What book was most influential on your life and why

hedgetrimmer

A lot of my friends are posting book reviews on their blogs these days, and I'm hearing a lot of talk about books which people read at key times in their lives, and the book(s) either saw them through tough times, or became a new direction for them. Either way, they proved a major influence on their lives and the book has taken a special place in their heart.

So..thought I'd ask..sorry if it's been asked before.

the one that springs to my mind for me is "LILA: An Enquiry into Morals" by Robert Prisig. Changed the way I think about life, the way I approach my writing, and my views on happiness and living life to be happy.

Pretty positive and influential book for me

Sposs

Ann And Barry.

It taught me that Ann likes red balls and barry likes trucks,it was very taught provoking at the time.

Imposter

Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking.

Why? I'll let ye guess that one yourselves.

Wook

douglas adams, the hitchhikers trilogy
profound impact

Monty - the one and only

Moved

Hip

Candide by Voltaire.

I always felt like everybody got an instruction manual when they were born, but I must have lost mine. Then I found it...

Manach

"The Man who was Thursday" by Chesterton

That it is in fact good to look at the world from an odd angle.

Saruman

For deciding my fave Genre.. .Lord of the rings!

Vlad_Tepes

An american Prayer, by James D.Morrison
and also his Wilderness...they opened my mind to new views, thru these poems I found a hundred other little treasures, like Nietzche, Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg..

Caesar_Bojangle

How to be Colin Farrell - by Colin Farrell.

It has turned me into a better man

Hagakure - its full of philosophical content, very interesting book

colster

I would have to say Narcissuss and Goldmund by Herman Hesse.
The 2 characters represented the 2 sides of humanity. Narcissuss represented spiritual side of humanity and Goldmund the sensual.
Narcissus spent his life dedicated to his religion and a a monastic life.
Goldmund spent his life in more wordly way and feeding his senses.
This book is about the conflict between the flesh and the spirit.

This book had a great effect on me.
The main message is that you can't live a totally impulsive life dedicated to feeding the senses or a disciplined life totally dedicated to your sprituality/religion. Life should be a mix of the 2 if you are to be happy.

Funky

The Hobbit i suppose , got me started reading the genre and from then on 99/100 books i read were fantasy...

dod

Good Lord, where to start with a question like this?

#1 Where I'm Calling From (a Raymond Carver collection)
#2 Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
#3 All of Trollope
#4 All of Chekhov
#5 The Prince (Machavelli)

Once I've published these five, I'll probably wake up tonight a million times saying, bugger, I forgot to put that in the list, but hell, this is a good starting point.

funktastic

Finished 'Companero', biography of Che Guevara, pretty good. Nearly finished 'Brighton Rock' by Graham Greene,pretty decent read if you liked something like Clockwork orange, like an earlier version of it.

superconor

i think the 2 most influential books in my life were
The Colour Of Magic - Terry Pratchett
Magician - Raymond E. Fiest

both books brought me into the fantasy genre

McGinty

"The Road Less Travelled" and all of Scott Peck's books, they have had a profound effect on me. I remember reading the road less travelled and at first I was raging against it, and then three quarters of the way through the message hit me like a sledgehammer.

Also Allen Carr's easy way to give up smoking, and beleive me it works, nearly two years of the smokes and I don't miss them.

Also 'Polo', by Jilly Cooper helped me through one of my depressive periods.

sionnach

the hobbit, i had only read enid blyton stuff up until then, the hobbit was a revelation

yellum

The Diceman - Luke Rheinhart

Oh yeah

simu

I've read many many books and many have influenced me in their own way but one that stands out is Lord of the Flies by William Golding. We had to read it for school in transistion year and I suppose, I was more innocent about books and life in general back then than I am now so it had a greater influence on me then than it might have if I read it for the first time now.

It shocked me because it showed how easily what we call civilised behaviour can break down and how quickly humans can revert to mindless barbarity and violence, to a state of affairs where anyone who shows weakness or difference is stamped out.

eggshapedfred

"Generation X" by Douglas Coupland. It didnt really have a profound effect on me but it did sort of bring things together.its kinda like spending your life banging your head against a wall and not knowing why and then one day someone tells you why you're banging your head against the wall and from then on you don't mind doing it.

also "1984" by George Orwell (and Animal Farm and Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up For Air).

perhaps these are cliched reference points but they're MY cliched reference points.

Crash

Excession by Iain M. Banks

The first book of his i read and lead to me being severely hooked. also "Use of weapons" by same.

Mutz

Power of One - Great Book. Uplifting

Liquorice

Fantastic Mr. Fox-Roald Dahl. It was the first Roald Dahl book I read, I was about six. The reason I say that it was the most influential book on my life is because it got me interested in reading. Even now when I read his children's books I find them interesting.

LoLth

three hearts and three lions by.. emm, some nordic guy (I'll do a search and edit later).

reason: it was the first "proper" book I read, and it was also the first fantasy book I read (by myself, I had the hobbit as a bedtime story before this). Think I was about seven or eight.

literati

Ulysses, by James Joyce.

Fantastic book. Daunting at first - but well worth perseverance! If you find it difficult at first [as I did!] try the audio version. There is an excellent abridged audio version read by Jim Norton [bishop Brennan from Father Ted].

It is a fantastic exhortation to abandon yourself to life's chances. It definitely changed the way I look at things.

There has never been a better time to start it too. Next year is the anniversary of its setting, e.g. June 16th 1904. Try it. You won't regret it.

simu

Yes, I intend to get around to reading Ulysses, Literati! At the moment, I'm reading Proust's A La Recherche du Temps Perdu (in French as well!) so after that, Joyce should be easy!

Is there any particular edition you'd recommend? (i.e. with explanatory footnotes or a good introduction, maybe?)

GuanYin

Catcher in the Rye by Salinger.. a cliché but there you have it.

I'd put Lord of the Flies and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as books that had a profound effect too. The latter because it made me start to question everything (and read more).

Lorddrakul

I would have to say Derrida's Writing and Difference . It showed me that a lot of Western philosophy and religion rests on very tennuous grounds.

Also, to question everything, with the message that each interpretation is but an interpretation and as such is as valid as any other.

Mind blowing stuff. Not so much "All your fears are lies" so much as as "All your fears could be lies because the only truth is uncertainty"

Profound.

LD

avatar

Oh God... here goes

1. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe -- C.S. Lewis (The highpoint of the chronicles of Narnia, but I've always had a soft spot for The Silver Chair too)

2.The Lord Of The Rings --- J.R.R. Tolkien(I read this for the first time when I was six or seven.... haven't touched a non-fantasy book since)

3. Magician --- Raymond E. Feist (The opening of one of the best trilogies ever written... I won't read th books after the first three, they just CAN'T be as good)

4. Lord Foul's Bane -- Stephen Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, along with the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, are my favourite books of all time. Six moments of raw genius)

5. Assassin's Apprentice -- Robin Hobb (After the LOTR, the first real grown-up fantasy series I read.... Farseer trilogy. Classics. Apparently, he's writing a sequel trilogy, but I haven't read them yet)

6. Northern Lights --- Phillip Pullman (THE best kid's book ever written. Ever. And I'm including the other two books in that statement)

7. Mort --- Terry Pratchett (Got me hooked on Discworld, and still my favourite discworld book.... well, that and Pyramids.)

8. A Wizard of Earthsea -- Ursula le Guin (another book that hooked me on fantasy.)

9. The Vampire Lestat --- Anne Rice (Lestat is god. 'Nuff said.)

10. The Catcher In The Rye -- J.D. Salinger (This book changed my life. I think I'll go shoot a Beatle....)

avatar

Oh yeah, how could I forget....

11)The Stone and the Flute --- (Can't remember the author) (Very interesting and deep German fantasy novel. I think it's famous, bt I'm not sure)

Funky

Originally posted by avatar
5. Assassin's Apprentice -- Robin Hobb (After the LOTR, the first real grown-up fantasy series I read.... Farseer trilogy. Classics. Apparently, he's writing a sequel trilogy, but I haven't read them yet)

excellent book, Robin Hobb's an alias for Megan Lindholm afaik. The sequel series is called the Tawny Man and the first 2 books are out already with the third coming out some time in October iirc.

avatar

I got my hands on Fool's errand today. I'm on the lookout for the second one, but no luck yet. Thank a lot, man.

