Books that influenced me

I was watching another staff member browsing through a 1000 books to change your life edited by Jonathon Derbyshire and we got to discussing about books that had influenced us in the past. Having been an avid reader in my childhood and teens I really had to think hard about what book had influenced me in my life. When growing up my parents subscribed to the Readers Digest magazine – it would arrive monthly, I would first read all the jokes at the end of the articles, then the word testing page, then go on to read the articles and lastly read the summarized book at the back. I remember reading the books 83 hours till dawn about kidnapped victim Barbara Jane Mackle who was buried alive in a coffin like box and Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors.

Then my parents started subscribing to the Readers Digest condensed books, where 3 or 4 come in the one volume – well I worked my way through these. Some of the books I remember first reading this way are Jane Eyre, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Marie Curie, The last of the Mohicans and Friendly Persuasion. When an older teen we were on holidays at a friends place near Coffs Harbour, I had exhausted the books I had taken to read and was overjoyed to find an older set of the Readers Digest condensed books in the house, I spent the rest of my holidays immersed in these. From this time I remember reading Island in the Sun by Alec Waugh, To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite and of all things all about Luke the Physician
Some of the authors I was first introduced to through Reader Digest condensed books are: James Hilton, Taylor Caldwell, Paul Gallico, Irving Stone, Thor Heyerdahl, Nevil Shute, Ira Levin, Pearl S. Buck, James Herriot and James A. Michener.

- Louise

(Manly Library's book discussion group will look at 'Books that have influenced you most' in their January meeting.)