books that made you...

[iamnobody]

what book made you...


1. Laugh

2. Cry

3. Outraged

4. Reconsider your perceptions

5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence


I'll start
1. Breakfast of Champions-Vonnagut
2. Night-Weisel
3. Beyond Good and Evil-Nietzsche
4. The Fountainhead-Rand
5. Meditations-Aurelius

[Dark Muse]

1. Good Omens

2. House of Mirth

3. Brave New World

4. Siddhartha

5. The Magus

[katelbach]

1. The Butcher Boy.
2. The Colour Purple.
3. Animal Farm.
4. Swann's Way.
5. Gormenghast Trilogy (or Fup).

[Propter W.]

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the first book that comes to mind.

2. /

3. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee/Ishmael

4. Ishmael

5. Ishmael

[LuggageFan]

what book made you...


1. Laugh

The Color of Magic.


2. Cry

Palace Walk.


3. Outraged

John Boswell's Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality. (Outraged righteously in the way Boswell intended.)


4. Reconsider your perceptions

Luigi Barzini's The Italians.


5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence

Neverwhere.

[iamnobody]

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the first book that comes to mind.

2. /

3. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee/Ishmael

4. Ishmael

5. Ishmael



I almost said Hitchhiker's Guide, it was kind of a toss-up.

[Pryderi Agni]

1. Laugh: Pride and Prejudice

2. Cry: Bag of Bones, by Stephen King; 1984

3. Outraged: Brave New World

4. Reconsider your perceptions: Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Human Comedy, Candide

5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence: A little YA book called A Hole in the World

[stlukesguild]

Laugh- Gore Vidal- Myra Breckenridge

Cry- Thomas de Quincey- Confessions of an English Opium Addict (the chapter on Anne)

Outraged- Plato- The Republic

Reconsider your perceptions- J.L. Borges- Labyrinths/Ficciones

Feel better for the mere fact of its existence- Italo Calvino- Invisible Cities/ Lawrence Sterne- Tristan Shandy

[Drkshadow03]

My significant other's responses:

Laugh- The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo

Cry- P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

Outraged- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Reconsider your perceptions- Last Child in the Woods

Feel better for the mere fact of its existence- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My own responses:

Laugh- 3000 MPH in Every Direction at Once by Nick Mamatas

Cry- Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth (the ending)

Outraged- The Life and Times of Frederick Douglas

Reconsider your perceptions- Teach Like Your Hairs On Fire by Rafe Esquith

Feel better for the mere fact of its existence- The Tanakh

[The Comedian]

1. Laugh - The River Why

2. Cry -- It's gonna take a lot more than a measly book to make me do this. . . ;)

3. Outraged -- Uncle Tom's Cabin

4. Reconsider your perceptions -- Leaves of Grass

5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence -- Walden

[mortalterror]

Laugh: Catch-22, Lysistrata, The Farce of Sodom, Tortilla Flat
Cry:For Whom the Bell Tolls, Of Mice and Men
Outraged: Ulysses
Reconsider Your Perceptions: The Republic, Walden
Feel better for the mere fact of it's existence: The Catcher in the Rye

[Delarge]

1. Laugh: The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

2. Cry: Anna Karenina

3. Outraged: Cousin Bette

4. Reconsider your perceptions: Also Sprach Zarathustra

5. Feel better for the mere fact of it's existence: Kafka on the Shore

[Kafka's Crow]

1. Laugh: The Confederacy of Dunces/ Candide

2. Cry: The Brothers Karamazov

3. Reconsider your perception: Notes from the Underground

4. Feel Better for the mere fact of its existence: Joseph Andrews

[Rmort]

1. Looking for Alaska- John Green
2. To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee
3. Bible (yaya)
4. The Power of One- Bryce Courtenay
5. Catcher in the Rye (=])

[Wilde woman]

1. Laugh: Tis Pity She's a Whore - John Ford (most recently)

2. Cry: Cyrano de Bergerac - Rostand (cuz I'm a sucker for a good love story)

3. Outraged: Consolation of Philosophy - Boethius

4. Reconsider your perceptions: Catch-22 - Heller

5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence: The Once and Future King - White

[<Trinity>]

Laugh: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - ALL of them
Cry: Trim by Matthew Flinders (yes, THAT Matthew Flinders)
Outraged: Brave New World
Reconsider your perceptions: Peter Camenzind
Feel better for the mere fact of its existence: ah, so many ... Pride and Prejudice? Sense and Sensibility. No, Mansfield Park ... let's settle with Jane Austen. WHAT A LEGEND!!!!

