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shadowkat
I quit reading much fiction back in the days when I still had ideas about publishing my own fiction, and didn't want to be influenced too much by others. I read mostly history now, but here are 10 books that had a real effect on me. When the book is listed as from a series I would recommend the whole series.
1. War and Peace - Lev Tolstoy
[I first read an abridged version in high school, and since have read it numerous times both in English and in Russian. It is just an incredible kaleidoscope of humanity: Vane glory, pointless bravery, understandable cowardice, pettiness, selflessness, love, honor, betrayal, forgiveness, hope, despair, callousness, spirituality, rationality, flightiness. The list goes on and on.]
2. The Good Soldier Sweik - Jaroslav HaĊĦek
[One of the funniest books I've ever read. The adventures of a weak-minded, babbling Czech who bumbles his way into the Great War. A satire of military self-importance, and over-the-top patriotism.]
3. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
[Probably the first serious book that truly affected me.]
4. To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer.
[First Book of the Riverworld series. If you ever dreamed of meeting someone from the past, this is the book for you!]
5 A Rare Bendictine - Ellis Peters
[First book of the Brother Cadfael mysteries. It's not every historical novel that so fluidly immerses you in the distant past and its culture without being stilted.]
6. Ringworld - Larry Niven
[A rousing great space opera. The story was very much ruined in the sequel Ringworld Engineers, which went overboard trying to correct the science of the first book. Ringworld is much better as a fantasy on its own.]
7. The Golden Horn - Poul Anderson
[First book in The Last Viking series. Semi-historical tales of the wild life of Harold Hardraade, the Norse King, most famous in English speaking circles for attempting to conquer England in 1066 shortly before William of Normandy. History would have been immeasurably different if Haardraade had landed second and had faced a depleted and overconfident army for the throne of England as William did. Very well done job of putting a human personality on someone history sometimes thinks of as just a wild man.]
8. Freedom or Death (Greek title Captain Michalis) - Nikos Kazantzakis.
[I read it in high school. My first real taste of the hideous nature of ethnic hatred and violent oppression.]
9. Centennial -James Mitchener
[I went through a phase of reading a lot of Mitchener's big novels of generations of lands and people. This one hit home the most since I'm very familiar with the bleak plains of eastern Colorado and know some of the places he moved around on the map to fit his story. The philosophical thrust of the book is quite different from the 1970s TV mini-series based on it, that comes back on TV from time to time. But the mini-series is generally quite faithful and worth seeing if it comes around again.]
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
[Asmamculuna will tell you, there is a lot of fanciful wishful thinking in it about what could have happened in the South of the early 20th century. But, it's still a great story, told with verve and caring. It has the one line in literature that makes makes me emotional every time I see it. "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."]
shadowkatI quit reading much fiction back in the days when I still had ideas about publishing my own fiction, and didn't want to be influenced too much by others. I read mostly history now, but here are 10 books that had a real effect on me. When the book is listed as from a series I would recommend the whole series.
1. War and Peace - Lev Tolstoy
[I first read an abridged version in high school, and since have read it numerous times both in English and in Russian. It is just an incredible kaleidoscope of humanity: Vane glory, pointless bravery, understandable cowardice, pettiness, selflessness, love, honor, betrayal, forgiveness, hope, despair, callousness, spirituality, rationality, flightiness. The list goes on and on.]
2. The Good Soldier Sweik - Jaroslav HaĊĦek
[One of the funniest books I've ever read. The adventures of a weak-minded, babbling Czech who bumbles his way into the Great War. A satire of military self-importance, and over-the-top patriotism.]
3. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
[Probably the first serious book that truly affected me.]
4. To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer.
[First Book of the Riverworld series. If you ever dreamed of meeting someone from the past, this is the book for you!]
5 A Rare Bendictine - Ellis Peters
[First book of the Brother Cadfael mysteries. It's not every historical novel that so fluidly immerses you in the distant past and its culture without being stilted.]
6. Ringworld - Larry Niven
[A rousing great space opera. The story was very much ruined in the sequel Ringworld Engineers, which went overboard trying to correct the science of the first book. Ringworld is much better as a fantasy on its own.]
7. The Golden Horn - Poul Anderson
[First book in The Last Viking series. Semi-historical tales of the wild life of Harold Hardraade, the Norse King, most famous in English speaking circles for attempting to conquer England in 1066 shortly before William of Normandy. History would have been immeasurably different if Haardraade had landed second and had faced a depleted and overconfident army for the throne of England as William did. Very well done job of putting a human personality on someone history sometimes thinks of as just a wild man.]
8. Freedom or Death (Greek title Captain Michalis) - Nikos Kazantzakis.
[I read it in high school. My first real taste of the hideous nature of ethnic hatred and violent oppression.]
9. Centennial -James Mitchener
[I went through a phase of reading a lot of Mitchener's big novels of generations of lands and people. This one hit home the most since I'm very familiar with the bleak plains of eastern Colorado and know some of the places he moved around on the map to fit his story. The philosophical thrust of the book is quite different from the 1970s TV mini-series based on it, that comes back on TV from time to time. But the mini-series is generally quite faithful and worth seeing if it comes around again.]
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
[As
mamculuna will tell you, there is a lot of fanciful wishful thinking in it about what could have happened in the South of the early 20th century. But, it's still a great story, told with verve and caring. It has the one line in literature that makes makes me emotional every time I see it. "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."]Tags: