What book changed your life?

Call me paranoid, but I always see this question as a trap.  It means you are about to be judged on your literary taste, so you'd better come up with an obscure but significant work of literature - like a poem by Rilke (quick! what's his full name?).  What I come up with is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.


As a child, I read and re-read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and its sequels countless times, and wanted nothing more than to find my own way to Narnia.  I spent a portion of my childhood trying to get to Narnia through closets, cabinets, laundry nooks, and even the cracks between sofa cushions. This book opened my imagination and introduced me to other worlds.  


When I re-read this book as an adult, I found the various undertones to be inspiring and thought provoking. Yet the kid in me still hopes to find my way to Narnia.

Characters - you gotta love them...or do you?

Can we enjoy a book without liking it's characters?  It's hard to get into a book when characters are unlikeable.  Am I alone on this one?

1.  Can a bad character ruin a good book?

2.  Do you like books with unlikable characters?

3.  If a character is unlikeable, could it be intentional on the part of the author?

"Can you really say you've read a book when you've only listened to it?

Here is a question I came across I want to put out there and see what other readers think:  "Can you really say you've "read" a book when you've listened to it?  Does listening count as "reading" - and does it work for a book club discussion?"

My Answer:  I think so.  At least we get through the book, right?   In a busy life, that counts for something.  But on the other hand, when I listen to a book, I'm usually multi-tasking, which means the book doesn't have my full attention.  When we "read", we read at our own pace, we ponder, we re-read, maybe we jot down a note.  This is hard to do with an audio book or especially if you are listening while driving.  And if we get together for a discussion, it's easy for everyone to turn to a particular passage on a particular page, not something you can do with an audio book.

An argument I received via email states, "A narrator's voice can unfairly influence how we experience a book.  And, our memories work better when reading rather than listening.  Which is especially true for adults and older students.

My advice:  Enjoy an audio book whenever you feel like it - but read a printed version whenever you can!