What books have made an impact in your life?

IvaBigWun

I'll start with what was, I think, the first novel I read: Roald Dahl's "The BFG"

He was such an amazing storyteller that his books should be made compulsory reading for primary school pupils from 4th year on. The BFG would make me seek out more of Dahl's work and onto the road of similar imaginative fiction.

“We is in Dream Country,' the BFG said. 'This is where all dreams is beginning!”

What books have made an impact in your life, childhood or otherwise?

Wibbs

The dictionary.

Duff

Ispini agus Subh.

NegativeCreep

How to lose friends and alienate people.

wp_rathead

Loved "Matilda" - Roald Dahl really was a genius..

Also the Harry Potter books!!
..but like only for Emma Watson...

Phill Ewinn

"Soundings" got a good few wallops with that

Hootanany

World War Z I'm ready for them.

Wibbs

TBH I'm a right oddball in that I have read very very few fiction books in my life. 5 tops. As a kid I read encyclopedias and factual stuff. Fiction never revved my engine. So encyclopedias, specifically the kids Encyclopedia Britannica that I read from A to Z. ten books IIRC? So that one made the most impact, cos it was a launchpad to other areas of interest.

Ruu

'Where's Spot' gives me great enjoyment, I have even memorised the animals hiding behind the flaps.

Scuid Mhór

The Catcher In The Rye & Fahrenheit 451 both spoke to me very recently.

thee glitz

Wibbs wrote: »

TBH I'm a right oddball in that I have read very very few fiction books in my life. 5 tops.

Same as. George Orwell's great though.

Aidric

'Impact in your life' is a big statement. I have been a big reader from an early age and have read many great books since then, both fiction and non fiction.

I will always turn to Charles Bukowski when I need cheering up but no other author has come close to speaking to me than Haruki Murakami. 'Kafka on The Shore' was the first of his books that I read and instantly I was hooked in to his world. His brilliantly descriptive prose brings the reader right on to the page. I have swallowed up most of his books at this stage and next turn to the imposing 1Q84.

I will always recommend him to people when to ask for a recommendation.

crazygeryy

Dicktionary

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0762439335

Maximus Alexander

Not one mention of the holy bible so far. It's a disgrace Joe.

Elessar

I don't have time to be reading books. Must be over 10 years since I read one.

Knex*

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Not one mention of the holy bible so far. It's a disgrace Joe.

The bible has had a big enough impact on some of my friends and family.

Actually preventing rights, such as marriage, is going to be pretty hard for the likes of JK Rowling and Harry Potter to beat.

Mint Aero

Wibbs wrote: »

TBH I'm a right oddball in that I have read very very few fiction books in my life. 5 tops. As a kid I read encyclopedias and factual stuff. Fiction never revved my engine. So encyclopedias, specifically the kids Encyclopedia Britannica that I read from A to Z. ten books IIRC? So that one made the most impact, cos it was a launchpad to other areas of interest.

Did you have the art bate out of ya as a young lad?

stefan idiot jones

Allen Carr - Easy Way To Control Alcohol. Lifesaver.

Wilbur Smith - Warlock. Just emphasised my love for ancient Egypt.

Antony Beevor - Stalingrad. Put a lot of things into perspective when you realise what the innocent people of Europe had to endure because if the pesky Germans.

beano345

"The alchemist"
"The manipulated man"
"1984"

Teyla Emmagan

'Lord of the flies' and '1984'. Both prepared me for my current working environment.

IvaBigWun

beano345 wrote: »

"The alchemist"

Ive seen this on a good few "Books You Must Read" lists and yet the Wikipedia description doesnt really do anything for me:

The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there.

Artful_Badger

The Hobbit. There was a snippet in one of my primary school English books and I was enthralled by it. In secondary school while being forced to pick a novel to read and report on I found it in the pile and from start to finish I was glued to it.

Up to that point books were just more school work and something I avoided but it all changed after reading The Hobbit and I've loved reading ever since. Had I not been captured by that masterful tale back then I doubt I'd have developed such an interest in literature.

Wibbs

Mint Aero wrote: »

Did you have the art bate out of ya as a young lad?

