List the works of literature that have been the most influential to you (not the ones you think have been the most influential to society in general). I'm looking for some good, thought-provoking books to read.

For me:

Night, by Ellie Wiesel: An auto-biographical descript of what it was like to be interned at a concentration camp during the height of Nazi Power in Germany before and during World War 2. This book makes you realize just how much it sucked for the millions of Jewish and other peoples who were sent to the camps, and that no one ever should deserve such treatment. Everything thinks that they know how awful it was, but it isnt until you read a novel such as this one that you realize how naive many people are about such things.

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque: While not a true story, much of it was drawn from the authors experiences as a German Soldier at the front line during the Great War. All Quiet on the Western Front contains numerous vivid descriptions of the horrors of combat, especially the mass killings that are products of the industrial and scientific revolutions that were taking place at the time. The main character slowly approaches the status of conscientious objector as more and more of his friends are killed and maimed by combat, and resolves that if he lives through the war, he will spend the rest of his life working to keep other young men from having to endure the same horrors he as been through. For me, this novel has convinced me that Governments need to think long and hard about the consequences before they ever commit troops to combat on a large scale. No one comes back from the front lines of a war unchanged.

Welcome to the Monkey House, specifically the short story Long Walk to Forever, by Kurt Vonnegut: Love is worth risking everything for.

------------------
And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...
DSettahr's Homepage

[This message has been edited by DSettahr (edited August 26, 2004).]

Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. It didn't change my life in the conventional form, but it did get me into reading for good. If it weren't for that book I'd be much worse at writing, english, and overall grammar. Reading taught me the rules of English.

------------------
There is no signature

The Giver. Just read it, you'll know.

------------------
(>º_º)> ±h³ ѳv³®-£ⁿd¡תּ9 §±ºr¥ <(º_º<) | (>º_º)> תּℓζ ШǿѓЖ§|-Юρ <(º_º<)

Agreed.

Citizen Soldiers was also pretty deep, and pretty much sparked my interest in WWII.

------------------
You could no more evade my wrath than you could your own shadow.

Yup.

Another quite interesting and thought provoking book is Stranger in a Strange Land. I'm not done with it yet, but if anyone asks me what my favorite book is it's what I say.

------------------
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right." -Isaac Asimov

I just finished reading that about last week. Amazing book, although it gets rahter odd about 2/3 through, though it gets better in not too much time. I hvae otehr books which have influenced me, but that's all i'll comment on right now.

------------------
"No good can ever come from staying with normal people"
-Outlaw Star
"Some people play tennis. I erode the human soul"
-Tycho, Penny Arcade
"I'm a Cannabal-Vegitarian. I will BBQ an employee if there is no veggie option"
-DX:IW
A Knight's Tail
Exile: A Tale of Light in Dark
The Never Ending Story²[/i]

The Bacta War. Not only did it get me into Star Wars, but it also got me into reading large novels.

------------------
Debating politics on the internet is about as useful and productive as shoving a broomstick up your *** .

Pretty much anything by Bradbury or Heinlen. I definately see the world differently thanks to those two. I know that's kind of vague, but it's not really something I can explain. You just have to read some of their work.

------------------
Some of you should learn to think a bit and discover - *gasp* - that someone can dislike Michael Moore, Kerry, and Bush!
-Wolfy

Survivor, by Chuck Palahniuk

*shudders in ecstasy*

------------------
<ubuu> does hitler have a last name?
<jipe> .. yes, Ubuu, we're racist commy nazi jews, and we hate male pattern baldness
<Professor`K> Sorry, but half-way through your logic, my head exploded

'le horla'.. don't know if it was ever translated.

------------------
WAITER: Here’s your green salad, sir.
ANAKIN: What? You fool, I told you NO CROUTONS! Aaaaaaargh!

Fahrenheit 451.. I don't read much fiction, so it's been a while.

------------------
Have a good one,
Freelancer

Ooh, I've also got to add in Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. That and F451 are must-reads.

------------------
Have a good one,
Freelancer

I'll see your F 451' and The Giver, and raise you 1984, Dune, Ringworld/Ringworld Engineers and Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow.

Battletech: The Warrior Trilogy by Stackpole
The Hobbit
Enders Game
oh yea, i failed to mention this: My mom works in a bookstore, so #1 i get discount (YAAAAAAY) and #2 i'd be disowned if i didn't read.
I can go through about 4 or 5 books a month usually


------------------
What happens when you cast heal on the undead?

[This message has been edited by Genki (edited August 26, 2004).]

Your list is basically identical to mine, hey book buddy. Add to this Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz, Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz, and Starfarers by Poul Anderson.

------------------
What once was...
Snail racing: (500 posts per line) ---@%

The "Dune" series by Frank Herbert got me into reading. I checked it out from the library because I ran across a photo of my uncle (who I looked up to quite a bit) lying on his bed as a teenager, reading it.

