I am always searching for “THE” book, and perhaps one that will change my life or at least how I look at the world.
I felt like I hit the mother-lode when I opened the New York Times and found this headline:
“The Book That Changed My Life: Our readers offer a heartfelt tribute to the power of the written word, paying homage to Orwell, Thoreau, Betty Friedan, Julia Child and Dr. Seuss, to name but a few.”
Here is how it began:
We asked readers to pick a book that influenced how they think, act or look at the world. The more than 1,300 responses cited hundreds of books, running the gamut from “Go, Dog. Go!” to Kierkegaard.
Many of the readers described how a book guided their spiritual development (“Be Here Now,” “The Violent Bear It Away”) or helped them through a difficult time in their lives (“The Color Purple,” “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” “Being Mortal”).
For others, a book changed how they looked at food (“Diet for a Small Planet,” “Fast Food Nation,” “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”) or war (“Catch-22,” “Johnny Got His Gun”) or love (“Normal People”). And for some, one book led to a lifelong love of the written word.
We thank one of our regular letter writers, William Cole, for suggesting this idea. It clearly struck a chord with our readers.
— SUSAN MERMELSTEIN and THOMAS FEYER, Letters Editors
Want to discover which books we are talking about? You can read the full piece here
