In any way at all, big or small …
- Fifth Business (Robertson Davies). It was the first book that really opened up new worlds for me. I was about 17 at the time and it was responsible for piquing my interest in subjects such as magic, philosophy, religion, mythology. It was also the first book I admired for the sheer intelligence and wit of the writing.
- The Salmon of Doubt (Douglas Adams). It wasn’t the book itself that changed my life, but rather that it led me to the h2g2 site where I met Nog four years ago. If I hadn’t read that book I doubt I ever would have ever found h2g2 … or Nog (eep!).
- Night Watch (Terry Pratchett). The first Discworld book I read. Got me started redeveloping my laugh-out-loud muscles. I’d forgotten that I could laugh so much. 🙂
- Mother Tongue (Bill Bryson). It showed me just how fun the English language can be and helped me to teach better, with humour and relevence.
- Foucault’s Pendulum (Umberto Eco). Made me feel clever and thereby warned me of the dangers of becoming an intellectual snob. 😉
Okay, your turn now. List any five books that have made a difference to your life and also explain why or how they did so.
This is also entered in engtech’s 5 things contest.
casa azahar 
Tricky one. There are hundreds that could be included, but picking out five ain’t so easy. However, after some consideration, and with commiserations to the many also rans, we have:
Janet and John. Made me realise, at the tender age of five, that reading was a doddle, and opened up a window on the world that has never been closed again.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams). My ‘Salmon of Doubt’. If I hadn’t read it I would probably never have found h2g2, never met az, never moved to Spain, etc
The Bounds of Sense (PF Strawson). The first book I ever read on the metaphysics of Immanuel Kant, and therefore crucial to my intellectual and philosophical development.
Raising the Stones (Sheri Tepper). A novel about comparative religion.
Ages in Chaos (Immanuel Velikovsky). Awakened a lifelong interest in ancient history, the origins of the bible, and other associated subjects.
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Janet and John is quite a good choice! In Canada they were called Dick and Jane books.
Yes, there are possibly hundreds to choose from for a lot of people, which was why I purposely didn’t make this a TOP 5 books list. Also, I hope this will be a fun thing for people to do – personally I find those ‘Top 10’ lists a bit intimidating and more than somewhat limiting.
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h2g2???
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Yeah, I left a link to it in the post – here’s another one (I find the links don’t show up very well in this theme). It’s a forum that was started by Douglas Adams, ‘h2g2’ refers to the two H’s and G’s in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
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The White Mountains (John Christopher). This was the first dystopian book I ever read. A librarian who knew my mother recommended it for me. It had no book jacket, so I had no idea what to expect. I still remember my fascination when I realized it was set in the future and not the past. I’ve been reading books like it ever since.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell). I plucked this out of my older brother’s bookcase when I was about thirteen years old. It was the first book I read that did not have a Hollywood type ending. I had a relatively sheltered upbringing, and the idea that nice guys don’t always finish first hadn’t really occurred to me yet.
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath). I read this when I was newly sober after years of drug and alcohol abuse. I had struggled with anxiety and depression my entire life, but the book reminded me that there were people far worse off than I was. It also reminded me that my recent low point might not be the “bottom” I thought it was – things could get much worse unless I got my act together, which I more or less did. (I’ve been sober for nearly ten years since then, though it hasn’t always been a bed of roses.)
The Jungle (Upton Sinclair). I’ll never look at a hot dog the same way again.
Night (Elie Wiesel). No horror imagined by Stephen King can match the reality reflected in this little book.
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Have you read Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment yet? That was the last book by him that I read and I thought it was by far one of his best.
Have you read any Christopher Moore? I’ve only read one of his books, but it seems to be in the same vein.
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I have 22 Pratchett Discworld books in my bookcase, including Monstrous Regiment. The last one I bought was THUD!, which was excellent (have you read Archie’s review?). Really, I’ve enjoyed them all but my personal favourites are the Sam Vimes ones. Oh, and I also have Pratchett’s The Unadulterated Cat, which is quite fun.
I haven’t read (or heard of) Christopher Moore. A quick google came up with both a US and Canadian author – which one are you referring to? Anything you particularly recommend?
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My cousin gave me “The White Dragon” by Anne McCaffrey when I was a kid, which turned me on to Fantasy, then SF.
“Roots” by Alex Haley was the first truly ‘adult’ book I read (at 11 years old).
“The Bone People” by Keri Hulme is probably the most linguistically beautiful and complex story about people I’ve ever read. You will never forget the three main characters.
“Boundaries of the Soul” by June Singer is a very clear introduction to Jungian analysis, and was one of the first books I read on psychology.
[long pause, as I go downstairs to browse my library…]
#5 can probably be my textbook to the course in Oriental Philosophy I took at University of Maryland on the US military base in Seoul. Maybe it was the location, maybe the topic, but learning about the basis for the various Eastern religions was an important part of my philosophical searching.
So many books have crossed my path, and I’m sure you’ll all agree that this is a hard task, to pick only 5.
Azahar, you and I need to start an email dialogue on this Robertson Davies addiction of yours (and mine!). Maybe we should re-read something together, discuss it? [loricat at gmail dot com]
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Interesting idea, Lori. Maybe we could start a post (or page?) on your booknook blog and perhaps get some interested others to read (or re-read) a Davies book within a given amount of time and then have a group discussion on it. Anyhow, I will email you now so we can work out the details …
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@azahar:
The Christopher Moore I’m thinking of is this guy. http://www.chrismoore.com/
I’ve only read “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” so far… but I often get him coming up as a recommendation when people find out I like Pratchett.
