What three books have had the greatest influence on your life?

brianlux

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?

tempo_n_groove

GREAT QUESTION!!!

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!

brianlux

^^^Bravo, t'n'g, well done!

rgambs

Watchers by Dean Koontz was my first adult novel at 11 or 12, and I was hooked.  It really is a pretty good story and there were at least a dozen words and phrases I had to look up to understand.  I started reading Koontz and King voraciously and it was very good for my early adolescent mind.

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.

brianlux

rgambs said:

Watchers by Dean Koontz was my first adult novel at 11 or 12, and I was hooked.  It really is a pretty good story and there were at least a dozen words and phrases I had to look up to understand.  I started reading Koontz and King voraciously and it was very good for my early adolescent mind.

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.

Diverse choices- makes for a well-rounded reader!

Poncier

Go Dog Go
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See?
the Kama Sutra

HesCalledDyer

tempo_n_groove said:

GREAT QUESTION!!!

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!

Catcher in the Rye is one of the very few books I can read over and over and never get tired of it.  I pick up something new every single time I read it.  Sometimes I'll just pick it up and read certain chapters just to digest in small doses.  To this day, any time I'm annoyed by a woman I always exclaim "Women, always leaving their goddamn bags in the aisle."  I would put this on my list as well.

The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W.P. Kinsella.  (Same author as Shoeless Joe, which was adapted for film as Field of Dreams, my favorite movie ever).  I'm not very good at writing stories, but if I were ever to write, this would be the book after which I'd model my style of storytelling.  Kinsella's style of fantastical whimsy, blending real people and events along with pure fiction, is the stuff dreams are made of.

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut.  This was the first (and still only) time I ever read a book and actually had an audible verbal reaction (not laughter) at the very end.  When I read the last couple paragraphs, I actually said in shock "Holy shit! Wow!"

F Me In The Brain

Wow.  Tough question.  Reading had a tremendous impact on me as a kid.  I learned how to read when my brother taught me, as he learned, and he was 4 years older.  I could read books before kindergarten and by 2nd or 3rd grade was reading adult novels.  Ended up a Lit & Language major when I decided I could not stomach the idea of grad school (law school). 

Jaws - Peter Benchley - read it when I was a pup.  Probably 3rd grade.  It was scary.  I think I read Cujo around the same time and they both taught me how scary books could be. 

The Great & Secret Show - Clive Barker - still my all time favorite book, and one I re-read every year or two.  Hard to describe how much the off the wall storytelling in this book impacted me.  Barker has such a wonderful imagination and the ability to (quickly) draw readers into his complex worlds.  Realizing this work gave me a more discerning view on books.  I stopped reading books that I opened and started putting down books that were not rewarding for me to read, personally.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand - This book is really the easiest to include out of these 3.  To say that this book changed me would be putting it lightly.  I know it can be controversial...and I am sure I would have a much different take on it were I to read it now...but when I read it as a student in my final months at college it was just what I needed.  Like most 22 year old morons, I was consumed by the world.  How was I going to earn a living, what would that living be, what would I do, what would others do, how would I fit with all of that?  This book lit a fire under my ass and made me supremely accountable for myself.  I stopped worrying about others and started fighting for what I wanted.  No, I was not going to ever be John Gault, and try to stop the motor of the world -- but I was going to focus on being the absolute best I could be at what I ended up doing and not allow for any excuses others could put in front of me. 

brianlux

F Me In The Brain said:

Wow.  Tough question.  Reading had a tremendous impact on me as a kid.  I learned how to read when my brother taught me, as he learned, and he was 4 years older.  I could read books before kindergarten and by 2nd or 3rd grade was reading adult novels.  Ended up a Lit & Language major when I decided I could not stomach the idea of grad school (law school). 

Jaws - Peter Benchley - read it when I was a pup.  Probably 3rd grade.  It was scary.  I think I read Cujo around the same time and they both taught me how scary books could be. 

The Great & Secret Show - Clive Barker - still my all time favorite book, and one I re-read every year or two.  Hard to describe how much the off the wall storytelling in this book impacted me.  Barker has such a wonderful imagination and the ability to (quickly) draw readers into his complex worlds.  Realizing this work gave me a more discerning view on books.  I stopped reading books that I opened and started putting down books that were not rewarding for me to read, personally.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand - This book is really the easiest to include out of these 3.  To say that this book changed me would be putting it lightly.  I know it can be controversial...and I am sure I would have a much different take on it were I to read it now...but when I read it as a student in my final months at college it was just what I needed.  Like most 22 year old morons, I was consumed by the world.  How was I going to earn a living, what would that living be, what would I do, what would others do, how would I fit with all of that?  This book lit a fire under my ass and made me supremely accountable for myself.  I stopped worrying about others and started fighting for what I wanted.  No, I was not going to ever be John Gault, and try to stop the motor of the world -- but I was going to focus on being the absolute best I could be at what I ended up doing and not allow for any excuses others could put in front of me. 

