Life-Changing Books - What was yours?

A bit of a difference on the bookclub this month, as we ask you to tell us about your "life-changing books" - books that have either literally changed your life, or that have had a long-lasting effect on you or your outlook. We'd love you to nominate a book or books that is memorable for you and tell us why...

Earlier this year, booksellers from every Waterstone's store were asked to nominate a book that had made a profound impact on their lives and to give a short explanation why this book made such an impression. Over 100 titles have made the final list, and we've highlighted a few of our favourites here. If you pop into your local Waterstone's you'll be able to see more of the reasons our booksellers gave for their choices too.

We also asked our Waterstone's Cardholders to nominate books for this promotion, and four have been included in the final list and are shown on this page too. Don't forget, if you'd like the opportunity to nominate books for future Waterstone's promotions, as well as access to exclusive competitions and offers, and the chance to earn points while shopping, then sign up for a Waterstone's Card.

Michael Angill of Waterstone's Cardiff on Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts...

"This book at times moved me to tears and at other times stirred in me a great desire for adventure."

Buy the book

Comments

[Lynsey]

My life changing book was the time traveller's wife. I know it's recent but that book made me relise that the single (and too independent) life that I was leading was not what I really wanted. I wanted to love someone as Claire loved Henry and I wanted him to love me in return. So the book made me realise that I had to break down the walls I had built and let love into my life, and now i'm engaged.

[Clive Wallis]

No book has changed my life as much as The Lord of the Rings. Yes, I can hear the groans already, but hear me out. I first read it over twenty years ago, long before the films generated a whole new level of interest and hype.

I grew up in a small, dull town. As a child, books were how I travelled, how I escaped. No journey was as long, as thrilling, or as spectacular as the one I shared with Frodo, Gandalf et al. The depth and richness of Tolkien's imagined world amazed me then as now.

I'm not a great re-reader but I've come back to LotR twice since that first time and each time I have been transported anew.

It also cemented my desire to write and to create new worlds of my own. Although I have read very few other fantasy novels, when I came to write my own story there was never any other choice of genre.

[amw]

My life-changing book would be 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom. It was passed to me by my step-daughter and I have passed it to my husband and very many friends. I don't think it aims to be great literature - I think it's just great common sense about the real values of life which we so easily forget and/or overlook. Its message is 'slow down and value everything you have now - don't chase the illusion of more and better tomorrow'. I find myself reminding myself about this from time to time, and it does help to bring things into focus.

[Kathy Clark]

My life changing book was read at the age of 8! I grew up in a house without books, mum and dad never read books, so when I started getting pocket money (25p a week!) I bought my first ever book - J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan! The excitement of owning my first book can never be replicated. I read it until it fell apart. I read it to myself and I read it my little brother and sister. It was a wonderful book, and yes it did change my life: I then became an avid lifelong reader! I have never been a library person, I cannot bear the thought of someone else reading a book before me - my books have to be new and pristine. So I spent all my childhood spending every penny on books, and still do now! A holiday of 2 weeks means 7 books - one per 2 days :-) There have been lots of books since that had an effect, Thomas Harris's Silence of the Lambs, Lord of the Rings, Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs' novels and good old Enid Blyton. But none will ever have that special magic of my first book.

[cheryl pasquier]

I haven't got any really deep and meaningful life-changing books but I would mention several Kathy Lette novels, including Mad Cows and Foetal Attraction. They're funny and uplifting and - at peak times of stress and crisis, like pregnancy and new motherhood - it was amazing to read hysterically funny situations that were ludicrous but somehow similar to what I was experiencing. It somehow took all the drama out of the day-to-day catastrophes and made me realise what I was experiencing was pretty normal, and that I'd laugh about it in years to come !!!

[Georgina Tranter]

Gosh do I have to choose just one?! One of the few books I have read more than once (and that's rare for me) is Diana Wynne Jones' 'Fire & Hemlock'. Its the story of a young girl who gatecrashes a funeral and meets a man who she later has secret adventures with. Probably not the scenario we would encourage in today's society but it's a brilliant read and I love the fantasy world the reader gets taken into.

