What were you inspired to read as a result of this forum?

[amuse]

so, just out of curiosity, how many of you picked up a book that you mightn't have read before coming to this forum because - whew i forgot what lightning looks like - anyway, it's really close (i digress), ok moving on:

1. how many of you have been struck by lighting or for that matter lightning,
2. what book/authors have you read because a blinding flash said read this you will love it, and
3. what poetry/poets have you checked out since coming here that you want to read more of?

i wouldn't have reopened On The Road except that there was a discussion about it. somehow i've been inspired to give W&P another chance too (if nothing else but to dislike it again) and i really liked the "Poems, Poets, Poetry" thread about Bei Dao's Chinese moden poem. http://www.online-literature.com/for...&threadid=1147
never been struck by light(n)ing.

[Koa]

L'étranger by Camus. I have always had a quite remote idea of reading it, but maybe I wouldnt have done it, or at least not now, if it wasnt for this forum.
Then...I always think 'i should read this' when I see people talking about it, but then I never do

[Capnplank]

1. how many of you have been struck by lighting or for that matter lightning,

I have. I've had a few light fixtures swing around and smack me on the head (as in a pool hall), though more accurately I've probably bashed into a fair amount of lights dangling here and there. I've also been blinded on at least one occasion -- that is, the window blinds came loose and cracked me on the forehead while I was in bed. Some years later I put a hole in a couple of them. Learned 'em good, I did.


2. what book/authors have you read because a blinding flash said read this you will love it, and

Elie Wiesel's Night, which led to reading Dawn and Zalmen, or the Madness of God. In that vein also Chaim Potok's The Chosen, leading to its sequel and pretty soon My Name is Asher Lev, once I get a few other things in between to space 'em out.
Also Alexander Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, sometime to be leading to others, though that one also had a little suggestive influence here and there before I actually got to it, though after I had bought it.
And mebbe all the Vonnegut stuff, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Huxley's Brave New World, and Richard Adams' Watership Down, Par Lagerkvist's Barabbas, Gunter Grass's Cat and Mouse and The Tin Drum and some other stuff. I sorta just seem to pick stuff off of shelves here or there for no apparent reason, and am most often pretty satisfied and wind up reading more of their stuff. Though uhm, haven't been here long enough for any of those flashes of light to have been voiced by any residents.

3. what poetry/poets have you checked out since coming here that you want to read more of?

See end of above. Plus I don't do much poetry.

[Koa]

Oh btw I am really curious about that catch 22, which i had never heard about before I came to this forum...

[Diceman]

I just finished Catcher In The Rye. Would never have bothered, were it not for the fact that it is highly spoken of on this board.

[IWilKikU]

This forum also led me to "Catcher" and The Stranger. Also Dracula, Heart of Darkness, Picture of Dorian Gray (eww). Those were all book club books that I mostly enjoyed (Dorian Excluded of course). Its put way more books than I'll ever be able to read on my reading list. This summer is W&P, Crime and Punishment, and Catch-22. I'll start on one of those as soon as I'm done with Hunchback. As for lighting and lightning, cant say as I've ever been struck by either . Oh well.

[emily655321]

Fortunately never been struck by lightning either. However one of my parents' friends had a house with some recessed mood lighting in the den which I found to be quite striking.

I haven't had the time to be overly inspired, much less to actually read anything, but it did get me around to reading Hunchback and I doubt that I would be as determined to stick it through till the end were it not for the book club. Counter to what I would have expected, though, I find it harder to actually pick up and get down to reading when there is something to be reading it for. Conditioned response to school, perhaps.

[simon]

The Stranger just since having viewed this thread a few days ago.

[Kiwi Shelf]

I read "Snow Falling on Cedars" thanks to someones reply to that thread on someone needing help on it. I also liked the title. Anyways, the book was fabulous.

As for poetry, I don't read a lot of that, so I have no answer.

[Sancho]

All of the Canadians on this site got me interested in Douglas Coupland; so I went right out and read "Generation X" - What a hoot, what a find, I shall read more from Mr. Coupland. Thanks guys.

[Kiwi Shelf]

If you want to read more Coupland you should read "All Families are Pschotic" That is a great book!

[Sancho]

Thanks Kiwi, I'm always on the lookout for a good read. My local bookstore only had "Generation X" and "Miss Wyoming" but I'll keep my eyes peeled for "Families."

[Kiwi Shelf]

I have read "Miss Wynoming" and this is my opinion: I don't remember what happened in it... So, I don't recommend that one. lol

[Sancho]

Glad I skipped it then. This is sad but the main reason I selected "Generation X" from the shelf was because it had pictures. Hah!

[Kiwi Shelf]

Yeah, that caught my attention too when I read it. haha
"Families" caught my attention because of the odd covers it has...