Having been a student of English Literature I had to study many courses on English and American literature and I had to read many many books. I have to admit that many of them were really good but I only enjoy reading books when I want it and not because I have to do it. So my Norton Anthologies of English and American Literature were highly underestimated when I was at Uni. It is now that I appreciate them more and more!
Personally, I've been greatly influenced by Bukowski's books. The first I read was "Notes of a Dirty old man" and I've been hooked ever since. My favourites are: "Ham on Rye", "Women" and "Post Office".
I also enjoy history (especially modern history) books.
Unfortunately I have not read ancient greek literature yet, except for the ones we were taught at school. I love modern greek literature though.
Other favourite books of mine are:
Jack Kerouac - On the Road
Ernest Hemingway - The old man and the sea
Italo Calvino - Difficult Loves
Orhan Pamuk - Istanbul
William Faulkner - The sound and the fury
OK... I failed epically on this... One of my favorite authors is the portuguese Nobel Prize winner José Saramago. The Intermitencies of Death, Blindness, All the Names and Cain are among my favorites, but I don't think he's written anything "less good" in his entire life!
Has anyone read anything from him? If not, I recommend it!
~Can't escape from the common rule
If you hate something, don't you do it too...~
(The Edmund Morris three volume Teddy Roosevelt biography is great)
King Leopold's Ghost almost made my list....."The Scramble for Africa" by Thomas Pakenham some how got left off the list.....have the first two Morris Teddy books....just have not got around to reading them.
Somebody here on the board recommended King Leopold's Ghost. And I read Scramble for Africa after - GREAT book.
It might have been me....as I have mentioned it more than once. :twisted:
Both books were amazing.
All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a thousand enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
to be fair. ismael is the best book ever. a life bible almost.
Hm, wouldn't go that far but I most certainly can commend If they give you lined paper, write sideways by Daniel Quinn. From there on it's only a small step to Richard Dawkins.
No particular favourite book but a list as long as my arm of fav writers :
Stephen King
Douglas Adams
Cormac McCarthy
Charles Palliser
Ian Rankin
Mark Billingham
Tolkien
J.K. Rowling (yes... including Fantastic Beasts..., Quidditch... and The Tales of Beedle the Bard)
Stephen Fry
Karin Slaughter
Christos Tsiolkas
Nick Cave
Wilkie Collins
Charles Dickens
Hugo Claus (Belgian writer)
Tom Lanoye (Belgian writer)
Stuart MacBride
James Joyce
John Fowles
Philip K. Dick
Rainer Maria Rilke
Günter Grass
Franz Kafka
...
Wow, books of my life... That's a bit of a long list, starting from childhood. A short version off the top of my head starts young - trying to go in chronological order from when I read it...
- Mr. Men books! I learned to read with these books exclusively. My favorites were Mr. Tickle and Mr. Greedy. - The Serendipity books, especially Catundra and Maui-Maui (the latter even influenced my views about wildlife protection for the rest of my life) - The Secret World of Og (Pierre Berton) - The entire Little House On the Prairie Series (Laura Ingalls Wilder) - I guess I'm a little embarrassed by this, but Flowers in the Attic by V.C Andrews. I was inappropriately young when I first read this (like maybe 10) because my parents never censored my reading or viewing material (for which I am forever grateful). But I think this was the first "grown up" novel I ever read, and it was just so damned compelling (and sordid, lol) for me at that age, that it taught me how fucking entertaining a novel could be. It probably also kind of was the start of my realizing how fucked up people can be. It was a genuine learning experience for me, no matter how trashy V.C. Andrews is. - The Chrysalids (John Wyndham) - I'm positive that this book, which was part of the grade 5 curriculum, was the beginning of my life long obsession with the dystopian genre (as evidenced by the rest of my list after this, lol), so really this might ultimately be THE most influential book of my life. - The Stand (Stephen King) - The Long Walk (Stephen King) - 1984 (George Orwell). Orwell's political perspectives simply blew my mind and made so much sense to me. This book is probably what actually got me interested in politics