More recently I loved Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' and also Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

[Karen Sykes]

I don't think I can quote just one book that has had such a dramatic effect as to change my life in some way. Perhaps better to say that books in general have had an effect and would leave a huge hole if I could not have them any more.

Out of all the books I read I think I get the most pleasure from the books I share with my sons. My youngest son and I still read together sometimes, but both boys always want me to read their books so that we can talk about them. Some of our favourites -: Eoin Colfer, Anthony Horowitz, Garth Nix, Michelle Paver, Jonathan Stroud - the list just goes on.

[sarah]

A book that has made me think of life differently is Lynda Waterhouse's Soul Love. I think of life differently after reading this book because it makes it simple to see the harshness that life can have. One of the people has HIV, and it was not his fault, but it has an effect on the two people involved, because they end up so distant. And, when she finds out about him having HIV it is a very upsetting part of the book, and makes you realise what life can leave you with.

[Lynsay Lambert]

I have got loads that i could pick for this, it's very, very hard to just pick one... can I cheat and pick two?!

One that sticks out is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read this when i was pretty young - i have always read constantly, which meant i ended up reading past my age level, so after i read this i could help my sister (who is six years older than me) with her essay about it. It's a book that i can go back to easily, as it's so well written, and it really makes me feel so caught up in the story - it's hard to describe just how incredibly sad i was when they finally meet Boo, and he's helped them. In a way it reminds me of being small, cos there's always a 'scary' neighbour, who is more than likely totally harmless.

My second choice is Pride and Prejudice. I absolutely love this book, to the extent that i re-read it at least once a year! The writing is so good, that even though i know the ending, i'm still on tenterhooks to see how it all ends! I was given as a present when i was about 12, and i attempted to read it several times before i actually got into it, but its well worth the effort! I still haven't read any of Jane Austen's other novels, but I've recently bought a collection of them, so I'm hoping the rest of them live up to expectations... I'm just waiting to buy my cousin a copy, as it was her mother who bought me mine, which i am so glad about!! I find it so true to life, how people can be at cross-purposes, and let away from each other by being stubborn, or by other people interfering... but hopefully it all works out right in the end!!

[Alison Windle]

I don't think I have read any life changing books but a book that comes to mind and brings back wonderful memories for me is Marley & Me this is a great book, happy and sad and reminds me of my time growing up with my dog Goldie who I still miss dearly.

[Louise Manning]

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - things aren't always what they seem and success comes in more than one guise. I hadn't come across any of his books before but a chance encounter with a stranger made me buy it!

[Anne Cater]

I cant say that any one particular book has changed my life - but books and reading have had a massive impact on my life from an early age.
Most of my knowledge is gained from reading - you know those bits of trivia in quizzes that you somehow seem to know? They're usually because I've read a book about it!
A book I recently read which has stayed with me and that I think of most days is A Thousand Splendid Suns. Whilst reading it I had to constantly remind myself things like that where happening now, and that it wasnt a history book.
When I want to have a moan about work or life in general I often think of the women in Afghanistan and how they are treated by the Taliban.
There are many books I've read over the years that have probably influenced my thinking - but this one really raised my awareness.

[Michael Scanlon]

I’ve read The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger three times. Each time for different reasons and each time it has had an immediate and powerful effect on me. I don’t think it’s too dramatic to say each time it has been life changing.

