10 Books that Affected Me

Got tagged by Asian Pear for the 10 books that affected me.

I love this idea!

Umm.. I do have to say that when I read “books” I take it to mean “series” in some of them because you can’t just read ONE book in the series and call it a day.

You need to read the entire series so I treated them as such:

1. LONE WOLF AND CUB SERIES

I love manga.

I don’t read much of it these days but I’ve read manga since I was 7 and this series in particular is all about honour, redemption, respect and teaching the morals of Japanese life (not to mention, the incredible sword fighting) which I found fascinating.

It truly affected me and shaped the way I saw the world as I grew up to the point where I became enamoured with Japan and everything about its culture (not to mention the food as well). I think it also shaped the way I acted and thought in many ways.

It’s a pretty adult series. I didn’t read it until I was 15 because I was scared of the artwork on the covers (a lot of blood), but I’d let Baby Bun read it when he’s old and mature enough to understand it.

2. ATLAS SHRUGGED

I read this sometime in 2006 I think. Something about the way Rand wrote, her choice of words, that rather interesting relationship between Henry and Dagny, all of it worked for me.

I can’t say I 100% believe in her philosophy entirely but I enjoyed this book greatly and felt very moved by it; partly by the idea of people getting paid fair wages for fair work.

A lot of people find her work polarizing and I can respect that, but the one thing I did like was the general idea of equality for all, man or woman.

3. THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR

This is obviously on my list of the Only Personal Finance Books You’ll Ever Have to Read, and I read it right after graduating college. I realized that being $60,000 in debt was no joke, and I had no idea how to budget or do anything with money.

Just reading this book, totally opened the world of personal finance to me.

Again, a polarizing book.

Some hate it, some love it. I am one of the ones who loved it because I had my eyes opened to the idea that being frugal was the key to success, not winning millions in a lottery like I had been taught by my parents, or making a huge amount of money.

4. HARRY POTTER SERIES

Again, a great series for children that is surprisingly adult with a lot of themes around love, death, honour and so on.

Pretty much everyone has read this series and loved it, so I won’t go into detail, but it certainly affected me. Now I look around and think about what the world could be like if it was HP’d.

5. CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC

I just really really loved reading a book about shopping. Hearing descriptions of clothing, the way you feel in it.. that’s absolutely what I was always thinking when I went shopping or played in my closet and to have it written down and staring back at me as a reflection was satisfying.

I had no idea “chick lit” existed until I read this book and from there, I kind of branched off into the rest of the series but into other chicklit genres… but in the end, I always keep coming back to Kinsella’s work.

Her writing is spot on for me. (I also liked the theme of personal finance woven throughout it.)

6. THE BELGARIAD & MALLOREON SERIES WITH BELGARATH & POLGARA

So there a lot of books in this “series” but it’s the first set of “adult” fiction I had ever read. It got me started on fantasy fiction and I’ve never looked back. These books are like old friends to me. I love picking one of them, just flipping to a random page and re-reading stories I know so well.

Again, strong themes of work ethic, discipline, honour… Eddings is a fantastic writer. I couldn’t get into his other books but this series was all I needed as a young child.

7. THE KITE RUNNER

A painful book to read.

At the end (and even now) I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ll be doing something, and a passage I read in the book will come back and haunt me.

When the writing is THIS GOOD, you can’t help but put it down as a book that has affected you. His other books affected me too, but this one, particularly as a new mother was more deeply embedded in my consciousness at the end.

8. GETTING TO 50/50 

I wish this was on the list of books every working woman and man should read.

 

If you are super rich and don’t need to work, you may not care about reading this, but if you work, you NEED to read this.

You don’t have to be a parent or to want kids to read this, but if you are in a relationship, I highly recommend it.

It gives great tips and advice, as well as different ways of looking at the dynamics in a couple and how it can really affect the way you handle being a partner and in a family.

9. THE HUNGER GAMES

I started this series while traveling Europe and couldn’t put it down. I had only picked up the first ebook but was SO DESPERATE to read the rest, I actually paid for the other two ebooks while on vacation.

Such a gripping read with a strong storyteller that brings you into a whole other world. It’s also another series similar to Harry Potter where I imagined what life would be if I was in Katniss’ world rather than mine.

10. SHERLOCK HOLMES

This series is what got me hooked onto detective fiction and TV series to begin with. Reading these stories as a young child, I loved the way Sherlock Holmes puzzled out everything with such precise logic.

From this series, I got into the TV series Castle, Law and Order, Elementary, Sherlock, Mr. Monk, and read series like Rizzoli and Isles, Mr. Monk and Nikki Heat / Derek Storm.