Dear Members,
It’s that time of year again…time for us to reflect on the joys of summer as we enter into the Fall season. The leaves are starting to turn, and there is color in the hills.
I like to sit back and enjoy the peace and quiet that this time of year offers, to be able to take stock of things and really think. Then I remember a good book that I have read, and want to read it again.
My favorite book of all time is Tolstoy’s War and Peace. To read it and understand the hardships that people went through in that era, and to try to fathom the depth of the characters in a war-torn foreign country. It comes across to me as more of a philosophical piece that really makes you think. About yourself, your loved ones, acquaintances and also those people we don’t care for or want in our lives.
What book has inspired you? Made you think? Please share your opinions, ideas and inspirations with us by adding your comments below.
As we head into Fall, I hope that you are finding peace and joy in the love of reading as much as I do.
Happy Reading!
Richard and
The PaperBackSwap Team
Tags: Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions
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I have several favorites that I return to again and again.
The first is Jane Eyre. To read about her hardships, her steadfast unwillingness to bow down, give up or to allow herself to be rescued by circumstances that would crush her spirit, is to put my own issues into perspective. Add the moors of England and her dramatic descriptions of both inner and outer landscapes, and you have my favorite “go to” book when I am feeling down.
Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at TInker Creek, like Mary Oliver’s poetry can make me catch my breath and remember how close to the Deepest Source we are when we spend time in the natural world.
Finally, when the fall rains begin and the world turns from sunshine to misty and cleansing rains, I always long for the poetry of Ryokan, and reread Basho’s Narrow Road to the Deep North. I can’t even tell you why, but the melancholoy loneliness that lacks all self- pity, the lovely images of bamboo forest dripping with rain on small isolated monkish huts matches my feelings during that season.
Thanks for asking. It was fun to think about this.
I love the Mitford series. I also just read War Room. Haven’t seen the movie yet. Loved the book.
When I was a teenager, I found two books to be inspirational. For its view of an idealistic future, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. A good friend gave me a copy; I passed on the favor by giving a copy to someone else. For the motivation to examine myself and my personal values in my teenage years, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Rorbert M. Persig. Zen has been described as one of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, and is another one that I bought for friends. Most recently, I’ve just finished Maybe, Crossings by Gretchen Eick, a novel about those shaped by the civil rights movement and about the next generation whose world is very different. It is also about family–biological and adoptive, claimed and unclaimed. As we are currently re-examining inter-racial relations, I found it very timely and eye-opening.
I’d have to say the book that changed my life and continues to impact all my relationships is “Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament Types” by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates. I can see clearly now!
I also have a great affinity for animals and Black Beauty was the first eye-opener in that field.
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Gave me insight into what damage slavery did to the African American sense of family which has taken generations to overcome.
Bookends by Liz Curtis Higgs is a book that stays with you afterwards. The diffrence in people of the same age witht the same faith,living in the same charming town. In many ways you will find yourself and family in this book along with a few friends. You will want to yell at them and then cheer for them..
Read in for yourself and see what you think.
I loved reading all the books that ive read this year (so far) , but the ones that stood out for me was Gracling and The undrowned child.
2 completely different stories but both which I totally loved. Gripping, page turners, romantic.
I couldn’t fault any. Hopefully next year I will have read more books just like these twoxxx
So inspirationalxx
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the first novel in the classic fantastic saga of adventure and magic.
16 Reasons Why was a book that really stayed with me. Even though it is young adult fiction it was really a book that looked at a serious issue: depression and suicide and the effect on the ones left behind.
The book that inspired me and made me feel adventurous was Moby Dick-The White Whale. The will to survive and the obsistion of vengence.
Believe it or not, the book I’ve gotten the most inspiration from is the dictionary. I read it cover to cover. Next in line was the thesaurus. As a kid I believed I didn’t need a formal education; armed with the right words I could get whatever I wanted. Well, that didn’t work! The dictionary is still my favorite book.
After obtaining a Physics PhD (equivalent) in the 30’s C. P. Snow started writing novels about sequential periods throughout his life. While maybe not equivalent to War and Peace his nine novels described his impression of the times and the people and issues of the period. The series is thoroughly enjoyable and slightly more accessible than W&P.