Four years ago my partner had a miscarriage. It was a dark time in our lives, probably the darkest. I didn’t sleep much for about six months. After lying awake at night for hours at a time I’d get up and pick a book off the shelf at random, open it up and start reading, hoping that I’d wake up twelve hours later with the book in my lap having not got past the first page. Sometimes it worked, mostly it didn’t. But one night I started reading and didn’t stop. I read every word from the first page to the last. When I’d finished I went to bed and slept soundly for the first time in months. The book was The Catcher in the Rye.
I can’t say that the book changed everything, can a book do that? What I can say is that the day before I read it was the lowest I have ever been and the day after things started to get better. Not immediately, that still took several more months, but I can look back on that night with complete clarity and recollection whereas I remember very little about the preceding six months. I’m told I turned up for work and occasionally went out with friends, I really don’t remember.
Maybe the ‘Catcher in the Rye’ metaphor is stretching the point a little but I desperately wanted to rescue my partner from the misery she was experiencing. Like Holden I wanted to be The Catcher. There’s a scene at the end of the book where Holden tells his sister, Phoebe, that he is not going to leave, as he had planned. It’s the part of the book that stands out as being the most hopeful with both characters feeling genuine joy and Holden experiencing an epiphany as he watches his sister on a fairground ride. I wanted to tell my partner I was going to stay, I was never going to leave her no matter how bad things got. I proposed over dinner and not long after we were married. Our honeymoon was spent in New York during which time we visited Grand Central Terminal. I found a guide while we were there and quizzed her about Holden Caulfield. She was very accommodating, if a little puzzled, and took us to the part of the building that was described in the book. There are no lockers or benches anymore, just an open space that people pass through on their way to the main concourse, but it felt good standing there with my new wife. As we left a taxi pulled up in front of us. The door opened and two nuns jumped out and rushed past us into the station…the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

That was the second time I had read the book. The first time was about seventeen years ago. I was a different person back then. My teenage years were not happy ones. Life at home was not great. I hated school and I couldn’t see any future past the end of my own nose. This is not the time or place to go into details, all you need to know is that by the time I reached my seventeenth birthday I was experiencing what in hindsight I can confidently call ‘Burnout’! Then I read The Catcher in the Rye and spent three days with a boy called Holden Caulfield. It was like meeting a friend who was able to help me articulate what was going through my head. I know that a teenage boy on the verge of a mental breakdown probably isn’t a great example of who to turn to when you need help but that’s how it was. His cynicism at a ‘phony’ adult world and his rejection of the life that seemed to have been planned for him spoke volumes.
Now of course I can see all of the contradictions in Holden’s character. I can see the arrogance and the naivety. I recognise the flaws in those sweeping statements of his. He says thing that only a teenager could say with such conviction. I didn’t see any of that back then though. I found him inspiring. In my mind he was fearless, completely the opposite of how I felt at the time.
The story stayed with me for days and occupied my every thought. I started to change. Perhaps that’s too strong a way of putting it but my behaviour and outlook was certainly never the same again.
Shortly after reading the book I left home, I went to live with my Grandfather. I enrolled on a year long art course at college after which I moved away to another city to continue my studies. Maybe all that would have happened anyway, even if I hadn’t picked up The Catcher in the Rye, it’s impossible to say. The fact is it did happen and I’m eternally grateful to Holden Caulfield and JD Salinger that it did.

The third time I read the book was more recent but the repercussions have been no less significant. I was with my brother. He’s ten years younger than me. We live a few hours drive from each other. Not far enough to mean we rarely see each other but not close enough to mean we meet up every week. The times we do see each other are enjoyable but there’s always a distance between us. Let’s just say we move in different circles.
We were sharing a few drinks and that distance was looming over us like an unwanted but expected guest. The topic of conversation turned to talk about work, he was being made redundant in a few months time, and I appeared to be doing well. I told him I hated what I was doing but I know it sounded hollow. Like pity or a vain attempt at empathy. It was then my brother said, “Do you remember buying me ‘Catcher in the Rye? Great book.”
I did remember, it was some years ago. He’d never mentioned it before though. The distance between us disappeared and we talked constantly for the rest of the night.
Waking up the next day my first thought was of him reading The Catcher in the Rye. For some reason it seemed unusual that he’d mentioned it after all this time. Maybe I didn’t often give him gifts? Maybe the relationship Holden has with his older brother, D.B., had struck a chord with him? I found my battered copy of The Catcher in the Rye and re-read it over the course of that weekend. I’ve no idea what I expected but it had as big an impact on me as it had done seventeen years earlier, only this time it wasn’t Holden’s fearlessness that made me sit up and take notice it was his disdain for the ugliness and hypocracy that he saw all around him. It was his unshakeable belief that he would never become part of that ‘phony’ world. I was reminded of the teenage me and how I’d thought that was the most important thing in the world. Had I become part of a ‘phony’ world? The question stayed with me and wouldn’t go away, particularly at work, where another departmental shake up was in progress which would result in several people having to take redundancy. I began questioning things I’d taken for granted. I upset people with my honesty and frankness. I looked at my boss and instead of seeing a successful businessman I saw a devious, perma-tanned little man with no integrity whose success was built on the talents of others. It was time to leave. I handed in a request for redundancy and if things play out as expected I leave in two months time. Maybe it’s a bad move on my part and maybe I’ll end up on my arse regretting everything. Most of my family seem to think so. Who knows? What I do know is that I feel as if I’ve hung on to something that I was in danger of losing. Integrity? Fearlessness? Bloody-mindedness? I’m not sure what it is really. I’m not sure there are words for it. In the same way that finding the words to describe a book like The Catcher in the Rye are elusive. I tell friends it has ‘special powers’ or as my Grandfather would have said, “There are some things you have to find out for yourself.” The Catcher in the Rye is one of those things. I have two young daughters aged three and one. I look forward to the day when I can introduce them to a boy named Holden Caulfield.