and the horrors of politics. - The Lottery (short story - Shirley Jackson) - The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) - Roots (Alex Haley) - Paradise Lost (John Milton). Not sure this really qualifies as it's just an epic poem, and Iknow this is kind of a pretentious choice, lol, but studying it in depth in university (it was a whole course only about this one poem) really enlightened me in terms of the role of religion in this world, so it was a pivotal literary study for me. - Vanity Fair (William Thackeray) - The Plague (Albert Camus) - The Concubine's Children: Portrait of a Family Divided (Denise Chong). This is a riveting account of the author's family history in China and Canada (Vancouver, mostly), and it won many awards and was a best seller, but it also was a book covered in this great special topics lit course I took, taught by renowned Canadian author Roy Miki, and he brought home the marriage of writing and memory and cultural memory with this book. - The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) - A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) - Blindness (Jose Saramago) - Family Matters (Rohinton Mistry)
Post edited by PJ_Soul on
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,304
edited August 2018
My list from 2011 was way too long and has changed some. My "books of my life today" is:
Abbey, Edward: THE FOOL’S PROGRESS
Alexie, Sherman: FLIGHT
Andrews, F. Emerson: UPSIDE-DOWN TOWN
Azerrad, Michael: OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE
Bechard, Gorman: THE SECOND GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
Berry Wendell: THE WILD BIRDS Boyd, Malcolm: ARE YOU RUNNING WITH ME, JESUS?
Capote, Truman: OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS
Choinard, Yvon: LET MY PEOPLE GO SURFING
Hayden, Tom: THE LOST GOSPEL OF THE EARTH
Huxley, Aldous: THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION
John Krakauer: INTO THIN AIR
Laing, R.D.: THE POLITICS OF EXPERIENCE
Lee, Harper: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Morrow, Betty: SEE UP THE MOUNTAIN
Nelson, Willie: THE TAO OF WILLIE
Rollins, Henry: any and/or anything from 1998 on.
Seton, Ernest Thompson: ROLF IN THE WOODS
Steinbeck, John: CANNERY ROW
Traven, B.: THE JUNGLE SERIES
Vonnegut, Kurt: GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER
Weaver, Harriett E.: THERE STAND THE GIANTS
Zim, Howard: INSECTS
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
"Try to not spook the horse."
-Neil Young
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,304
^^^ Weird, I did not create those spaces between some of the lines. I think there has been an errororororororororororor.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
But I did enjoy 1984, animal farm, brave new world, Great expectations, lord of the flies, lots of Chuck Palaniuk books, to kill a mockingbird, several sports/other autobiographies. I’m sure I’m missing a couple of the Better ones
Wow... to win a bookstore! That lucky winner saved themselves years and ten tons of work to get their dream. Good for them!
I like the owner ... he was more concerned with the books than money. To few people in this world like that.
I can say from experience, far more bookstore people do it for the love of books than for money. There are WAY more ways to make better money than going into the book business.
The big exception to that is the text book industry. From '79 to '84, I worked in a college bookstore and still have big issues with textbook companies.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Comments
Personally, I've been greatly influenced by Bukowski's books. The first I read was "Notes of a Dirty old man" and I've been hooked ever since. My favourites are: "Ham on Rye", "Women" and "Post Office".
I also enjoy history (especially modern history) books.
Unfortunately I have not read ancient greek literature yet, except for the ones we were taught at school. I love modern greek literature though.
Other favourite books of mine are:
Jack Kerouac - On the Road
Ernest Hemingway - The old man and the sea
Italo Calvino - Difficult Loves
Orhan Pamuk - Istanbul
William Faulkner - The sound and the fury
Has anyone read anything from him? If not, I recommend it!
If you hate something, don't you do it too...~
Both books were amazing.
Hm, wouldn't go that far but I most certainly can commend If they give you lined paper, write sideways by Daniel Quinn. From there on it's only a small step to Richard Dawkins.
