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What books blew your mind upon first reading?

musicismylife78musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
edited December 2007 in All Encompassing Trip
For me two recent ones were Toni Morrison Bluest Eye, and Eckhart Tolle Power of Now. Sucks big time because now every book pales in comparison

Anyone else have any suggestions in good mind blowing books
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  • smarcheesmarchee Windsor, Ontario Posts: 14,539
    The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
    1998 ~ Barrie
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    2008 ~ Hartford, Mansfied I,
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  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul by Francis Crick and The Engine of Reason the Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey Into the Brain by Paul Churchland. It takes a while to wrap your brain around them though.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Local CrewLocal Crew Posts: 745
    Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
    Walk Tall, Kick Ass, Learn to Speak Arabic, Love Music, and Never Forget You Come From a Long Line of Truth Seekers, Lovers, and Warriors. HST

    CHILLIN LIKE BOB DYLAN!!!
  • HartydogHartydog Posts: 2,060
    Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
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  • eoboeobo Posts: 102
    the catcher in the rye blew my mind. i didn't read it til this year and although everyone told me it was fantastic, no-one could tell me what it was about. it was a complete enigma, hence why i put off reading it, but i'm glad i have, as it was amazing.

    trainspotting too. at first it was hard, what with the scottish dialect and stuff, but after a while i could not put it down and when i finished i NEEDED more. it was like the book as a whole was a metaphor for it's opiate content
    heh, keep her lit.

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  • failedpersephonefailedpersephone Posts: 3,424
    East of Eden - John Steinbeck...I read it when I was 13 and it is still my ultimate reading experience.

    I read it every year around my birthday
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  • prismprism Posts: 2,440
    failedpersephone wrote:
    East of Eden - John Steinbeck...I read it when I was 13 and it is still my ultimate reading experience.

    I read it every year around my birthday

    I looove that book. I read it for the first time when i was around 15 or 16. I haven't read it in forever. I should find a copy one of these days and read it again.
    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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  • PearlJamaholicPearlJamaholic Posts: 2,019
    oddly alot of my favorite books i didnt like at first. catcher im the rye (which is now my favorite) didnt think lovecraft was that great. the other stuff fell into the "its better than the movie" but nothing really made me go wow the first time i read except frankstein. dont get me wrong the first time i read cats cradle i thought it was a great book but i didnt have that moment of awe that lasted for days like with frankenstein. i really enjoyed vampire lestat the first time through also but i usually have to finish a book and then kinda look at it in hindsight if i thought it was great. frankenstein i just had that feeling that this book is great long before i finished.
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  • tybirdtybird Posts: 17,388
    Watership Down
    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.
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    catch-22
    the alchemist
  • Drop The Leash 10Drop The Leash 10 Posts: 7,011
    Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
    I will be what i could be
    Once I get out of this town


    9/29/04;6/27/08;6/30/08;8/23/09;08/24/09;5/17/10
  • PegasusPegasus Posts: 3,754
    eobo wrote:
    the catcher in the rye blew my mind. i didn't read it til this year and although everyone told me it was fantastic, no-one could tell me what it was about. it was a complete enigma, hence why i put off reading it, but i'm glad i have, as it was amazing.
    funny, I also read it for the first time this year but found it very disappointing (The Great Gatsby and In The Heart of Darkness too, also only read this year) after all the hype.
    I can see how it might have been groundbreaking stylistically when it was released.. but my reaction on finishing it was' is that it?'
    I didn't find any narrative motor nor emotional connection.

    books that blew me:
    "La Nuit des Temps" by Barjavel
    "Birdsong" by Sebastian Faulks
    "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield
    "The Perfume" by Patrick Suskind (film was not very good though)

    Also avidly read (and re-read):
    Foundation serie by Isaac Asimov (I love most of Asimov anyway :))
    LOTR (read it in my late 20s and loved it, still don't know why people thinks it's heavy reading, I devoured it in 4-5 days, and English is my second language!)
    His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman (film doesn't look a good adaptation though :()
  • JeanieJeanie Posts: 9,446
    To Kill A Mockingbird ~ Harper Lee
    Shantaram ~ Gregory David Roberts
    Lord Of The Flies ~ William Golding
    Nineteen Eighty Four ~ George Orwell
    Animal Farm ~ George Orwell
    Icing On The Damper ~ Marie Mahood
    White Coolies ~ Betty Jeffrey
    Voyage From Shame, The Cowra Breakout ~ Harry Gordon
    A Fortunate Life ~ A.B. Facey
    Emergency Sex And Other Desperate Measures ~ Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson
    Singer of The Bush, Song of The Pen The Complete Works ~ A.B. (Banjo) Paterson.
    NOPE!!!

    *~You're IT Bert!~*

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    The currents will shift
  • brain of cbrain of c Posts: 5,213
    the princess bride.......william goldman
    d'oh!!!!!!