[Helen Nash]

Hard to choose just one book - they're powerful things, books!
The book that probably had most effect on my life was 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding. It was my 'O' level (remember those?) set text, and was the first book I read in any real depth. It made me realise how much there could be to find in a book and how interactive reading was - not just all that language analysis and symbolism etc, but that a book can really speak to you and teach you some important truths. This powerful novel really gripped me and educated me. Sounds a bit deep, but it's that which led me to study English at A level and Uni - and now I'm an English teacher, sharing and teaching a wide range of books, some of which may be changing other lives!
Lots of books since then have informed me, taught me, influenced me, but this book set me on a very rewarding path for the rest of my life so is quite special!

[Stacey]

My life changing book would have to be Harry Potter - I know it seems sad. But it was one of the first books I have ever read and it started me off with my love of reading! I am very grateful to J.K Rowling for creating the books, as without them I don't think I would love to read as much as i do now. once i pick up a book i find it hard to put down.

[Elaine Dingsdale]

Perhaps no one book in particular, as I've always been an avid reader. But I do tend to agree with Clive about "Lord of the Rings"! I too read it many years ago-I took it with me to Argentina where I was spending my third year at uni, thinking that I'd dip in and out of it during the time there, while pursuing my other loves-Jorge Luis Borges, and modern Brasilian poetry.

Suffice to say, I started reading in flight and devoured it. The scope of the plot, characters and language, was simply astounding.To this day, I think it remains a staggering achievement. I'm not so much of a purist that I take exception to the shortcomings of the films, as they were spectacular in their own right, but I can understand why the real aficionados of the genre may be miffed.

A fantasic and inspiring read-I never re-read books, but just maybe.....

[A.P.]

The books that had the most effect on me overall, were the truly awful Janet and John books that we had as scheme books in school back in the 1950s. They were dire. Janet pounced about in ridiculously short dresses and skirts doing "girly" things and always helping mum, whilst John had all the fun and adventures. I was so incensed at the unfairness of it all that I took to reading anything and everything (including sauce bottle and jam pot labels)just so I could get away from them. I quickly progressed to things like The Borrowers, Black Beauty, Swallows and Amazons, Chronicles of Narnia etc.
The book that had the biggest impact on me as a teenager was The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford. It opened my eyes to how unjust and unfair our world was (and still is).
I still love to read, and read a wide range of books. Different books have an influence on me for different reasons. To do with my work the biggest influence has to be Temple Grandin especially Thinking in Pictures. My best holiday read, at the moment, was The Curiosity Cabinet by Catherine Czrkawaska a beautiful story set in the Hebridean Islands.
So I suppose in a roundabout fashion I should actually thank Janet and John for turning me into an avid,eclectic book reader!

[Zoey Totty]

I wouldnt call them life changing books but the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice really sparked my interest in reading again. Over the years I have read a lot of books, and I tend to have phases where I read a lot and then dont read anything for ages. The Vampire Lestat and following books made me remember why I love reading so much, the excitement and anticipation that you get, but also the fact that I get lost inside these books, blotting out whatever might be happening in my real life.

Another book that has made me think a few times since reading it is For One More Day by Mitch Albom.

[Georgina Tranter]

Okay so I have had a think and I'm adding to my earlier choice. I think I also have to mention Agatha Christie who is my favourite (crime) writer. I now have 98% of her books in my collection, including a first edition and a signed copy which my husband surprised me with last year! Her books may not be modern and up-to-date but I love the plots and characters immensly. They are the perfect way to spend a weekend.

Also I should mention 'The Mitford Girls' by Mary S Lovell which began a fascination with the Mitford sisters and I am now ploughing through the many books on or by them. Because of reading Charlotte Mosley's fantastic books of letters last year, I now also have a prized letter from Deborah Mitford, the last surviving sister which I will treasure.

I do feel compelled to read some of the choices listed on here that I haven't already read, particularly 'Catcher in the Rye'. It's a shame many of today's children don't feel as strongly about books as I did when younger. My daughter who is 21 months old loves books, joined the library at 8 days old and is forever reading. With so many fantastic choices out there some people are missing out on an amazing experience.

[Melanie Jones]

I would have to choose "Man's Search For Meaning" by Victor Frankl. I don't really 'hold with' spiritual books, having a bit of a nerdy science head, but Frankl calmly explains how his experience of being in a concentration camp, being stripped of his identity, he was still able to see a purpose and a meaning to his life and how he still viewed his existence as one of choice.

And I took this all in and it has rather stuck.

[Craig Charlton]

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Radfield Jamison, this certainly opening my mind up to conquering fears and illness, this woman has certainly got spirit, and the will to face things with guts and determination, certainly helped my fight with manic depression

[S Jackson]

I don't think I have read any books which I would call life-changing. I have read a lot of books which have given me food for thought about the way I live and do things but I don't think any have changed the way I live my life.

I would say the most 'important' books I've read were the ones from childhood, as they are the ones which started my reading and book addiction.

These were the popular Ladybird books and every Sunday I used to go with my Dad to fetch the Sunday papers and was allowed to pick a new Ladybird book.

Most of them I still have and don't think I would ever part with them.

All of these years on and they are still as popular with my children as they were with my brother and I.

[J Simpson]

I loved The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson - not because it was based it my homeland, Scotland, but because it was a book that made me think twice.
I am not a particularly religious person however, it did make me think about God. Please do read this book as I cannot say much as it will give the plot away. See for yourselves!

[J Simpson]

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson.
Please read as it may change your view on God. I am not a religious person, and it made me think. Set in Scotland - execellent read, a little 'chewy' at the beginning, but 'hang in there' !

[SeanPerry]

It may have only been recent, and may be very debatable, having been the book I read before my current one, but Evander Holyfields autobiography entitled 'Becoming Holyfield' showed me a reason to still believe in humanity. There's a lot of jumping about. But there's warmth, sadness, joy and pain repeated over and over throughout, and after it all You're left feeling nothing but inspired by Evanders perception of life and the world around him. I've had the same account of the book as I've lent it to boxing and non-boxing fans alike.

[Caroline Watts]

I agree with previous comments - to choose just one book would be impossible! Many books have made me look at my life and reflect on it frequently and I think that this is vital to a life changing book.
I remember being at school and being told that we were going to study ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee and thinking that it was going to be another book to study to pass an exam. However, as soon as I began to read the book I was completely engrossed into the story and enjoyed studying it. I found the story compelling and, even more importantly, timeless. Not surprisingly, I read the book several times and got a grade better than I should. I still reflect on the issues tackled in the book and realise how relevant they are in today’s world as much as they were when the book was written.
Other books that I would class as life-changing would be the Noughts and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman, which tackles preconceptions from the outset and continues throughout the trilogy. Atonement by Ian McEwan was compelling I thought, and the subsequent film has enabled such a brilliant book to be enjoyed by many others.
I must say I also agree with someone previous, who said they loved Agatha Christie novels and whilst I do, I am unsure if I would be able to class them as life-changing, what do others think?

