What book has had the greatest influence on your life & why?

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  • dward2011
    dward2011 Posts: 416 Member
    I can think of many books that were/are influential in my life, but you did ask for the "greatest".

    The Alchemist - This book taught me to have faith in myself and in my life path. It reminded me that I cannot always dictate the roads I travel, yet I shall reach my destination and I am exactly where I need to be at this moment. It showed me how to make the most of any situation. It helped me open my mind and heart so I could learn things in a new way with a positive attitude.

    I read this book each year on my birthday. I think about where my life has taken me... the good and the bad. I think about my future and where I hope my path leads me. I think about the things that I can do to work towards the end result.
  • BarbWhite09
    BarbWhite09 Posts: 1,128 Member
    The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx. <3
  • holly1283
    holly1283 Posts: 741 Member
    Nobody was pushing the Bible. I love to read. But the Bible is the answer. My choice. Don't knock it. I would have commited suicide without my Savior.
  • Colbyandsage
    Colbyandsage Posts: 751 Member
    I am a huge nerd. I have more books than shoes and I have ALOT of shoes :)

    I would say Atlas Shrugged because it opened my eyes to a different way of thinking. I would list the reasons but until you read the book, most don't understand and I would come off as a very selfish idpndividual which I am not :flowerforyou:
  • TheMaidOfAstolat
    TheMaidOfAstolat Posts: 3,222 Member
    The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chobsky

    This is one of my favorites. It is currently being made into a movie and I hope it stays true to the novel.

    I am an avid book reader and have read most books listed so far. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson got me though high school, the Anne series by Montgomery got me through middle school, and to this day Dr. Seuss' The Places You'll Go speaks volumes.
  • Hambone23
    Hambone23 Posts: 486 Member
    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 haha

    Funny, when I'm drinking I slip into a Southern accent. (This Yankee's got kin in Georgia.) Being an English major and Writer, I'd much rather be able to quote literature. Of course, people think I'm a dead bore when I go on about such things. I'm more of a magpie with bits of poetry stuck in my head like shiny baubles.
  • cmdwyer00
    cmdwyer00 Posts: 40 Member
    The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chobsky

    This is one of my favorites. It is currently being made into a movie and I hope it stays true to the novel.

    I am an avid book reader and have read most books listed so far. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson got me though high school, the Anne series by Montgomery got me through middle school, and to this day Dr. Seuss' The Places You'll Go speaks volumes.

    I have high hopes for the movie. It was written/directed by Chobsky, so you have to figure he'll get his own stuff right, you know? But we'll see.
  • cmdwyer00
    cmdwyer00 Posts: 40 Member
    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 haha

    Funny, when I'm drinking I slip into a Southern accent. (This Yankee's got kin in Georgia.) Being an English major and Writer, I'd much rather be able to quote literature. Of course, people think I'm a dead bore when I go on about such things. I'm more of a magpie with bits of poetry stuck in my head like shiny baubles.

    Luckily, this mostly happened when I lived in Boston, where most of my friends were also huge literature/film nerds, so it never seemed to phase anyone haha.
  • Queen_JessieA
    Queen_JessieA Posts: 1,059 Member
    The Bible :) It is my Atlas in life!!
  • honeybfly002
    honeybfly002 Posts: 35
    The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

    Several Insights were written afterwards but the first one had the most impact on me.

    Basically it's a spiritual and psychologial journey that teaches everything is relative and there is no such thing as a coincidence if you just slow down and pay closer attention to what is outside your immediate surroundings.

    I loaned it out and never saw it again...going to get another one!
  • LatinaButterfly
    LatinaButterfly Posts: 192 Member
    The Bible. :)
  • holliph
    holliph Posts: 88 Member
    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!

    To me nothing is nerdy, especially when it not only makes a difference in a child's life but brings focus back into your own life!
  • debobrien1
    debobrien1 Posts: 95
    The Bible... It has given me all the answers to my life's questions....
  • Silver180
    Silver180 Posts: 294
    Another I wanted to throw out there is Ishmael. Very interesting take on man and his interactions with the world and his downard spiral.
  • weighlossforbaby
    weighlossforbaby Posts: 847 Member
    The Shack and Heaven Is For Real

    ^^^I agree with this one!!!!!!
  • weighlossforbaby
    weighlossforbaby Posts: 847 Member
    The Bible- because it tells me everything I ever need to know, and it comforts me as well!

    Absolutely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • weighlossforbaby
    weighlossforbaby Posts: 847 Member
    The Shack-Because God is real and there is a heaven
    The Vow-marriage is a lifetime commitment even when things get tough :heart:
    The Bible-It is from God
  • splashangel
    splashangel Posts: 494 Member
    The Grapes Of Wrath. I've been told it was a required read in high school. I wouldn't know for sure because I dropped out of school and was married at 16. I've read this book a few times through the years and it always leaves me thinking for days. The Bible is the only other book I have read more then once.
  • Sox90716
    Sox90716 Posts: 976 Member
    Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. It shows that no matter what you have done in your past that redemption is possible.
  • SVCat
    SVCat Posts: 1,483 Member
    Not a book but a poem...I used to suffer from lack of self-esteem and didn't have that good of a self-confidence.

    Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson

    “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
  • clydethecat
    clydethecat Posts: 1,087 Member
    the fountainhead by ayn rand... the philosophy of objectivism is something i really relate too. the idea that reason is our most sacred right. man is at his best when his goal is his own happiness. this quote sums it up nicely:

    "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
    —Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged[2]"
  • 1WorkoutAtATime
    1WorkoutAtATime Posts: 719
    The Bible, enough said..
  • sillygoose1977
    sillygoose1977 Posts: 2,151 Member
    The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Everything you need to know about life is in that book.

    Life of Pi by Yann Martel. This book taught me a great deal about living an optimistic life.
  • jplord
    jplord Posts: 510 Member
    Anything and everything by Ray Bradbury. I learned imagination, human corruption and human greatness, and respect for life in any form I encountered.
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

    I've read it 5 or 6 times since it was published in the 90s (I read it every couple years). It just speaks to me - and, as I grow older, it speaks to me in new and different ways, and for different reasons, each time I re-visit it. It's the first book that ever allowed (forced) me to get in touch with my inner-self and emotions, to self-reflect, and to take a deeper look at my own world as well as the world around me.
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. It shows that no matter what you have done in your past that redemption is possible.

    One of my favorites!
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    The Grapes Of Wrath. I've been told it was a required read in high school. I wouldn't know for sure because I dropped out of school and was married at 16. I've read this book a few times through the years and it always leaves me thinking for days. The Bible is the only other book I have read more then once.

    Wasn't required reading at my school (the only Steinbeck we read was Of Mice & Men). It is an amazing book, though. One of my favorites. His East of Eden is also incredible!
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    The Zombie Survival Guide.

    Lol
  • tangoa24
    tangoa24 Posts: 27
    The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - Incredibly easy to read, and extremely profound. Will absolutely change the way you look at life.
  • adamb83
    adamb83 Posts: 719 Member
    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 haha

    Perks was my choice as well! Such an incredible book.

    I loved Lolita, too. Unbelievably well-written and a fascinating study of certain aspects of the human psyche.
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