"a book to light fires in my mind"

[T]here are 71 essays to savor in "The Book That Changed My Life," a compilation edited by Roxanne J. Coady...

Coady says she particularly liked the way mystery writer Anne Perry begins her essay:

"A good book changes you even if it is only to add a little to the furniture of your mind. It will make you laugh and perhaps cry; it should usually make you think ... For me, G.K. Chesterton's 'The Man Who Was Thursday' is a book to light fires in my mind, uplift my heart, tell me truths I had only glimpsed before."

(Carole Goldberg. Reading Tips From Those Who Know Best , The Hartford Courant, 22 Oct 2006)