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The book that changed your life.

Posted by Obren

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Forum: Books and Stories

Is there a book that completely knocked you out of your boots, and your life was never the same after it? 



When I was like 16, I read Awareness by Anthony De Mello, and it first got me depressed, and that completely changed me. I guess it would have less effect on me if I was older, but still.


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Reply by Robot

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"The book was a huge influence. I was reading a book about depression. And I was like "oh shit, what's going on with this?" And I was like "well I'm going to be depressed, and I don't want to go back to my life, I don't care what happens to me." I'm just so glad I did that, I don't want it to be the way it was, because that would just make the whole thing more interesting and more depressing."


I've been on a lot of depression medications, and it's just a matter of getting used to the fact I've been through it and getting used to the fact I'm not in a place like this anymore, so you just sort of get to that place where you don't feel any sense of anything at all, and it feels like a different kind of depression."


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Reply by Ardent Melody

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz radically altered my worldview. My mom and sister both recommended it to me, and I was little hesitant about the Toltec spirituality factor, because I'm wildly atheistic, but I'm so glad I read it. It's the kind of advice that is easy to learn and hard to master, but even with imperfect mastery, it's remarkably helpful.


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Reply by Kori

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"We all looked up" 


I was in a christian cult and was severely depressed and suicidal for a year straight at the time. Constantly threatened with the end of the world and armageddon, i was living every day scared. 

This book is about a meteor or asteroid making its way towards earth, the entire book is built around how people would act in that situation, all the things they'd do if it were really a given amount of time before everyone died. 
It explores relationships with partneres, family. Its about making the last moments mean something rather than hiding out and being in fear. 

When i finished reading that book, i cried because of how much it paralleled to my own life. That was the first stage of me waking up and escaping. 


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Reply by Tyson

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And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave 

I picked up a copy of this on a whim and I'm not even a massive Nick Cave fan but this book is amazing. 
It's the only book that I couldn't wait to finish just so I could start it again. 
Every paragraph is written so well and feels like poetry and perfectly encapsulates the grimness of the story and the characters. It is worth checking out if you're onto darker stuff but it's so well written that even when you're reading a grimy bit it it so well expressed and fun to read. 


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Reply by H I M E

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No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

It's a pretty depressing book, but it was also so fascinating. I just couldn't put it down. It felt like a true look at a person's soul, and a person I was the complete opposite of, which made it all the more interesting to read.


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Reply by Rezi/Robo/Ray

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Homestuck



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Reply by alex!

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the boy in the striped pajamas 

honestly overall its an incredibly sad book. cried A LOT. 


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Reply by paige lynne

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I've been really interested in tearjerkers lately, so heres a couple:

No Longer Human - my god this books depressing. 

My Absolute Darling - absolutely GOD TIER. amazingly written. hits close to home if you have any history with abuse/SA, especially by a family member, so trigger warning for that

The Way I used to Be - another trigger for SA, the author perfectly writes self sabotage and hypersexuality after being SAd and its insanely good.

also, i really enjoyed all of rupi kaurs books. a lot of people think shes just cringy tumblr poetry, and some of her poems could definitely fit that. but her works genuinely changed my life, and if youre into poetry shes worth a read.

also, I have no mouth and I must scream changed my writing style a lot. Another great read, really short.


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Reply by yak

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I can think of a few actually.

The Little Prince

The Dispossessed -- The strongest argument for anarchism in existence, probably.

The Idiot -- I know everyone feels this way, but in this book I very much identified with Muishkin. I read this during my lunch break at work and the characters all felt so alive that sometimes after lunch nothing felt as real.


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Reply by apolaustic

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Then first one was White Fang by Jack London, I heard it first around age 5 and I became obsessed with Wolves, which led me to watch a documentary about the Sawtooth pack and become really obsessed with protecting wolves and learning about them. 

when I was like 8 I read a series called Chronicles of Ancient Darkness and that radically changed my personality for a really long time, idk if the books were actually good but my friends and I would literally only talk about it, and would constantly quote the characters. It was probably really annoying to others. 



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Reply by str4nge4s4ngels

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Last winter I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick, which I wasn't expecting to impact me as deeply as it did. I then read J.M. Coetzee's The Lives of Animals right after and for some reason that combination altered my brain chemistry.

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer is also really intense and highly recommended. 


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Reply by xORionx

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white rabbit red wolf this story is a lie 

an amazing book nothing has quite topped it. i read it a couple years ago because my school was doing this christmas reading thing where they wrapped books in wrapping paper and then you had to read it. my friends were all like “take this book its easy” since im dyslexic and generally, up until that point, did not like reading. my intuition told me to choose that one though and im so glad i did. after that i read all thats left in the world and again it was amazing really really good


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Reply by _stjimmy_

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Probably Homestuck


lol


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Reply by k

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the stranger by albert camus. .i think there's a special bond between 14 yr old me and this book that can't be described in words . 


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Reply by Lucy_Louuuu

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So B. it

Basically its about this girl who lives with her disabled mom and neighbor. She goes on a journey of self discovery to find her family and the origin of a word her mom keeps using, "Soof". Had me fukin weeping at the end, its tecnicallt a kinds book but it goes so damn hard.


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Reply by mykka

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 Suicidas (Raphael Montes)

Desde o começo do livro ja é apresentado topicos importantes, como pedofilia, depressão e problemas familiares. Mas o final realmente me surpreendeu, não esperava um livro tão bom,com um spoiler bem escrito e imaginável^_~

 O livro me fez mudar muito a minha mente e pensar mais sobre pautas importantes!!

Recomendo muito! Além de ser um livro nacional brasileiro.

 


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Reply by PERCY!

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Hell Followed With Us was certainly the best book I've ever read and it influenced my writing style. This is coming from a guy who named himself after Percy Jackson.


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