When I said the same vein, it was a bit of a misnomer since he does humour more than fantasy humour.
I got the Unadulterated Cat for xmas but I haven’t read it yet.
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The Unadulterated Cat is cute but not as clever as I thought it would be.
I’ll check out the Moore site – thanks. It’s hard to find a decent selection of books in English here in Sevilla but if something really piques my interest I can either order it through the bookshop or Amazon.
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Life-changing books…
Hitchhiker’s Guide, The Great Gatsby, and 1984.
I also liked Sabriel by Garth Nix, which got me very addicted to fantasy at a young age.
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I find it impossible to limit it to 5 as I’ve found different stuff significant at different stages of life. Hesse’s stuff was really significant in my teens, but I might cringe now, scared to try it again. All the ‘classics’ I’ve read have been significant; and defo agree with nog about the significance of Janet and John, as it gave me the love of reading in the first place and yes reading Foucult’s Pendulum does make one feel rather special, it also happens to be a brill book. Okay one more, Wuthering Heights, it’s easy to laugh at by my god it made me realise I wasn’t alone with feeling so much passionate intensity. And it’s suprisingly funny in parts, despite all the love and death.
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Then you don’t recommend “The Unadulterated Cat”, az? I’ve been looking for it on this side of the pond, but no joy. So maybe I can relax.
5 books, huh? Okay, I’ll give it a shot.
The Princess Elizabeth, author long forgotten, a history of the life of Elizabeth I. I read it when I was 10, and it started an obsession for English history.
The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness D’Orczy (sp?), because it gave me an insight into the anger behind the French revolution, and the parallels of that situation and the American revolution, with far different outcomes.
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, no, wait, it’s a good book, if you just flip 3 pages ahead every time you encounter the soapbox… Some interesting ideas about intellectual property and the responsiblities of citizenship vs. society.
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman, because it delighted me that intelligence can *play*, and maybe MUST do so. I also remember how he cut through the bullshit at the Challenger accident inquiry, when he took a small ring of the same flexible rubbery material as the O-rings on the shuttle, dropped it into a glass of ice water on the table during the hearing, left it there for a few minutes — then retrieved it and broke it in half. Master class thinker.
Collapse, by Jared Diamond, because he takes an unpleasant truth and presents it in very unemotional and objective terms. You may not agree with it, but it is clearly explained.
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I am suddenly reminded of The Scarlet Pumpernickel.
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Loricat has started a Robertson Davies discussion page over on her book nook blog – please join us if you are also a Davies fan or are curious to discover why two such sparkling and interesting beings like Lori and myself are so hooked on him.
Ivan – didn’t you say that you picked up the Deptford Trilogy recently?
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Fluke by Christopher Moore was excellent, but I would recommended A Dirty Job for the first time reader.
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Hey, another cat-avatar person – welcome! 🙂
Yeah, I checked out the Christopher Moore site and thought a lot of his books looked quite interesting. I’m going to see if the bookshop here has any, if not I’ll order a couple. Thanks for the recommendation.
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@az: on the subject of cat avatars, have you seen:
http://www.webomatica.com/mycatbloglog/mycatbloglog.html
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Well, so much for feeling unique! 😉
That photo of Azar was taken by chance one day when Nog had his laptop set up on the coffee table in front of the sofa and then had gone off to do something or other … suddenly he said to me ‘Get the camera!’
The original pic is over here.
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Oooh, I’m going to have to have a think about this one and post on it later. Great idea and I love the book selections so far…!
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I guess that will now have to wait until you set up internet access in OZ, truce.
Today I ordered Lamb by Chris Moore – should be here within a week or so. They had another book of his at the shop – something about nuns. And then I couldn’t remember the name of the other book recommended here, so I asked for Lamb.
Meanwhile, still plugging along with Emma. I think I now know why there was a bookmark at page 195 … I mean, it’s okay and lightly entertaining and all that, but none of the characters really interest me, least of all Emma. But I shall persevere, at least until Lamb comes in. 😉
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So, az, how was the Chris Moore book, Lamb?
I saw some of his others in the bookstore a while back, but I checked the library, and they’re all checked out — just as well, I’ve got some job hunting to do. 🙂 Or maybe 😦
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Actually, it still hasn’t come in – thanks for reminding me. I’ll have to check on that.
I’ve been rereading The Deptford Trilogy (almost finished) so I’ll need something else soon. I hate it when I’m bookless.
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I didn’t get to the bookshop as planned yesterday but now that I’ve won the Amazon gift certificate in engtech’s contest I think I’ll order it from them instead. It should get here just before I finish the Davies. Good timing or what? 🙂
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I the end I bought another Chris Moore book called The Lust Lizard of Melacholy Cove. And well, it’s *okay* and actually quite funny in parts, but so far it doesn’t seem terribly satisfying.
Do you think that after one reaches *a certain age* that it is no longer possible for a book to change one’s life?
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“Do you think that after one reaches *a certain age* that it is no longer possible for a book to change one’s life?”
I really hope not
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