TheSonOfBattles

Not that these books had a particularly profound effect on my life or anything, but I know for a fact that reading has been a central part of my life because of the fact that I read David Edding's Belgariad series. It was the first real grown up fantasy series I read. Admittedly it seems kinda childish now, but when I was 7, it was the sh*t.

And I can't leave out the Wheel of Time, that pretty much set my reading habit's in stone. It was just so strong and captivating, and epic as soon as I read it. Still reading it to this day, ten years later, and I still feel like killing Robert Jordan when I realize the fact that i'm going to have to wait two years for the next book, and that there's going to be several more after that before it's wrapped up.

I did love the original Fools books by Hobb also, but I felt so horrible and depressed

when he didn't get the girl in the end. Made me feel *****y and sick for weeks after wards.

Got over it, and loved it all the same though.

Whoops, thanks for covering the spoiler moderator. Forgot about it completely.

Mark

This has taken quite a bit of thinking to narrow down what might have happened if I hadn't started by reading X or if I would have fallen in love with Genre Y if I hadn't read Z. If you catch my drift. Roysh.

1. Fantastic Mister Fox / BFG
   For the life of me I can't remember which one I read first. While I remember they weren't the first books I read, they were the first I read worth remembering.
   
   I loved the imagery in FMF, the description of said Fox sneaking through the tunnels and stealing teh chickens and whatnot while the farmers sat with shotguns (presumably choosing to stay there forever and let their farms fall into disrepair and thus end their careers instead of just putting out some traps) atop the tunnel hole. Plus I love animals so I was all happy when all the local animals ended up living together. God I'm sad.
   
2. The Goosebumps series
   Ok so I'm not wildly proud of it now, but twas these that got me into reading proper when I was 8 or 9 (Until they my brother was the Reader in the family and I stayed away from paper like it was infectious. Tis the opposite now oddly enough.) and I devoured them. Anyway they get a mention for being the proverbial dealer which started my cocanie-esque reading addiction.
   
3. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
   One of teh funniest books I've ever read. Magnificent characters (Marvin, take a bow. Not too likely in his case of couse ), vividly described scenes, so much that you could easily imagine the tone of voice used, facial expressions, the whole shebang really.
   
4. The Colour of Magic
   If I hadn't taken heed of this when I asked for book recommendations a few months ago, I wouldn't currently own about 18 books from the Discworld series, period. It still holds a special place in my heart as well.
   *sniffle* I miss the Broken Drum, none of this hip new Mended nonsense
   
5. A Song of Ice and Fire
   Look I'm sorry but I refuse to Just for Gods Sake Shut the Fuck up about It, Just for Ten Minutes, Five Even, I'll read it Next Week until every last one of the 6000 odd active boards members owns (and indeed would die, and possibly sodomise, for) every last book in this series. My favourite books HEVAR*. I'd ghey secks George R.R. for the fact alone that he's not afraid to kill off some important characters (And for the purpose of the story, not for the sake of losing a character) in fairly grimacing (and frankly tissue reaching fashion in the case of You Know Yourself).
   
   Then there's the massive world he's created, some fairly amazing battle scenes (
   The scene in which Stannis has his fleet ravaged by the wildfire gripped me by the testicles and starting squeezing a page into it. By the end of that epic little battle I was bubbling happily on the ground.
   ), some really amazing non-battle scenes (take your pick), a damn original and exciting story with more plot twists than you can shake a Bolivian carpenter at, I bestow upon it the rating of "Teh Win".
   
   Now buy it or I'll rape yer knees off.

Holy fig this turned out longer than I expected! Some enthralling books over the years that haven't made the list. One in particular was one I read years ago about a family of foxes. The name of it refuses to surface from it's den in meh subconcious (the bastard) and I'm fairly sure the library doesn't have it anymore. Can't actually remember much of what it was about, but I remember loving it.

