The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maughm
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Eh…so, yeah, “how those books changed my life”.
The Razor’s Edge showed me that one can give up everything you know - family, SO, job…whatever, to pursue a dream and still survive.
The Fountainhead showed me that there are other “selfish” people in the world. That is, people who pursue their dreams or truths as an expression of self without compromising.
The Giving Tree taught me about love and generosity.
Journey to the End of the Night, Celine, a book that makes you jaded and laughing about it before your time.
Facotum, Bukowski, I related to this because I was working in the low income, blue-collar job after job market at the time.
On the Road, Kerouac, At fifteen this book radically changed my viewpoint on my surroundings and how I could change them. When I read it now, however, I wonder what I was thinking. The writing is fantastic though.
White Noise, Delillo, Probably the biggest impact on how I view pop-culture, contemporary lifestyles and the looming spectre of death.
A Confederacy of Dunces, Toole, Funniest book ever, taught me that things can always be much worse.
New Hope For the Dead, Willeford, Showed me how to look closely at the everyday details of life.
Whew! I could go on. I think pretty much every classic and “modern classic” has life changing potential. There’s a good reason most of them are still in print and sell the way they do. Usually you get a total point-of-view of life from someone else’s eyes. I.e. You walk a mile in another man’s shoes. That can easily change your life.
I know it sounds corny, but The Hobbit changed me in quite a profound way. Before I read this book, my preferred form of entertainment was television. Tolkien allowed me to step out of my reality in ways I had never known. He created a world that I could retreat to. That is a wonderful thing for a fat little kid with coke-bottle glasses. Had I not read The Hobbit at the right time, I would never have truly enjoyed the amazing books that have touched my life and changed me over the years.
So - how do you find balance/rationalize (oh what’s the word?) between these two works? The total giving-of-the-self of Silverstein & the selfishness of Rand?
I’d have to agree that Ayn Rand’s books were a powerful influence when I read them (junior & senior year of high school) - I didn’t feel as “bad” about doing well at school, for example.
Laurels Kitchen by Laurel Robertson
A cookbook. How? well, I read the foreward back when I was young, and it was dedicated to a cow she saw on the way to the slaughterhouse I believe, and the way she wrote that foreward was a big factor in making me become a vegetarian. (Please no veggie/anti-veggie discussions here, we’ve had enough of those! 
)
Nice thread btw, I need a book for a long flight coming up and I have some ideas now.
I have a copy of your book (somewhere round here) Chuck.
gonna have to go find it and reread it.
Book that changed a lot of my views about life was:
Wrack and Roll" by a man named Bradley Denton. It caught me at the right time.
Also an Honerable mention to the Encylopedia Brown series
that started me on my journey of reading everything I can find, including cereal boxes (and Chucks book)
Osip
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Need I say more? This book has probably changed alot of people’s lives. It built on my sense of humor as well.
Shogun By James Clavell. Awesome book. I can’t put into words how it really changed my life, but it did. I guess “Taught me to be strong” would be the closest I could come to describing it but that implies that I was weak before, and I don’t really think I was.
Lord of the Rings - Changed my life to a lesser extent than the other two, but it did change me, and it’s probably a better book than the other two 
The books I remember best, therfore the ojes that have had the largest impact on my life …
…The “Lord of the Rings”…J.R.R.Tolkien…Gave me a genre for my peticular writing skills.If fiction can be this good,can’t I write it too? I should be so lucky!
…“I’m Ok You’re Ok”…Thomas Harris…Can’t understand how and why people act like they do?This easy to understand guide to who “lives inside” your head, has helped me to understand myself and the rest of the human race more than any other. It’ sequels and other related Tranactional Analysis books can get a bit draggy.
. The Alchoholics Anonymous “Big Book” And the Narcotics Anonymous “Recovery Text”…I believe NO explaination is Traditionaly nessesary here…
. Favorite writer who are eagely read is a WHOLE Different string.
…HONORABLE MENTION… goes to a Book in the ever running series based on Gene Roddenberry’s STAR TREK, Tiltled “Uhura’s Song”.I can’t remember who wrote this picture of AIDS.
a Favorite humorist is aaways Allan Dean Fosters “SPELLSINGER” Series.
…Happy Reading…
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Faserland - Christian Kracht
The Illuminatus Trilogy - R. Shea, R.A. Wilson
The Gunslinger - Stephen King
…oh and maybe “How to stop worrying and start living”
by that Carnegy guy.
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry