The Giver was truly excellent; and of course I loved Watchmen. Douglas Adam's posthumous 'book' The Salmon of Doubt was also a good one for spinning my head around.
The Five People you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom This story really pulls on the emotional strings at some points in time but had a real moral impact on me. It's not a debate on religion or anything, it's just a friggin good book.
V. - Thomas Pynchon - Simply amazing book, a real mind bender of the richest sorts. Johnny got his Gun - Dulton Thumbro - The emotional intensity of this novel was almost too much. Turned me into a pacifist! The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolken - An epic tale in a small book. 1984 - Orwell - Scared me silly.
Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury, of course, was amazing, His dark materials- Phillip Pullman, and The Bartimaeus Trilogy- Johnathan Stroud.
Last night, I finished a book that totally blew my mind out of the water: Fly By Night, by Frances Hardinge. It masquerades as a kid's book, but it was so chock full of plots, themes, philosophies, and beautiful beautiful language, that any age should be able to read it and love it.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, as previously mentioned. But i'd say the first book i ever read that officially "blew my mind" was "When Rabbit Howls" by Truddi Chase. A first person (people) account of multiple personality disorder and the trauma that caused her to split.
Chomsky!!! There are plenty of books that changed my view of the world. Noam Chomsky is my favorite author! Besides him, here are a few names of some great books. 1. New Rulers of the World by John Pilger The book is a gut-wrenching read about who runs the world and how people suffer under it. 2. Dumbing Us Down by John T. Gatto John T Gatto, an award-winning school teacher, taught in public schools for more then two decades. He elucidates many things that are wrong with the Public School System. I like this book so much, I’ve been wanting to read other books by him. I will, when I get some time! His book The Underground History of American Education seems interesting. 3. The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn This book talks about how TV, in and of itself, is harmful to children. She argues it’s not just the content of television that’s harmful, but television itself. 4. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins It’s hard to believe that this isn’t fiction. John Perkins talks about how he was secretly trained in order to help the establishment get into other countries and pillage them, while making it look like they’re helping them. 5. The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell He speaks of how changes happen rapidly. For example, how dose crime rapidly go down, or how does a shoe all-of-a-sudden become popular?
Recently, Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. I thought the detail was incredible and so believable. Something about that book just made me think 'wow', and for days after, I kept thinking back and wanting to read it again
I forgot about The Alchemist. I love that book for simplicity in its writing and in its message. A must read.
Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder Introduced me to philosophy, which I later took a degree in. This book holds a special place in my heart and I recommend it to everyone. Perdido Street Station - China Mieville Incredible worldbuilding. So disturbing, yet so wonderful... I powered through this book in about two weeks. It really inspired me. The War of the Flowers - Tad Williams One of the most imaginative worlds I've ever encountered. This book delighted me. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien I'm halfway through reading this for the umpteenth time and am yet again blown away by it. Tolkien's writing is lovely. Another great inspiration. There are more, but those are the main ones that come to mind immediately.
when I was younger, my mother would drag me along to yard sales. I am now compulsive about thrift shops and yard sales. The point; one yardsale was eerie. An old woman, who contained almost the entire yardsale upon her covered porch, CHASED me to our family car with a book. Wierd, right? She insisted I have it. The book changed me forever. I don't know how she knew I would love it. I was in a phase where I did not speak...ever. I mean it. Blank stares and internal dialogue of things that never happened and were never said. But somehow she decided I needed that book, even when she talked to me and I just...looked at her. So this book... ' I never promised you a rose garden'. I read it over and over and over.... somehow it changed me. Sad I can't remeber the full detail or even the point...but i always recall the title quickly and readily as the one that changed my life. My other books that changed me are: ~The celestine prophecy: I learned the value of Meditation and destiny, it became the obsoletion of the term 'coincidence' in my vocabulary. ~Eileen Fords guide to model beauty (self esteem issues) ~ The Black Book (manuscript sold to teen girls about how to catch popular boys as boyfriends...it taught me about how to easily manipulate people and that surroundings are all the same, the characters' appearances change but every role is identical to another time and place...and social norms) and last but not least A Thousand and One Arabian nights...reading this as a ten year old, I found I had become more intelligent than my own parents. having spent my entire youth in the library, when it was suggested that the book's reading level was above my own level of comprehension, I had an epiphany. I decided that the true death of intelligence was losing open-mindedness and also the willingness to continue education, as there is always something to be learnt. My parents had given up on knowledge ages ago. I had somehow surpassed them in my dedication to remain unsociable and indifferent to hormones and juvenile activities. I always write like this when I have too much coffee. Sorry! And finally, the COLLECTION I have just begun is the collection of Jane Austen. Saw P&P, already furious at how the movie industry botched the true intention of the author. LIVID I tell you~!
Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott. some ppl consider it a chick lit but they r just pigeion holing alcotts great message. its a simple book really. simple lives with simple meanings. yet it is those meanings that we so often miss out. i know it sounds preachy and a bit droll but i just love this book for its simple honesty and the message it gives
Titus Groan & Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake I've never read anything like them. Someone once described them to me as treacle - ridiculously sweet but difficult to get through. They're worth the effort. And I'll second Paradise Lost.
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. On the surface, a classic science fiction adventure. Under the surface, an inspiring tale about how an individual can rise above himself and become a better person.
Every book I read blows a part of my mind... As for the the books that have left a permanent mark on me; The Bible. I know it's a cliche, but I read it for the first time when I was seven (I learned to read when I was 4, go figure), and it made a religious boy out of me for, about, 3 months. In that time I've read it about 4 times. At the end, I knew parts of it by heart, and I lost interest. Reread it 9 years later, and it made me a convinced atheist. The Koran. Which I read about 9 months ago. Really changed my view on today's society and the problem between the west and the middle east. There is so much more going on than many people see. "I, Robot", "Do androids dream of electic sheep" and "Triumph of the scorched earth" (Triomph van de verschroeide aarde) really defined my view of science fiction, just like "The magician", The Wheel of time serie and "Lord of the rings" defined my view of fantasy.
How beautiful, it was very interesting reading others' lists, and the nice thing about it is when you have a book in common. -The Harry Potter series definitely blew my mind to its extremes.. lol, i bought them all in one go and took me about a month and a half to finish them..absolutely superb... it really introduced me to its genre and am thinking of attempting to write it. Rowling did a good job in presenting the importance of friendship, and to "keep your friends close" is a wise thing to learn from it. (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire...is my favorite among all seven) -Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd, was, to me, an outstanding piece of work, and I really enjoyed reading it. Makes you think that good deeds are always repaid, regardless of how long it's delayed. -Austen's Pride and Prejudice, made me love being a female, and think how much one can do to stand for oneself no matter how weak others think you are. -Colleen Collins' love and laughter "Right Chapel, Wrong Couple" really added to my perspective in love, as it is, love can be accompanied by loads of laughs and good sense of humor, and lovers don't neccessarily have to be the wisest and perfect of all, on the contrary, they can be the quirkiest and goofiest of all!! Thanks for the post... Keep it up
Two that immediately come to mind are J K Rowling's Harry Potter series and then Stephen King's Dark Tower series
Have to agree with Honeybun, This sort of thing is fascinating, an real insight into what shapes our minds. Now to my books. I will have put them into genres and hopefully explained each entry. Fantasy The first "book" I ever really read was Lord of the Rings. and it shaped my love and desire for fantasy and reading in general. I mean come on - if you can plough through the three books then most other books are novels in comparison - length wise at least. (I had the Unwin three in one volume - which my son has tried to read but gave up - he's more inclined to biographies - go figure!). The next phase in this was the Thomas Covenant Chronicles - (Lord Foul's Bane - The Illearth War - The Power That Preserves), by Stephen Donaldson. Took fantasy out of the rut it had gotten itself into and headed off in a totally different direction. The second series was pale in comparison, though it did give me my favorite chearcte form these books - Nom Science Fiction Prime candidate here would have to be arguably my favorite ever book. The Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle. Did for Sci-Fi, in my mind, what Thomas Covenant did for Fantasy. Other 1984 was frightening when I first read it, as was Animal Farm Orwell was great at wiriting political works like these. The images of Big Brother is embedded into most peoples psyche, though I wonder how many "men in the street" would attribute it to Orwellian prophesies? Lest we forget "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others!" and how four legs good - two legs bad became increasingly diluted as the pigs became more human. I really enjoyed the Tom Clancy books Hunt for Red October and Sum of All Fears - paranoia at it's best. I hate to admit it but although I didn't like the style etc, I was immersed in the message of the DaVinci Code, but think the earlier Holy Blood - Holy Grail a much better read. Another book that challenged my thinking at an early age - in a similar way to Lord of the Rings was Chariots of the Gods. Yes the accepted wisdom now is that Von Daniken's was bordering on fraudulance if not downright plagerised. On similar lines a couple of books I came across a few year back "When the Sky Fell" by Rand Flem-Ath - that book took me to places I never thought existed. Added to this was the dry yet compulsive Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities by Hallam which in turn led onto Hapgood's Path of the Poles An eclectic mix covering a wide view of the insanity within my mind
American Gods and Sandman, both by Neil Gaiman. Sandman is a comic book, though I don't see the difference in this discussion beyond technicality.
When I was in fifth grade, I read Where the Red Fern Grows. I absolutely loved that book, and I still see it as one of my tops. Recent books, that have changed my perspective have been many Chuck Palanuhucks(sp) books. Fight Club, Lullaby, Survivor, Choke, basically his series. Actually my favorite book of all time I'd say was, No Country For Old Men, I read the book way before the movie came out and it was simply, phenomenal.