Heart or art? Nah, just never gelled with literary fiction(loved the visual arts from a very early age). From "once upon a time" fairy tales onwards. Much rather the film of the book. Don't dig theatre either. Again give me the flic. However on films based on real events give me the history/biography book every time.

Knasher

1984 probably. It's a bit of a hipster answer, but I honestly can't think of a single other book that I dwell on more.

I can also say what the most influential page in a book is; the conversation between Death and Susan towards the end of Hogfather.

Andy-Pandy

Dune by Frank Herbert.

It was the first book that really blew my mind and has developed a lifetime love of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. It was the book that made me a reader. It was the first time I got totally lost in a universe and could read while not trying to take in the information, it almost flowed into my brain in picture form.

When I was little it was The Velveteen Rabbit.

A gentle story of a toy rabbit who becomes real after a fairy saves him from being burned. I was consumed by the notion of my toys becoming real for a long time, it was a fuel for my imagination that I've never forgotten.

Overall it was an old Readers Digest Atlas that has had the most influence over me. I used to spend hours poring over it, and would look up (or try to, since many place and country names had changed since it was printed) any place I was curious about, and often led to more reading. I still have that Atlas, I just wish I hadn't scribbled on it quite so much.

IvaBigWun

Elessar wrote: »

I don't have time to be reading books. Must be over 10 years since I read one.

Do you have time for TV? If so just drop an hour of that a week. Your imagination will thank you

beano345

IvaBigWun wrote: »

Ive seen this on a good few "Books You Must Read" lists and yet the Wikipedia description doesnt really do anything for me:

Its fairly short,I suppose everyone takes their own meaning away from it.

IvaBigWun

IvaBigWun wrote: »

Ive seen this on a good few "Books You Must Read" lists and yet the Wikipedia description doesnt really do anything for me:

I know a lot of people love that book, but it was one of those things that made me want a refund on the hours of my life I'd spent ploughing through it.

Amazingfun

This book impacted me greatly, truly shocking stuff:

Hellstorm: The Death Of Nazi Germany, 1944-194

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hellstorm-Death-Nazi-Germany-1944-1947/dp/097138522X

biko

Is this another "recommend me a book" thread that didn't find its way to the Literature forum?

But on topic, Mythago Wood.

IvaBigWun

biko wrote: »

Is this another "recommend me a book" thread that didn't find its way to the Literature forum?

No, its "What books have made an impact in your life?"

Custardpi

The first book which really had an impact on me & one which I can vividly remember many years later was Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. The realisation that a skilful enough writer could conjure up characters & scenes so vividly that the book actually played like a film in your head was an amazing revelation for me & gave me a thirst for reading which over the years has provided a very helpful escape whenever the real world has threatened to overwhelm me.

Agricola

Wibbs wrote: »

TBH I'm a right oddball in that I have read very very few fiction books in my life. 5 tops. As a kid I read encyclopedias and factual stuff. Fiction never revved my engine. So encyclopedias, specifically the kids Encyclopedia Britannica that I read from A to Z. ten books IIRC? So that one made the most impact, cos it was a launchpad to other areas of interest.

Exactly the same. Cannot get into it. Im just constantly there trudging through thinking to myself "yeah this is going to take me ages to read and it's all just the work of someone's overactive imagination! I could be reading about something that actually happened" It's odd cos I love some of the movies based on these books. It's just the time Im unwilling to invest in them I suppose.

A favourite of mine is "A Season with Verona" which is about a British ex-pat living in Italy who chronicles his travels up and down the country following Hellas Verona in Serie A, back in 2000/2001. The writer is an academic who happens to love football so its much more than just a simple set of results from chapter to chapter. It's a really great deconstruction of Italian society, far better than a lot of the cliched muck that clogs up Amazon on the same subject. As for impact on me, I suppose it was one of the things that made me into an Italophile‎ and spurred me on to go there several times in the last few years and hopefully many more in the future.

GLaDOS

Elessar wrote: »

I don't have time to be reading books. Must be over 10 years since I read one.

I'd cut down on all other forms of media before I'd cut down my reading :pac:

Hard to say in terms of individual books that made an impact on me, but my dad reading Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" really laid down the marker for my love of reading I'd say, despite being hilariously out of date to a 5 year old in the 90's

The Backwards Man

The Mr.Twiddle books by Enid Blyton. Unfortunately, I can relate to the lead character a lot more than I probably should admit.

Tugboats

Mein Kampf

IvaBigWun

Wibbs wrote: »

TBH I'm a right oddball in that I have read very very few fiction books in my life.

Agricola wrote: »

Exactly the same. Cannot get into it. Im just constantly there trudging through thinking to myself "yeah this is going to take me ages to read and it's all just the work of someone's overactive imagination! I could be reading about something that actually happened"

Non Fiction books are welcome too. Some of the all time best books Ive read were Biographies

bumper234

Where's Wally, never could find that stripey bastard at the zoo.

In all seriousness though my fav books have to be watership down, 1984, of mice and men and the stand.

Stepping Stone

Willow Farm by Enid Blyton. The first 'big' book that I read cover to cover on my own. Got it for my sixth birthday and it started an obsession that has cost me thousands but has enriched my life more than I can express.

Hannibal Smith

NegativeCreep wrote: »

How to lose friends and alienate people.

Awwwww

For me it wad the Road Less Travelled. My dad gave it to me in my late teens and it really had an impact on me moving forward and understanding how to recognise when your past is effecting how you feel and its not the here and now. Hard to explain. ..but it really has had a huge impact on how I think.

Other than that Seamus Heaneys Mid Term break kind of hit me. I didn't identify with it or anything tragic like that. But I always remember my teacher reading it and sensing how the boy felt among all these adults and how the coffin was 4 ft, a foot for every year and I gasped because I felt so sad for him lol. That's not really a book though so probably doesn't count

nosietoes

On the Road by Jack Keroac
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
1984 by George Orwell
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Birdsong by Sebastien Faulks
Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien

...

Mostly because I read all these books at precisely the right moment in my life... And rereading reminds me of who I was and how I've developed and grown up.

RustyNut

I'd say this is the book that had the biggist impact on my life.

IvaBigWun

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

For me it wad the Road Less Travelled

A great book and one that is - ideally - passed onto a friend after you're finished reading it

Mickey H

Mostly:

The RTE Guide
The Farmer's Journal
Max Power
Nuts

kidcash

There is a book my father gave me called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence" by Robert M. Pirsig. He read it when he was in his 20's and gave it to me when I was around the same age. The book made such an impact on me that I now have the cover art as a tattoo on my arm. Amazing book.

IvaBigWun

kidcash wrote: »

There is a book my father gave me called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence" by Robert M. Pirsig.

Another book that I see on many "Essential Books" lists and one I definitely plan to read

jesse pinkman

I'm not sure if it made any actual real impact on my life, but one I read over twenty years ago & still think about a fair bit is The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, must get it again.

greedygoblin

Wibbs wrote: »

So encyclopedias, specifically the kids Encyclopedia Britannica that I read from A to Z.

Were they the ones with the red cover? They were great. Though I remember sometimes when doing homework you'd have to go to the grown up ones with the black cover.

I got Around the World in Eighty Days when I was 7 or 8. Read it all in about a week, even though I couldn't understand half the words. About 10 years later I uncovered it in the back of the bookshelf and decided to give it a go again. Still couldn't understand half the words! Great read though.

IvaBigWun

greedygoblin wrote: »

Were they the ones with the red cover? They were great. Though I remember sometimes when doing homework you'd have to go to the grown up ones with the black cover.

Apparently encyclopaedia sales (and the printing of them) are next to non existent these days with the advent of the internet and Wikipedia.

A shame really as I used to love going through them in school. I would imagine fact based books like The Guinness Book Of Records are also suffering

Chucken

Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals.
I first read this about 25 years ago and it gave me a longing to visit Corfu...so I did
I fell in love with the island so much that I have to go there every year.
Having been there about 20 times at this stage, I can't imagine what my life would be like without the wonderful friends I've made there over the years.

Every time I book the flights I say I'm going home because it feels like home

There's a wonderful quote from the book that says :“Gradually the magic of the island [Corfu] settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen.”

*sigh*