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  • AusticmanAusticman Posts: 1,327
    Wounde Knee by Dee Brown

    And recently Chart Idol by Ben Elton. The way he decribes the 3 different groups of contestants is so spot on its worth the read alone never mind the comedy in it.
    I can't go the library anymore, everyone STINKS!!
  • Pearls&StonesPearls&Stones Posts: 585
    I loved some of the books mentioned (particularly 1984, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men) but I have to suggest "Childhood's End" by Arthur C Clarke. That was a tour de force.

    And of course, the 4th Harry Potter book, which was so exciting I couldn't even sit for the last 150 pages.
    I love my female wife...
    we sit around and wonder exactly why our marriage should feel threatened by gay marriage
  • harmless_little_f***harmless_little_f*** Posts: 8,005
    DBC Pierre, 'Vernon God Little'
    Ali Smith, 'The Accidental'
    Ken Kessey, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'
    Hunter S. Thompson, 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'
    Monica Ali, 'Brick Lane'
    Douglas Coupland, 'Hey Nostradamus!'
    Kurt Vonnegut, 'Slaughterhouse 5'
    J.D. Salinger, 'The Catcher in the Rye'
    Mark Haddon, 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'
    C.S. Lewis, 'The Chronicles of Narnia
    John Bunyan, 'The Pilgrim's Progress'
    C.S. Lewis, 'The Screwtape Letters'

    OK, that'll do for the time being. :D
    'We're learning songs for baby Jesus' birthday. His mum and dad were Merry and Joseph. He had a bed made of clay and the three kings bought him Gold, Frankenstein and Merv as presents.'

    - the great Sir Leo Harrison
  • RolandTD20KdrummerRolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
    Penthouse... I was 10 so it was only really possible to blow my mind.

    Ohhh BOOKS....

    what are those?
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  • PJ1973PJ1973 Winston-Salem, NC Posts: 415
    Slaughterhouse-V. I reread this a few years ago and it blew me away again.

    One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    To Kill A Mockingbird
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    Tropic of Capricorn - Henry Miller
    Mysteries - Knut Hamsun
    The Thiefs Journal - Jean Genet
    The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehardt
    In The spirit of crazy Horse - Peter Matthiessen
    Journey to Ixtlan - Carlos Casteneda
  • JulienJulien Posts: 2,457
    brain of c wrote:
    the princess bride.......william goldman
    good one !
    I have to read it again...
    2006: Antwerp, Paris
    2007: Copenhagen, Werchter
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    2010: MSG, Arras, Werchter
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  • illegal pantsillegal pants Posts: 13,471
    chronicles of narnia - cs lewis

    anything by roald dahl :p
    wah
  • eoboeobo Posts: 102
    illegal_pants wrote:

    anything by roald dahl :p

    ah dahl, the undisputed master of the twist. i recently read all of his more adult books (got the boxed set for my birthday) and i was able to rekindle the love i had for his literature when i was a kid. anyone who hasn't read his adult books really really really has to!!
    heh, keep her lit.

    Dublin, 23/08/2006 = Lifechanging! X D

    Katowice, 13/06/2007 = Phenomenal = )

    London, 18/06/2007 = Pretty darn sweet = )

    London Poster Wanted, PM if you have one for sale = )
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    Fathers & Sons by Ivan Turgenev blew my mind, not because it changed the way I thought or anything, it's just the most beautifully written book I've ever read.

    Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut blew my mind in a different way.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • chinobaezachinobaeza Santiago Posts: 2,489
    not to deep, not a novel....but when I read "The Damange Done" (Warren Fellows) I was in Thailand...was the perfect book for the perfect trip
  • Heineken HelenHeineken Helen Posts: 18,095
    I'm gonna go quite mainstream and say into thin air... it's not well written and it's nowhere near the best of it's genre... but it's introduced me to a type of book which have ALL blown me away completely. I've read many of the books mentioned in this thread and they haven't really done anything for me... but these books are simply so inspirational and mindblowing that I can't imagine reading any other kinda book ever again... I've found my reading niche :)
    The Astoria??? Orgazmic!
    Verona??? it's all surmountable
    Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
    Wembley? We all believe!
    Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
    Chicago 07? And love
    What a different life
    Had I not found this love with you
  • redrockredrock Posts: 18,341
    Most Marquez novels blow my mind. Love him.

    When I was quite young, I read 'The picture of Dorian Gray', Oscar Wilde. I read it at least once a year. There's just something about that book. Same with 'The Master and Margarita' by Bulgakov.
  • RygarRygar Posts: 8,689
    This one, and most of his subsequent work, simply because I'd never bothered with the genre before and considered it laughable, then a friend had me read this and I couldn't put it down (and his sequels).
  • The ChampThe Champ Posts: 4,063
    'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'
    'I want to hurry home to you
    put on a slow, dumb show for you
    and crack you up
    so you can put a blue ribbon on my brain
    god I'm very, very frightening
    and I'll overdo it'
  • LizardLizard So Cal Posts: 12,091
    When I read the last 2-3 paragraphs of The Grapes of Wrath it really did blow me away when rosashran breasts feeds that old man who is dying of starvation. That just hit me like a ton of bricks. It just showed the desperation so bluntly.
    So I'll just lie down and wait for the dream
    Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
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