Before Dune, I never realized how enjoyable reading could be. I didn't start reading until after I graduated high school, at about the age of 18. I'm now 25 and have read about a book per month since then, from various genres. While I've read plenty of books that I believe to be more enjoyable than the Dune series since my first days of reading, it will always hold a place in my heart.

------------------
www.MentatMM.com (status = down :/)
Napalm Death Squad (status = alpha)

"Fight Club," "Catcher in the Rye," "A Man For All Seasons."

"Sandman: A Hope in Hell." (the entire collection is a work of art).

------------------
Steal my dreams and sell them back to me.....

Angela's Ashes
The Sun Also Rises
All Quiet on the Western Front
Heart of Darkness

------------------
free mp3 ~Jump - Young America

new album Between the Dim and the Dark available now

You guys are supposed to be explaining why you listed the books you did, not just listing them.

------------------
And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...
DSettahr's Homepage

So true with me on that one too . . . But I'll also have to say Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. . . One of the worst public speaking experiances I've had was how confused I made everyone doing a plot summary on that book in my Senoir year english class during a oral book report.



------------------
"I like my women how I like my coffee, in a plastic cup." - Eddie Izzard

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

------------------
Map-Review | My Portfolio | The Matrix: Unplugged

Banks and banks of humming machinery! I've never seen so many knobs. We're going to have to do something, Charlie! Try pushing that button there. No? How about that one? No, not that one either. I know! I'll try pushing this one. Hold my hat will you? Good fellow.

The Electric Ant - By Philip K. Dick. It makes you think about what reality really is, and how it effects each of us differently, and how it's really more subjective than people believe.

Battlefield: Earth - L. Ron Hubbard. Best book I've ever read. It's what /really/ got me into the non-Bestseller type Scifi books. I read this baby several times, and I started branching out and reading harder to find, rarer, less common SciFi.

1984- George Orwell. Just.. duh. Fantastic book about Totalitarian government and how people could react to being ruled by one so long.

Neuromancer - William Gibson. Fantastic book, the first of the 'cyberpunk' genre. It showed me how people (masses) could become so dependent on technology, while being so ignorant of how it works or their privacy or of how the world works, and it provoked me to learn as much as I can about everything. Showed me how technology could evolve and how a 'Sprawl' was begining to exist even now (Sprawl = Boston to Atlanta, one huge super-metropolis.) It showed that there were ups and downs to technology, and that people need to be aware of them.

Dune - Frank Herbert. Fantastic book, a really interesting look at old SciFi, written before they had modern day computers and technology, so they obviously didn't have it in the books (or sometimes they did, and the predictions were interesting.)

That's all for now. More later.

------------------
[16:38] Correction: dick tracy was a real man
[16:38] happydud: Actually... He wasn't.
[19:08] Dormouse: hi, my name's happydud and i'm passive-aggress.. SHUTUP!! *stabs nearby orphan*
[You have gained 3 Dark Side Points]

This is an awesome thread.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: I can't even begin to describe why. Just, awesome.

Dune, by Frank Herbert: Again, I dunno, but it really influenced my views on the world and the universe.

...

Actually, I can't think of anything specific right now, but there's plenty. Thanks for this thread.

[This message has been edited by Master Tonberry (edited August 26, 2004).]

oh, also, Animal Farm. I can't remember who wrote it though.

------------------
Debating politics on the internet is about as useful and productive as shoving a broomstick up your *** .

George Orwell

I have to read that for Summer Reading I hope it's good.

------------------
(>º_º)> ±h³ ѳv³®-£ⁿd¡תּ9 §±ºr¥ <(º_º<) | (>º_º)> תּℓζ ШǿѓЖ§|-Юρ <(º_º<)

Les Miserables. Possibly the finest novel of all time. If you haven't read it, I can't possibly explain, and if you have, I probably don't have to.

------------------
"Why aren't I'm using at these pictures?" - Cloud, 4/14/02

The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It goes beyond Sci-Fi...read it and you'll never look at that planet the same again.

Um, what else. Breakheart Hill, Evidence of Blood and the Chattam School Affair by Thomas H. Cook.....hands down the most haunting author I've ever read. His books read like poetry and stay with you for years. Anyone who loves dark murder mysteries should read these, now.

------------------
Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1, 2 & 3 | Gonk WoW Petition <- SIGN!
Corrupting the kiddies since '97

A Clockwork Orange, I suppose.

------------------
<landfish> FastGamerr > Satan

By Victor Hugo. This book had a great impact on me. It taught me one lesson I will never forget: To make a good story excellent, a good guy must die. Les Miserables was one of the first books I ever read - a long, long time ago.

------------------
Frozen by ICARUS

The same for me, except that it were Star Wars books and more specifically the Thrawn-Trilogy that got me into reading. Later I started reading English books what did do make good me talk and hear Englisch.

------------------
Sorry for the lousy English

I just started reading that again, maybe I'll make it more than halfway this time, but I can't see me managing all three without a couple of other books in the middle.

I've just finished The Alchemist which, along with going to this camp thing, has really made me look at my priorities differently. It's all about your destiny and following the signs laid out for you. Also written in a really readable style.