I haven't read Atlas Shrugged but what you said about how it affected you reminds me of another I could add to my list as an alternative choice.  Actually, not even one specific book by this author, a man who has had a big influence on my life and who writes fascinating memoir material but is not a literary giant by any means:  Henry Rollins.  Any number of Rollins' books from the late 90's on have affected me in a similar way Rand affected you.  I've often used a phrase Henry came up with: "Hack or pack."  After my life totally fell to shambles in the early 90's, it was a long and nearly fatal road for me to get my feet back on the ground.  Henry's books variously provided the kind of tough inspiration I needed to get back to having a productive and sane life.  He's a major hero for me that way.

F Me In The Brain

brianlux said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Wow.  Tough question.  Reading had a tremendous impact on me as a kid.  I learned how to read when my brother taught me, as he learned, and he was 4 years older.  I could read books before kindergarten and by 2nd or 3rd grade was reading adult novels.  Ended up a Lit & Language major when I decided I could not stomach the idea of grad school (law school). 

Jaws - Peter Benchley - read it when I was a pup.  Probably 3rd grade.  It was scary.  I think I read Cujo around the same time and they both taught me how scary books could be. 

The Great & Secret Show - Clive Barker - still my all time favorite book, and one I re-read every year or two.  Hard to describe how much the off the wall storytelling in this book impacted me.  Barker has such a wonderful imagination and the ability to (quickly) draw readers into his complex worlds.  Realizing this work gave me a more discerning view on books.  I stopped reading books that I opened and started putting down books that were not rewarding for me to read, personally.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand - This book is really the easiest to include out of these 3.  To say that this book changed me would be putting it lightly.  I know it can be controversial...and I am sure I would have a much different take on it were I to read it now...but when I read it as a student in my final months at college it was just what I needed.  Like most 22 year old morons, I was consumed by the world.  How was I going to earn a living, what would that living be, what would I do, what would others do, how would I fit with all of that?  This book lit a fire under my ass and made me supremely accountable for myself.  I stopped worrying about others and started fighting for what I wanted.  No, I was not going to ever be John Gault, and try to stop the motor of the world -- but I was going to focus on being the absolute best I could be at what I ended up doing and not allow for any excuses others could put in front of me. 

I haven't read Atlas Shrugged but what you said about how it affected you reminds me of another I could add to my list as an alternative choice.  Actually, not even one specific book by this author, a man who has had a big influence on my life and who writes fascinating memoir material but is not a literary giant by any means:  Henry Rollins.  Any number of Rollins' books from the late 90's on have affected me in a similar way Rand affected you.  I've often used a phrase Henry came up with: "Hack or pack."  After my life totally fell to shambles in the early 90's, it was a long and nearly fatal road for me to get my feet back on the ground.  Henry's books variously provided the kind of tough inspiration I needed to get back to having a productive and sane life.  He's a major hero for me that way.

I like what he has to say much more than his music.  (I have seen him 3-4 times as a part of bills I went to so that I could see other bands...including Pearl Jam for my first PJ show.)  He is very direct.

Atlas Shrugged is a hammer.  The Fountainhead was a better book but Atlas Shrugged hit home for me more.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

rgambs said:

Watchers by Dean Koontz was my first adult novel at 11 or 12, and I was hooked.  It really is a pretty good story and there were at least a dozen words and phrases I had to look up to understand.  I started reading Koontz and King voraciously and it was very good for my early adolescent mind.

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.

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.

dankind

You've gotta know by now that I don't play by the rules, so I'm doubling it.

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

pjhawks

Catcher in the Rye - agree with the comments above.  Just something about this book resonated with me. 1st read at like 17 and have read a few times since.  might be time for another reading...

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.  

brianlux

dankind said:

You've gotta know by now that I don't play by the rules, so I'm doubling it.

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

Cheater!  Haha!  Good list though.  Gravitiy's Rainbow has one of the best opening passages of any book ever!

I need to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  I just have a feeling the time is right.

F Me In The Brain

Damn, Dankind, you should be writing....

rgambs

Glad to see some great pop novels making the list right next to some serious lit.

eeriepadave

Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.  This was pretty much the only book i remember reading in school.  I think i read Catcher in the Rye but Where the Red Fern Grows stuck pit more to me.  I remember our class doing a project on the book about the trial and all.

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.

stuckinline

The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant by Jean De Brunhoff. When I was young, my dad and I would spend hours reading at the library. This book cemented my love for reading at an early age.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. 

Thoughts_Arrive

Gee, hard to think. I'll have to go through my collection which is not that big and ponder. Good thread.
Is this only fiction books or can it be an genre (i.e. self-help?).

brianlux

Thoughts_Arrive said:

Gee, hard to think. I'll have to go through my collection which is not that big and ponder. Good thread.
Is this only fiction books or can it be an genre (i.e. self-help?).

It can by anything-- fiction, non-fiction, any genre, even a reference book.  I thought about listing a reference book called The Writer's Digest Flip Dictionary by Barbara Ann Kipfer, which is somewhat like a thesaurus.  A very handy book!

rgambs

brianlux said:

dankind said:

You've gotta know by now that I don't play by the rules, so I'm doubling it.

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

Cheater!  Haha!  Good list though.  Gravitiy's Rainbow has one of the best opening passages of any book ever!

I need to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  I just have a feeling the time is right.

U. I like good opening passages.
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."