SusiGo wrote:

You like Raptor Red? That's great, I did the German translation.  And "The Time Traveller's Wife" is wonderful, so innovative. 

 
Ha..... seriously?  That's awesome.... you were the one hired when they decided to translate it?  Did you like it, too, then??   
I honestly don't know how I got it.... I know I was a teenager, always preferred losing myself in fantastical stories.  I never picked up 'Jurassic Park' for some reason, but plenty of other stuff with dragons. Vividly remember being intrigued by the holographic style image of Raptor Red on the cover (yeah, cheesy, but cool), and the sheer idea of a historically realistic story purely about the dinos.  It was one of the very few books (besides my childhood adored E.B.White, Yolen, and Avi) that I have bothered to read more than twice.  So creatively vivid!!  And so cool, 'watching' their story (as realistically can be imagined, anyway), and being re-taught about that period.


And yes, definitely a 'yes' to your other comment.  There's also only a small handful of books that have managed to equally both make me helplessly giggle, and then also cry... all the previously mentioned titles (Time Traveler's, Night Circus, Hedgehog), and 'The Lies of Locke Lamora'.  Heh, so.... eh, yeah... hardly 'life-changing' reads like I was commenting about, but deeply moving in story/idea to keep me thinking about the characters and views expressed for long after, and delightfully fun/beautifully written, if anyone else's curiosity is peaked.  Although I will say 'Hedgehog' was -Hard-!!  Once you finally get past all the mentally heavy groundwork, though, and things pick up with the characters, absolutely beautiful story of life.  Plus I have Time Traveler to thank for forever lodging the 'To His Coy Mistress' poem with a select few others in a soft spot in my heart....   

Demian by Hermann Hesse
Made me aware of Taoism and eastern philosophy.

Last edited by Be (June 24, 2013 2:00 pm)

Books that changed me in some way(s) are:
- Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton)
- Watership Down (Richard Adams)
- Der Vorleser (Bernhard Schlink)

Interesting thread, glad I found it.
It's really tough to choose, because I'm convinced, every book we dare read has the prospect of changing our views in one way or another. But there are some where I realised that happened. E.g:

Tolkien,The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings - for realising how powerful yet beautiful fiction can be
Nick Hornby, A Long Way Down - for realising that to live a life is a choice, not coincidence
Michael Ende, Momo - because listening, really listening, makes a difference
Helene Hanff, 84 Charing Cross Road - what friendship means, and what literature can do

and I would honestly like to add Grimms Fairytales, because that's one of the first books I remember reading in my life, but I need a second because I'm laughing so hard :D
"Sterntaler" made an impression on me as a child, I remember that... I don't know what that's called in English, it's the story about the little girl that kindly gives away all she has to people more in need than her, and in the end the stars fall from the sky and turn into money, and so her kindness is rewarded

"The Dark is Rising" series by Susan Cooper.  This series really pushed me into reading as an adolescent and I'm not sure how many times I've re-read it.  Also, it's on of the first things my husband and I found out we had in common back in high school as I was the only other person he know that read it.  We were both huge fans!  (And still are over a decade later.)

That question is really hard to answer.
I can't even name a single book. It is more the writers who influenced me.
The two main writers are Stanislaw Lem and Terry Pratchett.

Oh, and I love the works of Bill Bryson, too. There are only a few books missing in my collection.
 

Hard to say what changed me but The Secret Garden has stayed with me ever since I read it as a child.  Every time I am doing some gardening I always think about the main character clearing space so the plants could breathe - taught me the first fundamentals in gardening!!

Maybe not life changing but it certainly had impact: Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Aimee wrote:

I think a book that really got to more than I thought it would is a book that I picked up off of the Recommended table at Waterstones just by chance because I loved the cover art. It's called The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. The style of the narrative is just so unique and the development of the main character is so real and compelling that I had to constantly remind myself that I was reading fiction and that this character didn't actually exist. 
The book discusses mental illness and grief in a way that I have never really experienced in a work of fiction before, not lighting it in a taboo way or an overly sympathetic way that makes it seem like a giant burden for everyone around the sufferers but in a real genuine way and I think that is really important for books to do within this topic. 
AAAH I just love it so much, sso highly recommend it to everyone!

 
Looked this up at Amazon and it seems fascinating.  Put it on the ever expanding wishlist!

Archie, A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my top 5 favorite books of all time.  It's such an emotional read.