The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them

a joyous book. very enlightning. the variability of books is marvelous. this is a book to always keep coming back to.

They should have a warning on the cover of this innocent-looking little tome that it leads to more book buying. After reading this book, you will most definitely run to your local bookstore (fortunately, I was sitting in Barnes & Noble as I read this book and ended up buying the two books that changed Anne Lamott's life along with this book). Many of the authors' favorite books were predictable: "Catcher in the Rye", "The Lord of the Rings", and "Jane Eyre" to name a few. The most interesting part of these 71 little essays was discovering how the authors discovered these books and why they had such a profound effect on their lives. If you love books about books, then this treasure is a must-own. It's on my "Do Not Ever Loan Out" list, it's that good!

I love to read books about people talking about the books they love. -It gives me a good reason to read something I haven't read already, -and to see if/how it might change me, it's also a great way to come in contact with a new book. This is a great for all of that. 71 writers share here, and I really enjoyed reading about it. Written in short essay style with 2-3 pages per contributor. Some I've heard of, some I haven't, and there's a brief paragraph after each essay that tells you a little about the author and what they've wrote and are well known for. The book ends with a 'reading list of the books selected by the contributors' Which I thought was nice. Then, there are two more reading lists by the co-editors of the book. Also, there's information about the "read to grow" program, to which proceeds from the sales of the book will go toward buying a book for a child. -Another really great reason to buy this book! There are always some writings/authors that will resonate with you and others that just don't. Regardless, of whether a certain writing 'speaks' to you, I found, with this, that it's still interesting to read what they all had to contribute to the 'celebration of books that matter most to them'. Read, enjoy and contribute towards a meaningful cause.

The contributors were each writers who had appeared at R. J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut. This book celebrates 15 years of business for this bookseller and Roxanne J. Coady asked these writers to tell a story about a book that changed their lives as a celebration--and reminder about the power of books to change lives. The introduction explains the royalty for The Book That Changed My Life goes to buy new books for a program Coady began called Read to Grow,which provides books for parents to share with their children. The individual stories are fascinating even if the writer was unfamiliar to me and/or I didn't know the book that was selected. The writer's choice for a book was interesting--such as Senator Joseph Lieberman (remember it's a Connecticut bookstore) who selected the Bible or another Senator John McCain selected Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story which I want to highlight in this review isn't from one of those writers--but it's from the editor of the book in her introduction. Bookseller Roxanne J. Coady explains how from a young age reading was her passion. And when she opened R. J. Julia Booksellers, "my dream was that the store would be a place where words mattered, where people would gather, where writer could meet reader, and where our staff would work hard to put the right book in the right hand. Dreams can come true. R. J. Julia has now been welcoming readers and writes for sixteen years. Every day in the store we see how books change lives, in big ways and small, from the simple desire to spend a few quiet hours in a comfy chair, swept away by a story, to the profound realization that the reader is not alone in the world, that there is someone else like him or her, someone who has faced the same fears, the same confusions, the same grief, the same joys. Reading is a way to live more lives, to experience more worlds, to meet people we care about and want to know more about, to understand others and develop a compassion for what they confront and endure. It is a way to learn how to knit or build a house or solve an equation, a way to be moved to laughter and wonder and learn how to live." I loved reading this volume and recommend it.

Writers from all walks of the publishing industry have come together to share their thoughts on the most influential books in their lives. Seventy-one authors, journalists, and other published professionals have written about how their lives were affected by everything from THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD, to THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, to THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Some authors were motivated by plot and description, others by characterization, and still others by embedded messages. Just reading through these accounts of life-changing books, readers of this collection can't help but to be influenced by the sheer enthusiasm shared by some remarkable individuals. In the highly commendable effort to raise funds for the Read to Grow Foundation, the editors have pledged to donate all their proceeds to promote literacy. In truth, the readers are who will become richer for having read this volume. It is not a mere book, but an experience. Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer 10/25/2005 Postscript: I was so taken by what I read in this book that I literally forgot to write this review for nearly a week. It inspired me to get back to work on my own writing, and in the past week, when not reading, I've been writing. Such was the power between the covers of a deceptively diminutive volume.