Oh, and I feel the same way about Twilight. After spending two years in AP English classes, with night after night of intense reading of “the classics,” which are beautiful in there, own right of course, I needed something that could just keep me up all night because I was enjoying it so much that I didn’t want to put it down. Twilight definitely delivered.

I don’t know if I could say any books have “changed my LIFE,” per se, but several have definitely “changed my heart” and hence “changed my MIND.”

Two years ago I never would have said this, but I can say now with confidence the most riveting books I have read have been on Christianity.

It may sound cliche, but the most important read for me was the Bible. I didn’t read it thoroughly until I was 40. I did so with a companion book (by Dr Henrietta Mears called “What the Bible is All About”–highly recommended), and that made all the difference in the world. I couldn’t even begin to describe how it has changed my life. I am so happy (and relieved), to have my OWN perspective of God’s word now, rather than being dependent on others interpretations.

The next one is Mere Christianity by CS Lewis, followed closely by his Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce. Mere Christianity is beyond reproach. Even the highest of IQ’s would have a very difficult time arguing its points.

On the secular side a few come to mind: East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath, Martin Eden, Autobiography of Malcolm X (this was also a riveting read for me many years ago), Crime and Punishment (still my favorite I think), and so many more.

1. A house like a lotus. M. L’Engle. Unlike the rest of the world I didn’t read A wrinkle in time in the 6th grade. I’d never even heard of L’Engle until my senior year of college, when my roommate Emily had this book. So I borrowed it and was hooked. So this book changed my life because it got me to finally read all those books I’d missed from childhood. (Want to know what I was reading in junior high – Ian Flemming. God I wish I was kidding)

2. Pride & Prejudice. J. Austen. Again, everyone I knew in school had read this as kids (I’m talking to you Cyn! Ms. “I read Trollope in the fifth grade”) My all-time favorite novel, and what I consider the height of the english novel. Don’t argue with me or I’ll have to pull out the paper I wrote for Laura Bloxham 15 years ago.

3. Lolita. V. Nabokov. Because I didn’t know the narrator could be lying to you until I read this. Sure Doug Sugano talked about “intentional fallacy” in class, but until this I didn’t really understand. And god I love Nabokov (Pale Fire is another favorite, but that’s because of a long night spent writing a paper about it and calling Jim Luton laughing our asses off)

4. The big sleep. R. Chandler. My first detective novel. Start with the best.

5. Song of the dodo. D. Quammen. Because I didn’t know I had an affinity for science till I read this. Everything made perfect sense and it made me go on a reading spree that lasted five years and covered everything from evolutionary epidemiology to quantum mechanics.

D-Day. S. Ambrose. Let me qualify this one by saying I read it when it first came out, not after Saving Private Ryan. A friend recommended it (actually the same friend who recommended Song of the dod – thanks Bill!). I realized that I could feel very deeply about things from the past, and at the same time be a cold blooded bitch about them. It’s a gift.

7. Sexual anarchy. E. Showalter. Literary criticism is actually fun. And the victorians were seriously fracked. I gave my papaerback copy away to a friend because I thought she’d like it, so my husband gave me two first editions, one american one british, for christmas one year.

8. The club Dumas. A. Perez-Reverte. Want to know why I picked this up at Murder by the Book? I liked the cover. Seriously. I bought this book because I liked the damn cover. And there was nothing on it! It’s dark and there’s the title. But I read it, and then went back and re-read it and then told everyone I knew about it, and then hunted down his other books. And it made me finally appreciate that Milton class from junior year.

9. The sun also rises. E. Hemmingway. I read this when I was 15 or 16 and we were travelling through europe. My mom wanted us to see the world. I read Hemmingway and became prematurely jaded.

10. My garden companion. J. Jobb. I owned this when I was in junior high and my copy got ruined walking home in the rain one day. I mean the damn thing just melted away. For years I searched for it, but I couldn’t rememebr the exact title. Then I found it in a bookstore in Ashland, OR. I love it because it reminds me of when working in a garden all day was all it took for me to be happy.

I read “Atlas Shrugged” primarily so I could argue with Objectivists about its merits or lack of same on the Internet. I suppose that says something about me…it’s not an easy book, or a good book, but it’s a fun book to argue about.

Carl; “Affluenza” got you to call everything “crap”? You sure you can’t attribute that one to Carlin? I can.