[Silas Thorne]

Laugh: Nearly anything that I've read by Kurt Vonnegut. It was usually a bitter laugh, but it was a laugh. 'Gullivers Travels'
Cry: Not a book, but a story. Oscar Wilde's 'The Selfish Giant', reading it aloud.
Outraged: I can't really remember the last time a book made me felt outraged. Sometimes stories that I read in the newspaper, or insensitive comments people make.
Reconsider your perceptions: Laozi (Lao-tzu) 'Dao De Jing', Mengzi (Mencius), 'Siddharta' by Herman Hesse, anything by Jiddu Krishnamurti, Edward De Bono's books, any poem that I want to read more than three or four times.
Feel better for the mere fact of its existence: Laozi (Lao-tzu) 'Dao De Jing', Mengzi (Mencius), 'Siddharta' by Herman Hesse, anything by Jiddu Krishnamurti, Edward De Bono's books, any poem that I want to read more than three or four times.

[iamnobody]

Thank's everyone. These are great, keep 'em coming. (yes, I'm fishing for reading material)

[Carla42]

1- Laugh: Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down - J.E. Gordon (witty and fascinating!).

2- Cry: Watchmen (do graphic novels count?) - Alan Moore

3- Outraged: 1984 - George Orwell (at the end).

4- Changed my perceptions: The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells

5- Feel better by the mere fact of it's existence: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (again, graphic novel) - Alan Moore (guys... it's superheroes in a Victorian England where all the stories and characters from the books set in that period coexist... don't you feel great to be alive already? :D).

[TheFifthElement]

Laugh - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Cry - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Outrage -We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver or The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir

Perceptions - Lost Paradise by Cees Nooteboom or The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago

Feel good about its existence - Grendel by John Gardner or The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

[chimney_swift]

Laugh: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

Cry: Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques

Outraged: Anything by Aldous Huxley (stupid man)

Changed my perceptions: The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho and The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran :P

Feel better for the mere fact of its existence: Wait for Me, by An Na.

[Desolation]

1. Candide by Voltaire

2. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy (although, not for the right reasons)

3. Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine

4. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche

5. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

[sixsmith]

Laugh: Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth

Cry: It didn't make me cry but Annie Proulx's short story Brokeback Mountain gave my throat an unequivocal lump.

Outraged: The Trial - Franz Kafka

Reconsider your perceptions: Ulysses (or the half or so that I can endure) - James Joyce

Feel better for the mere fact of its existence: Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

[Lord Macbeth]

1. Laugh:

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. I honestly think this is funnier than A Midsummer Night's Dream...call me crazy...Beatrice and Benedict are by FAR my favorite non-tragic couple in classic literature, they really do feel like a real couple and are so witty and so sarcastic that...well, since wit and sarcasm are two things I value right off the bat, no wonder I love these characters, and no wonder I find this play hilarious.

2. Cry

I'm just not the crying type, but maybe the most deflated (in a good, tragic way) I've felt after a book would be after I read John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men and saw a theatrical version of it with some friends...this was years back, and even knowing the ending...actually, I think that's why it's so depressing--you can see the ending coming a mile away, and yet it always DOES almost seem as if they might make it this time, you can't believe this could fail, so close...and it all goes to pieces, and what's worse, it really feels like a senseless loss for George, Lennie, and everyone; at least Shakespeare and Sophocles and even Henrik Ibsen's realist tragedies all generally seem to have some sort of meaning to them, some cathartic element, you knew why it had to happen, and you could see why it was going to happen. With George and Lennie, you know it can't end well, and yet you almost don't know why, even with Lennie being the eay he is, they seem to have every precaution covered, the deadline to their dream is this close...and then a random appearance by Curley's Wife later, it's all to ashes...why? Great story, brilliantly depressing, maybe one of the most powerful endings to a novel in the 20th century.

3. Outraged

The Downfall And The Death Of Robert, Earl Of Huntington by Anthony Munday. This play tells the end of the Robin Hood legend, associating him with Robert, the Earl of Huntington (Munday writing at the same time, roughly, as Shakespeare, Kyd, and Marlowe.) Now, I don't generally get outraged over a book, and this is no exception--but I have NEVER liked how Robin Hood's legend ends. Having the wicked Prince John win out in the end is one thing, it's a sad ending, but that's alright, and can be greatl King Arthur's legend has a HUGE, HEARTBREAKING climactic ending where Lancelot's lust for Guinevere turns him against Arthur, Arthur tries to burn Guinevere, Lancelot saves her but accididently kills Gareth and Gaheris doing so, causing Gawain to go mad with rage and seek revenge for his borther's death against his former best friend, Lancelot kills Gawain and both feels orry they fought at all, and it all ends with Arthur and the Knights fighting an epic battle AGAINST one another at Camlaan, and the Legend of Camelot comes to a dramatic, hightly-climactic end, it's INCREDIBLE. Robin Hood? He gets old and very weak, and it's THEN Prince John, held at bay for so many years, ruins Robin and Maid Marian. It's so anti-climactic, the whole group is disbanded, and then just to tack it on, years later the illian has the hero killed when he's already sick and weakl and old? It's not really Munday's fault, he's just trying to present the legend, but that's just it--WHY must it end THAT way? Tragedy is a fine way to send off a great hero, but why couldn't Robin go out in a blaze of incredibly tragic glory like Arthur and his Knights? It feels like a cheat, and it's something of an outrage such a great icon suffers a cheap end.

