Waterstones invites readers to share books that changed their lives Books have often provided a signpost for career direction, as renowned architect Sir Norman Foster told Waterstones. "As a teenager, I discovered Le Corbusier's Towards a New Architecture in my local library" he said. Citing the book as the inspiration for his career in architecture, Foster added: "I was enthralled as much by use of imagery as I was by his architectural vision. Where else would one find a cockpit of a Caproni Hydroplane juxtaposed with the entablature of the Parthenon? For journalist and writer Caitlin Moran, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women simply provided a character she could finally relate to. I couldn't be the teenagers in Sweet Valley High...I felt far more affinity to a 19th century American bluestocking. Moran also noted the book's continuing relevance across generations: "I've been reading Little Women to my nine-year-old daughter, and finding - as an adult, in 2013 - things that were frankly astonishing to have been written by a woman in 1868." Other celebrity contributions include: Kate Mosse: "Wuthering Heights taught me, first, how to be a reader - attentive, engaged, thoughtful - and later, how to be a writer." Julia Donaldson: "Edward Lear's The Jumblies sank deeply into my childhood imagination, teaching me that there can be a lyrical beauty in nonsense and madness." Ben Kane: "Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings was the story that shaped my childhood and teenage years. More than any other book, it drew me away from ordinary life, into an incredible world where anything seemed possible. Mariella Frostrup: "Sebastian Faulks" Birdsong really opened my eyes to the horrors of the First World War.Despite endless history lessons at school it was Faulks' horrific descriptions of the suffering of the men and their bravery that left a profound mark on me." Alan Johnson: "After my mother died, the father of one of my schoolfriends allowed me to choose a book from the handsome volumes imprisoned in a locked glass case. I chose David Copperfield. It gave me comfort, sustenance and a life-long love of reading. Jay Rayner: "Reading Erich Kästner's Emil and The Detectives as a child taught me that in great storytelling, lies a certain immortality. Great stories go on forever. Readers can share their own stories of an important book here. Follow the conversation on Twitter: #tbtmm