Book bloggler hop & Follow Friday

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer over at Crazy for Books. Each week, bloggers answer a question posted by Jennifer and then "hop" over to other blogs to socialize, make new friends, and find great blogs to follow!

This week's question is: "What book influenced or changed your life? How did it influence/change you?"

Harry Potter has without a doubt, hands down changed my life forever! Growing up in Hispanic family was super fun, but it was never enriching or educational. My parents are what I like to call "old school", they never expected much from me when it came to school, because to them girls didn't get an education, they got married and took care of the household. So when it came to reading, I only read the material I was given at school, and that was it. I remember being in 6th grade when I first saw a Harry Potter book; I had picked it up from the library to use it for a book report. I still remember finishing the book, and how anxious I was to go to school the next day to pick up book 2/3/4 and so on.... I was a girl possessed. HP introduced me to the wonderful world of literature. Thanks to HP I continued to frequently visit the library, get involved in book clubs, reading groups, anything that involved books- I participated! During the next couple of years my English (which was my second language) skyrocketed! Teachers couldn't believe how much improvement I was showing. And imagine how surprised my daddy was the day he got to see me graduate from CSUSB with a Bachelors... his 'lil girl who was never supposed to be anything more than a housewife, ended up making him more proud than he could ever imagine. I will forever be eternally grateful to Mrs. Rowling for sharing her masterpiece with us and for changing my life forever!

So what about you? What book has influenced or changed your life? I'd love to read all about it :) Share the love and leave your links!

Follow Friday is a weekly meme posted on Friday's that is hosted by Parajunkee @ Parajunkee's View.

This weeks question:  What book(s) have you discovered lately from someone's book blog?

Just the other day I read a review for Matched by Ally Condie. I had already heard awesome things about this book, but this review was written so well, it literally made me want to get up, drive down to B&N and buy the book NOW! I can't wait to get my hands on it :)

What about you? What books have you recently discovered? Share your story/links!