The Book That Changed My Life by Roxanne J. Coady & Joy Johannesson, eds.
Posted by Anonymous
Reviewed by: José Beltrán
What I Read: The Book That Changed My Life by Roxanne J. Coady & Joy Johannesson, eds.
Find It @YCLD: Here!
What it’s About: The editors selected
72 authors' short essays about what book they themselves love that
changed their lives and ultimately inspired them to become famous authors in
their own right. The editors' Read to Grow Foundation is
a 100% donor-supported nonprofit organization that distributes free books
through volunteers to the needy. Roxanne J. Coady won the Publishers Weekly
Bookseller of the Year Award in 1995.
What I Thought: These essays cover the gamut of book
publishing. There are so many quotable passages in these essays from all walks
of life. You should read it just to select your own favorite quotes. Not only
did I come away with many quotes, but a large list of books to read, both by
these authors, and yes, from their favorite authors too.
The touching, moving “I Think I Can”
about The Little Engine That Could: Jeff Benedict recalls the many lessons his
single mom taught him from the stories she read to him each night.
Robert Ballard, deep-sea explorer and
bestselling author on the Titanic: the reason for being, raison d’être, is not the view at the end, but the act of becoming. “Life is the
act of becoming.” He is the founder of the Jason Project to mentor middle
school students by scientists from NASA, NOAA, DOE, and the National Geographic
Society.
“You could read the same text repeatedly
over time, and something fresh and new would declare itself with each reading”: Nichikas A. Basbanes on Shakespeare.
Chris Bhojalian: “I learned the comfort
that can be taken from the pages of a book, and the friendship that can be
found in a story.”
Da Chen, Chinese peasant to Wall Street
Investment Banker, wrote “I write because my heart demands so.”
Patricia Cornwell wrote on her ancestor
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin: “The original sin: the abuse of
power, the ultimate result which is enslavement, impoverishment, suffering, and
death."
Cuban exile Carlos Eire wrote: “Books have made me who I am". Carlos recommends three Spanish books: Tres
tristes tigres, Cien años de soledad, and Imitación De Cristo.
Robert Kurson wrote of Denial
of Death by Ernest Becker: "…started reading. By the time I got up, I viewed the
world differently, by the time I got up, I was a different person."
Yes,
politicians do read! Senator Joe Lieberman: “Every time you
read and learn …your life is changed dramatically over time as you continue
learning and thinking." Senator John McCain wrote “For Whom the Bell Tolls is
full of adventure, and fighting and romance…"
Sherwin B. Nuland: “Books are actually
the stuff of which dreams are made.”
Frenchman, Jacques Pepin wrote of The Myth
of Sisyphus by Albert Camus: “We must be
responsible for our actions.”
Ian Rankin: “There was no rating on books, anybody could
read anything.”
Lisa Scottoline: “Every book I read
changes me in some way… and that’s why books matter. Lisa on “Angela’s Ashes”
It breaks your heart and puts it back together again, but better”
Liz Smith on Voltaire: "I began to
question and seek".
Michael Stern as a country boy
was transported to unknown worlds by the Sears catalogue.
Frank McCourt tastes the words
from Shakespeare's Henry
VIII: "It's like having jewels in my mouth when I say the
words."
Readalikes: You've Got To Read This Book! by Jack Canfield, ed.
Or look this book up on NoveList!
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