I recently posted on Facebook a picture with a motto that tickled my fancy. It said: Books are dangerous. The best ones should be labeled: This could change your life. I forget who said it – Helen something-or-other – but going by the spelling it must have been an American. (US spelling = one l, UK and AUS spelling = 2 ls; labelled). Since then I’ve been mulling over the question: What books would I put on my list of “life-changers”? It’s not as easy as it first appears. Just because I loved a certain book, does that mean it had a life-changing impact on me? Then again, it’s most likely that every book I’ve ever read has influenced me in some fashion and therefore I could say that they have all changed my life. Ah, philosophical questions: the bane of an over-active mind trying to get to sleep in the wee small hours.
I decided I’d make a little list of books that have made an impact and therefore still float around in my subconscious as: books I can’t forget. The fact that I remember them, especially the ones from my childhood and teen years, means that they are significant tomes. After all, I’m a person who has trouble remembering my own phone number! Before I get down to the nitty-gritty, please keep in mind that in my life I have read a myriad of books. I exhausted the children’s library in my capital city when I was 10 and had to get an older sister to borrow books from the adult library for me. When I was little I was so desperate to read that, when I ran out of books, I began to work my way through the dictionary. (Comes in handy when I play scrabble.) What I’m trying to say is that I have most probably read your favourite and, what’s more, thoroughly enjoyed it, so don’t be offended if it’s not listed here. I’ve merely chosen the few that floated to the top of my memory, first.
1. The Narnia series: C.S.Lewis. I never looked at another wardrobe in quite the same way. I’d already read Alice in Wonderland, so I was aware of the magical possibility of “other worlds” but unlike Alice, this story was believable. It made sense. It was “real”. Alice was, to be polite, odd.
2. Many collections of folk and fairy tales from around the world. It’d take too much space to list them all, but of course they include the Brothers Grimm, Larousse’s Greek Mythology, Sinbad, Persian tales, Icelandic sagas etc etc. For a few years, in late primary school and early high school, I was obsessed with reading these stories. I found that many cultures from all parts of the globe, told the same kinds of stories, wrapped up in different clothing to allow for cultural differences. This gave me much to ponder about the “family of man”.
3. Gone With the Wind: Margaret Mitchell. Read it when I was 12. Took me three days. Engrossing story with the most annoying heroine I’d ever met. What did those men see in her?! Why did she obsess over wimpy Ashley, when she had such a winner in Rhett? Of course, the real story was the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves. (Hooray for Abe Lincoln!) What a saga!
4. The Old Man and the Sea: Hemingway. It was required reading when I was in high school and I approached it with a liberal dose of apathy. It wasn’t the sort of book I’d have chosen for myself. After all, it was just about an old man who goes fishing. Big fat whoop. But, the story, the rhythm of the words, the difference in style, sucked me in. This Hemingway bloke didn’t just write stories, he hand-crafted them! It awoke in me a deep desire to be a writer, too.
5. The Wall: John Hershey. The story of the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto in W.W.II. I read it in my late teens, while I was living in America for a year as a foreign student. It’s the first book that made me sob as I read. I knew about man’s inhumanity to man (after all, I’d read Gone With the Wind) but this took it to another level. It made me so mad I wanted to SMACK someone!
6. The Dragons of Pern series: Anne McCaffrey. At last, a kindred spirit who obviously, like me, thought that dragons had been given a bad reputation and deserved to have their side of the story told.
I’m beginning to regret starting this, there’s just so many: Wuthering Heights, Wilbur Smith’s Courtney family saga, everything by Terry Pratchett, Haley’s Roots, King’s The Shining and The Stand and The Shawshank Redemption, Blyton’s Secret Seven… And that’s just fiction! There are all those lovely history books, and archeology, and theology and “How to change a tyre” and Asterix and Oblelix…
Okay, I’m stopping now before I have a brain aneurysm. I think I was right after all: every book I’ve ever read has “changed my life”. But, before I close I have to mention the two books that have remained my life-long companions: a Dictionary and a Bible. Both continue to shape my life. And, it is a constant source of amazement to me that there are so many people who read the same books and yet do not think (or spell) the same as me! Isn’t that fascinating? Isn’t it annoying? That’s books for you: dangerous stuff.
So true! My list is mostly non-fiction: It started with How Grace Changes Everything by Chuck Smith (20 years ago), then moved through most of Max Lucado’s earlier books (stuff after Just Like Jesus starts sounding like he’s begun writing for the $ more than the heart), Tony Campolo, then most recently A New Kind of Christian series by Brian McLaren. Most recently, Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron and An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor have resonated with so much inside of me that I felt I would bust!
Oh yes, Mr Lucado! And, of course, Philip Yancey. And, for me, there was a little book called, “The Power in Praise” by Merlin Carothers…as I said, the list goes on and on.
I think The Bible wins hands down for me as the most ‘life-changing’ reading.
Lots of other works have had a significant impact on my life, though. A couple of standouts – CS Lewis: The Narnia Chronicles as well as The Screwtape Letters; Ann Kubler-Ross: On Death and Dying.
It is an interesting exercise to go back through life and see what works have impacted my life. Thanks for the hours of thought on this I will now have!
I remember Kubler-Ross’s book: I found it helpful and illuminating! Thanks for reminding me.
To Kill a Mockingbird opened my eyes to how wonderful strong characters can and do exist in a racially divisive world. The moment when Scout is told to stand as her father is passing by makes my heart well up with tears that good people are often the simplest gentlest people who don’t need violence to make a stand.
The second book that had a big influence is the Kite Runner. That story challenges me to think of how bad life is for many children and how holding on to guilt can destroy us bit by bit. Also a little eye opener in the respect of the culture in that war torn part of the world.
Finally ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ totally different books but what pictures the words painted in my young teenage mind- and this led to a joy of reading so I can immerse myself in the setting and escape into other worlds and times.
If I had gone on listing, Dee, To Kill a Mockingbird would have been next. It’s one of my absolute favourites. It would have been closely followed by The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. But I coukd see the list going on and on… 🙂
Helen Keller’s story was the stand out in my childhood. Same as Dee, To Kill a Mockingbird was a stand out in my teens. Since then there have been so many, it is impossible to remember, let alone choose, as you found Wendy. They have all made me who I am. Its the same with people I have met, they have all left their little imprint on me, sometimes changing me a lot, sometimes barely perceptable change.
Best beginning to a book still has to be in The Knife of Never Letting Go! just so different, as is the whole concept of the book.
Oh yes, Liz, The Knife of Never Letting Go is definitely a stand-out. Absolutely brilliant. As is The Book Thief. We could keep this up forever. Thanks for being in my life. 🙂
The books that changed my life drastically were the Dr Seuss books. I’d been so keen to read when I got to first grade. I’d spent years paging through books wondering what the words were all about, not having any adults around who could find time to read to me. I knew those words were important. And then I was in school and I got “See Dick run.” The disappointment was crushing. It was only when I happened upon Dr Seuss books in the library that I began to see what wonderful things books could be- I was hooked!
I, too, remember the disappointment with those first readers. They were so boring! However, I didn’t find Dr Seuss until I was an adult (and he’s such fun). You lucky thing.
I would put the Bible first and Lord of the Rings second. But it’s harder to know how other books have changed my life. I have no experience of living after having not read them.
Some books have changed me in minor ways. Eric Rolls’ books, particularly They All Ran Wild, have changed the way I look at the Australian landscape. That’s the only book and associated area I can think of offhand.