Finally found a summer project I can jibe with...

 
Yesterday my mum and I were talking about what I should do between New Years and March, when I go back to uni. I mean, obviously the job thing hasn't paid off because I haven't heard from anyone regarding my applications and stuff, so really I just have to find something to fill my time. Anyway, the suggestion was that I make a list of the ten or so books that I have either always wanted to read, or always felt that I should read. A great idea on its own, definitely, but we kept talking and this idea turned into something more interesting and vaguely important...

The project is this: I am going to ask as many of the people I know (or care about) what the book that has most shaped or influenced them is and then I'm going to compile a list of the books -- what the book is and whose suggestion it was. From there I'll choose between ten and twenty of the titles and read them all between New Years and March 1st (or whatever the date is that I go back to uni). I think the general idea is that this will give me something to do; Read the books, hope to see what other people have seen in them, blog about them, lol, and it will also give me a chance to get to know the people that surround me...Surely you all know how much someone's books say about them, yes? I'm also going to spend a couple of hours each day during that period writing and getting back to my own fiction (meh, surely fanfic counts?!) as well as working out an hour a day to get my body healthy again.

So that's the idea, flist :) And considering how much more I communicate with you motley crew than I do with some people IRL, this question is certainly open to you:

Which is the book that has most influenced or shaped who you are? I'm talking about most meaningful books, NOT favourite books (sometimes the same thing, sometimes not). I want you to tell me why or how it was meaningful to you and how long ago you read it. Tell me about the impact it had on you.

Like I said, I'm going to keep track of each book and who suggested it and I'm going to make a list. When I have them all, I'll let you all know, and when the final list is compiled, you all will know about that too, lol. I have a feeling that there's going to be a whole lot more blogging going on here. I'll try not to flood you guys :P