The Outcast (L'Etranger) by Albert Camus. I read it when I was 19, perhaps that was too early.
Oscar Wilde's "De Profundis".
I also like "The Simple Soul" by Flaubert. I don't know why.
Recently - "April Witch" by Majgull Axelsson (Sweden).
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The Outcast (L'Etranger) by Albert Camus. I read it when I was 19, perhaps that was too early.
Oscar Wilde's "De Profundis".
I also like "The Simple Soul" by Flaubert. I don't know why.
Recently - "April Witch" by Majgull Axelsson (Sweden).
a book that has greatly influenced my life? There is only one book like that for me, one which has changed who i am inside, that i believe would be called "The Wounded Spirit"- By Frank Peretti . It brought me to tears, not only because of the cruelty depicted, but because it was a true story.
~T.Phoenix
All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren and Catch-22 have greatly influenced me. I love both the books and would recommend them to nearly anyone.
Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms and Black Hawk Down have mildly inflenced me...
Fathers and Sons and Crime and PUnishment nearly made me nausiated of reading to the point of abandoning it... but I got over it.
For me it's actually The Diary of Anne Frank. I was Anne's age when I first read it, and maybe that's why it left such a mark in me. It's one of the few books I actually own. (I don't buy books when I can check it out for free from the library. :p) It's also one book I would reread and reread again. (I'm being redundant, but oh well.)
"The Lord of the Rings"
fairy-tales written by Andersen
"1984"
"The Waves"
and many poems :)
:rolleyes: I think the most influential book to me is Fairy Tales Of Anderson.
I read this book when I was very young, and I still think it's great now.
:) wish you all like it too.
W. Faulkner, 'The Sound and the Fury'
L.P. Boon, 'De paradijsvogel', 'Mijn kleine oorlog', 'Het Geuzenboek' (I don't know about English translations, but these are litteral translations of those titles: 'The Bird of Paradise', 'My Little War', 'The Book of Gueux' - I don't know how to translate this last one: it's about the protestant uprising in Flanders in the 2nd half of the 16th Century)
H. Claus, 'De verwondering' (the wonder, or the amazement, something like that)
Paul de Wispelaere, 'Het verkoolde alfabet' (the charred alphabet, a journal)
W. Shakespeare, 'Hamlet'
and so much more
i think that the book thay influanced me
pride and prejudice by jane Austen ;)
There have been so many over the years that I'll probably have to come back and edit this later because I'll have left one or two out, but for starters...
"The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, read way back when I was about 11 or 12. Cried my eyes out, but it opened my mind to the idea of writing. I've been keeping a journal ever since and, though I did write the Great American Novel, I do make a living through writing (technical stuff, not very creative).
"Absalom, Absalom" by William Faulkner. Faulkner is one of my favorites, and race relations is the great shame of our country. Faulkner shows how our fate will forever be tied to our inability to eradicate racism.
"Ulysses" by James Joyce. This was like turning a fire hose on my ego and all my aspirations of being a writer. It was so beyond anything I had read to that point. It was writing beyond storytelling, writing beyond the beauty of language, or the revelation of truth. Joyce kicked my butt!
A Remarkable Book I will have to come back and name later (please no comments about my age!) Anyway, it's an oral history of the civil rights movement in American from the death of Emmett Til up to what was then the present day (1980s). True stories of people putting their lives on the line.
"Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller. Words that leap from the page, pulsing with life, while writing about the breakdown of civilization in depression-era Paris. Not all of Miller's work is that vivid, some of it downright awful, but ToC is an ode to life -- flawed, tragic, comic, imperfect life.
I'm leaving far too many out, but I'm out of time.
ihrocks
There have been so many over the years that I'll probably have to come back and edit this later because I'll have left one or two out, but for starters...
"The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, read way back when I was about 11 or 12. Cried my eyes out, but it opened my mind to the idea of writing. I've been keeping a journal ever since and, though I did write the Great American Novel, I do make a living through writing (technical stuff, not very creative).
"Absalom, Absalom" by William Faulkner. Faulkner is one of my favorites, and race relations is the great shame of our country. Faulkner shows how our fate will forever be tied to our inability to eradicate racism.
