pretty powerful. But more recently I would have to go with East of Eden by John Steinbeck, because of "timshel". Thou mayest. We are man, and we have the power of choice: To choose whether or not we follow the path of good or evil. To face temptation or fall victim to it.0 -
My Side of the Mountain
The Bibles (Douey-Rheims, KJV)
The Outsiders (SE Hinton)
That was Then, This is Now (SE Hinton)0 -
The Bible- because it tells me everything I ever need to know, and it comforts me as well!0
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Diet for a New America by Robbins.
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Go Ask Alice
Definitely this one. This book turned me completely away from drugs, without it, and all of the pressures in my school, I don't know what I would have done, because before this book, I wanted to do it all.
Wow! This brings back memories! I read this book Many years age (we won't say how many) When I was a teen. Glad to see it is still speaking to other generations.0 -
The Zombie Survival Guide.0
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The Bible....
This^^
Don't push it.
Just grew up with it.
Dad was a Preacher....see that's what wrong with me.0 -
Yes, yes: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand after college, though yes, I know, Objectivism in untenable. But it challenged me to think. And I hadn't been challenged in a while. I respected that.
Now that I'm an adult? Thou Art That or anything by Joseph Campbell. Comparative mythologist.
It'd take too long to explain, but Campbell proves how there is one main myth that is relived in every story, every movie, even our own lives. Interesting fact: George Lucas depended heavily on Campbell's monomyth theory for his original Star Wars trilogy, and in Campbell's later years, he spent much time at Skywalker Ranch. Campbell's work has become the basis for the structure of everything from movies to books in Hollywood and the publishing field.0 -
*Bump*0
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*Bump*
Never read it. Was it good?0 -
Paula Deens Memoir "It Ain't All about the Cookin"...I could relate to her so much and never realized all the stuff that she overcame and where she came from:)
Also the book "Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine" by Ronald F. Schmid, it truly opened my eyes to the food industry and why so many of us are sick.0 -
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chobsky
First read it when I was about sixteen. It spoke so perfectly to that feeling of being a teenager and just feeling so lost and confused about everything in your life. It was the first time I ever felt like I wasn't weird or alone. I wouldn't say it's my all time favorite book, but I don't think I'll ever love a book the way I loved Perks when I first read it.
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Read it when I was a freshman in college. So incredibly well-written, and ended up being the final push in me changing my major from journalism to creative writing. The first chapter of Lolita is the most beautifully written passage I've ever read in my entire life Fun fact: when I've been drinking, apparently I'm able to recite the entire first chapter by memory (along with passages from Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby). Not sure why, as I can't do it sober haha0 -
Definitely the Bible (KJV) and the Bible Pathway Ministries devotional books.0
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