You've GOT to Read This Book!: 55 People Tell the Story of the Book That Changed Their Life

Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 1/8/2009
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, January 8, 2009
I picked up this good-condition hardcover for cheap from the Nashua Public Library book sale shelves. While I tend to be put off by advice about books I've "got" to read, or that will change my life, I found the list of contributors to this book intriguing. (The guy who founded craigslist.com is in here!) And when I opened the book at random and landed on one entry that began "I don't believe that a book really can change one's life" I figured I'd give it a shot. [I also thought it would make a nice themed release for the ongoing The Reader Challenge/Contest!]

The list of contributors does begin to feel a bit incestuous after a while, as several of them have chosen, as their personal life-changing books, the works of some of the other contributors. But that's probably a natural result of the way in which the contributors were selected - from a gathering at the home of one of the authors/editors. So at least half of the contributors already knew each other. Despite that, there's a decent variety of titles listed here, and as each contributor includes the reasons why the book affected them so strongly (sometimes even in a negative way!), it allows the reader to judge whether or not it sounds like a book they'd like to try themselves.

Among the books named here were several that I could easily see as life-changing, or at least as eye-opening: Rafe Esquith's choice of To Kill a Mockingbird, Tim Ferriss' nod to the "choose your own adventure" books (which he helped to field-test as a youth, since he lived next door to one of the creators); Dave Barry's crediting of Inside Benchley for jump-starting his own comic-writing dreams; and Sue Ellen Cooper's selection of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, which was one of the books that gave me a very different view of a possible afterlife and divine justice.

There were a lot of books named that I hadn't read, and while most of them didn't pique my interest, I was intrigued by co-author Gay Hendricks' remarks about the writings of Epictetus, who penned a simple concept long before modern self-help books (or even the AA's serenity prayer) came up with it: "You can be happy if you know this secret: some things are within your power to control, and some things are not."

Bernie Siegel's comments ring the truest for me: "To be honest, I really don't believe any book can change your life - only you can. Look, two people read the same book: one is inspired while the other is bored. It's the person - not the book - that creates the transformation." But I was also struck by Chellie Campbell's remarks: "Some people sneer at self-help books, saying that they don't really help anyone make lasting change. I smile to myself whenever I hear that - because I know better." So maybe it's the right book for the right person at the right time that does the trick...

It's also worth recognizing that books that mean little or nothing to you may be very helpful to somebody else. One contributor had spent time in prison, and had found a copy of Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul to be extremely helpful to himself and to quite a few of his fellow prisoners. (One of the co-authors of the book is also a co-author of the "Chicken Soup" series - see what I mean about the somewhat incestuous contents? But I still appreciated hearing how a book that might seem trivial or overly saccharine to me might be just what someone else needed at a particular time.)

There's a nifty BookCrossing-like note hear and there, too. Amilya Antonetti spotted a copy of The Alchemist on a desk in someone's office and asked if she might borrow it. "Sure," said her colleague. "Somebody left it here. Take it." [This happened long before BC days, but I like to imagine a little running-book label inside anyway!]

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Aspirations Bistro and Bakery in Amherst, New Hampshire USA on Saturday, January 10, 2009

Released 15 yrs ago (1/10/2009 UTC) at Aspirations Bistro and Bakery in Amherst, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I plan to leave this book somewhere in or near the entrance of Aspirations Bistro and Bakery (they serve the most wonderfully buttery croissants, and authentic Cornish pasties as well!) between 2 and 3 this afternoon, as part of the BookCrossing "The Reader" challenge-and-contest based on Schlink's book The Reader and the film based on the book. (You can see the newsletter article about it here; more details below. And this forum thread shows the other books released for this challenge.) The theme of this release is pretty obvious - a book about recommending books to others!

Hope the finder enjoys the book - and the contest!

***

This book is a part of the BookCrossing "The Reader" Challenge: to find and release books that somehow relate to the award winning book “The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink. The movie based on the book opens January, 2009 (in the U.S.). Be sure to check your local theatres for listings.

As an added bonus, if you have found this book before February 22 and join BookCrossing, you can enter our The Reader contest. Simply attend a screening of The Reader and save your ticket stub. Print your screen name on the back of the stub and send it to BookCrossing: The Reader Contest at 323 Pine Street, Sandpoint, ID 83864. We will hold a drawing shortly after February 22, 2009 to determine the winners and you will be notified by email if you have won. One more reason to sign up for BookCrossing today! (Full details available online at www.bookcrossing.com. )

Journal Entry 3 by giadeva from Amherst, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, January 11, 2009
I had lunch at Aspirations Bistro in Amherst, NH and saw the book leaning on a shelf on the way out. I noticed the "I'm Free" sticky and took another look. My curiosity was what it was all about - the sticky that is. As I looked the book and sticky over I thought the book looked great, so I took it. I was wondering on the drive home what this was REALLY about... when I visited the bookcrossing.com site I was intrigued and excited - very cool idea. I'm looking forward to reading this book, re-releasing it into the wild, releasing some of my books and having fun.

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