"Ulysses" by James Joyce. This was like turning a fire hose on my ego and all my aspirations of being a writer. It was so beyond anything I had read to that point. It was writing beyond storytelling, writing beyond the beauty of language, or the revelation of truth. Joyce kicked my butt!
"Voices of Freedom," an oral history of the civil rights movement in American from the death of Emmett Til up to what was then the present day (1980s). True stories of people putting their lives on the line.
"Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller. Words that leap from the page, pulsing with life, while writing about the breakdown of civilization in depression-era Paris. Not all of Miller's work is that vivid, some of it downright awful, but ToC is an ode to life -- flawed, tragic, comic, imperfect life.
I'm leaving far too many out, but I'm out of time.
ihrocks
You do have good taste in literature, though. The Outsiders wasn't anything extraordinary, but Hinton did write it when she was in high school (which I thought was very impressive).
You can't go wrong with James Joyce, either. Each page of Ulysses was a captivating little view of the human spirit (sometimes overwhelming). I don't like to break it down too much, though. It is enjoyable even at face value (the rhythm and the diction, for example).
I think I'm too young for Faulkner, though, because I'm still not mature enough to understand what 'true' suffering is. But I'll give it a couple more years and then see what has transpired in my life (but, then, why am I wishing that on myself?).
It's good to have you here, if I didn't say it before.
Thanks for the welcome!
I'm sure if I went back now and re-read "The Outsiders" I'd cringe, but I have to say that 30 years of journaling, a degree in communications, five years writing for a newspaper, and even my present humble situation all started with that little book.
Also, I didn't give props to Dylan Thomas or D.H. Lawrence because neither wrote a specific book that influenced me, but their collective writings are among my favorites.
Yes, that was what was so awe-inspiring about "Ulysses." It works at every level, and the more you dig into it, the more you find, and the more satisfying you find it. There is a theory that all literature either leads up to, or away from, that one book. I'm not sure I buy into it, but it is an amazing piece work.
Oh, and did I mention, "As I Lay Dying"? Another fantastic bit from Mr. Faulkner.
ihrocks
Interesting. Are there any other particular writers that you plan to keep for later in life? I've never thought of authors like that, but it makes a lot of sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by AbdoRinbo
Well, for different reasons. By the time I was a junior in high school, I'd read almost every Kurt Vonnegut novel ever written, so I forced myself to stop that way I would have something new to look forward to later on in life (as opposed to just re-reading all of his novels, which wouldn't be as nostalgic, I think).
On the contrary, I probably started reading Arthur Rimbaud too soon (I couldn't write a line of poetry after reading him, he was so pure). He abandoned poetry at the age of 19 to pursue different interests (ultimately he would wind up in Africa to partake in the 19th-century colonial trading circuit after wandering back and forth between his home in France and parts of Sothern and Eastern Europe). He died very young, too. Personally, I don't know of many artists who lived as tragic and mythic a life as Rimbaud did. I was simply overwhelmed by him, if anything else, and I may never fully recover. It's strange to think that literature can have that sort of power over you.
"dream of the red chamber " by Cao Xueqin
which offers me a soul journey to Chinese culture and human's destiny
And builds up my sensitivity .
"Illiad" and "Odyssey"Show me a totally new magical world
"Les Miserables"teaches me to love people.
Hans Andersen ,Borther Grimm and Oscar Wilde's Fairy tales provide for me a land to dream,to smile and to reserve truth,kindness and beauty.
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
I found a majesty in his language that got me into literature.
#1 has already been mentioned--Night by Elie Wiesel--it set me on my course of study of literature of victims of genocidal oppression.
#2 is not actually a book but a novella--"The Bear" by William Faulkner--it was my first exposure to Faulkner and it has continued to carry me through my dissertation and inspire my publishing career.
#3--Tracks by Louise Erdrich--it furthered me on my course of study and led me to my first academic conference paper and my first professional publication.
I couldnt agree more. It was if some new dimension opened into my brain. I was completely a different person from that point on.Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesting
I must give credit to the pre-LOTR, the Hobbit. Its simplicity of depth is rivaled only by The Old Man And The Sea, which is my second favourite book. Both gave me goosebumps and after finishing these, i started right over from the beginning, and continued.
