Options
What three books have had the greatest influence on your life?
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,720
My step-daughter asked me this question. It's a bit of a twist on
the "what are you favorite three books" question. More than just
favorites, these are the three books that have had an influence on your
life in ways that actually somehow changed your life.
Here are the three I came up with
See up the Mountain,
by Betty Morrow. This children's nature book sparked my interest in
nature and other more complex aspects of nature that I would learn about
later like bio-regions and ecological communities. This book is tied
for first with a book my parents gave me in 1956 that I still have- Insects; A Guide to American Insects (A Golden Guide) by Herbert S. Zim and Clarence Cottam, illustrated by James Gordon Irving.
Other Voices, Other Rooms
by Truman Capote. At the recommendation of my English teacher in 10th
grade, I read this book and it opened doors to literature at another
level than anything I had read before and I've always seen it as a major
turning point in my ever evolving love of literature.
The Politics of Experience,
by R. D. Laing. This book had a huge effect on me in that it helped me
understand why I see the world the way I do. It didn't so much change
the way I see things as it did validate them, and it helped me to better
accept myself for who I am. Despite that huge influence, there are
parts of this book that, because they are very abstract, leave me
somewhat perplexed. I sent a copy of this book to a well known
drummer/artist and he like it so much he sent me a couple of his
posters,signed. I guess it rang true for him as well.
What are your three?
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.
0
Comments
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. That was such a great book. Our English teacher that taught it to me was so enthusiastic about it and peeled back the layers of symbolism in it and it made me think and pay attention to every detail. It was dated when I first read it but I still loved it. I love the name Phoebe because of that book, lol.
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. I stumbled upon him while being immersed in Johnny Cash music. When I read that A Boy Named Sue was written by him I came across this book. It is animated but it still has a strong message in it.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson. I had never laughed out loud while reading a book until I read this. When I found out that this was more of an autobiography of the Vegas trip I was captivated even more by it. I later read a real bio book on him and found Thompson to be a horrible person but I still love that book. The Red shark and the hitchhiker they picked up, we're in bat country, lol. Man that book is fun!
Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was my first foray into real and serious literature and it opened the possibility for language to be a focus in itself, aside from the plot and the ideas being expressed.
Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau...speaks for itself.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See?
the Kama Sutra
I read Watchers on a Greyhound coming back from home to university after a break. I was a big Stephen King fan and loved the horror genre- I was hoping for another great author and discovered him to broaden the horizon. A really great book!
Koontz wasn't exactly a 'horror' guy, but he was a great storyteller. I read several Koontz books afterwards and introduced him to my friends who were in at the same level I was. Lightning might have been his best book in my mind.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: I devoured these old Doyle, Dumas and Hugo volumes that we had in our farmhouse as a kid, but I always left this one on the shelf. It just sounded way too boring for a boy who was more into hunchbacks, detectives and musketeers at the time. When I finally cracked it open, however, I found that books could do more than merely entertain; they could also move one to deeply soulful (and tearful) self-examinations and ultimately healing, redemption and rejuvenation. And they could teach us lessons that will remain with us forever. In this case, take care of yourself and the people and things you love, and all will flourish; neglect yourself and the people and things that you love, and all will disintegrate.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley: Who the hell is this guy whose image and quotations are starting to show up on all my friends’ shirts and stuff. Is he some kind of African despot? Oh, wow! Not at all. He’s my new hero! That voice. That passion. That love. That anger. That determination. That outrage. That humility. That faith. That courage. That mind. A beautifully flawed human who recognized his own flaws and went to great lengths to try to make amends for them and anguished over the times he could not. He's still resides on the throne, leading the humans I most admire.
Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: I was a complete mess the first time I read this (and Lila), and I truly believe that Pirsig’s novelistic inquiries have a great deal to do with why I’m still on this planet. I’ll never be free of all the demons that caused me to seek out these books in the first place, but they are always there on the shelf when I need them. And I find that I need them more often than I'd like. (I needed Zen about a year ago when I had a terrible issue with my young son while his very sensitive and empathetic big sister was in the same room. The words are even more relevant as a father. Much of the narrator's torment stems from his inability to deal with his son's irrational egotism out of certain fear that the behavior he's seeing in his son is scarily similar to the ghost that haunts him.)
Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre: This tome basically put into words so many of the thoughts I'd had about the absolute absurdity of life -- and then some. This book is basically my religious text. I live my life guided by the the philosophical notion that existence precedes essence and that while our lives ultimately have no meaning, our essence does (until it doesn't).
Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things: This one tears your goddamn soul apart. There's no forgiving some of the damage that some of the characters inflict upon each other, even when there actions come from a place of pure love. The prose is just beautiful and moving, and it meanders as form perfectly marries with function.
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon: I read this the first time while studying abroad in Russia. A friend loaned me his copy (a hardcover first edition!) for something to read while traveling. Well, it's a good thing that I was with a group for all of our planned excursions, or else I would've missed many a train stop, bus stop, etc. due to my nose being buried in this book. I read it twice while there, and I try to reread it once every year or so. This novel basically blows up everything one imagines a work of fiction to be and glues it all back together haphazardly because someone must've gotten high from all the fumes. (Joyce is a dog chasing its tail; Pynchon is a snail chasing a hog.) It climbs to the heights of erudition and wallows in the depths of depravity. There are fractured fables and scatological sea shanties. Blood, shit, snot, cum, piss. There are corporations getting rich off the corpses produced by WWII. There's magic and the void. There's sex, drugs, and rock & roll. There are conspiracies everywhere and answers nowhere. Recalcitrant troops and extremely perverted poops. It's an entropic nightmare and a live sex peep show booth full of freaks. Everything that matters to me is in this book.
Honorable mentions: A Coney Island of the Mind, Geek Love, Jitterbug Perfume, The Complete English Poems (John Donne), Salinger's Glass stories, Letters to a Young Poet, IT, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Motherless Brooklyn, The House of Mirth, 1984, The Holy Bible (KJV), everything by Vonnegut (even the stinkers), The Complete Stories (Flannery O'Connor), The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, Leaves of Grass, Sanctuary (Faulkner), The Great and Secret Show and Everville (Clive Barker), The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, The Riverside Shakespeare
The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFade - story of Gander Newfoundland on 9/11 and how they took people in for that day and few days after. The most inspiring book i've ever read. just incredible how these people treated strangers who were stuck in their town.
Christine by Stephen King - not so much for the message but was the first book that engrossed me so much I read it in about 2 days while in high school. was 16 at the time and just couldn't put it down.
Insomnia by Stephen King. It wasn't the first book I read from him but it definitely felt it was the one the I connected with most if that makes sense. I think it was the spirituality was the main thing. I have to re-read this now
Angels & Demons by Dan Brooks. I was laid off and bored and I think my mom had all his books so i just started reading them in order. And i think this one and Lost Symbol more than the Da Vinci Code.
8/28/98- Camden, NJ
10/31/09- Philly
5/21/10- NYC
9/2/12- Philly, PA
7/19/13- Wrigley
10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
10/21/13- Philly, PA
10/22/13- Philly, PA
10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly
Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Is this only fiction books or can it be an genre (i.e. self-help?).
Was it, "The night was humid."???
Lol there's an obscurish reference.
My favorite opening passage ever is from Cormac McCarthy, The Road.
"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world."
She must have been a little dim lol
Hilarious, terrifying, informative, philosophical, instructive, gory—it has it all. I kind of feel like we’re all on the Pequod right now, and old man Ahab has just spotted Moby-Dick. Y'all up for a Nantucket sleighride?
@rgambs “You clumsy poop!
McCarthy is a goddamn magician with words.
Into Thin Air (read multiple times including the first time- at the hospital for the birth of my son)
The Tiger (bought at the airport and read flying to my grandmother's funeral... couldn't put it down and one of my first recommends to anyone)
* 'Influential' is tough to gauge. I think I went more with 'nostalgic'. Oh well. It all works one way or another.
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
I've only read a handful of the books listed but Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the only one on mine.