‘The Story of B’ by Daniel Quinn. It looks at society and shows how twisted and sick it really is, but it’s still uplifting in the sense that it answers the question ‘why does this all feel wrong somehow? Am I crazy?’ No, you’re not. They way most of us live is very unnatural and unhealthy, and Quinn’s books (Ishmael, this one, etc) explains how.
I finished reading it that night and thought ‘oh, that was interesting.’ Then I walked out of my job the next day. I surprised myself; it just sort of percolated in my brain for a bit and then this happened. Whew. It obviously doesn’t have the same effect on everyone, but it’s really changed everyone I’ve loaned it to.
It taught me the difference between being a rebel (which I was) and being a non-conformist (which I became). It also illustrates the weaknesses of all societies and how culture eventually leads to their doom. Its an especially great book for adults who have a continuing need for existential understanding. Most of all, it demonstrates that people who rebel against society are just as confused and/or brainwashed as the conformists.
Which reminds me that when I read “Story of O” I finally realized that I wasn’t some sort of sick pervert and that there were people in the world who thought EXACTLY like me.
Boy, this is tough to answer. So many books, so many things I got out of them. Here are a few major wake up calls I can remember getting from books:
When I read “The Last of the Mohicans” I realized that one could read classics and enjoy them as pleasure reading. Previous to this I read them because they were assigned. Not that I hated every assigned book I read, but I never had a real urge to read them myself before this one.
“And The Band Played On” really changed my perception of medical research, science reporting in the media, and public health policy.
“The Sumarai” finally made me realize a lot of things about Christianity. I don’t know if it altered my own faith so much as it made me realize how Christianity looks from the outside, and why it means so much to those who are truly devout.
Nicholson Baker’s “The Mezzanine” made me realize that those bizzare random trips into minutiae that my mind takes can be interesting and even a form of high art. Excellent encouragement for participation in MPSIMS.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. My teacher read this to the class when I was in second grade, and it changed my life. It made me want to read, and it made me love to read. It was the first “long” book I had ever read (as opposed to picture books). And I realized how great books without pictures could be (it has some small pictures, of course). On another level, Cujo by Stephen King, which I read in fifth grade after I was getting tired of children books like Beverly Cleary (I still loved the books, I had just read all of them too much). I thought it was so fascinating that I started to venture into adult fiction and higher reading levels, and started to read some of the classics. The only one I stayed at, though, was Stephen King and it wasn’t until eighth grade did I abandon young adult fiction all together ('cause I still loved The Baby-Sitter’s Club up until 8th grade).
I was the only student in my English who actually read this book like we were assigned. Haulden’s introspection and blindness to his own weaknesses made me think about my own life.
The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times by René Guénon. I read this when I was 30 and it completely changed my entire outlook on reality and remade my whole life. A good companion to this which I read soon after is The Transcendent Unity of Religions by Frithjof Schuon.
Another vote for Robert Anton Wilson: I’d read the Illuminatus! trilogy and Cosmic Trigger back in college and enjoyed them a lot. But a few years ago, when I read Ishtar Rising it seriously affected me deep in my soul and reshaped my spiritual path. Actually what it did was give me a boost along where I was already tending, toward the Divine Feminine.
Yes! The Baby-Sitter’s Club rocks so hard! I’ve read ever book numerous times. I can remember boring summer afternoon gathering up all the books and reading them all in one sitting. When I was about 16 I ran across a display of them in a book store. I noticed that the book numbers went up to 110. I was shocked that I had been missing so much! So I dropped all my previous would-be purchases and bought three of them. Sure, I got some funny looks…I didn’t care, though, I was just in a happy daze that the series was still continuing.
That’s funny, because the sequel, Runaway Ralph also had an effect on me. Ralph wants to leave the tired old hotel and hit the open road, which is understandable, but first there’s the obstacle of the stairway. He asks the old handyman, or whatever he was, if he’ll do him the favor of moving his motorcycle to the foot of the steps. “No,” the old man says. “You’re leaving because you want to be independent. You can’t start your new life by asking someone to do something for you.” So Ralph tries to run his cycle down the balustrade. It flies wild, of course, and lands in a bush, so he has to chew through a series of twigs to get it free. By the time he’s on the ground, he’s fed up, but he’s also proven himself. That was a lot to think about at age 10.
