Which book had the biggest impact on you

ally2

Beloved by Toni Morrison haunted me for a long time after reading it. It is a powerful read. I felt a bit shellshocked after it. read it again since and just as good.

sarad

I read The Outsiders when I was around 9-10 - first book I ever cried at........stay gold ponyboy......

Skally-wag

The Kiterunner, I agree, is one of the best books i've read. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, also left a huge impact on me, it again portrays a fascinating picture of Afghan life, but deals with the treatment of women, which is really shocking but neverthess extremely interesting. Both books i'd highly recommend.

LauraLoo

Oh yes "A thousand splendid suns" was brilliant too... He's a great writer, im really looking forward to his next book.

squishness

mmm Definitely "The Book Thief" by Markus Zuzak.
Never thought I'd like it so much. :rolleyes:

Busi_Girl08

The Book Thief - Zetak
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. - John Boyne
Both mainly because of the endings. I seriously didn't see them coming.

The Bell Jar. - Sylvia Plath
It just really made me reassess my life, and my approach to life.

On the Edge - Richard and Mindy Hammond
The indepth account of Richard's crash and his recovery, from both of their POVs, and showcasing their love was just heart warming and inspiring.

Maccattack

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. - John Boyne
mainly because of the endings. I seriously didn't see them coming.

Seriously???

I read the cover and the first few pages and I knew what the ending would be. Not exactly but I knew

he would be mistaken for a prisoner

. The title gave it away.

I thought the book was ok but not great. a kids book moreso than an adults book.

Zooey

It'd have to be Hesse's "The Prodigy". In terms of having a profound effect- not that it would be my favourite novel. Made me less of a nerd- in a highly positive way!

IvyTheTerrible

Maccattack wrote: »

Seriously???

I read the cover and the first few pages and I knew what the ending would be. Not exactly but I knew

he would be mistaken for a prisoner.

The title gave it away.

I thought the book was ok but not great. a kids book moreso than an adults book.

Could you please put in spoiler tags. There might be people not as quick as you who don't want to know the ending! Ta!

MrKingsley

Its 'The Catcher In The Rye' for me. For the simple reason that it was the first booked that Id studied and voluntary read out of school - and enjoyed

L_gaucho

A brief History of Time, Steven Hawking. I did find it slightly depressing at times, as if you think about the concepts he discusses, it make your day to day trials/tribulations/work etc seem pointless.
Conversely, it was able to make problems seem very insignificant, compared to our role in the universe.. ..(deep.....:D)

chughes

Funglegunk wrote: »

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

Swept away any remaining cobwebs and turned me from a deist to an atheist. Perhaps also God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens for in two words describing what religion always felt like to me: white noise.

For fiction I agree with an earlier post mentioning the Stand by Stephen King. Read it as a teenager, probably the first book I read where the characters felt like real people.

+1 for God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. The book confirmed something that I already felt about religion, when it all comes down to it, it's all about power and wealth.

For fiction, any of the Ross O'Carroll Kelly books. The goy's a legend.

parker kent

The Road had a huge impact on me after I read it. I remember for the first 50 pages or so I was unsure of the book but it really dragged me into their world from then on. The depths of human behavior are examined throughout. I'd be amazed if the film version that comes out will be as powerful. Trying to even their hardships is what made it so powerful for me. I don't know if they can re-create that in a film. Oscar written all over it though.

On a different note, A Confederacy of Dunces made me laugh like no other book ever has. Reading it can cheer me up endlessly! That's what I call impact

trustno1

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Lansing and Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor had a huge impact on me, was very hard to believe that Endurance was a true story and Stalingrad was just amazingly written - both excellent books. And the book that made me cry laughing has to go to Things Snowball by Rich Hall... hilarious...

giddybootz

Yes Man by Danny Wallace. I used to go through phases where I would get kind of stuck in my own head or caught up in a new 'thing' and six months could go by and before I will realise my phone has stopped ringing because my mates are tired of me saying 'no' or 'I can't' etc. This book really made me wake up and activly chase life. It has definatly had a huge impact on me!

His Dark Materials Really taught me about the pain of love and how worth it it is which IMO is a very important lesson

To Kill A Mockingbird I think from an early age this ingrained in me that people are just people. Some are good and some are bad and you can't tell the differance by looking at them.

silvine

The BFG. It's the first book I remember falling in love with and reading over and over.

More recently On The Road. A chilling book that made me think about fatherhood.

Fair play to who ever mentioned Thomas the Tank Engine!

