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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.