r/books • u/xrobotx • Dec 07 '14

What is the book that changed your life ?

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u/AncientRickles Dec 07 '14

I ctrl-f'ed before I posted because I figured somebody else would've posted this. Once you go to Tralformadore, you'll never go back...

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u/mrpopenfresh Dec 07 '14

Every high school reading book is going to be on this list.

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u/AncientRickles Dec 07 '14

Damn, you had Vonnegut on your high school required reading list? Lucky....

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u/Greenjeff41 Dec 08 '14

This is my favorite book. Vonnegut was an amazing writer. So it goes.

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u/mrpopenfresh Dec 07 '14

I went to a french school, so no. However, Slaughterhouse Five is an american high school standard.

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u/christhemushroom Dec 07 '14

Currently in high school, and we don't have to read any Vonnegut books.

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u/nostromo_ Dec 08 '14

Depends what on school you go to, what English classes you have, etc.

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u/isaktamin Dec 07 '14

I attended three different high schools and I never read so much as a short story by Vonnegut.

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u/mfball Dec 07 '14

"Harrison Bergeron" is by Vonnegut and AFAIK is pretty commonly taught in high school lit classes. I doubt his novels get a lot of play though.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '14

Yeah, I read Bergeron in class, but never any full-length books of him.

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u/sje46 Dec 08 '14

Three different high schools is fairly irrelevant, since most schools teach american literature in one specific year. I would guess that the year you would have read vonnegut, you happened to be in a school that didn't teach him.

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u/AncientRickles Dec 07 '14

Interesting... It wasn't required reading for any of the two high schools I went to (family move in sophmore year)... Too bad...

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u/sje46 Dec 08 '14

My school did Player Piano. But yes, Vonnegut is (deservingly) usually/often given time in Americna literature classes.

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u/Caedro Dec 07 '14

Isn't it a good thing that people connect with these books? Even if they were pushed into reading them?

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u/mrpopenfresh Dec 08 '14

The way I see it, people are actively looking for an answer to this question and look at the books they read. If you haven't read much, you're gonna look at the stuff you were forced to read, hence why high school reading is 90% of answers in all book related questions.

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u/ACardAttack World Without End Dec 08 '14

Maybe so, but this was the first book that made me enjoy reading and one of the few books I've read more than once

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u/fallenwombat Dec 07 '14

So it goes.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

And of course I didn't, so I have a post buried at the bottom about how this book influenced my life