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Discussion: 30 Books That Have Affected Me The Most


This weeks discussion was inspired/clearly stolen from the awesome Cait over at Notebook Sisters. After seeing Epic Reads list of the 30 books that had changed their view of the world, Cait decided to do her own and you can find that here. I then decided that I would love to share my own list with you all, mainly because it combines two great loves of my life - books and lists. 

Now I have changed mine to books that have affected me the most because that one was easier to explain than the ones that have changed my view on the world. That's mainly because I also wanted to include books I didn't love and that affected me in a negative way rather than a positive.

Be warned, this posts shall have gifs aplenty because, let's be honest, I'm a little obsessed with the moving lil' buggers.

I am not going to explain all my picks because there are 30 of them and, well...


Now onto the pretties! 


Narrowing this list down to just 30 books was actually really hard. I had a list of 56 books that I wanted to put on here but wanted to keep my list to a nicer, more manageable 30 books. So, how do you pick between them. Some were ones I wanted on here because I loved them so much, others because I loathed them so much that I wanted to throw them out my window and some because they made me a sobbing wreck. So, how do you even begin to narrow them down. Well, head tried to think about it logically and choose a nice selection of books that covered all those things. My heart... well when asked to choose it mostly did this:


I respected my heart for this, the heart knew that all the books should be on here. Brain was just being a spoilsport and making me choose, be decisive and what not. I suck at that! So me and brain had a falling out, me and heart agreed and smugly sat with our list of 56 books for a while, feeling like we'd won. Brain celebrated twenty minutes later when I decided I couldn't be bothered to hunt down all 56 covers. Brain: 1 Heart: 0 

I wouldn't just show you my 30 books without giving you an explanation for at least some of them. So here we go. 
It made the list 




Come on, does it even need an explanation. It's Harry Potter!!! This was a life changing book, life changing series, life changing characters and everything else. These books were such a huge part of my childhood and I can't even imagine my childhood without these in it. How dull would that childhood have been? So dull I would probably have died from boredom. This was The Book, The Series, The World & The Characters. It was everything and more. These books will always be my favourites, no other book or series could ever provide me with the magical experience that I got from reading these. I had to be at the midnight release of all the books because I had to stay up all night reading them so I could find out what happened. I don't think I've come across fictional characters that I have cared more for than the selection in this. Their deaths actually felt like I had lost someone I loved. Seriously, I cried more at some of the deaths in HP than I have at actual peoples deaths in my actual life. Don't judge me. Okay, you can judge me but please do it quietly. 

What Deathly Hallows did to me:




The Cat in the Hat is a book that I always remember being read to me as a child. This was the book I remember learning to read with. I loved the story so much that I made my mum read it over and over again. Eventually, I had learnt the whole book off by heart and could recite it on the way home from playgroup without needing the book. Once I started learning to read this became ridiculously useful and this became one of the first books I could read entirely on my own, with no help. You've got to love Dr Seuss. 




All these books:
awesome animated GIF

I am a complete sucker for a good book series but there are only a few series that I have completely fallen in love with. The Hunger Games started my absolute love for dystopian novels. As soon as I had finished the first book I began hunting down as many dystopians as I could find and started reading them all. His Dark Materials is unbelievable, I remember how amazed I was by Northern Lights when I got to the end of the book. It had such a unique story and this book made me so sad that daemons don't exist, I need a daemon in my life. Noughts and Crosses is a series I wish was more widely known because it's truly an exceptional book series. I am so excited by the prospect that their is a 5th book in the works; I might actually die of happiness if that happens. 





Yup, I am one of those people who love books who can reduce me to gross, uncontrollable tears. That is a sign of a good book to me because I know it made me care. I have to really care about a book for it to get those kind of tears from me. I feel like I should probably have just felt intense anger and have the sense that I had been cheated by the end of My Sister's Keeper, but I sobbed like crazy. I was angry and I did feel cheated but no book had made me such a sobbing wreck before other than Harry Potter. Forbidden is a book that feels completely unique. It's the first time I have come across a young adult book that deals with the taboo storyline of a brother and sister who fall in love. People always look at me strange when I recommend this to them but, until you read it, you can't understand how superbly written and strangely beautiful this book is. Oh, and did I mention that it's completely soul destroying? The Time Traveller's Wife... I can't even start on that book. Heart = irreparably broken. 





These are the books that I just wanted to throw out my bedroom window. I found them all to be hugely disappointing and if I could turn back time and never read them then I would. Fangirl was a book that I was expecting to love because it had a ridiculous hype surrounding it. It did not live up to it at all. I didn't like the characters, the story(what story?) made me want to fall asleep and the fanfiction parts were utterly pointless. Not. A. Fan! How I Live Now put me off ever reading anything else by the author. Allegiant  was rage inducing because it was the most disappointing ending to a book series that I have EVER read. It was just dull from beginning to end, with so many plot holes and aspects that just made 0 sense. I could not handle that book at all. 


 

Those endings!

These two books both blew my mind because I did NOT see those endings coming. Even in Dangerous Girls, where I had my suspicions, the author cast suspicion onto everybody and it was hard to not suspect everybody. We Were Liars was just a beautiful, amazing, extraordinary book and the ending had me sobbing at work and trying to figure out what I had missed while reading. Loved both, two of my favourite reads of the year so far. 


