Books that Made A Difference...

"Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter."--Paxton Hood

"A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return."--Salman Rushdie, O Magazine, April 2003

I read O Magazine last week cover to cover (and don't ask me why I talk as if I read it only once a year!). It's thanks to the fact that it costs a price heavy enough to dig a hole in my pocket when I see it at the Galleria or other such places where you find foreign mags. I'd rather buy two books for the price of one mag (Hmm, books versus mags--a discussion for another day!).

Okay away from my rant. I was drawn by a magnetic pull to the 'Books that Made a Difference section'. The concept of books making a difference actually got me thinking--how much difference can a book make? Can it be drastic enough to make someone start a holy war or just a gentle nudge that makes one smile?

Having loved books for a great part of my life it's quite hard to tell. It usually seems that I love different books for different reasons. Hmm, difference? I've read books that have made a difference in my life, as it were but it's not as if I read them after reading the blurb and felt 'Whao this book has gotta make a difference!' Some were borrowed; others bought; some were gifts; some I can't even find again or remember where I read them. Sometimes, it's very much later, days, months or years even that an action, a situation, an attitude or a reaction gets me thinking about a certain character or some words written in a book. But I know of course that books make a difference.

Now you tell us--what books made a difference in your life? How and why? What appealled to you most about the books that makes you consider them your difference-making-books?

Read Jay z's Books that Made a Difference here.