what book has changed your view on life?

[loopyc]

?

[China Doll]

The Kama Sutra

[China Doll]

I'm so sorry Loopy, I couldn't resist!

Seriously.... I like a lot of books for a lot of different reasons. At the moment Sophie's World springs to mind but it didn't change my view on life much. I've just finished Memoires of a Gnostic Dwarf... that's very interesting. Interesting way of looking in to the reason God made the world.

What's yours?

[loopyc]

why did your first answer not surprise me china?

[China Doll]

< Hangs head in shame >

I'll go stand in a corner... they're putting something in the water down here Loopy I swear!

[loopyc]

send me a bottle x

[divegirl]

Hi, The Dice Man by [I think] Luke Rhinehart..... for a while anyway....lol...read it and find out why!!!!

Lisa x

[justasking]

The god delusion - Richard dawkins.

[hannah333]

Mr Nice by Howard Marks

[mlauragg]

the diary of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain

[lithuanian]

The book about family planning and birth 'How I was born'

[Ray The Grey]

Dead Babies & Yellow Dog - Martin Amis
A Star Called Henry
Something Happened - Joseph Heller
Anything by Patrick Hamilton or George Orwell
There is a brutal honesty of thought in these books that is shocking in its intensity and brutality (Amis & A Star called Henry) and perhaps defines the human condition more than any other I have read. The Amis's I also found quite shocking, which is very unusual for me.

Graham Greene's book about his novels gave me a whole new perspective on his writing. His novel The Quiet American gave a great account of war and foreign influence.

These tend to be books that give some deeply held thought or feeling from the author that goes beyond what social mores allow and so exposes them

The first such book (corny it may be but no less important) was A Tale of Two Cities - it made me realise I am not the most important person in everyone else's world and that only by some self-sacrifice will the world ever really improve

[sponsmith]

Tarka The Otter

[Robert G]

It Might Have Been Raining.

[spudqueen]

Chariots of The Gods by Erich Von Daniken and Kon Tiki by Thor Heyderdahl which both made me realise that I could challange the standard thinking.

[LazyGun]

In no particular order;
Catch-22 Joseph Heller
The Ragged - Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressel
Dice Man Luke Rheinhart
The Blind Watchmaker Richard Dawkins
Various Poems, mostly Phillip Larkin and Wilfred Owen.
MASH Richard Hooker (?)
Cider With Rosie Laurie Lee
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
The unbearable lightness of being - Milan Kundera
Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith
The childrens SciFi of Andre Norton

To name a few....

[jenstar]

The first "Yes Minister" book. There's a bit in it where there's a transcript of a supposedly "unbiased" TV news report, and then on the next page it points out how the report is actually biased in one direction, and follows it with a script of how it would have been done (still superficially appearing neutral) to bias it in the opposite direction. With that bit of education under my belt, nowadays I'm very good at spotting bias in BBC news reports!

[KingOpabinia]

Ray I've read Catch 22 and thought it was excellent but i've never read the follow up Somethings Happened. You recomend it then?

[crisgal]

the ragged trousered philanthropists for me too

[Ray The Grey]

Something Happened is an odd book. Nothing like Catch 22 and for the most part nothing at all happens, but something in it struck a nerve and it feels like its a deeper, more honest book. Having said that I almost gave up on it, but there are a couple of parts that stick with me 18 years later. It's a lot more about feelings than Catch 22- if you like that sort of book it might strike a nerve.

[barniclebill]

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes. Wept all the way through it!