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This is tough. I'm an avid reader and have gotten different things from different books. Some of the highlights:
Books of fucked-up lives: Exposure, The Saskiad, Deerskin. Puts my own life into perspective, lets me live vicariously and understand the psychology of fellow outsiders, even fictional ones, a little better.
Books that bring me to tears: The Martian Chronicles, Slaughterhouse-5, The Time Traveller's Wife. The greatest themes of all: the futility of slaughter, the helplessness of love, the frustration of desire.
Books that caught me by surprise: Vurt is bizarre and twisted and wonderful, with an ending that satisfies even as it defies expectation. The Princess Bride, far better than the movie - don't believe me? Read it. Cryptonomicon makes math and history topics of fascination and delight.
The one book I turn to again and again, the one book that's as comforting as a blanket and hot tea, the one book I've read since childhood and will read until I can no longer turn the pages: The Outlaws of Sherwood. It is an unorthodox retelling of the Robin Hood legend, and I am forever discovering new nuances and subtle turns of phrase that render it a work of beauty. It is not high literature, far from it, and it has its flaws, and it is so close to my heart that I cannot separate the two.
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I still don't understand how this subject ended up in "Religion and Philosophy." :confused:
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it's fascinating reading this diverse set of favourites from this community - what a well-read bunch!
Here's what i can think of right now:
War and Peace, Anna Karenina - Tolstoy The Master
John Keats' poetry - been neglecting this lately.
Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson - a dreamy story.
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte read it half a dozen times... time for another go...
......in fact i love most things Bronte and Jane Austen.
2001 A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
Anything by Michael Connolly - love Harry Bosch.
Culture Shock BDSM online story by Sir Nathan, which led me here.
Pears Cyclopedia - an early '80s version - many happy childhood hours dipping into it.
Astronomy Yearbook - '80s version? Patrick Moore
.........probably loads more that will occur to me in a minute....
angela
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The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles - I have read this book several times and it is my one of my favorites
To the Edge by Kirk Johnson - A novel about running 134 mile race through Death Valley. I eventually got to go there and crew for a friend who ran the race. It was life changing. Reading the book changed my life.
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The Bible. It proves nothing if you choose not to believe but it confirms my faith.
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I liked Candide by Voltaire, because I love sarcasm.
I also liked A Child Called It which I won't read again because it always makes me really depressed. But I loved the book because there is a certain comfort that companies the depression...at least my childhood wasn't that bad. Poor kid. Sad story. Takes a lot of guts to write that stuff...lots of memories brought up.
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Hmmmmm - lots of books that really grabbed me in the lists posted by others - Thorne and Oz in particular named a lot of my favourites.
In addition, anything by Modesit and deLint. I've read (and reread deLint's books til they fell apart over the years).
Barry Hughart - I've read "Bridge of Birds", "Eight Skilled Gentlemen" and "The Story of the Stone" so many times it isn't funny. I have never been able to get my hands on "The Chronicles of Master Li and Number 10 Ox". It is available - but very rare (and quite expensive). They are rolicking good 'detective' fiction set in a China that never was.
On a serious note, and since this topic has been moved to the religion section for some wierd reason, "Identity and the Sacred" by Hans Mols (a brilliant look at the structure and sociology of theology).
And the books that hit me hardest between the eyes:
"Down These Mean Streets" by Piri Thomas (the autobiography of Piri Thomas, a Latino of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent who grew up in El Barrio [aka Spanish Harlem]).
"The Last Poet of the Blaskets"
and Pieg (more poetry by a Blasket poet - the mother of the man known as "The :ast Poet of the Blaskets")
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Light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta
Edit: On a few things others have said. I am dreadfully fearful of opening 2001 in the book form. It is my favorite film and I don't want to ruin it.. however intrigued I am by the book. Saheli mentioned A Child Called It I honestly feel that this book seriously changed my life. I don't know how to put it, I used to be a bothersome kid or something, I don't know, then I read it and it seemingly changed me into a much calmer person. It's quite an astonishing book, and the ending is one of the most disturbing and wild I've read considering it is a true story.
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Three books I re read regularly are the Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker (Regeneration, The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road).
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A few of my favorites:
A Fine Balance~ Rohinton Mistry
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns~ Khaled Hosseini
and for non fiction Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time~ Greg Mortenson
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It's really hard for me to give favorites because I love nearly every book I read.
Harry Potter! by J.K. Rowling. Come on...you can't help but love them. Good versus evil. Wands. Epic adventure.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. So good. So sad. So romantic. While the movie does a pretty good job of it, the book really is better.
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Not a romance. But it makes you think (it made me think, anyway).
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. 'Nuff said.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare. I know this one isn't really a book, but it's another one that'll make you think.
The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner. I actually got the opportunity to hear him speak about his book. He said that they spent millions of dollars on the movie remaking his life when he did it for free, which is true. It's as good as the movie, but a lot different because he made it while raising his infant son (not a four year old like in the movie).
Not so much, but anything written by Melissa de la Cruz I like. They're girly books; good for a read at the beach.
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Because of what they have meant to me and how they have helped me endure life, I will always love the Harry Potter series. I read read them time and again when I feel down, and it always gives me comfort, in a light reading that I have fond memories within. I love them not only because of the books in themselves but because of the people I have met because of them, how it has been something that has always connected me and my sister, how it was the reason I started writing myself and thus, in length, the reason I have had to not commit suicide in very difficult times of my life. So while it is only a series of books to some, to me they have changed my life. Call me a nerd if you will, that's just how it is.