[Georgina Tranter]

Caroline - What I meant was that I don't think Agatha Christie is life-changing, but her novels have changed my reading habits - i.e. I don't think I picked up crime novels before I read any of hers, and now I just can't get enough of them!

[Caroline Watts]

Georgina, I agree that her work isn't life-changing however I completely agree by them getting you hooked on crime novels. I remember reading Murder on the Orient Express and read it in day! Been hooked ever since. Her work lead me onto many other crime writers - she too changed my reading habits.

[Adele Winston]

Walter Greenwood’s novel “Love On The Dole” was published in 1933 and is set in Hanky Park, a district of working-class Manchester at the height of the Depression. Unemployment led to deprivation almost unimaginable for most of us. Lads fresh from school are given apprenticeships in the mills but are dismissed as soon as their apprenticeships are completed, so the bosses don’t have to pay men a proper wage. Sally Hardcastle, the heroine, is “eighteen, a lovely creature whose native beauty her shabbiness could not hide”; she has a job in the mills, as women are paid less, and it is on her meagre wages that the whole family relies.

Sally has admirers, including Larry Meath, an idealist, whose love she returns. Her brother, Harry, has a girl, Helen, whose pregnancy means disaster for them both. This book breaks your heart. Sally and Larry manage a day out in the country together, away from the squalor and misery of Hanky Park. But Walter Greenwood was too honest a writer to provide a happy ending for his star-crossed lovers.

As a little girl, I visited my grandmother in the Coronation Street (actually, called Trafalgar Street) where my mother had grown up. My grandmother had installed a bathroom in her little terraced house but not everyone had. The houses have all been bulldozed - and a good thing too.

[Elaine Dingsdale]

Agree with Georgina on our beloved Agatha! She was probably the first "adult" author I tackled, at the tender age of 10, and I too was immediately captivated. I still have the dozens of books of hers that I bought at that time. My parents had a holiday cottage in a small fishing village in the East Neuk of Scotland, where we spent most weekends (and all of the summer, much to my delight...and to my mother's horror!) The newsagent there stocked many of her books, and as soon as we arrived on the Friday afternoon, off I ran with pocket money in hand to buy another Christie.
Although an avid reader as a child, I think it was when I discovered Agatha that I really became the proverbial bookworm, and started to read much more challenging books for my age. To my Dad's horror, he found me perusing the Dennis Wheatley section one weekend, and quickly steered me back to Agatha!!

[Kris Saunders]

Katherine, by Anya Seaton, which I read in the early 1970s, remains my favourite book of all time.
This was one of the 1st historical novels I had read, and after all the Victoria Holt 'stuff' which I had previously read, it seemed a breath of fresh air! I identified with Katherine in so many ways, and I went on to study John of Gaunt in detail, and became more of an historian - just from that one book! It was life changing for me - wonderful!

[Michelle Holloway]

I was a total rebel teenager but the book that changed the way i viewed books and learning(perhaps a little too late as i was 16 and pregnant and about to take my GCSE's) was 'Of mice and men' by Steinbeck, it was the first book i truly enjoyed since the worst witch books at about aged 8 lol. I can honestly say that i totaly attribute my love of books and reading to my year 11 english teacher because of that one book.

[Lucy Oakes]

I have loved books and reading for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, it was the Famous Five and Mallory Towers (both Enid Blyton series). I longed to go to boarding school! As for choosing one book, how absolutely impossible, as others have already pointed out. So I’ve cheated and chosen a series…

I resisted reading JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels for a long time, convinced that they were ‘just for kids’. It was going to see the first film that got me hooked. And having read one, I just had to carry on. I have never read a book so ‘interactively’ before. I got involved in online fan communities and offline HP discussion groups before attending a conference last year to celebrate the release of the final book. There were 300 people in one room, all working their way through the book – and not a sound could be heard. It was an amazing experience.

