The Books That Changed My Life

Reflections by 100 Authors, Actors, Musicians, and Other Remarkable People

Bethanne Patrick

• Publisher: Regan Arts.
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781941393659
• eBook ISBN: 9781942872290
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Writing & Presentation Skills
• Index: Literature

One hundred of today’s most prominent literary and cultural icons talk about the books that hold a special place in their hearts—that made them who they are today.

Leading authors, politicians, CEOs, actors, and other notables share the books that changed their life, why they love them, and their passion with readers everywhere. Regan Arts has teamed up with the literary charity 826National, which will receive a portion of the book’s proceeds to provide students ages 6–18 with opportunities to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills.

Contributors include Al Roker, Carl Hiaasen, Dave Eggers, Emma Straub, Eric Idle, Fay Weldon, Fran Lebowitz, Gillian Flynn, Gregory Maguire, Jeff Kinney, Jim Shepard, Laura Lippmann, Lev Grossman, Liev Schreiber, Margaret Atwood, Mayim Bialik, Nelson DeMille, Rosanne Cash, Susan Orlean, Tim Gunn, and Tommy Hilfiger, among others.

CONTENTS

Introduction by Bethanne Patrick

Diana Abu-Jaber on “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

Heather B. Armstrong on The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Margaret Atwood on Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Gina Barreca on Remember Me by Fay Weldon

Louis Bayard on David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Mayim Bialik on Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

Robin Black on The Diary of Alice James

Amy Bloom on The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies

Deborah Blum on The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam

Gesine Bullock-Prado on Der Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffmann

Keith Carradine on The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow

Maud Casey on Man in the Holocene by Max Frisch

Rosanne Cash on Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Otis Chandler on Dune by Frank Herbert

Ron Charles on Straight Man by Richard Russo

Alexander Chee on The Quest for Christa T. by Christa Wolf

Alan Cheuse on Ulysses by James Joyce

Caldecot Chubb on The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake

Sofia Coppola on The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Cat Cora on The Art of Eating by M. F. K. Fisher

Douglas Coupland on The Andy Warhol Diaries

Peter Coyote on The Odyssey by Homer

Lt. General Flora Darpino, US Army Judge Advocate General, on The Best American Short Stories 2009

Kenneth C. Davis on A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Tom Davis on The Emerging Republican Majority by Kevin Phillips

Nelson DeMille on Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Liza Donnelly on A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Dave Eggers on Herzog by Saul Bellow

Gillian Flynn on The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Amanda Foreman on Animal Farm by George Orwell

Martin Frost on The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore White

Tavi Gevinson on Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders by Lawrence Weschler

Lev Grossman on Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Tim Gunn on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee

Carla Hall on The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Tony P. Hall on the Bible

Jacob Hemphill on The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Juan Felipe Herrera on the poetry of Federico García Lorca

Dan Hesse on The Republic by Plato

Carl Hiaasen on Car by Harry Crews

Tommy Hilfiger on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Eric Idle on Life-Changing Books

Mira Jacob on The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Beverly Johnson on John Adams by David McCullough

Piper Kerman on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Porochista Khakpour on Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys

Arleigh Kincheloe on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Lily King on It’s Not the End of the World by Judy Blume

Jack Kingston on How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger

Jeff Kinney on Inside the Box by Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg

Julie Klam on Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk

Nicholas Kristof on Four Essays on Liber...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Introduction by Bethanne Patrick
• Diana Abu-Jaber on "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
• Heather B. Armstrong on "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson
• Margaret Atwood on "Grimm’s Fairy Tales"
• Gina Barreca on "Remember Me" by Fay Weldon
• Louis Bayard on "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens
• Mayim Bialik on "Hopscotch" by Julio Cortázar
• Robin Black on "The Diary of Alice James"
• Amy Bloom on "The Deptford Trilogy" by Robertson Davies
• Deborah Blum on "The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam"
• Gesine Bullock-Prado on "Der Struwwelpeter" by Heinrich Hoffmann
• Keith Carradine on "The Book of Daniel" by E. L. Doctorow
• Maud Casey on "Man in the Holocene" by Max Frisch
• Rosanne Cash on "Little House on the Prairie" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Otis Chandler on "Dune" by Frank Herbert
• Ron Charles on "Straight Man" by Richard Russo
• Alexander Chee on "The Quest for Christa T." by Christa Wolf
• Alan Cheuse on "Ulysses" by James Joyce
• Caldecot Chubb on "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" by William Blake
• Sofia Coppola on "The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Cat Cora on "The Art of Eating" by M. F. K. Fisher
• Douglas Coupland on "The Andy Warhol Diaries"
• Peter Coyote on "The Odyssey" by Homer
• Lt. General Flora Darpino, US Army Judge Advocate General, on "The Best American Short Stories 2009"
• Kenneth C. Davis on "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce
• Tom Davis on "The Emerging Republican Majority" by Kevin Phillips
• Nelson DeMille on "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
• Liza Donnelly on "A Room of One’s Own" by Virginia Woolf
• Dave Eggers on "Herzog" by Saul Bellow
• Gillian Flynn on "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
• Amanda Foreman on "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
• Martin Frost on "The Making of the President 1960" by Theodore White
• Tavi Gevinson on "Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders" by Lawrence Weschler
• Lev Grossman on "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett
• Tim Gunn on "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee
• Carla Hall on "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein
• Tony P. Hall on the Bible
• Jacob Hemphill on "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• Juan Felipe Herrera on the poetry of Federico García Lorca
• Dan Hesse on "The Republic" by Plato
• Carl Hiaasen on "Car" by Harry Crews
• Tommy Hilfiger on "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson
• Eric Idle on Life-Changing Books
• Mira Jacob on "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
• Beverly Johnson on "John Adams" by David McCullough
• Piper Kerman on "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll
• Porochista Khakpour on "Good Morning, Midnight" by Jean Rhys
• Arleigh Kincheloe on "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
• Lily King on "It’s Not the End of the World" by Judy Blume
• Jack Kingston on "How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling" by Frank Bettger
• Jeff Kinney on "Inside the Box" by Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg
• Julie Klam on "Marjorie Morningstar" by Herman Wouk
• Nicholas Kristof on "Four Essays on Liberty" by Isaiah Berlin
• Lisa Lampanelli on "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Fran Lebowitz on How Reading Is Her Life
• Yiyun Li on "Dream Tales and Prose Poems" by Ivan Turgenev
• Laura Lippman on "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov
• Sarah MacLean on "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Gregory Maguire on "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
• Judith Martin on "The Image" by Daniel Boorstin
• Alexander McCall Smith on "Collected Shorter Poems" by W. H. Auden
• Elizabeth McCracken on "Borrowed Time" by Paul Monette
• Gail McGovern on "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss
• David Mitchell on "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami
• Brad Meltzer on "Justice League of America" #150
• Kate Mulgrew on "The Country Girls" by Edna O’Brien
• Celeste Ng on "Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzhugh
• Susan Orlean on "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
• Ruth Ozeki on "The Pillow Book" by Sei Shonagon
• Carolyn Parkhurst on "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
• Richard Peabody on "At Swim-Two-Birds" by Flann O’Brien
• Nancy Pearl on "A Gay and Melancholy Sound" by Merle Miller
• Jodi Picoult on "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
• Gerald Richards on "The Autobiography of Malcolm X"
• Melissa Rivers on "The Story of Ferdinand" by Munro Leaf
• Al Roker on "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Richard Russo on "Pudd’nhead Wilson" by Mark Twain
• Saïd Sayrafiezadeh on "Krapp’s Last Tape" by Samuel Beckett
• John Scalzi on "The People’s Almanac" by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace
• Elissa Schappell on "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
• Liev Schreiber on "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy
• Jim Shepard on the collected works of J. D. Salinger
• Rebecca Skloot on "Literary Journalism" by Mark Kramer and Norman Sims
• Karin Slaughter on "Mystery and Manners" by Flannery O’Connor
• Andrew Solomon on "Rootabaga Stories" by Carl Sandburg
• Sree Srinivasan on "Tales from Shakespeare" by Charles and Mary Lamb
• R.L. Stine on "Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi
• Emma Straub on "Lunch Poems" by Frank O’Hara
• Peter Straub on "Look Homeward, Angel" by Thomas Wolfe
• J. Courtney Sullivan on "Nora Ephron Collected"
• Plum Sykes on "Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh
• Glenn Taylor on "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
• Terry Tempest Williams on "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner
• Vu Tran on "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C. S. Lewis
• Luis Urrea on "Cup of Tea Poems" by Issa
• Jess Walter on "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez
• Sarah Waters on "The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter
• Fay Weldon on Not Accumulating Books
• Kate White on "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L’Engle
• Meg Wolitzer on "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
• Sunil Yapa on "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
• Acknowledgments
• About the Editor
• Copyright