When I was in high school, many years ago, I was assigned to read The Diary of Anne Frank. I am embarrassed to say I knew very little about the Holocaust-and I could not believe what I was reading. I was so outraged! I badgered my teacher on why America did not do more to help. That book as always stuck with me.
bridges of Madison county……brought back great memories and emotions
I have loved many novels but have always returned to two, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and Pride and Prejudice from Jane Austin. Both are romantic stories but in differing points of view.
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. When I was going through difficult times in my marriage, lacking self-esteem and giving up on doing simple things that used to give me joy it was tough. I saw Ms. Gilbert on Oprah and just connected with her. I quickly bought her book, read it in days and it truly changed my outlook on my life. I’ve since divorced, enrolled back in college and focus on my college-aged children and myself. What an amazing change this book has given me…kind of saved me. I haven’t travelled as much as Ms. Gilbert but after I receive my MBA I plan on it.
I love little women and the book by anne bronte I forgot the name , but it was great. also farhenheight 451 becuase it is about burning books which is a travesty.
‘the agony & the ectasy’- read so many times book is falling apart- such an incredible artist/sculpture
The Book Called Help Me To Live Right Written By Kenneth Moses Mitchell is sent from above. Love at first read. It’s the truth about our life here in Earth. The Teacher is here in my heart and mind through the reading of Help Me To Live Right Written By Kenneth Moses Moses is NOTHING wrong but all right now. Get the love of your life when you read the book sent to the world.
The Book Called Help Me To Live Right Written By Kenneth Moses Mitchell is sent from above. Nothing but Love and at first read. It’s the truth about our life here in Earth. The Teacher is here in my heart and mind through the reading of Help Me To Live Right Written By Kenneth Moses Moses is NOTHING wrong but all right now. Get the love of your life when you read the book of life.
The book I remember having a great impact on me is one I read in 7th grade. It was called “Over My Dead Body” and was a story about a girl who broke her back and about the body cast she lived in for several months. It just struck me all the things we take for granted. The first time they changed her cast and cleaned all the loose bits of plaster and debris out of it and she commented on how good it felt, so smooth and more comfortable. I don’t have any idea who wrote the book and that was a long time ago as I have been out of High School for 40 years now. I doubt if it is even around any more. I just remember as a young teenager that the book fascinated me and created an interest in the field of medicine which I followed for several years after I graduated.
One of the books that impressed me most of all the books I’ve read, and they number in the many hundreds by now, was The Cry and the Covenant. Written way back in the forties, but still wonderful reading today, it’s the fictionalized biography of Ignaz Phillip Semmelweiss, the father of antiseptic medicine. His particular obsession was with Puerperal Fever, commonly known as “childbed fever.” As a young man he had lost his beloved wife to this disease and was wildly determined to find the origin and the cure for it. At the time, simple cleanliness and careful washing of the doctors’ hands during delivery and aftercare of the mother, were unheard of . Dr. Semmelweiss was driven to insanity by his inability to convince any of his colleagues to listen to his theories. A strange twist of fate caused the brilliant doctor to die from the same bacteria after suffering a simple cut finger. A heart wrenching and fascinating story which, while fictionalized for drama’s sake, was nevertheless basically true.
Many books have inspired me over the years, but three really stand out. EXODUS by Leon Uris showed me peoples struggles for freedom. Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbourne (?) Had a huge impact in understanding the Civil Rights movement. Don’t laugh, but the book with the biggest impact was Dick And Jane! It taught me that there was a whole world out there just waiting for me! I have been an avid reader since !
I just finished listening to Cry The Beloved Country on CD. The story moved my heart over & over as I heard the words of the 2 key men building a relationship of love & support that broke the social norms @ that time in history. It encouraged & challenged me to build relationships of love in my life that truly meet others in their need not mine. The book made a historical statement that runs true even today. Read it & be challenged & enlightened.
Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air, Into the Wild among his best and most famous works) has long been one of my favorite authors. I chose to not read his “Where Men Win Glory” when it was published because of my anti-war views and USA’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan during George W. Bush’s presidency. The book’s about NFL player Pat Tillman’s death from “friendly fire” in Afghanistan. I am now about 2/3 of the way through it and it has moved me more than any book ever has. Tillman’s character and the way he thought will having me re-reading the book over and over.