No particular favourite book but a list as long as my arm of fav writers :
Stephen King
Douglas Adams
Cormac McCarthy
Charles Palliser
Ian Rankin
Mark Billingham
Tolkien
J.K. Rowling (yes... including Fantastic Beasts..., Quidditch... and The Tales of Beedle the Bard)
Stephen Fry
Karin Slaughter
Christos Tsiolkas
Nick Cave
Wilkie Collins
Charles Dickens
Hugo Claus (Belgian writer)
Tom Lanoye (Belgian writer)
Stuart MacBride
James Joyce
John Fowles
Philip K. Dick
Rainer Maria Rilke
Günter Grass
Franz Kafka
...
- Mr. Men books! I learned to read with these books exclusively. My favorites were Mr. Tickle and Mr. Greedy.
- The Serendipity books, especially Catundra and Maui-Maui (the latter even influenced my views about wildlife protection for the rest of my life)
- The Secret World of Og (Pierre Berton)
- The entire Little House On the Prairie Series (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
- I guess I'm a little embarrassed by this, but Flowers in the Attic by V.C Andrews. I was inappropriately young when I first read this (like maybe 10) because my parents never censored my reading or viewing material (for which I am forever grateful). But I think this was the first "grown up" novel I ever read, and it was just so damned compelling (and sordid, lol) for me at that age, that it taught me how fucking entertaining a novel could be. It probably also kind of was the start of my realizing how fucked up people can be. It was a genuine learning experience for me, no matter how trashy V.C. Andrews is.
- The Chrysalids (John Wyndham) - I'm positive that this book, which was part of the grade 5 curriculum, was the beginning of my life long obsession with the dystopian genre (as evidenced by the rest of my list after this, lol), so really this might ultimately be THE most influential book of my life.
- The Stand (Stephen King)
- The Long Walk (Stephen King)
- 1984 (George Orwell). Orwell's political perspectives simply blew my mind and made so much sense to me. This book is probably what actually got me interested in politics and the horrors of politics.
- The Lottery (short story - Shirley Jackson)
- The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
- Roots (Alex Haley)
- Paradise Lost (John Milton). Not sure this really qualifies as it's just an epic poem, and I know this is kind of a pretentious choice, lol, but studying it in depth in university (it was a whole course only about this one poem) really enlightened me in terms of the role of religion in this world, so it was a pivotal literary study for me.
- Vanity Fair (William Thackeray)
- The Plague (Albert Camus)
- The Concubine's Children: Portrait of a Family Divided (Denise Chong). This is a riveting account of the author's family history in China and Canada (Vancouver, mostly), and it won many awards and was a best seller, but it also was a book covered in this great special topics lit course I took, taught by renowned Canadian author Roy Miki, and he brought home the marriage of writing and memory and cultural memory with this book.
- The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
- A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
- Blindness (Jose Saramago)
- Family Matters (Rohinton Mistry)
Alexie, Sherman: FLIGHT
Andrews, F. Emerson: UPSIDE-DOWN TOWN
Berry Wendell: THE WILD BIRDS
Boyd, Malcolm: ARE YOU RUNNING WITH ME, JESUS?
Capote, Truman: OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS
Choinard, Yvon: LET MY PEOPLE GO SURFING
Hayden, Tom: THE LOST GOSPEL OF THE EARTH
Huxley, Aldous: THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION
Lee, Harper: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Morrow, Betty: SEE UP THE MOUNTAIN
Nelson, Willie: THE TAO OF WILLIE
Steinbeck, John: CANNERY ROW
Traven, B.: THE JUNGLE SERIES
Vonnegut, Kurt: GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER
Weaver, Harriett E.: THERE STAND THE GIANTS
Zim, Howard: INSECTS
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
My favs have been:
1) Catcher in the Rye
Then the rest!
But I did enjoy 1984, animal farm, brave new world, Great expectations, lord of the flies, lots of Chuck Palaniuk books, to kill a mockingbird, several sports/other autobiographies. I’m sure I’m missing a couple of the Better ones
real cool book store story... @brianlux
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"