<p>tell me about a book that changed your entire perception life. well don't tell me the plot, just yet.. i have free time on my hands an haven't read in a while... :)</p>
<p>rebecca -- by daphne du maurier
[had a crazy twisted plot if you like that, pretty suspenseful and interesting, but not sappy and romantic]
the fountainhead -- ayn rand
[i really liked the philosophy aspect of it, superdeep]
brave new world -- aldous huxley
[just a good book]</p>
<p>and then i read a bunch of random philosophy books but those are slightly less leisurely :]</p>
<p>the perks of being a wallflower-- i personally LOVE this book more than anything. i think it's a love-or-hate book, i know people who feel both ways...i just think it captures teenagerdom (i know, i make up words) really well.
please don't kill the freshman-- in the same vein. it has this amazing poetry-prose kind of style, if that's your thing.
ice bound-- an AMAZING nonfiction book written by a female doctor who fought breast cancer while living in antarctica. i don't usually like nonfiction, and this was fantastic.</p>
<p>a clockwork orange -- anthony burgess
my favorite book hands down for many many reasons. changed my life all those years ago by turning me on to linguistics (it's written in a mixture of english, anglicized russian and nonsensical slang). burgess was a linguist, a composer and a clever guy all around.</p>
<p>trainspotting -- irvine welsh, AND
everything is illuminated -- jonathan safran foer
(two other good books written in fun dialects. all 3 were made into good movies!)</p>
<p>the dharma bums -- jack kerouac
picked this up because "on the road" wasn't "working" for me at the time. intro to buddhism</p>
<p>Fahrenheit 451, The Fountainhead, and everything by Jack Kerouac</p>
<p>The bible.</p>
<p>Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand</p>
<p>to cowtipper1,
r u kidding? Fahrenheit 451 is the most boring book I've ever read</p>
<p>Tuesdays With Morrie</p>
<p>Siddhartha - you can live by this book.</p>
<p>"Beloved" by Toni Morrison</p>
<p>"Ride the Wind" by Lucia St Clair Robson</p>
<p>One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I loved it so much in college that the minute I turned the last page, I started on the first page again. Remarkable.</p>
<p>2001: A Space Odyssey</p>
<p>If your a girl, read some books by Jodi Picoult. My Sister's Keeper is amazing, and you must read The Pact.She has a lot of other good books too.</p>
<p>Gone with the wind- I guess the movie would suffice too though</p>
<p>The Divine Comedy, Dante- It truely is amazing and you can learn so much from it if you read the notes on each section.</p>
<p>the poisonwood bible by barbara kingsolver</p>
<p>The Great Gatsby. I really connected to it for some reason...</p>
<p>The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck.</p>
<p>On the Road by Jack Kerouac.</p>
<p>Kite Runner---really great. Not about Afghanistan as much as it is about growing up, etc</p>
<p>In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
...and I also second the Kite Runner recommendation. That was a fantastic book.</p>