For me such books were from Nick Perumov. After I read all of his books I've become more helpfull for my parents and friends and I realised that friendship is the best gift in the world... I think that everyone must realize himself after reading books. Because books are telling us the truth of our world. Everyone can recognize him self in some book.

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Speak and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I was fourteen and I didn't have any friends. As sappy as it sounds, both helped me cope with lonliness.

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House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

Books like The Book of Disquiet and Crime and Punishment changed my view of thinking and of humanity. House of Leaves pretty much changed my view of seeing the world between reality and imagination; what's real and what's not and how both are connected.


These are also my favorite books.

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As a practical person I tend to see solutions and problems as constantly being fogged up by political or social rhetoric, and thus reading a very practical true social experiment in the book "Black like Me", by Robert Bonazzi, was really a breath of fresh air. The book documents a white male who masks himself as an African American male and records how he is treated by the white community, as well as the black community.

Another enlightening set of books I read this month were called "Glitter & Greed" by Janine Roberts, "Blood Diamonds" by Greg Campbell, "The Last Empire" by Stefan Kanfer. These books document how workers in the diamond mines are treated and what kind of living conditions they must endure with little to no safety measures, health plans, corrupt physicians, murders, etc..

Now I'm reading --
"The Natashas : Inside the New Global Sex Trade" by Victor Malarek
"Woman, Child for Sale: The New Slave Trade in the 21st Century" by Gilbert King, "Human Traffic_Sex, Slaves and Immigration" by Craig McGill. I must say this is the most shocking set of books I've had the pleasure of reading. They truely go in deep to tell the tales how women and children are being smuggled out of their homes, orphanages, or the streets and being forced into the sex trade.

It's quite a scary world when you can't even begin to imagine how many more human rights horror stories there are out there. Luckily with fact finding books like these you can try and get a grasp around some of these issues and try to help as well as open your eyes to what may be happening in your own backyard.

 

 

 

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[quote name='byrdhouse' date='Jan 17 2005, 08:39 PM' post='41784']
Well, I would have to say the Bible. It not only has changed my life but it continues to offer good wisdom

I would have to agree that the bible is the best book, life changing book. It constantly offers wisdom. My favorite places to read are psalms and proverbs. I can usually
find something soothing and wise. I also like the book "The Light of Inner Reflection" esp since I wrote it. It's a collection of poems and prayers about life. Other
books that I like are "The Secret Life of Bee's" by Sue Monk Kidd and anything by Mr. Kiyosaki (I hope I spelled his name right).

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<OT>
Trekken, consider sharing some of your poetry with us on the "Creative Writing" forums here. If they are philosophical in nature, I am sure many people here will enjoy the experience of reading them. I would look forward to them myself!
</OT>

I've been considering reading The Secret Life of Bees for some time now. I remember seeing it in a library and I think I couple of people recomended it too. Maybe the next time I have a long weekend... there, that's one more book on my TBR list. (TBR: To-Be-Read)

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I can say it has not changed my life yet but it currently is leading me to another career. It is the book by Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

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the only books that i have ever read and that have "changed my life" were The Harry Potter series. It all started out with my parents getting mad at me and sending me to my room..pft buttholes *rofl* neways, my grandpa had given me the books earlyer that day and so i decided to pick up the first book and start to read it and i liked it ...i didn't go to sleep until late that night because i was getting so far into the book..

I never read before that..never..not unless i was forced..andd they encouraged me to read..but i only read those other books dont appeal to me..but iw also changed my life because it made me want to make a harry potter fan site which is what i am working on now...so you could say that is the reason i am so kean to the internet and making websites and i owe it all to my parents :-D hehe

it has also made me such a harry potter freak! i have like 10 posters in my room that are harry potter related!! and i love it!! sometimes im ashamed to admit it but ive had dreams i was in the sequal...

it has also changed my life by encouraging me to write..J.K. Rownling is so excelent at this stuff that i thought maybe i can write like her some day and encourage others haha yeah right..but i am in the process of writing my own fan-fiction story some-what close to her books..so you can say i am a HUGE HARRY POTTER FREAK and that i am a HUGE HARRY POTTER FREAK oo yeah and that i am a HUGE HARRY POTTER FREAK..and it has changed my life quite a bit

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The Darren Shan books (a series of vampire books)have really changed my life. At one time, I have to admit somthing.

Everyone will laugh at me lol. I am going to tell a story though.

Ok, It all started with 1 bookstore and a lot of christmas money. Ok I bought 8 of the books, and I was going to Hawaii for christmas, and my mom wouldn't let me read the other 2 of the books I flipped out (This proves my point below that these books are almost like drugs, they calm u down and when ur not allowed too read you freak out) and almost through a chair off the sundeck, but my mom gave me a book before I could throw it. (By the way I do not have add) When I got to Hawaii, I was trying to read the books on the internet, but I decided to look for vampires on the internet, and I found this one very amazing website, I wonder if it was just a coincidece or if it was a set-up, but it had a bunch of things on real vampires and stuff
and it said what they looked like and shat their habbits and stuff were, and just tons of crazy stuff, and it fit me exactly, but I was like this is *censored* crazy, I can't be a vampire. That night I was crying and stuff because I said I didn't want to be a vampire and things like that, because that really freaked me out. So my mom was saying I wasn't and stuff so it worked out ok, I guess.

I told you you would laugh, because your prolly laughing right.

Warning: These books are very addictive, almost as addictive as drugs. I read 2 books in one day.

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so many books are amazing that it's an obsession of mine as a writer, and for anyone who even rarely reads (you would think I spend all my time reading loving it so much and yet how sometimes I don't even get to it except for school) but loves reading... books can definately change your life. look at me- looking at schools for creative writing majors when I would of never even of thought myself good at writing save essays and the like freshman year...

but books? Well, over the summer I read House of Leaves, as did actually a bunch of incredibly talented book-literate theatre kids I know... It can be one amazingly confusing book at times, but never in a frustrating way- only confusing in the ideas swirling in your head... no one has any idea what I'm talking about, just because when you try and summarize the magnitude of House of Leaves it's almost.... you really are lost in where even to start to even give a halfway accurate picture of the book. It is one amazing book- I could name other books that I keep by my side as picturesque momentos of thoughts of members of the real world as abstract as it is, but it could take me forever- even a partial list... spans hundreds of authors. but I do have my favorites, like anyone.

you see, it's not so much House of Leaves changes your train of thinking- or possibly it does- theatre kids like myself live in a world sometimes so amazingly... upfront? (not even the world for it, though, unfortunately to truly generalize it) to simply keep from being pretensious that possibly we can't be completely changed by something when you are always changing but... it's like seeing the span of your life spread out so evenly and chaoticly, extremely researched and footnoted and yet in reality, utterly made up, and yet how in reality it is a novel by a guy with no relation to you, and the story has absolutely no relation to you, and yet... House of Leaves swallows you up, and eats you alive... now that, that is what gives me inspiration and a will to live in life... and the want to be a writer and to be around other writers, theatre kids and like minded... anyone...

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