While She Knits ~ ...suspended, over open air.

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

I know. You'd come to believe that this Sounis book-talk was just a myth, a hazy memory of golden days.

But I had a new idea for one! So here we are.



Pick one Book that Shook You or Opened Your Eyes Somehow
And Tell Us About It!



You can, of course, pick one of the Queen's Thief books, but this is our opportunity to discuss books together with MWT fans that otherwise are off-topic.

Of course, feel free to comment on books other people bring up!

Comments

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

One of the first to come to mind in this line for me?

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.
And then Ender's Shadow, Speaker for the Dead, Shadow Puppets.

These books have a world of ruthlessness that is tempered so very sharp by the emotions of the characters, and the insight into the one I live in.


"The Enemy's Gate is down."

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Lord of the Flies when I was 12 years old.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

*agrees with this*

My older brother read this in HS and left it lying around, so I picked it up and read it. It took my breath away and I felt so grown up! I remember taking it to him asking him to please please tell me what his class talked about.

More recently, The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. Magical realism, and how to follow your dreams. We all have a personal legend, says the book, something we were meant to do. The blurb on the cover calls The Alchemist "dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom" and it is.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

I have had The Alchemist sitting on my shelf for a few years. I have just never been able to make myself pick it up and read it, but I may have to now. :)

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

The Alchemist :DDD

*is halfway through Cetaganda and will then read it*

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I'm sending it to my sister for her birthday next week, too. :)

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

For "life-changing books" I often recommend what I call "the Two Annies"

Annie Dillard, especially PILGRIM AT TINKER'S CREEK. It will change the way you look at everything in nature, from a wasp to the wide swathes of stars.

Annie Lamott -- oh, anything, but especially BIRD BY BIRD, which made me look at the act of writing in a whole new way, and TRAVELING MERCIES, which made me see the little acts of grace in everyday life.

Not exactly on topic, but I want to squee about two great new YA books that will probably be enjoyed by many here:

DEMON'S LEXICON by Sarah Rees Brennan. Funny, heartbreaking, shocking, and uplifting, with the most intriguing "hero" I've met in years.

FIRE by Kirsten Cashore. Even *better* than GRACELING. 'Nuff said.

[beatlelove927.livejournal.com]

The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. Because of the HUNDREDS of historical fiction novels about the Holocaust, this was by far the best I ever read, and it just took place in a small town, not a concentration camp. Very, very, lifechanging read.

[appellations.livejournal.com]

+1 this book is amazing

[sun-bird-498.livejournal.com]

I am in the middle of this book right now and I would already agree. I cannot wait to finish it!

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

I agree. This book is truly amazing!

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go for two quite different books. First, Stuart Little. It was the first book I ever read that had an open ending, and this totally blew my mind when I was about 9. Stuart doesn't find Margalo, he doesn't return to his family, he doesn't learn something huge and conclusive about the world. No, he simply keeps traveling, looking out for the next adventure. No happy ending, no sad ending, just a turning toward the north, and toward an unknown future. I found a powerful magic in the final words: "But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction."

The Passion, by Jeanette Winterson. So many moments when a clean wind swept through my mind. Here's one. In one of many digressions from the main narrative, she tells the story of a happy-go-lucky man in a small village who liked to invent things. His wife did all the work, ran the farm, cooked the meals and had six children. "I'd be a fool to say we didn't need him and his optimistic ways. But when she died, suddenly, at noon, the light went out of his voice and his pipes filled with mud and he could hardly harvest his land let alone bring up six children. She had made him possible. In that sense she was his God. Like God, she was neglected."

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Wow, that quote on the second...just wow.

Stuart Little may have been the first book that I read though I didn't feel like it, and then really enjoyed.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. It wasn't the first Holocaust fiction I'd read, but it was the first with a Jewish main character.

Webster's Leap by Eileen Dunlop, because it had a writer in it who was just a normal person.

Singer to the Sea God by Vivien Alcock because it was the first fantasy I ever read.

Seconding The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, because unlike the others, which I read in adolescence, I just read it and realized how close to the surface a lot of issues of mine still were.

[viviolo.livejournal.com]

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.

A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

All three opened the world up for me into something bigger, sadder, and more beautiful.

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

I was having trouble thinking of one, but viviolo mentioned Madeleine L'engle and reminded me.

I read A Wrinkle in Time when I was about seven. The part that I remember most, and repeat to myself every now and again, is Meg's revelation when she's struggling with it - 'Equal and alike are not the same thing at all.' This was a pretty mind-blowing idea when I was seven, and still is.

[(Anonymous)]

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry. I read it when I was eleven and it made me think for the first time, and question, about what we consider "good" - and what we might be willing to give up to achieve it.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.

I had to read it for my Great Books V class last year and...Wow! It's incredible. It's not a novel, but just the way he thinks about things and sees the world. Some things were totally new for me, but when I read them, I thought, "This is how it should be."

I guess I would mostly recommend the book to Christians, but it could be pretty eye-opening whether you are or not.

The chapter "On the Ethics of Elfland" is especially wonderful and insightful. *huggles her Chesterton book*

For a novel, The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. I just read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time about a year ago, and some of the things in that book blew me away. I can't remember exactly what, but I think it was some of the things Aslan said.

And one of my favorite books of all time The Lord of the Rings. I am still challenged by some of the ideas in that book. My favorite: "I wish the Ring had never come to me... [Galdalf:] "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." So true!!

[coyul.livejournal.com]

If I say that Twilight is one, will people jump all over me? I totally have a good reason!

I hate vampires. I absolutely can't stand vampires for the most part. While Twilight is absolutely un-realistic in the worst way, Stephenie Meyer wrote the books like a fangirl, and badfic, as most of you should know, is addicting. So, her books brought me into the world of fictional vampires so that I could find better ones. XD;

Also, just taking a quick look over my bookshelf... Scott Westerfeld's Uglies books. It's an over exaggeration of what is going on today with perceptions of beauty and plastic surgery. One that I don't doubt has a bit of possibility to it.

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

A Wrinkle in Time for me as well. The description of love at the end made a huge impression on me when I was young and I've never forgot that feeling.

Also, from when I was pretty young, Joshua: A Parable for Today by Joseph F. Girzone. This dramatically altered the way in which I envisioned Jesus as a man.

And, ironically, as I don't consider myself religious any longer the book that I can't get out of my mind as an adult is Life of Pi by Yann Martel. This completely opened my mind to a new way of thinking about faith. And is also just a mind-blowingly awesome book regardless of the religious aspects.

[crazededdisian.livejournal.com]

Well, I shall go with TT, TQoA, TKoA, and ACoK.(Which isn't out yet, but I just know I'll love it, too) Aren't I predictable? And boring? You poor people, putting up with me! (If you are that bored, go read Lord of The Rings.)