4. Reconsider your perceptions

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. I played Polonius when we did this play in high school years back (and won a competition,) but it was all of those word games and existential lines that first got me really thinking...and into philosophy, leading me to...

5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Freidrich Nietzsche. One of the greatest philosophy texsts ever written, it's jsut a great book full of incredible ideas and brilliant writing...and it makes me feel better to know that for all the ideas that may be dreamt of in my philosophy, perhaps I'm not too alone in thinking about these great questions and aspiring for greater things.

[Tallon]

1. Laugh - Lucy Jim - Kingsley Amis, cracks me up everytime.

2. Cry - Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

3. Outraged - A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovic - Solzhenitsyn, I studied Soviet history but this is more powerful than any history book.

4. Reconsider your perceptions - Siddhartha - Hesse - I'm pretty open minded, most things teach me rather than contradict any dogma i already have.

5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence - To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee, a great lesson in empathy and i love that it's so widely read.

[JuniperWoolf]

1. Laugh: People always ask this, and I can never ever think of anything. My sense of humour dominates a large part of my personality, but I've never read a book that has struck me as particularly funny. The guy from The Importance of Being Earnest was pretty good, I liked it when he was lying to that lady about the cucumber sandwiches.

2. Cry: It's embarrasing, and I don't know why, but Life of Pi made me bawl like a child for about a solid hour. It was that third part man, I just couldn't take it. I don't know if I was in a really sentimental mood or what, but I was absolutely devistated. I ran to my boyfriend and couldn't tell him what was wrong. I really loved that tiger, all throughout the novel. I think that's what it was: it draws you into a false sense of security, then it hits you with that third part, and I totally didn't see it coming.

3. Outraged: Maus. My reaction to that book was not good (or it was, depending on your perspective).

4. Reconsider your perceptions: Lost Girls changed my mind about fantasy vs. reality, and also about pornography (I had a second-wave feminist for an English teacher, Lost Girls introduced me to third-wave ideas).

5. Feel better for the mere fact of its existence: The Grapes of Wrath made me very happy and hopeful, because they took care of each other and at the same time it didn't ignore the sick parts of human behaviour. I loved it because it was so honest, it was refreshing. For me, The Grapes of Wrath said "this is what is, this is what we are." It was a spectrum of human nature.

[TheChilly]

1. The Wayside School series (back when I was in grade school)

2. Night, by Elie Wiesel

3. Hogg, by Samuel R. Delany. My concern for it was not because of its graphic violence (I've seen a lot in "American Psycho"), but the way the subject matter was treated crossed the line in terms of depiction. Mainly because I felt dirty and disgusting reading the first pages of it, which led to me putting it down because I felt so weird.

4. American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis. I see the novel as a commentary on society, which is now a complete and utter parody of itself, judging by some of the hardships and unpleasant incidents that have been popping up on the news lately.

5. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. The novel in which I now believe that angels do exist.

[Babak Movahed]

1. Candide by Voltaire

2. Madame Bovary by Flaubert

3. A People's History of the United States by Zinn

4. The Blind Owl by Hedayat

5. Ulysses by Joyce

[Uberzensch]

1. Confederacy of Dunces / Catch-22
2. Unbearable Lightness of Being / Les Miserables
3. Atlas Shrugged
4. Beyond Good and Evil / Autobiography of Malcom X
5. Anna Karenina / Middlemarch

[Dodo25]

Laugh: Catch-22 (Heller)

Cry: /

Outraged: The Sorrows of Young Werther (Goethe)

Reconsider Perceptions: Infidel (A.H. Ali)

Feel Better by Mere Existence: Unweaving the Rainbow (Dawkins)

[IceM]

Laugh: Catch 22
Cry: None
Outraged: Candide
Reconsider Perceptions: Mere Christianity
Feel Better by Mere Existence: Invisible Cities