What books have inspired you?

[Jodi]

Are there any books that have ever truly inspired you? It can be a children's book but doesn't have to. For me...one of my all time favorite books is 'Eat,Pray,Love'. I read this book when my mom was getting really sick and could really relate to the author. It's a true story about a young woman in her thirties who decides to totally change her life and does it on a journey to India,Italy and Indonesia. The author really lets you in and I felt like even though her experiences were different from what I was going through at the time, she was still changing as was I at that time. I love it when I find a great book that I can't put down and even more so when I relate to the author. With that I ask all of out there in writing space...what is your inspirational book? Do you have more than one and why?

[rani]

GoneMichael Grant
This book shows me that anything can happen. Even if its claimed to be impossible. I personally believe that anything can happen.

[Jodi]

Sounds like a great book..I love those types of books that make you feel that way!

[rani]

Yupp

[April]

I don't have one book in mind but all of the books I have read have always made me want to write a book.
I love Mary Higgins Clark, Nora Roberts, etc.
When I was a kid I loved the Dr Seuss books.
So I guess any book that makes me want to read.

[Jodi]

I hear you on that April. I love Nora Roberts too...all of her stories. I still love Dr. Seuss and read them to my own girls-it's timeless.

[Gwendolyn]

There are so many things that over the years have inspired me, I would hardly know where to begin.

I could suggest The Boards List , or anything ever written by J.D Sallinger, the discussion I had in my grandmothers study with Eleanor Roosevelt when I was eight years old, the weekly American Letter broadcasts by Alistair Cooke, the collective works of James Joyce and books by James Thurber, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Beatrix Potter, Anne Bronte... and the lists go on.

Popular fiction is entertaining, but the really inspirational, thought provoking ideas that make the heart race and the mind whirl, that set the creative instincts on edge for me come from authors like P.D James, Meena Alexander, Margaret Drabble, Elisabeth Gaskell, Doris Lessing, Helen Simpson and many many more.

[Joy]

Probably my top three inspirations, especially when it comes to writing for children, are J.R.R Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Beatrix Potter. Tolkien and Lewis' mastery of the English language, character development, description and--hello!--the ability to create new worlds, peoples and languages blow me away! Beatrix Potter's imagination really inspires me and some of my earliest memories of literature are of that mischievous Peter Rabbit.

[Jodi]

Hi joy! I absolutely love Beatrix potter. Have you read anything on her biography? It's very inspirational and I recommend it.

[Casey]

That is my favorite book and for the same reasons.... It helps you find different ways to cope with stress and makes you feel like its okay to feel these things you feel when things do get hard. She is an awesome writer and I love her travel experiences. You feel like you are there!

Some of my favorite children's books are The Magic Hat and Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem fox. I also love Sandra Boynton books and my all time favorite is Love is a Handful of Honey by Giles Andreae.

[Jodi]

Same here...it's amazing how books that are written really well take you on a journey:)

[D.M.]

Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy From Mars and The Tower of Geburah were two children's books that inspired me. The Narnia books as well.

[Chaz]

The Chronicles of Narnia inspired me, but The Stand is my favorite book of all time. I love 'what if' books!

[Kay]

The Adam Series, i think. But when i was little kid, I love Enid Blyton's books..

[Mandi]

I'd say Shel Silverstein. :o) Used to sit and read those over and over.

[Jodi]

That's a great one Mandi:)...what great poetry. Loved the rhyme in those and they always made me laugh or smile too:)