What books would make your list? Would any of mine?



One chance to win a Kindle Fire HDX, to enter go here.

You can also enter my June giveaway, where 3 winners have the chance to win any 2 of the books I have reviewed in 2014 so far. For full details go here.





My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal: 2/5 Review
Top Ten Tuesday: Summer TBR List
Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas:  4.5/5 Review
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: Maleficent 6/10 Film Review
Five Friday Favourites: Favourite Heroes
My Weekly Book Haul: 21/06/2014
Kindle Fire HDX June Giveaway
#scandal by Sarah Ockler: 2/5 Review



24 comments:

  1. Dangerous Girls and We Were Liars blew my mind too!! Maybe not in the best ways... but very memorable. I don't think I'll ever forget how much I enjoyed the entire ride of Dangerous Girls. I also LOVED My Life Next Door, The Lovely Bones, To All the Boys, and The Time Traveler's Wife. And like most people, HP was VERY influential in my reading life. I SOBBED about you know who in The Half-Blood Prince... and threw my book across the room. The Cat in the Hat was my fav childhood book for a long long time. Dr. Seuss is amazing!! Great list :) Thanks for the giveaway!!

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    1. Yes, very memorable but We Were Liars did break my heart quite a bit. Dangerous Girls was one I couldn't put down, I actually read that in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. I love all the HP books but those deaths were just horrible, I cried so much I should be embarrassed, but I'm not. Dr Seuss is so awesome! ;)

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  2. I love your list and the reasons for adding the books you did. Clearly some of these I need to read and others, avoid altogether. ;)

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    1. Haha, exactly! I wish I had managed to avoid them. Stupid hypes!

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  3. Forbidden! Yeah, that book . . . taboo subject matter aside, it was just so beautiful. The writing was amazing

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    1. It really was. I have the authors latest book, Hurt, and can't wait to start that one and see if it's as amazing as the others.

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  4. All of the books! Wasn't Caits idea fantastic? Swear that girl is a whizz! This is wonderful though, some I expected, some I saw coming and others that surprised. I did kind of want to put Harry Potter on there, but I don't think it shaped me as the person I am today as much as some of the others; if it wasn't for Clockwork Angel, I wouldn't be here today, so yeah. There's books here I need to read, and get to, and others I wouldn't have considered, so it might be worth me checking them out. Fantastic post hunny! :D

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    1. She definitely is, I bet there were a ton more people who went off and did their own lists.Harry Potter had the biggest impact on my life over every other book, it will always be the one for me. I can't even describe all my love for those books and series and what they provided for me as a kid.

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  5. Ah, what a completely inspiring person I am. I CLAIM ALL THE CREDIT. (Hush, Epic Reads, hush...I'm having the credit here...) xD
    It's actually quite hard to pick out 30 books...like, exactly HOW life-changing must they be, and omg, what if one is forgotten?! I'm dying here because I forgot THG and I feel like a terrible bookworm for that. >-< I want to read Naughts and Crosses. Even more now. And Dangerous Girls! REALLY want to read that! Anyway, of course I absolutely love your list. ;)

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    1. I feel you should take all the credit, it was blatantly all your idea! ;)

      I know!! How are you supposed to narrow it down to just 30 books? That's not nearly enough. Noughts & Crosses is amazing, I love that series and always will. You NEED to read Dangerous Girls! Seriously, it has to happen :)

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  6. My Sister's Keeper…what an ending, I was not expecting it. Did you ever see the movie? Completely changed it of course. Time Traveler's Wife…one of my absolute favorite books, and yes, I cried.

    Allegiant…agree with you, filled me with rage. I try to pretend I didn't read it.

    I just got Dangerous Girls from the library so I should be reading it soon!

    And of course, Hunger Games and Harry Potter…amazing series. Fun post! ~Pam

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    1. I wasn't expecting that at all. I hated the movie because it changed the ending, even though when I was reading the book that's exactly how I wanted it to end.I guess I wanted that gut punch kind of feeling at the end and it was lacking in the film.

      I adore The Time Traveller's Wife, such a beautiful book and I cried so much at the end.

      I have blocked it out. It never happened!!!

      I hope you love it, I could not put that book down.

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  7. Great list! Now I want to make a top 30 list, lol.

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    1. DOOOOO IT! As soon as I saw Cait's it made me want to do my own, I know a few others did as well.

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  8. I ain't got time for that! That made me laugh! It's so awesome. :)
    Great list and now I have more books to read. :)

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    1. Well, my main goal in life is to make everybody else's tbr lists as long and never ending as my own!

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  9. Some amazing picks! And some I think I need to go read now! Been wanting to read We Were Liars! Heard so many great things.

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  10. Narrow down to thirty books? That does sound difficult. Whenever someone asks me what my favorite book is I never have an answer. I don't even think I can narrow it down... But I will agree with you that Harry Potter is by far ONE of my favorites :)

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    1. 30 was HARD!!!! I didn't think it would be as hard as it was, but it was so difficult.

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  11. The fault in our stars and Allegiant

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  12. It is amazing how many books are out there and gah these lists always make me feel so behind! lol I've not read any of those but the Cat in the Hat. ::snort:: Must. Read. Faster! Heh

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