I got my jump into serious reading thanks to The Hardy Boys series, which I started to read in 5th grade. Not only did it make me want to read copious amounts of literature, but I also started to become a much better writer around the time I started to read the series.
For the first time in my life, I began to think of my school’s library as a fun and interesting place to be, and that is probably the reason why I have a copy of “The Sound and the Fury” lying next to my keyboard, the last assigned book in my AP English Lit class.
Young adult fiction is a great way to build reading skills and vocab until you are ready for something meatier. Parents who rip away Baby-sitters Club books from their children and replace them with Dostoyevsky are just ridiculous…
This may sound kind of pretentious and silly, but what the hell…
I read The White Hotel one year ago…and it sort of made me realize how rich and full one life can be…I mean, just one person’s life. Looking into it from all perspectives. And it just did it so well…
Also- I think reading Carrie, Cujo, and other novels by SK introduced me to the genre that is horror. And if not for those I just might have missed a hell of a lot of other good reads that are a huge part of my life.
And I think maybe Flowers for Algeron…can’t really explain it, though, except it was the first time i’d read a book from the point of view of an adult, I think…
The Long Secret- because it was one of the first times a book practically made me cry even when nothing really bad happened…
I can pick up on that, and offer a twist. The book that most changed me is one I never even read. It’s Crime and Punishment, which I bluffed my way through my senior year in high school.
Dr. Adams, my English teacher that year, had been the reason I got through high school, in a lot of ways. I was one of those moody, broody, artsy types who didn’t see the point, who didn’t care about two-column proofs (despite being good at doing them) or poetry (despite being prolific at writing it) or the whole formal-education thing. She began encouraging me early on and was always there to talk to when I needed some cheering up. She taught AP English, so I knew that she would be my teacher senior year, if I could just hang in there long enough to make it.
Then, something crazy happened. When I got to my senior year, she wasn’t around. She took an extended leave. It wasn’t her fault … she had a family situation she had to take care of. You see, her son-in-law had murdered her daughter, and she needed to take care of their baby during the trial.
After the trial (which ended in a conviction), she came back to us. The first book we read after her return was C&P. Not because she had an ax to grind. Because it was the next book on the syllabus.
I can only imagine the hell she must have gone through teaching that book to us so soon after what she had been through, but she did it. It disturbed me so that I couldn’t even pick the book up, much less read it. Still haven’t.
But she taught me in those two weeks or so everything that 17 years to that point had failed to about professionalism, dedication, and doing one’s job in spite of one’s personal life. She continues to be an inspiration to me in ways I can’t even explain … and I think it would have been a very different story if we’d read something else.
For me, it was “Spacetime Donuts” by Rudy Rucker. While reading it, I found out it was possible to be rational, scientific, and mystical at the same time. I became a cyberpunk.
I must have read that book a hundred times. Then someone swiped my copy. I only acquired a copy of it again last year, as a gift from a friend. I don’t know how she got it, it is exceptionally rare. I once saw this cheapo $5 paperback book offered as the first prize in a prestigious SF writing contest.
When about 11 years old, read Revolution For the Hell of It by Abbie Hoffman.
Turned me right into a yippie, just like that.
My mum once stole it from a library for me.
Lost that one, found a copy for a few cents at the library book sale a few years ago.
I read Ishmael about a year ago. It definetly changed my perspective. I keep meaning to reread it to fully absorb it, but people keep handing me other books. I’d also like to read his other work. Slaughter-House Five also had a great effect on me. It was the first book I read with an anti-hero, besides showing how ridiculous life, and especially war, can be. It set me on the road to non-violence. Another book that opend my eyes was Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter Thompson, which I read at 13. I had no idea that someone could use so many drugs and still function. It also helped me understand that period and presidential politics (FTR, I was born in '76).