Goe Reading! :cool:

*Subject to change every seven minutes

Walter_Sobcek

Hmmmmmmm........

Definately The Catcher in the Rye because I was about 15 when I read it so it affected me alot.

More recently I read Che Guevaras biography, which was a bit of a slog but absolutely brilliant.

and Hidden Agendas by John Pilger which is a little dated by now but still excellent.

IgnatiusJRiley

Survivor - By Chuck Palahniuk. Started me reading good books (no more of that Hornby tosh).
I read Generation X recently and thought it a bit too much like Dawson's Creek (characters are self-involved and use big words to show how clever they are)

dudara

the grapes of wrath by steinbeck. very depressing and moving read. In fact anythingby steinbeck is great.

Books that fired my mind when I ws young included "Charlie and the Chocolate factory"by Roald Dahl and "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis

Sarky

The Discworld series, because it pretty much made me who I am. Those books made me think seriously about life, death, human nature, and so on. They showed me a very good outlook on life that I practice to this day, and introduced me to a biting wit and sarcasm that kinda rubbed off on me to some small extent.

Also, they were a bloody good laugh.

literati

Simu,

Proust! God you've really got your work cut out for you there... Best of luck anyway. I haven't read Proust yet but I hear that he has a completely different [but equally difficult] style to Joyce. Maybe some day....

As regards a good version of Ulysses... The 1984 edition edited by Hans Walter Gabler is the standard text but doesn't come with notes etc. :mad: The Penguin or Oxford 20th century classics versions are good ones and have really decent notes. Both cost about fifteen euros. A really handy supliment to any first time reading of Ulysses is a book called 'The Bloomsday Book' written by a guy called Harry Blamires. It is a standard work even among seasoned Joyceans and is widely available. Really helped me to get through it the first time.

If in doubt with Joyce - read aloud! Joyce wrote to be heard as much as to be read so it is always a good rule of thumb. There is an excellent online Ulysses resource at

http://www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/

Enjoy! By the way, let me know how Proust is going :cool:

literati

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

Walter_Sobcek

Cash by Johnny Cash






Best autobiography ever written







RIP

phoenix2181

Adrian Mole series....... & I nearly forgot.....1984 by our good friend Orwell.....I live everyday by these books...what by reading by big & bouncy mags & avoiding the thought police *read Dave Brent style management*

literati

Cash by Johnny Cash. Best autobiography ever written.

You don't really get out much do you? How in the name of jumpin' Jesus is this the best autobiography ever written? Granted, your thoughts may have been peppered with a little sentimentalism at the time you posted, but come on here people! He could sing, but in my opinion all existing copies of his autobiography should be gathered up and placed.... in a burning ring of fire!

sinclair

http://pachome1.pacific.net.sg/~marklsl/


the bible is the greatest book known to man and should be read regularly as i do. the good word of the lord must be spread in this filthy, devil infested world, with its "rock music", i smote a demon yesterday

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

DublinWriter

Ummm...the Childrens Allowance Book.

Lorddrakul

I would have to say H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos Cycle. Not a book as such, a collection of stories, but it made me want to write myself.

LD

doonothing

the dice told me to post here so...


1. the diceman, luke rhinehart.
changd my life alright!

2. catcher in the rye, jd salinger
moved me, really moved me...

3. his dark materials
when they first came out i was like....i dunno, but they really made me think, and question and....wow....

4. fantastic mr. fox, roald dahl
wow that was my first book i ever read too....

5. the vampire chronicles
really gave me a different view on life... i loved no.'s 4, 5 and 6 the most...


wow, i really feel, looking over that list, that those books really haved influenced me sooooooooo much.....

Envy

Lord of the Flies, William Golding.

Beatrix

1) Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore
This was very important to me- it came at a time that nearly saved my life!

2) The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
This allowed me to feel sane

3) Sophie's World
It gave me a great interest in philosophy and it's a great book!


I'll probably think of more!

Ruatha

Robot Adept - Piers Anthony....

Ruatha*

Micro1

Id like to say Catcher In The Rye , but with George W in town I dont think that would be such a good idea.