Elliemental

Animal Farm (George Orwell). I read it as a teenager, and a time when I`d had a prticularly romantic view of communism. This novel really brought home the horrors of living under such a regime, and the way in which the story is told, only added to the impact for me.

TriceMarie

There's alot of books that have "taken me aback"
But I can't recall them all at the moment.
So for now I'll say:
Antigone-Sophocles (play)
The Belle of the Belfast City-Christina Reid (play)
Rapture-Carol Ann Duffy (poetry)

Sorry if I have broken any rules
I mostly just read plays because of my acting

Porkpie

Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado was a brilliant book. A really gripping and inspiring true stroy of human endurance and the will to survive in the most adverse conditions. It really makes you appreciate your life.

kasper

mine was a spaniard in the works by john lennon

Hossbox

+1 for A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

For fiction i'd have to say:
Magician - Raymond E. Feist

davyjose

Life After God - Douglas Coupland

rdow

The Constant Gardener- A book you HAVE to read once in your life at least.

Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Penmarrick - I dont know who wrote this but it's amazing I found an ancient hard back copy in bits in my Grandparents house.

MissRealist

monellia wrote: »

I also loved the DaVinci Code, but you must remember that it is a work of fiction conaining many false claims and historical inaccuracies.

It was a nice idea. Had it been written well and without the masked inaccuracies it could have been amazing.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Pilcout had a huge effect on me. I was thirteen/fourteen when I read it. I've read better literature of course but nothing that has dulled the effect that novel had on me.

I think it's only fair that I mention the Harry Potter series here too because I doubt there's any reader my age that they didn't have some influence on.

bandybanter

God is not Great-Christopher Hitchens

Chi chi

Whenever I thought I was impacted so much as at a "turning point" of life, it always proved to be wrong.

jimbling

wow, this thread really gets you thinking......

I don't really remember my first books, but Roald Dahl is most definitely responsible for my love of reading, so that is surely a bit impact.

I think later in life the book that made the most impact was Awareness by Anthony De Mello had a huge impact on me at a time when I was in a bit of a depression. A lot of it is bs, but some of the points really hit home and changed my perspective on life.

godspal

Thomas Pychons's Gravity's Rainbow had an impact on me recently, nothing really to do with the content because the book is very, very strange, but sitting back going WOW and wishing that I could write like that.

Don Delillo's Underworld had a huge impact on me when I finished it, reality became so real, trying to grapple with the immensity of intertwined lives and also grappling with the huge world around that surrounds that left me awestruck, I entered a state of hyper-realism and the only other time that has happened in recent times is when Michael Jackson died.

TedB

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings had a massive impact on me. It introduced me to the potential of escapism, the beauty of the written word and the power of the imagination. It may now be considered slightly predictable and cliche - but to hell with it. It was another world and it created a love of reading in me. His prose is second to none and is greater than any other writing style I have since encountered.

Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities really brought home the fact that bad things happen to both bad and good people, and that the line of moral judgement is all to slim and translucent. A terrible indictment of societies inequity and frivolity - and its obsession with race.

Orhan Pamuk's Snow made me consider what it is to be alive in a world so divided within itself between two profoundly different ideologies. Snow is a microcosm of Turkish society. Ka is the quiet, shy, sensitive poet who I immediately identify with. Things happen to him and around him, he is like a minor orbiting moon of a much larger planet. A bit like all of us really.

willy wonka

sarad wrote: »

I read The Outsiders when I was around 9-10 - first book I ever cried at........stay gold ponyboy......

I read this when I was 12/13 and it had a massive impact on me. It made me want to be a writer. Have no idea what the book would be like to read as an adult now, though.

Read Death of a Salesman for my LC and it was such a beautiful, poetic play. Opened up my eyes to the evils of capitalism.

Around this time read Animal Farm and fell in love with its simplicity. It kindled in me a love for all things dystopian.

Also read Forever by Judy Blume when I was 13 and boy did I learn a lot about sex from that!

Books that should have had an impact on me but didnt:

Siddhartha - everyone raved about this book and after reading it, I had written a similar story to this so felt like he had stolen my idea :rolleyes:
On the Road - don't read this when you're 30 and have already lived this lifestyle - it doesn't have the same impact.
The God of Small Things - I found it so hard to warm to the characters. After twice trying to finish it I felt like I was drowning in an ocean of despair, it seemed to take the air out of my lungs and strangle me of energy I will try to finish it one day but