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I've been thinking about what books have genuinely really changed my life since looking at this thread. I think Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land was one of them. I read it when I was a teenager, not long after I had left school. I believe it has made me think more about language & different cultures in general. Well, I grok language better now, I think... :alien:
This is one of the most disappointing books I have ever read. I felt like Heinlein sat down and penned his daydreams... And in a rather sexist fashion too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Red-Headed
Well, I was very young when I read it. I know exactly what you mean though. It is still a classic of the genre however. It may not be The Brothers Karamazov & I am pretty sure I wouldn't have agreed with much of Heinlein's politics but it left a profound effect on my young mind. It is a product of its time I suppose.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scheherazade
At the tender age of 15 years old (a trite, as I'm infrequently described as 'tender') I received as a gift a 5 book set of American writer Kurt Vonnegut's satirical tales. A perspective is a reality. Vonnegut's views opened my eyes to a world never before seen, a world greatly in need of explaining! I have expected and demanded explanations ever since..........for the world is a fully complicated and fascinating place.......
There are three books that have altered my perspective: Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground, Robert Nathan's Portrait Of Jennie, and Daniel Keyes' Flowers For Algernon.
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood is really good. You might find it a bit slow in the beginning but once it gets going, its good.
After more thought, I am firmly convinced Patrick Tilley's Mission has had a profound impact on me. Predominantly because the book is such a clever premise & often hilariously funny whilst often being quite profound. Plus it has one of the cleverest endings I have ever seen in a novel. It is one of the handful of novels in English that I have read more than three times (it is not uncommon for me to read multiple translations of novels that were originally written in a language other than English).
and chronic of a death foretold, and leafstorm, and memories of my melancolich whores, and (la triste y tragica historia de la candida erendira y su abuela desalmada) sorry about the spanish, i just like the title better that way, anyway almost every book Gabo has wrote.Quote:
Originally Posted by Red-Headed
Note that I said almost.
I've read a fair few of his short stories. 'Solitude' 'Cholera' & 'General' are great novels though! I look forward to reading others.Quote:
Originally Posted by marcolfo
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red-Headed
you should read Juan Rulfo. he was a mexican writer also considered one of the greatest in magical realism , Garcia Marquez was greatly influenced by his work. May I recomend 'Burning plain' and 'Pedro Paramo' .
OK, thanks. The name, like Borges, is familiar to me & I know a little bit about them but I have only really read Marquez. I'll get around to Rulfo!Quote:
Originally Posted by marcolfo
By a million miles Hamlet was the most mindblowing and complete piece of literature i have ever read.
Why do those old theads keep getting resurrected?
The Power of One was probably the first book that really struck me on a personal note and inspired me to keep reading. Also, Siddhartha was very enlightening.
With the understanding that "books that changed my life" are not necessarily the best ones I have read:
The Recognitions by William Gaddis
The Brothers Karamazov (Really I should just say all of Dostoyevsky's novels more or less equally)
The Lord of the Rings
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
I take it back. The novels listed above really are among the best things of their kind I have read. The Recognitions is my all-time favorite of the bunch.
:nod: The Women's Room. oh boy. Read it at 18. Come to think of it, that book is probably the reason I'm not married ...and won't be making that mistake any time soon.
Thanks to a book called The sword of Shannara. ever since i read that my thought patterns and way of thinking while writing have been different. The book also raised my expectations of all other books. =P
"The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Changed my political ideology.
my list is rather predictable but these are some of the first books i read as a child and if it wasn't for these ones, i would have never found the joy of reading:
1) Little Prince
2) To Kill a Mockingbird
3) Catcher In The Rye
4) Centennial by James Michener
5) Dragonlance series