Reading is Fundamental

We have a new question for the Blogger's Blog Tour: Tell us about one book that changed your life.

Feel free to post your own answer in the comment box, and let me know what you think of mine.

I cannot answer this exactly because I don't have any one book that changed my life. Nearly every book I have read has left some sort of impact, even those books I put down in disgust. Let me explain.

I was a painfully shy child. I interacted well with family and people that I was used to, but strangers? I would hide behind my mother when someone I did not know tried to greet me. The unfortunate thing is that I did not want to be shy, but contact with people I did not know would cause me to become tongue-tied and inevitably I would shrink away in fear.

Books were an escape. They were a place to go where I could be brave (Nancy Drew series), choose my own path (Choose Your Own Adventure series), dream of a different world (The Chronicles of Narnia), or thank God that I was born when I was to parents that loved me (The Color Purple - my mother was not too pleased about this one because she felt it was way too advanced for a 9 year old, and it was).

I've forgotten the names of most of the novels I read as a child, but not what they've given me. Books gave me the courage to start talking to other people and keep talking until I conquered my shyness. Books gave me a common avenue of discussion for my friends. We could go on for hours about Sweet Valley High, Elizabeth and Jessica.

Books taught me that even nerds can captivate nations (Harry Potter series), that even the most mediocre novel can become a best seller with a controversial subject (Satanic Verses), that adults are not always right (the Grounding of Group Six), that good does not always win (Will There Really Be a Morning?), to choose my employers carefully (The Devil Wears Prada), and the importance of managing my money for tomorrow (The Millionaire Next Door)