How has a fiction book changed your life?

Question

FYI - fiction does not include self-help (altho some are dubiously non-fiction!), reference and biographies etc.

Answer 1

I was reading The Stand by Stpehen King when I saw a rat jump on my bed and I threw the book at it. It died I told the landlord he thought it was strange had it tested and it had rabies, so the book saved my life or at least my health.

Answer 2

Yes the summer of my 5th grade year I read the following 3 books (I was precocious child)...'Old Man and the Sea', 'Justine', and 'Beautiful Joe'. The first is of course by Hemingway and by the time I finished it I realized that ANYTHING we wanted to do in life, which was going to be worth something, was going to have to be worked for. That when looking back over your life it would just be YOU - no one else to take the credit, or the blame. The second is of course by Sade, with this book I quickly learned that the world can truly be a terrible place. That "libertines" were simply cowardly intelligent anarchy. Yet in a strange way it reminded me of the old man of the first book, alone - frightened - with "self" as company. And finally, Beautiful Joe...most people have never read it NOR will you be able to. This was a book written, published, and vendored by The American Humane Society. I found it at a used book sale that summer and bought it because of the dog on the cover. It is similar to 'Black Beauty' except much worse. The reason I "enjoyed" it, if that is the correct word, is that again there is evil and ugliness in the world - HOWEVER - the difference was that in the end Joe, the bull-terrier, discovers that those who are, and would do evil, are the exception - they are not the rule. Thus after everything I had read that summer I found the "secret", or at least the secret for me, we work hard, at times we suffer, but the truth is that it is an amazing world full of kind, sensitive people, and I am luck just to be here. Good luck!

Answer 3

Well, I don't know about life changing, but here are some works of fiction that have inspired me - either by the hurdles that the protagonists have overcome, the underlying / theme or message in the book, or by the sheer brilliance of the writing:

Of Mice and Men

David Copperfield

Charlotte's Web

The Outsiders

The Caine Mutiny

Wuthering Heights

Lord of the Flies

Watership Down

Seven Little Australians

The Power of One

Tandia

April Fool's Day

The Potato Factory

Z for Zachariah



SHORT STORIES

The Lottery

Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad

The Streets of Ashkelon

My Pretty Pony




.........and many more I could bore you with.

The book that did change my life is non fiction, and it is PAPILLION - I urge everyone to read this, it is truly inspirational

Answer 4

I read a great many books all the time. The two books I am reading right now are Angels and Demons and (again) the Di Vinci Code. I only read these books , because everyone was making such a big deal about them. I even went to see the movie on the same premise. The end result ..... I am renewing my faith into Christianity and researching all the points Dan Brown made in his books. If a book doesn't make you think and help you grow then what the heck are they there for then

Answer 5

Absolutely. I prefer being inspired in a subtle way which is what fiction does. Sometimes non fiction can be too preachy.

The fiction that has inspired me has been:
Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter (I learned you can almost always find something to be grateful for)
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montegomery (you can become better or bitter as a result of suffering trials)
The Locket by R.P. Evans (forgiveness is a choice and it is the only choice for peace)
A Gown of Spanish Lace by J. Oke (With God's stength you can get through anything)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Don't judge someone before you get all the facts. Don't be presumptious or predujiced)

Answer 6

I have had many but i will only mention a few and what they are about and how the have opened up my eyes....

1. The Witch of Cologne - Tobisha Learner
Based on the daughter of a Jewish Rabbi in Cologne, France in the 1670's, who as a midwife was persecuted as a witch, due to her beliefs and how far she was willing to go to protect women, and children from the harsh conditions of the time.

This book inspires me because its seems to show the very beginning of the earliest sections of the feminism movement, even in such a time when you could be stoned, for speaking out of turn to your father, this girl faced adversity head on and said.... "I will not back down, this is what i beleive YOU will listen to me."

2. God's Callgirl - Carla Van raay
Driven by a childhood of constant sexual abuse at her fathers hands "Carla", becomes a sister with the catholic church, then a prostitute and then a massage artist..... this tells her story of facing adversity and how she has made choices (whether right or wrong), and come out the otherside, as a relativley sane person.

3. Body Language - Barbara and Allan Pease

Great book, this one, when ever anyone i know is acting odd toward me, and i can sense something is up, out comes my little book and i flick through to work out what it means.... might mean nothing in the long run, but its sure fun to test them out.

4. Me and Emma - Elizabeth Flock
Fictional works, based on the true story of two little girls who are sisters and the best of freinds, who have been neglected by there parents and sexually abused by their step father, something which their mother doesnt seem to see (something that happens in this day age quite a bit), the girls, upon plans to runaway from home, that unravel, carries world takes a shocking turn for the worse - in the most devestating way possible, and a startling act of violence, that leaves everyone reeling.....it is a poignant and disarming little tale of how things can go if traumatic experiences arent nipped in the bud as soon as they happen.

5. Porky - Deborah Moggach
Another fictional work based on a true life story, This is the story of a little girl from Heathrow in London who's mother has constant problems trying to help her stay well.... it seems the child is always sick.......The Mother has what is known as Munchausens by proxy which is mental illness.....sometimes it can lead to fatal results.....read it for yourself.

I have had others which have dont the same for me, in short they are.....
The Shattered Horse - SP Somtow
The seventh scroll - Wilbur Smith
The Da vinci Code - Dan Brown
When Rabbit howls - Trudi Chase - Poignant look into Multiple personalities.

Anything by Karin Slaughter, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwall, Clive Cussler, Stephen KIng and or James Herbert

Answer 7

The first work of fiction to really change my life was "On the Beach" by Nevil Shute. It is about the end of human life on earth due to a nuclear war. I read it while I was in high school, and it scared me half to death. I viewed life in a whole different way after that, and I still freak out at anything nuclear related. At the time, though, it mostly convinced me that life was short, so I should enjoy it.

Too many books since have changed my life for me to list them all.

Answer 8

I once read a collection of horror stories that were truly the first horrific stories I had ever encountered. I have always been one for an erotic novel and horror and eroticism seem to be closely related. However, the collection I read seemed to cross over all my imaginary lines I had drawn for both pornography and horror. I truly wish I could remember the name (although I understand why I have blocked it from my memory) of the book but you only asked if a fictional book had changed my life and my answer is simply: YES. Best wishes

Answer 9

Books both fiction and non-fiction have been a major source of enjoyment all my reading life [55yrs or so}.Fiction changed my life by giving me a way of escape from the real world .Adventures and exploits I could only imagine.In a book I become the heroine allowing myself to enjoy the journey.I was a sickly child and spent many hours in bed reading and not feeling so down with the world.FICTION.Has it changed my life?MOST DEFINATELY YES!

Answer 10

I once read about, I think it was called 'Works of stone' or something like that. It was built around a friendship between a girl and a boy. Before that book I thought that there had to be flirting involved, you know that they had to be girlfriend/boyfriend. After that boy I realized that anyone can be friends, and since then, some of my very best friends have been of the opposite sex (with only a few turning romantic...lol-but not staying that way ;-).

Answer 11

"Ismael" and "The Story of B" have gien me new insight into the the direction that we have come from and where we are going as a species. It also gave me a different picture of what Christians view as the Antichrist. I was raised Catholic,and I always assumed that the Antichrist would be a mythological figure of pure evil. The Story of B gave a more realistic picture of what the religious devout would consider the antithesis of Christ. It isn't what you would think. READ THESE BOOKS!!!