Fun Stuff > ENJOY
ok 5 life changing books, lets hear them
grymwulf:
#1 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_A_Harsh_Mistress) - Robert A. Heinlein
This book was, and is, a wake up call to the public at large. One thing that everyone has to understand is that there truly is no such thing as a free lunch!
#2 - Time Enough for Love (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_For_Love) - Robert A. Heinlein
Remarkably liberal for it's time, this collection of short stories dressed up in an overall novel, brought to the forefront the idea that love can have many more ways of being expressed than those in which a society limits it.
#3 - 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four) - George Orwell
The quintessential dystopia novel, this more than any other that I've read, brings forth the sheer horror of government out of control.
#4 - I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth_and_I_Must_Scream) - Harlan Ellison
In one of the cruelest bits of irony, this story taught me that the good guys do not always win. One of the most haunting endings of any piece of literature.
#5 - Freehold (http://www.webscriptions.net/ps-162-112-freehold.aspx) - Michael Z. Williamson
I truly enjoyed this novel, and it made me start to question what it means to truly be free. Freedom is not easy nor safe, but true freedom and liberty is when you willingly accept the consequences and responsibilities of the choices you make.
onewheelwizzard:
I was not the same person after reading any of the following books:
5. Aldous Huxley - Island
I haven't read Brave New World, or in fact anything else by Huxley aside from Island, but it's the only clear look I've ever gotten at a utopia that actually works. It reinforced my idealism and gave me a wonderfully clear picture for how humanity should be reworked. It's also a splendid presentation of one person's rise out of cynicism and pessimistic self-hatred, and while it can get preachy (see previous sentence) it's still wonderful. Extremely underrated in my opinion, because very rarely have I heard anyone else speak of it.
4. Richard Bach - Jonathan Livingston Seagull
This book takes about an hour to read through in its entirety, but it's one of the most powerful books I've ever read by far. The message it sends to the reader (quite directly I might add) is profoundly inspiring. I find that reading this book is a really good way to recharge and get myself back into feeling good about life, in the relatively-rare periods when I need such a thing and the more-common periods when I don't need it but I could still use it. Also, "Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" is basically "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" squared in every way: a more direct, more complete explanation of how Richard Bach sees the world and what is so cool about reading an entire book about exactly that.
3. Alan Watts - The Book, or, On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Alan Watts was a hell of a brilliant writer on the topic of Eastern religion. He's extremely readable but at the same time he manages to deal with some of the most powerful metaphysical ideas philosophy has to offer, and his fairly unwaveringly positive message was pretty extraordinary to come across at the exact time in my life when I was most receptive to it. He gives readers a mix between Zen Buddhism and Taoism that has been made quite accessible to Western minds, and it's actually pretty fun to read. It's also very, very philosophically inspiring. It changed the way I think on a basic level.
2. Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea - Illuminatus! trilogy
This has been mentioned before, so I'll be breif. It's a huge, twisting, turning, seething mass of words and ideas and thoughts designed to fuck your mind to the point of multiple headgasm. It changed the way the world works for me.
1. Tom Robbins - Skinny Legs and All
Tom Robbins is probably the reason why I read all of the above books in the first place, and I've read more by him than I have by any of the above authors, so he definitely takes the cake. "Skinny Legs and All" was the first book of his that I read and it affirmed so many things I believed to be good about the world that I went around with a permanent smile on my face for at least a week after reading it. "Jitterbug Perfume" did this to me too, but I'm giving the nod to "Skinny Legs" because it was my first. If I had to nail down a book that did more to change my life for the better than any other it would probably be this one, even though I feel a bit more closely connected to a few of the others listed above at the current time (on the other hand I haven't reread "Skinny Legs" yet and it's high time). Tom Robbins is a fucking god of literature and everyone should buy every book he's ever written. Tom Robbins is at least 10-15% of the reason why I've been a happy person for the last 2-3 years.
Obviously all of the above books are heavily recommended. HEAVILY.
normz:
1.The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
Simple yet beautiful. A book for a rainy day to remind you of all the beauty and wonder that life holds, a must read for everyone. Is my favourite book to pacify and calm me when im getting too caught up in all the silly things
2.Sophies World by Jostein Gaarder
Same as est i guess, what first got me into philosophy, and made me realised that the petulant questions we all ask aren't childish but just proof of a deeper philosophical search for something more
3.The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
There is actually quite a story behind this book... I was in a bookstore on my birthday and the cute friend of a friend (who i had a crush on and just happened to work there) was teasing me everytime i picked a book off the shelf so in the end exasperated i told him to pick a book for me, and so this was the book he picked off the shelf and purchased for me as a present. I was so blown away at the spontaneous and random act of kindness but when i got home i was even more happy to find his phone number written on the back of a bookmark. By the time I finished the book I knew he was the guy for me .... (lame and totally cheesy romantic comedy moment but oh well were happy)
4.1984- George Orwell
So poignant, with lessons that ring true today. A scary yet increasingly possible prediction of what could be
5. Life of Pi by Yann Martell
Again just a well crafted story that makes you think long after the final page is turned
I gould go on and on with other favourites that played a part in my life but there are far far too many (I am such a book nerd)
BostonTentacleParty:
Not a whole lot is coming to mind off the top of my head. I will say, for now, the Epic of Gilgamesh. If only for this quote:
--- Quote from: Siduri ---Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.
--- End quote ---
It's nothing terribly profound, nothing new to me, but in reading it I felt like I was staring across time at the face of another person who lived and died thousands of years before me, who yet felt and thought the exact same way that I do. It was very Whitman, and I love Whitman.
Emilie__x:
In no particular order:
Harper Lee - To Kill A Mocking Bird (to be terribly clich?d...)
Ben Elton - Stark(I'm gonna add "The First Casualty" in here cuz otherwise it wouldn't be 5 books, but that's my favourite Ben Elton book [read them all]) :] Stark was the first Ben Elton book I read after the first one, if you get what I mean - it was the one I read after the "curiousity" read when I reaslised this guy was a total GENIOUS.
J R R Tolkien - The Hobbit/The Lord Of The Rings (another obvious) Read these when I was seven and was COMPLETELY bewitched..........FAB :]
Spike Milligan - The Collection Not actually finished reading these - my dad keeps thrusting books my way and I forgot i was even reading them, but they're really fantastic and... Oh I'm so badat writing about books, just read them!!
eehh... last one........ There's so many I wanna put!! Errm..
....I'll leave it for now, I'll add to it laterrrs SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM it hurts....
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