What Book Made You?

Last month, the British bookseller, Waterstones, launched a conversation. Readers were invited to comment on "The Book That Made Me." The invitation drew enthusiastic replies, not just from Waterstones aficionados, but from celebrities like Terry Pratchett. What book made you? Join the conversation HERE.

"Waterstones invites readers to share books that changed their lives," by Catherine Scott.

Telegraph: May 29, 2013

"Waterstones is inviting readers to name a book that altered their lives, as part of a project launched today called ‘The Book That Made Me’. Readers are encouraged to share their stories (in less than 100 words) online and instore. The bookshop will then feature their favourite contributions on its website and in their shops around the country.

Waterstones has already received contributions from a number of celebrity readers, including former political aide Alastair Campbell, who selected Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary because "it gave me a love of the French language". Author Malorie Blackman hailed Alice Walker's The Color Purple for "showing me not only could we black women become writers, but that we could write stories in our own way, using our own voices".

Commenting on the rationale for the initiative, Jon Woolcott of Waterstones said: “Our bookshelves reflect us – we are all made up of books… And each one has an effect, a slight hand on the tiller sometimes, occasionally a wrench which changes our course completely.”

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