Life-changing books

I recently asked (via my Twitter and Facebook statuses [statii?!??!]) about books that have changed people's lives. Not just great reads, but books that have significantly reshaped a person's perspective, worldview, attitude or lifestyle significantly. They don't have to be even be fantastically written books - just significant. I asked that the Bible be excluded as that was a tad too obvious for some to list. The responses were amazing.

If I had to answer I think I'd have to say the first book I ever read about being ex-gay. I don't want to name it because I don't want to lead people there, but it changed my life from that moment on.

Another has to be The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I've never had a book challenge me to the core like that. While it created crisis, I have to say that the journey back to finding God (a post on it's own) has been incredibly stimulating and engaging.

The third has to be The Diary of Anne Frank. It was probably the first "real" book I ever read as a youngster and I remember being horrified and intrigued by it. I reread it when visiting Amsterdam and finished it just before I visited the house. I then went to the Homomonument and reflected on how lucky I was to be alive in the time I was. (The Homomonument commemorates all gay men and lesbians who have been subjected to persecution because of their homosexuality and has one part of the triangle pointing to the home of Anne Frank.)

The last has to be two children's books that I remember from my when I was a boy. Yes (and this is for cookie monster), they were so old that I read them off the walls in the cave I stayed in. The first two are by Oscar Wilde. The Nightingale and the Rose and The Happy Prince both moved me (still does when I read them) and ignited my passion for story-telling. The third is The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. These are three books that shaped my childhood and made me love language and the power of words.

I thought I'd share some of the other favourites that emerged. I won't list them all - I got a string of responses (and some were just books that people really enjoyed).

The most mentioned was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I think it was a set book in schools and seems to have opened some to the reality of prejudice - especially in the context of apartheid South Africa. I confess I haven't read it, but will change that this year.

Some seem to have been moving because they were about other people's struggles with addiction - I Want My Life Back by Steve Hamilton and Smacked by Melinda Ferguson topped the list in that category. Another true story about people making tough decisions that was suggested was Expecting Adam by Martha Beck ("about a woman who chooses to carry a baby with Downs and how he changes her life").

Many were around faith. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins was the most mentioned as was God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran was ground-breaking for some as was The Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell. An interesting mention was Man, Myth and Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown by Richard Cavendish.

A book that I don't know that got a few going was The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It's one of the best-selling books ever. Hmmm, how ignorant am I?

A number of biographies and celeb-books made the list:

• A Lotus Grows in the Mud by Goldie Hawn
• Beside Myself: An Actor's Life by Antony Sher
• My Lucky Stars: A Hollywood Memoir by Shirley Maclaine
• Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
• Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis
• A Golden Age: The Autobiography by Steve Redgrave and Nick Townsend

Some interesting books were on the list - these were suggested for various reasons. For some it inspired them to write, some were challenged to think differently about life or circumstances, others to live better. Here's the rest (in no particular order):

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• Was by Geoff Rymann
• Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
  
• Making History by Stephen Fry
• The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
• Opening to Channel by Sanaya Roman
• A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
• The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
• The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
• Tandia and The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
• A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

I think it's a great list of really interesting books. Maybe you want to use these as a suggestion for something to read this year? Or maybe you want to comment and add your own significant books to my list.

As an aside, I've signed up to do the GLBT reading challenge so that should be fun. I found it on the Book Club Blog, which is worth following if you don't already...