------------------
/end boob rant

<3

Also, I forgot to say BattleTech (before it was MechWarrior), Twilight of the Clans volume I, because Trent's such a badass, and it made me forever change my views on humanity and the way society works.

And all of Asimov's short stories. You think of the future in such a different way.

1984 of course, because anyone who's read it that I know has liked it. Awesome book, really hits close to home, and I'd just call an American classic (though it isn't so American. O_o). And anyone who tells you East of Eden by John Steinbeck is a good book lies. IT'S SO FRELLING BORING.

------------------
There is no signature

The reasons why:
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Besides being warped beyond most other novels and exciting, it is a social commentary at it's core. The men of Fight Club find society lacking. Consumerism, classism, and the utter lack of caring amongst society's members is what leaves them wanting, what motivates them, what warps them.

A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt. A story about Sir. Thomas Moore, lawyer, author, statesman, and Martyr. A man who gave up everything for a simple point of conscience.

Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. It's a story narrated by Holden Caufield, a boy on the edge. It is really in his mind, and his constant lies, delusions, defense-mechanisms, and hypocrisy become evident quickly. He is a real person with a self-image that is inaccurate, and who everyone can relate to, on some level -while hopefully not to such extremes. Much of his sarcasm if just pure gold, too.

The Graphic novel "Sandman," specifically the story "A Hope in Hell" (it's in the first collection "Preludes and Nocturnes"). You really have to read the whole first collection. It was a part of the storyline of Dream attempting to get his possessions back, and one came into the posession of a demon. The coloring and atmosphere was great, and the design of certain demons (ie: two mouths, like a liar) was fitting.

The greatest part is a dual Dream must take part in to reclaim his helm: a game called "Reality." It is similar to the game in the Sword in the Stone, where each participant picks something he/she "is," and the other picks something that can defeat it, defensively or offensively. You lose when you can't respond, hesitate, show lack of imagination, etc.

------------------
Steal my dreams and sell them back to me.....

I love you. Oh, and by the way, I did end up putting my adaptation of this piece on at the playhouse, and we got mediocre reviews. I guess I should be happy because it was my first directing piece, but my senior advisor really butchered my writing, and ended up cutting out a lot of the ackwardness that Newt was supposed to convay. An amazing story, and a wonderful book, either way. (<3 "Who are we this time?")

My Novels:

Welcome to the Monkey House - Kurt Vonnegut
Possibly my all-time favorite book, Vonnegut shows me new ways to think about old and overdone topics. As well, Kurt is the writer's writer.

The Slaughter House 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Although, I haven't even finished the entire second chapter, the whopping 20 page introduction was an inspiring read on it's own, and the shape of the book is going in the exact same direction.

Industrial Age (I think that's the title, not sure) - Hemmingway
Some of the northland stories in this book hit home with me, since I live in a very populated city, yet 2 miles away, is the middle of no where. It's easy to relate to the variety of stories within this book, be it an iron range city, or a canadian hunting trip.

The entire compelations of Edgar Alan Poe - Poe
I like his twisted sense of humor, and even though the writing is rather bland, I am quite inspired after reading a story I've read over and over again (Especially the Tell Tale Heart, which I can draw inspiration from no matter how many times I've read it).

Pig - Don't Know Author
Read this book about a kid who has to give up his pig. Sort of like babe, this story really just fixated me into the reading scene as an adult, rather than the below child books.

Goosebumps - RL Stien
These got me into reading and writing, and still keep me entertained today. I owe special midnight scares to photograph one. Classics.

Alice and Wonderland - ???
No need for words.

There are so many more books that have influenced me, it's not even funny.

JediKirby

------------------
jEDIkIRBY - Putting the Romance back into Necromancer.
Proud Leader of the Minnessassian Council

Live on, Adam.

Heart of Darkness. I know why, but I can't even begin to explain it.

I think this will be the next book I read.

------------------
And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...
DSettahr's Homepage

Oh yeah, you should read Survivor, or Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk if you liked Fight Club. I'm borrowing Survivor from a friend, and from what I've read of it it's going to be amazing.

Forgot--Vampire of the Mist, I believe, by Christie Golden. You have NOT experienced horror until you've read it. It's an...amazing book. Really is.

Fun times.

------------------
There is no signature

Any of Michael Stackpoles' BT books are also worth checking out.

------------------
Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1, 2 & 3 | Gonk WoW Petition <- SIGN!
Corrupting the kiddies since '97

Agreed, I think my brother has all of his BT books, and missing about 11 of all of BT

------------------
What happens when you cast heal on the undead?

YES. The books are not only science fiction, but also about plot, and character development... the characters in these books are developed far more than any character in any other book I have ever read. They seem like people that I know intimately. As far as the science fiction part goes, everything was researched in depth and the books reflect that. The Mars Trilogy of books are, without a doubt, the best books I have ever read.

------------------
"The interesting thing about video games is the way you can take about 50 shotgun blasts to the head and be instantly healed by a little white box with a cross on it."