Couperwife Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 ok, back on this book thing, we have had the books you are reading / will recommend...books that make you laugh out loud.... but what book has stopped you in your tracks and make you think about stuff? Ive not long read Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, and really had to stop myself jumping on a plane to Pakistan and building a school or 2 , the story is about a man who tries to move heaven and earth to get better schooling for all of the small villages in and around Pakistan. its quite eye opening. Cathy x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 A Thousand Splendid Suns, just made me count my blessings and gave me an insight into what it must be like to live a war torn country as a civilian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 For me, the book that springs to mind is 'The L shaped room' by Lynne Reid Banks. I think it was written in the sixties, I would have read it in the seventies. For some reason it made me grow up & taught me not to be so judgmental. It showed that whilst first impressions are a good survival technique they're not always right & a little bit of trust goes a long way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Marple Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 A Thousand Splendid Suns, just made me count my blessings and gave me an insight into what it must be like to live a war torn country as a civilian. Have to agree with this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Good idea Cathy. The book for me was Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy who got me thinking about the concept of unfufilled ambitions and significance of having 'a dream' even if you never get to that dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Diceman, by Luke Rhinehart. I won't begin to suggest I advocate the book's central theme, but it did prompt me to ponder. A good read too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Sophie's Choice really made me stop and think. I hadn't seen the film and had no idea what it was about. I read it on holiday, perhaps not the best choice for a relax. It still gives me a chill. Just to clarify, this isn't something I'd ever thought about pre-reading the book, so strictly speaking it hasn't made me consider things differently! However, the idea of ever having to consider such a choice makes me feel ill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 When I read Bad Science by Ben Goldacre I thought, "How wonderfully put.......everybody should read it!!" It's a book criticising mainstream media reporting on health and science issues. Debunking at its best.......not for readers of The daily Mail though His description of creating a homeopathic solution had me roaring with laughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazard Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 A language for Ben by Julie Fletcher. a mothers fight to have her deaf son taught through sign language when the authoritys want him to speak , it made me think how lucky i am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 A book I have mentioned here a few times ' The Household Guide to Dying' by Debra Adelaide made me rethink my views on dying & death. I read it around the time of the terminal diagnosis of a relative, & it truly made me think about death in a different way. It is a seriously funny book & I would recommend it to all. Likewise the amazing 'The Five People you meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom I have just read 'Room' & that has made me think too,about our perceptions of the world. Not everyones cup of tea,but 'The Da Vinci Code' I found fascinating & it set firmer in my mind my views on religion & faith. Other thought provoking reads for me include 'the Time Travellers Wife', 'One Day', 'The Red Tent', 'The Memoirs of a Geisha','The Help','I Know why the Caged Bird Sings', 'The other Boleyn Girl', 'A thousand splendid suns', 'the life of Pi', 'The Beach','The Kite Runner'...................these all made me re evaluate what I thought I knew about the era/country/lifestyle they are set in,hopefully showing me that there is more than the very basic knowledge about these things than we learn at school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 As well as a lot of the others listed, particularly Room & The Help, Birdsong made me really consider what the men went through in the first world war. The description of the Battle of the Somme is just heartbreaking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 All Quiet on the Western Front - I read it at about 15 and it really got to me. recently I've read Juliet Nicolson's books about life between WW1 and WWII, which are a fascinating look at a world now long-gone. fiction in the same period - Elizabeth Jane Howard's Casting Off series (4 books) are amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Ooh almost forgot The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time. You get right inside the head of the narrator who is autistic and it made me really understand the completely and utterly logical mindset of someone with that form of autism. By the end of the book I was thinking that he was the normal one and I was a bit weird! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadietoo Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 If I have to limit myself to just a few I suppose the one that really affected me first was The Catcher in the Rye, many years ago, and perhaps Holy Blood Holy Grail, which got there long before the Da Vinci code came along.....and I must not forget Johnathon Livingston Seagull..... My view of the world expanded by reading, amongst others, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche,(Biafra - I remember the conflict but was too young to understand why the crisis had come about), The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan, (a different view of WW2 and life in China), and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (India in the 70s (actually quite a bleak book imo) I think that almost every book I read changes the way I view the world afterwards, it's such a fabulous way to get an insight into life viewed through someone else's eyes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 oh yes, Catcher in the Rye! good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Ooh almost forgot The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time. You get right inside the head of the narrator who is autistic and it made me really understand the completely and utterly logical mindset of someone with that form of autism. By the end of the book I was thinking that he was the normal one and I was a bit weird! Yes,yes,yes - amazing book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 What a good thread - I loved Vernon God Little - it is a marmite book which caused a very heated debate at my book club. Loathed Diceman with a passion. Best however for a fresh viewpoint for me was "who moved my cheese" - I read it about 10 years ago, a bit old hat now, but good for realising that you have to adapt as life changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Chick Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Playing the Moldavians at Tennis by Tony Hawks Its a funny book, but a factual tale, which really makes you think twice about how lucky we are to live in the UK and should count our blessings when those with harder lives are more positive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henslaved Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell as a teenager. It opened my eyes wide to the working world I was about to enter . Wonderfully powerful book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 For me, the book that springs to mind is 'The L shaped room' by Lynne Reid Banks. I think it was written in the sixties, I would have read it in the seventies. For some reason it made me grow up & taught me not to be so judgmental. It showed that whilst first impressions are a good survival technique they're not always right & a little bit of trust goes a long way. I read this when I was about 13, it was the first book that I had read with a truely adult theme. I came from a very sheltered background and it made quite an impression on me. I have recently bought a copy and started to reread it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell as a teenager. It opened my eyes wide to the working world I was about to enter . Wonderfully powerful book. Ooh yes - that's on my list. Also in a similar vein 'Round About a Pound a Week' by Maud Pember Reeves, about poverty in London at the turn of the 20th century; made me understand why the NHS and the 'Welfare State' exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubereglu Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Never Let me Go, the new one by Paul Torday. It covered some really interesting ideas about us fighting in Afghanistan and the cause behind it and the forces people are experiencing. An odd book, but very good and it really got me to think about things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meezers Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Another one for Thousand Splendid Suns and also Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra. Long before them I read a set of books by Jean Sasson - Princess, Desert Royal and Daughters of Arabia. They tell the true story of a Saudi Princess who remains anonymous for reasons that quickly become obvious.They were published in the early 1990's and like most people I thought Saudis were all stinking rich and living the life of riley. This princess is very wealthy, but her lack of freedom, equality and human rights is appalling - wouldn't change places with her for one second. Some of the things she describes in the books had me in tears and still disturb me now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowberry Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 (edited) 'Join Me' by Danny Wallace. It's the story of his ad that he placed in a local paper that just said 'Join Me' with a PO Box address. Within a month hundreds of people were sending him their passport photos, teachers, vicars , pensioners, schoolchildren, mechanics...everyone! But what were they signing up to do? Well, eventually after Danny was proclaimed Leader, they organised themselves into the Karma Army and every Friday, we do at least one RAOK. This is a Random Act Of Kindness. It can involve no money or whatever you choose to spend on it, just as long as it's random & for someone else! 10 years on, Danny is still involved (somehow, he's a bit busy these days!) & people have meets all over the country. This morning I picked up the pensioners at the bus stop & drove them into town (I hope that's where they wanted to go ) REMEMBER: It's a collective, not a cult (their sometimes slogan!) Edited June 24, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoopsie Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Well this will probably make the most sense to the other midwives/nurses/Bertie McSquirty, but the one that changed (or rather enhanced) how I feel about work was Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin. I had the honour of meeting her last year and was inspired again. What an amazing lady. I advise anyone having a baby to read it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
