A student recently asked the class if a book had ever changed their lives. Since reading is neither a strong suit nor a popular pastime of the college demographic, many students seemed puzzled by his question. Some disagreed with the notion that something as basic as a book could be life changing. But a few of us, a precious few, knew just what he was asking. Heads nodded enthusiastically, and the literature in our veins spilled out in excited babble. Has a book ever changed my life? Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. Changed my life, added to my life, saved my life, made my life better, bearable, bittersweet. Harper Lee taught me what being brave in the face of inexcusable ignorance looks like. J.D. Salinger gave voice and meaning to my pain and angst. Kurt Vonnegut showed me truth in absurdity. Elie Weisel broke my heart, pierced my soul, and made redemption real. I even belong to a reject-consumerism group that has “W.W.
C.I.D.” (“What would Caroline Ingalls do?") as a mantra. But perhaps I was most affected by a slim volume easily read in one sitting. Antoine de Saint-Exupery was not even forty when he put pen to paper and created the profound work of self-discovery The Little Prince. It is so physically insubstantial, one could never guess its philosophic weight. But it should always be read by everyone. I chose Counting With The Little Prince for Scarlett because I couldn’t bear for them to be strangers any longer.
http://www.paperbackswap.com/Counting-Little-Prince-De-Saint-Exupery/book/0152
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry
