Books that change lives

Cherry31416
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:46:43 +0000

Catcher in the Rye, hands down. Read it when I was 12 and it really caused me to question the validity of grown-up “phonies” who think they’re right about everything “because I said so” and because I should look at them and “respect their authoritahh!” :D

I did a project on the theme of star-crossed/ill-fated/different-worlds lovers that included cases from films as well as books. Twilight (just the book – won’t go anywhere near the film) was one I had to stomach through just for the “current” example; the book itself is awful but the premise is sort of unique, in that Romeo is already dead. Among films, I included West Side Story and Say Anything (which has a happy ending and a kickass 80s soundtrack – Peter Gabriel for the win!). lol But there’s also the disturbing, tragic love story of Winston and Julia in 1984, fighting for love in a world where it just doesn’t exist.

If you want a real eye-opening, mind-blowing experience read On the Road or Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Anything either Beat Generation or '60s counterculture is a trip in itself. :D

I tried to read Tropic of Cancer when I was 12, just to see what all the fuss was always about. It was mentioned on an episode of Seinfeld, and at that age, you’re curious to see what makes a dirty book so “dirty.” (Thinking of things we shouldn’t read, that’s a lyric from a Panic at the Disco song – but it’s one of the main themes of major dystopian literature too.) 'Course, my mom read a passage or two and marched me right back to the library to bring it back. She probably wouldn’t have reacted as badly if she’d found drugs in my room as anything having to do with S-E-X. As such, because of my upbringing, I’m now horribly repressed as an adult, and will never be a rebel from the waist down – because from the neck up, I’ve got an over-the-shoulder Bowdler holder! ;)