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ok 5 life changing books, lets hear them
The extra letter:
Some of these have already been mentioned, showing just how original I am, but...
5 Ulysses - James Joyce Just because it's the novel that always defeats my attempts to read it.
4 A Canticle For Liebowitz - Walter M. Miller Probably the most hopeless and simultaneously hopeful book I've ever read.
3 The Illuminatus Trilogy - Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea Even when you get past the story itself, you've got the best appendices in any book. Ever. Sometimes I wonder if the book was actually written just so they could include the appendices at the end.
2 The Wind-up Bird Chronicle/Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami: Ok, so I cheated again by listing two novels, but they've both had an effect on how my interior monologue describes things, if that makes any sense whatsoever...
1 The Voices of Time/Chronopolis - J.G Ballard Two short stories in a collection by Ballard I picked up for about $5. They both had an extremely profound effect on me in a way I really can't explain.
starkofdoom:
Ummmm I don't really have 5.... so heres what I do have.
Faith Of the Fallen - Terry Goodkind This book really changed my outlook on life. Alot of the things I was just to lazy to do it put in perspective.
Trinity - Leon Uris I always knew I had Irish heritage but never really got into until I read this book and it made me love and understand the country my ancestors came
from and ever since I have learned everything I could about it.
The Stranger - Albert Camus It showed me the importance of finding things in life that make you care and living life caring about whats in it.
Liz:
I'm horrid at summaries, so I'm just editing the ones from Amazon.com to make them shorter...
A Separate Peace- John Knowles
- Sharing a room at Devon in the summer prior to World War II, Gene and Phineas form a complex bond of friendship that draws out both the best and worst characteristics of each boy and leads ultimately to violence, a confession, and the betrayal of trust.
Children of Men- PD James
- Near the end of the 20th century, for reasons beyond the grasp of modern science, human sperm count went to zero. The last birth occurred in 1995, and in the space of a generation humanity has lost its future. Divorced, middle-aged Oxford history professor Theo Faron plods through an ordered, bleak existence. But a chance involvement with a group of dissidents moves him onto unexpected paths, leading him, in the novel's compelling second half, toward risk, commitment and the joys and anguish of love.
Phantom- Susan Kay
- A re-telling of Gaston Leroux's book "The Phantom of the Opera", this version begins with the birth of the horribly disfigured Erik and continues into the years following his doomed romance with Christine, ending in an unexpected and triumphant redemption. The narrative encompasses Erik's disastrous formative years with his mother, his caged existence among a gypsy tribe and a period of relative happiness in Rome, where he perfects his skills as an architect and builder. He goes to Persia, where he masters his talent for torture and murder and, finally, he is involved in the construction of the Paris Opera House--and the creation of his labyrinthine world beneath that structure.
Because of Romek- David Faber
- A memoir of a Holocaust survivor, but it's not done up like Elie Wiesel's "Night" (which is also good). It's gritty, real, horrifying, and touching at the same time. I had the chance to hear him speak about his experiences in multiple concentration camps, and that man drove me to tears many times.
Death Be Not Proud- John Gunther
- Johnny Gunther was only seventeen years old when he died of a brain tumor. During the months of his illness, everyone near him was unforgettably impressed by his level-headed courage, his wit and quiet friendliness, and, above all, his unfaltering patience through times of despair. This deeply moving book is a father's memoir of a brave, intelligent, and spirited boy.
est:
There are a lot of books I have enjoyed. I have a lot of "favourite" books depending on when you ask me. "Life-changing" is a lot different to "favourite" though. Let's see.
In no order, and spelling of authors from memory (so sorry if they are wrong):
- Goldilocks & the Three Bears, Anon. Collected by the Brothers Grimm. My mother would read this book to me when I was very young, and I memorised it to the point where I would read it to her rather than the other way around. It started me reading at a very early age, and thus changed my life (I believe) for the better.
- On Equilibrium, John Ralston Saul. This is the last in a series of books that basically amount to a concerted critique of the perversion of the term "reason" and at least the western world's over-reliance upon the perverted version of it. I've since started reading the first book, with the intention to read through the entire series.
- Sophie's World, Jostein Gaardner. This book is basically philosophy for beginners wrapped around an interesting story. I have read a fair few philosophy books since this, but this got me started in a very simple, effective manner.
- Understanding Power, Noam Chomsky. A collection of lectures from Chomsky on a variety of topics. I had already read something from him and thought I knew what he was about, but this book opened my mind up to there being something other than "Left" and "Right" as political concepts.
- The Communist Manifesto, Marx & Engels (with intro by Gareth Stedman Jones). I have only read the intro so far, but this book has already changed the way I look at socialism and communism in particular (in a very negative fashion). I prefaced this book with a primer on Socialism and will be chasing it up with a couple of other things like Marx's Kapital and some reading on the history and philosophy of that era. At the moment Marx especially is reminding me of a 1840s version of basically every rabid, misguided upper middle-class socialist university student.
McTaggart:
--- Quote from: est on 07 Mar 2007, 18:19 ---- Sophie's World, Jostein Gaardner. This book is basically philosophy for beginners wrapped around an interesting story. I have read a fair few philosophy books since this, but this got me started in a very simple, effective manner.
--- End quote ---
I really tried hard with this book, but I wasn't taken by the story and thought the philosophy parts moved way too slowly. I think I should just get a textbook.
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