Basically what the title says: Is there any fiction book you’ve ever read that has emotionally or intellectually connected with you so much it changed the way you viewed the world, changed the way you viewed yourself or changed the way you viewed life (your own or in general)?
If so…
- What book was it?
- Why did it connect so well with you?
- How did it make you feel?
- And how did it change you?
Just to emphasize, I’m solely asking about works of fiction here. So nothing like reading just an academic book on philosophy or a self-help book or something.
It’s ElfQuest for me too! After years of admiring the front cover and asking about every character in the cast photo on the back cover of my aunt’s Donning editions of the Original Quest, at 7 I was finally allowed to save up my allowance to special order a volume of my own from WaldenBooks. (I bought the first 3 Father Tree Press hardcovers this way… then received 4-8 for Christmas!)
So many moments in the Original Quest had a profound effect on how I see the world. At the end of the day I feel like it’s a series about seeking to understand and accept others; that we all have good qualities and bad qualities, circumstances and reasons. That there will be times of struggle and hardship as well as times of happiness and plenty, and we should endeavor to be present and make the most of all of them.
I still have that copy I bought as a kid. (And the Donning and Dark Horse editions of the Original Quest… and I’d like to get the Archives and Gallery editions, too.) Maybe it’s time for a re-read.