"The man who mistook his wife for a hat" by Oliver Sacks.
Essays about people Sacks has met during his work as a neurologist. His thoughts about body and mind, brain and soul and the way he writes about his patients was a true inspiration when I started to study.
My fathers says that I´m also shaped by the Pippi Longstocking books he read to me when I was a child.
why shocked??? I loved the book so much. lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Helena_of_verona
Its one of my favorite. I watched the movie (the new version) several times. It is great as well
Be back soon with my favorite books.
have a nice day everyone :D
<Edited>
:D
Perhaps the most influential author in my reading life has been Ayn Rand, both "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged." Why? Because she sees man as the supreme rational being when not fettered by "requirements" of self-sacrifice and living for other people. Her characters of Howard Roark in "The Fountainhead" and John Galt and Dagney Taggert in "Atlas Shrugged" show the way people ought to live --- by thinking with his own brain, using his own talents and determining his own destiny as far as possible and not being OBLIGATED to give anything of himself to anyone else.
I find myself thinking alot about Ayn Rand lately because things she predicted 40 and 50 years ago when these 2 masterpieces were published are coming true. So what has been delightful albeit frightening fiction is quickly becoming truth and if that continues, then God Help Us!
*laughs at name sailormoo* D
SOMETHING which I don't know has ket me from reading Ann ryand. I plan to,i even take the book from the library and then somehow I return it pristine and unread. I really don't know why! Well, this time it's going to bedifferent- I swear I'm going to read Atlas Shrugged within a month.
A streetcar named desire, i know its not really a book, its a play, but I love how you can see why Blanche is the way she is and how each character is so extreme in a way.
Ulysses
Rouse up O Young Men of the New Age, and A Personal Matter. It's no stretch to say that both of these books changed my life.
Walden shakes your view of wealth greatly. However, I must say that the Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse has changed the way I write. I now can't resist a jibe or chance of irreverant wit at my subject matter, completely revamping my somewhat formal style.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and The poems of edgar allen poe
I read 1984 when I was eighteen and it had such an impact on me. It inspired me to become a writer. I read my first Hemingway story when I was twenty-one, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. I was influenced by Orwell's content, but the fashion in which Hemingway told his story amazed me.
Funny enough, it was a book for children that influenced me most. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein has shaped the way I interact with people. I have a great deal of empathy and I owe it to this book.
(I would like to mention the Lorax.)
1984 and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Also Night and Slaughterhouse Five...someother book also but I can't remember...its really popular too.
Enthralled with Grimms fairy tales and just about anything written by Roald Dahl as a child.
East of Eden, Of Mice and Men- Steinbeck
Of Human Bondage- Somerset Maughan
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison (poignant account of something I cannot ever fully grasp as a white female)
Growing up, Goodnight Mr Tom made me realise how powerful a story can be, i cried! But lately i have to say that Austen novels influence my liking for all things regency and so i have started to read around her era. Tis good.
I totally agree with you on this one. The Outsiders made my life different. I learned that what I was going though with cliques was normal, and even happened back when my parents were children. It made me realize people out there have it worse off then I do.Quote:
Originally Posted by ;1641
Karen Kingsbury & Gary Smalley's - The Redemtion Series.
This book just touched me in a way no other has.
Anything by Lurlene McDaniel
She has written some of the best works in my life. They show compassion, fear, love, and so much more all in one.
Tolstoy's War and Peace, I didn't read so much before that, but this book immersed me in the beauty of literature.
Definitely H.Hesse's Steppenwolf, V.Woolf's Mrs.Dalloway and M. Cunningham's The Hours.
Also Crime and Punishment, because it talked about ideas I had never thought about before.
And S.Plath's poetry.
<i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> in third grade. I've been passionate about reading ever since.
The Chronicles Of Narnia
I notice two others have mentioned Thoreau's Walden as being most influential. I agree and would only add that his Resistance to Civil Government has also been a very strong influence on me.
Crime and Punishment, for numerous reasons.