Literature that changed your life?

Nin had to deal with that drunken bum Henry Miller, so I don't blame her for being a tad unhinged. There was an odd novel by Lindsey Clarke called "The Chymical Wedding", loosely based on Rosicrucian mythology which was very intriguing.

dlowan,

Put the link there for people to read - I'll get into the nitty gritty later in the thread...after I've played my hockey game tonight

Consider it a bookmark with a link.

yay! lookin' forward! watch yer teeth...

I wear a cage. Did you hear that? I proudly wear a cage.











[size=7][/size]edit:inserted smiley

Well, I fell in love with a girl one third my age, joined the Russian army to fight the French and got killed... No! Wait! That was Prince Andre.
I wanted to join the Russian army, but was disuaded because I mightt get killed...naw!

I don't remember; it was a long time ago that I saw the Masterpiece Theatre production. 1973 or so. Maybe it didn't change me. I don't know.

Hm. Well, the first life changing book was Agatha Christie's Mystery of the Blue train. After I read that one I devoured virtually all of her detective novels. I detest Arthur Conan Doyle, though. Second life changer was Jane Austen's Emma. After I read that I proceeded to read classics almost exclusively. And finally, a friend recently introduced me to the wonderful world of good fantasy and sci-fi. I'd read some of those genres before but they were awful specimens and scared me away from that for years (besides Harry Potter and LOTR, and Terry Pratchett), but my friend introduced me to Robin Hobb, Douglas Adams (42!), and Orson Scott Card.

Change your life other than change your reading habits, Exception?


Damn fine thing, Jer.

I was listening to the radio and a talk about smiles and concepts of beauty. Teeth dinna used to come into it. Prolly cos everyone's were so bad?

Er, yeah, I guess I lost track of the topic ^^. Well then it would have to be Roots by Alex Haley. It made me very grateful for, well, everything.

Jenny Mckean Tinker's 'Only One Life'.

When I was 17 and taking my first trip away from home to Brighton, I bought this book and read it on the beach. As I was just on the brink of coming out to my mum, this book was an inspiration to me. A story of a woman whofinds love with another woman for the first time and deals with what this means in her life. This book is top class and is one of the gay fiction books which does not contain sex scenes etc which some of them overload on. I would recommend this book to anyone. I loved it and it acts as a kind of milestone to me.

Wow - did it help with the coming out thing?

Yeah, it gave me kind of an anchor. Even though the story is centred around two women which are older than me, it gave me a grounding of understanding in terms of the realisation that it could potentially mean a huge life change. The women find love ad have to deal with reactions from people to their situation.

I haven't read it in years, its residing somewhere in South Africa with my friend...lol...

It may not be one of those books that everyone thinks is great, but it is nostalgic of a time in my life where I was having to make big scary decisions. The very fact that it was so simple and honest kind of cleared my head.

By the way, I came out to my mum a few weeks later, adn the whole of my family (including grandparents) in the same week...that was 5 years ago and I have been with my partner for 3 years...

Coping was made a lot better, partly due to the opening quote:

'We have choices. Without these choices we are just going through the motions of living...with them its worth waking up in the morning'

(off the top of my head, so possibly not quite right,but you get the idea)

Thank you Carrie! Very interesting!

Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

It was one of my lit texts back in school. You'd think I hated it because I had to study for the exam, but on the contrary, the book was what made me like literature so much. It didn't really change my life per se, but it did alter my perspective on life.

I was able to relate some of the characters in the book to the people in real life. And to me, that's what literature is all about. Humans. Humanity.

But more importantly, it also made me take a good hard look at myself and one of the biggest lessons I've learnt, was that one should be as open-minded as possible.

Afterall, how many of the wars that are going on and that have taken place, are due to intolerance and prejudice?

Last but not least, I was able to break out of the "world-revolves-around-me" mentality that have been plaguing so many.

I confess that I'm still not the person that I would like to be, but I'm trying.

"The longest journey, is the journey inside"

Sarius,

Chrysalids was a great book - I, too, read it in highschool. I liked the effect it had on you - and appreciated the book in a similar manner.

Cheers.

Hi Sarius - I loved it too - I think it a good cut above most of Wyndham's rather formulaic output - (which I loved as a kid, too!)

And thank you for answering the question, not just saying what you liked!

That is very interesting - to hear about intellectual concepts that you got from the book which made a difference to you.


er - Jer - weren't you gonna come back and tell us more?????

It's springtime in Vancouver...give me a bit o' time dlowan

Why? Wotcha doing?


heehee

Don't laugh...
I'm sure everyone will scoff at this juvenile choice...but Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter. If you've never read it: Pollyanna is a poor orphan who goes to live with her somewhat cold aunt. She keeps going through all sorts of terrible things in life, but she always plays the "glad game" -- finding something good in everything.

I first read the book when I was 8 or 9, and I use the game all the time. For instance, say I have to climb up three flights of stairs to get to my dorm room. Instead of complaining, I can say, "I'm glad I am healthy and can take the stairs," or, "I'm glad I can afford to go to college." Yes, it's cheesy, but it put things into perspective.

That is cute, Ruby Red!

thanks, dlowan