Can't say any books have changed by life, that I'm aware of, though there are books that have had strong impacts on me from the first time I read them-

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Little, Big - John Crowley
Steel Beach - John Varley
Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Lord Of The Rings - JRR Tolkien
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
Imajica - Clive Barker
Fuzzy Papers - H Beam Piper
The Talisman, The Stand, The Long Walk, and, The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King
The Alienist - Caleb Carr
Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury
Boy's Life, and Swan Song - Robert McCammon
The Plague Dogs, Watership Down - Richard Adams
The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan - Robert Shea, and Robert Anton Wilson
Clan Of The Cave Bear - Jane M Auel

Some short stories-

The Rats In The Walls - HP Lovecraft
The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks - Joe R Lansdale
The Father-thing - Philip K Dick

I'm waiting for the movie.

Hm, I was thinking science fiction for your list, but is it really more tilted toward horror? Have you read any of John Varley's short stories? Ever subscribed to IASFM?

I'm also a huge sci fi buff, yep, have read all of Varley's work. Haven't read it in awhile but I grew up on that magazine.

I used to subscribe to Asimov's (sp). I supposedly got it for my ex but I was the one who actually read it. LOL.

I should also throw in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series(as a kid that's what got me into the non-kid's books)

and Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

Lots of different books for different reasons. I'll mention a couple.

Many make me thankful for the life that I live. A sure testiment that people should never give up -even though Sylvia Plath did.

Glass Castle-Jannette Walls
The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath
A Boy Called It- Dave Pelzer

Always a good ploy.

Shoot, I wouldn't even know where to start. It's part of why I love books so much, is I always take something of them to heart.

Erica Jong's "Fear of Flying"..........I took it literally!!!!

angels in my hair is an amazing book. it really opened my eyes..and still does. life changing!! another was the book of man.. all about our genetics. much more intresting than any trashey novel..

I would have to say the greatest book I've ever read is "Man's Search For Meaning" by Victor Frankel. It made me realize that although there are problems in life sometimes things can always be much much worse.

Siddhartha- Hermann Hesse.
Novelised version of the life of the Buddha.

Tuesdays with Morrie ( Mitch Albom)
I wouldn't say that this book changed my life but it inspires me.

Never read a book that changed my mind.

But to be honest I have read very few books...

maybe my Terres Audubon Encylopedia

but really, it would be the Peterson series that really changed it because those were the books I'd take out into the field with me - particularly Eastern Birds & Wildflowers of N. A. and the Nat'l Geographic Birds of North America also

learned so much from them - they completely transformed how I see the planet

As weird as it is, 'The Celestine Prophecy' changed my views on life. It made me look at the world in a totally different way! An awesome book ,I would recommend it to anyone and everyone! :)

Not weird at all..great book!

Shogun, We(Мы), The Road To Serfdom, Anatomy of The State