Besides the scriptures, what book/books has/have had the most significant impact on your life? Why?
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Besides the scriptures, what book/books has/have had the most significant impact on your life? Why?
“Being the Mom: 10 Coping Strategies I Learned By Accident Because I Had Children on Purpose” by Emily Watts.
It is my go-to guide for motherhood. I read it from cover-to-cover at least four times each year. I love her humor, her wisdom, her encouragement, and the way she picks the most important things to focus on and is okay with letting some other things go. (My husband calls it “The Slacker Mom Book”, but he clearly hasn’t read it.) 🙂
Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. I love this book!
Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian. A young-adult fiction about the things that happen in our lives and how the choices we make effect us. Very powerful. I read it regularly ~ with a box of tissues!
I had to think about this one a bit. I haven’t read anything life altering lately.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare. I read this in High School and had a really good english teacher. I really got into it (saw the play twice). I then took a Shakespeare class in college and really have found a lot of good quotes and examples in his plays.
Jane Eyre. Jane was such a good example of keeping your standards even when your heart has strong desires. She could have easily chosen to go off and live with Mr. Rochester, but she chose to stick to her standards and morals.
Secret Garden. I read this as a kid and then again a few times as an adult. I love how Mary changes. How both she and the garden are unloved and untended. Once they find each other and she begins to love it, the garden blooms as well as herself.
I have read Jesus the Christ, but still don’t understand much of it. I have wanted to read the Nibley books, but just don’t have time right now. I guess from a church standpoint, I don’t get into a lot of LDS literature, but I enjoyed Infinite Atonement.
My list is too long, but here are a couple of my favorites for now:
Religious: Believing Christ by Stephen Robinson — helped me understand the Atonement of the Savior better than I ever had before.
Also, Forgiving Ourselves by Wendy Ulrich. I have tended to be hard on myself my whole life, and this book has helped me look at myself, at God’s plan, and at the Atonement in new and powerful ways.
Relationship: Anatomy of Peace, by the Arbinger Group. Simply lifechanging. I think it should be required reading for all people. 🙂
Also, Bonds that Make us Free — similar to the above, although for me was more theoretical. Anatomy of Peace brought the principles home in a really tangible way.
One more along those lines (a Christian book), was Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.
Fiction: I enjoyed Harry Potter a lot. While I wouldn’t consider it life-altering, I found a lot of really meaningful content. I am not one to read much fiction (I’ve joined a book group with my friends in large measure because I would rarely read fiction w/o their encouragement), but I finished this whole series. It was also fun because my children fell in love with reading thanks to Harry Potter, so that was a common experience we could share. In that sense, Harry Potter was life-altering because I didn’t have to do much to get my kids to love reading, thanks to J.K. Rowling. 🙂
A book that changed my life is Becoming Women of Strength by Peggy McFarland & Cheryl Carter. I haven’t been back to it in a while. When I read it I felt parts of the gospel opened up to me like I had never understood before. I knew that I could be a woman of strength regardless of the choices of those around me. It came along at the right time in my life.
Another book that greatly effected me is My Antonia by Willa Cather. I read it in high school when it opened my eyes to the kind of fiction makes a heart sing. Never before had I encountered literature that made me feel that way, like Willa really opened up her heart to write. Since that time, I think I have always secretly wanted to write, hoping to come close to what I found in Willa Cather.