[Livia]

I've only really had one life-changing book (well, it's a set of books in one), and that's the Bible. But I'm sure we're meant to be talking about fiction here, so I'll mention a couple of the books that made me realise that I actually enjoy reading! :)
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee - I had to read it for high school English...I ended up reading it twice (not an easy feat considering I'm a very slow reader)! The issues addressed in the novel really opened my eyes to the fact that, even though the story is set in the 30s, there is still prejudice against African-Americans and many other cultures in the world today.
CS Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - the first book I can remember saying that I loved. When I was little, my parents bought me a video of the cartoon version of the book. I was entranced, so to speak, so when I got older, I wanted to read the book. I couldn't believe how much was left out of the cartoon! To this day, I am a huge fan of this book. The imagery is stunning - it really makes you wish you were in Narnia to experience everything yourself. When the movie came out, I was very happy that it captured the awe of Narnia, and the wonder seen through the children's eyes.

[Neil Fulwood]

I've held off on joining this discussion while I've tried to figure out a definition of life-changing.

If it means books I've read and thought "I wish I'd written that", then I could pick any of a few dozen - 'The Crow Road' by Iain Banks, 'Carter Beats the Devil' by Glen David Gold, 'Twentieth Century Ghosts' by Joe Hill, 'Accordion Crimes' by E Annie Proulx and 'One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night' by Christopher Brookmyre spring to mind without really having to give too much thought to the matter.

Or do I pick books that chime so well with my own interests that they are, if not life-changing, then life-affirming? If so, as a movie buff 'A Life in Movies' by Michael Powell, 'The Conversations' (Walter Murch interviewed by Michael Ondaatje) and 'Herzog on Herzog' (from the Faber directors-on-directors series) are definitely worthy of mention. As a lover of single malt whisky and a frequent visitor to Scotland, it's my humble opinion that 'Raw Spirit' by Iain Banks ought to replace the Gideon Bible in all the hotel rooms of the world.

As an aspiring writer, Stephen King's 'On Writing' is an incredibly empowering book, as well as offering no-bullshit practical advice.

But have any of these actually CHANGED my life?

The more I think about it, the more I realise there's only book that has: 'Corsairville' by Graham Coster. A history of the flying boats, it also charts Coster's odyssey around the globe to search out the few remaining flying boats still in active use; an odyssey that took him to Anchorage in Alaska. A year after reading the book, and having ploughed my life savings into the trip, I arrived in Vancouver, Canada, took an internal flight to Whitehorse (capital of the Yukon Territory) and hired an RV. I drove the Alaska Highway across the border into Alaska itself and down to Anchorage. The journey opened my eyes to what a true wilderness country looks like. It gave me the experience of travel and of a different way of life. I have Graham Coster to thank for it.

[Tyler]

Charles Bukowski's - Ham on Rye

Jack Kerouac's - On the road

Henry Miller's Tropic of Capricorn

Knut Hamsun's - Hunger

James Freys - A Million Little pieces.

[Anne watkinson]

The Time Traveller's Wife really sticks in my mind as one of the best reads I have ever experienced and one that I remember fondly. I am a nurse and my son is a geologist,and normally our tastes in books are poles apart, yet this was a book we shared somehow, and both loved it to bits. It was clever, unique, funny in parts, but most of all incerdibly moving, and altough the ending was inevitable, I dreaded finishing it. I am a compulsive reader, and most books are read and forgotten, but this is one I shall cherish and will probably re-read over the years.Clare and Henry felt like old, dear friends, and I miss them both. If I were ever imprisoned and was only allowed one book in my cell, this would be it!!!

[Zoey Totty]

A book that didnt change my life but got me really hooked was Jodi Piccoult's 'My Sisters Keeper.' What an amazing story line. Since reading this book I would get excited when she released another one. Unfortunately, after reading a few of her books I came to realise that they all had very similar endings which has ruined it for future books.
However, I think reading about such controversial topics advanced my own reading preferences on from the usual chick lit so something with a little more grit.