Partly inspired by http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.519229.11
what 'life altering' books have you read? 

for me, in brief:
Ishmael, The Story of B, by daniel quinn

Illusions by Richard Bach

The Book by Alan watts

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Just think -- it's an allegory for today's society.

Hermione -- brilliant!

It's been deleted.  Was that the "Atlas Shrugged" thread?

The Silence of the Lambs

120 Days of Sodom

yes, it was the 'atlas shrugged' thread.

During an 8 month span of unemployment starting in late 2001, I read every book by Hemmingway and Kerouac that Reston Regional Library had to offer. They probably would not have made such an impact if I was distracted by a full time job:

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" had some pretty interesting life/death issues for me... would 40 years of living an amazing international adventure with a purpose be better than 80 years divided between an aimless cubacle job, loving family and a retirement home?

"The Old Man and the Sea"

"On The Road"

"The Hobbit".  I realised that reading books was a form of entertainment.

A bunch of stuff by Aristotle.  Realised "Whoa, this wheel was invented a lot longer ago than I thought!".

Any Dr. Seuss.

Transaction Processing Concepts and Techniques by Gray & Reuter.

I wish I was kidding but I'm not.  That was the book that after 2 years in my first job thinking "this can't be right" confirmed for me that I was working with idiots and needed to get out of there.

Somehow I read the title as "life littering books"

professionally, about 2 years in I finally read "Mythical Man Month" and others in that genre and I am certainly glad I found it sooner than later

I liked the Story of "O"

Haha -- The Story of O -- is that you, sharky, or is there a weid correlation between this place and kink?

I've read a lot, but only one book actually changed the course of my life, and it's a pretty mundane book at that-- "Maiden Voyage" inspired me to take off on a long adventure.

whichever book is right next to the john.

a good shit always alters my mind.

Al Quran