[iscariot]

I have two ways of looking at this:

The first, through my love of literature and studies of history, informs me as to what works I think most important/ most influential in terms of literature and my knowledge of its cultural effect thereof.

The second reflects what pieces of fiction/ non-fiction have most influenced myself, personally...

In some cases there is intersection, but not completely...

Seven Most influential per Criteria One.

Shakespeare - Complete Works
Karl Marx - Das Capital
Miguel Cervantes - Don Quixote
Homer - The Iliad/ Odyssey*
The King James Edition of the Bible**
Albert Einstein - General Theory of Relativity
Immanuel Kant - Critique of Pure Reason

* Even though there is no consensus as to whether Homer actually existed or if there was a tradition of bards named Homer

** Important more for its codification of biblical/ scriptural understanding in the period and it's latter effect of religious and secular thought and action (even to this day).

[u]Seven Most Influential Books on Myself[/b]

Shakespeare - Complete Works [what can I say, I am a Shakespeare geek]
Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil
F Paul Wilson - The Healer*
E.W. Hildick - Louie's Lot**
Anne McCaffery - Crystal Singer***
Gelsey Kirkland - Dancing on my Grave
Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar****

* If anyone asks me to recommend an SFF book to them this is ALWAYS the first book I recommend

** The creation Louis Lay, the world's greatest milkman, is right up there with Macbeth and Hamlet

*** I know, I know, there goes my credibility - however, it was the book that first introduced me to science fiction/ fantasy

****I don't care that it's essentially a kids picture book, the story is cool, the pictures are better and it's as fresh and as new each time I pick it up now as the first time I had it read to me as a two year old (and I'm 37 now).

[Dr Trouble]

You don't get two criterias. I would have titled it "Your two criteria for seven most influential books".

[iscariot]

Trouble;191960 said:

You don't get two criterias. I would have titled it "Your two criteria for seven most influential books".

grumblemuttersnarl

and I'll raise your 'criterias' by pointing out that criteria is the plural of criterium...I don't know what a 'criterias' is/ are :angel:

Anyway, if I took it literally asn based it on the number of books I'd actually read I'd be in trouble...functional illiterate that I am.

[Dancer+]

I've yet to be touched by many books, I've read a fair amount but most fall away into the back of my memory.

I've mainly enjoyed fantasy books. However as a former prospective Historian I've read many interesting passages from historic books. But I'd have to say Tolkien and Erikson have given me a lot of my best moments in fantasy; they are the ones which stay with my like no others.

Terry Brooks was the first fantasy author I got into, but after reading most of his books I started to realise that they were rather one dimensional and often repeated themselves, but I have to say I did enjoy the first king of Shannara. Tay was an awesome character. I've had trouble with other fantasy authors too, for me authors like Pullman and Canavan have been okay but have failed to really capitivate me totally and it's the same with Croggon, there were some inspired moments but generally not enough to bring me off my feet. I've got to read more Pratchett as I had attempted many of his books a long time ago, when I was around eight or nine, and failed to understand most of the humour to be honest. I didn't rate them that highly then. Books like the Hobbit were wonderful at that age though.

Amusingly I'm tempermental with authors, as in I attach myself to their world and find it difficult to jump over to other works of theirs which are too different or repetitive, as I don't have much time for reading so I need an excuse to curb my reading load. Both Tolkien and Erikson are testament to my former point. I have purchased but failed to read the book of lost tales part one and two, but i'm a big fan of the silmarillion, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Erikson, I love the Malaz series but I've never warmed up to Bauchelain and friend so have yet to read their escapades although I really liked Night of Knives by ICE - Very humorous in my eyes.

My Seven most influential books are - Memories of Ice, Lord of the Rings, Interesting Times by Pratchett, Brave New World by Huxley, The Hobbit, And two others which I can't quite remember. This list is far from reflective, I have many more books which impacted me heavily at the time like To Kill a Mocking Bird, Clockwork Orange, 1984 etc. etc. the list goes ever onwards. I know there's a lot of authors that I wish to read (more of) in the future.

Oh and the whole point of this piece is so I can correct you that the singular form of criteria is Criterion I wouldn't, would I?

[iscariot]

The Cult of Dessembrae;192258 said:

Oh and the whole point of this piece is so I can correct you that the singular form of criteria is Criterion I wouldn't, would I?

:eek:

Heh - I'll just add it to the list of things I know but am getting wrong today *grin*

Did you ever have one of those days when you know what you're thinking and you know what you're saying but when you got up that morning you put in the wrong teeth and wrong brain...

I stand [hideously] corrected

[Dr Trouble]

I spelled it two different ways in that post for that very reason , I forgot how to spell it so I thought I would put them both in and get one right rather then bot wrong.

But I got them both wrong any way, dammit Dessembrae!

[QuickTidal]

The Cult of Dessembrae;192258 said:

Terry Brooks was the first fantasy author I got into, but after reading most of his books I started to realise that they were rather one dimensional and often repeated themselves, but I have to say I did enjoy the first king of Shannara.

This is really crazy, you are like the tenth person (Myself included!) who has been able to thoroughly enjoy First King of Shannara, whilst thinking the rest of them REALLY formulaic and boring. I guess because it didn't prescribe to the same story.

7 huh? Okay, here goes.

random order.

Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
While I LOVED DG, MOI pops into the top spot for sheer balls. It's got alot of the things that made DG great, but it goes that extra mile, and Itkovian for me is such an amazing character.

The Eagles Brood by Jack Whyte
The very middle of Jack Whytes Arthurian/Roman epic "A Dream of Eagles", and this is the first book narrated by Merlyn, and tells of his childhood with his cousin Uther, and how they grow into manhood to control Camulod. It's bloody brilliant!

The Golden Compass/Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman
While I'd want to put the whole HDM trilogy in this spot, I don't want to cheat, so this was the book of the trilogy that I loved the best. The last one was sad, and triumphant, but the first introduced us to everything, and I think Lyra just sings in the first book, on her own, in her own world.

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
It's strange. My complete fave in this series was Prisoner of Azkaban for so long, but after I read the sixth book, that changed. Now, POA is still a VERY close second fave for me, HBP jumped to the top spot due to that fact that it is simply an overture to The Deathly Hallows (7th book). It is Empire Strikes Back. It makes me realize that not only does JK KNOW what she is doing, but that she isn't afraid to do the unexpected, even if that means throwing her heroes to the wolves...for a time.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Yeah, this book is so amazing, that like the above books I can read it over and over. It's a comfort read. It's home to me. A fairy story for adults. Maybe this is the reason why I revere Gaiman as my favourite author, and my own inspiration in my writing.

A Storm Of Swords by George R. R. Martin
What can I say about this that hasn't already been said. This book is the best of the series so far, and held every drop of my attention for all (what is it, like 1300 pages?) of it. The characters are well fleshed out at this point, and we care so much. Like, when anything bad happened to Arya or Jon Snow I was bloody devastated! Love this book.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Say what you will, but this book grabbed onto me and would NOT let go. I couldn't get over how inventive this fantasy world was. Ocean's 11, in a Venice local, with fantasy for it's backdrop. Amazing. The characters are well cared about. I mean honestly, how on earth does he make us care so much about Sabine, and who she is, and what she did when we haven't even met her yet? Oh, and how about Elderglass? Amazing.

[Dancer+]

iscariot;192301 said:

:eek:

Heh - I'll just add it to the list of things I know but am getting wrong today *grin*

Did you ever have one of those days when you know what you're thinking and you know what you're saying but when you got up that morning you put in the wrong teeth and wrong brain...

I stand [hideously] corrected

I sometimes have days where my memory and brain power is on reserve, I get that when i'm really tired. But I know what you mean

No worries trouble, I've done that very thing before and it occasionally happens that you've got both wrong for some reason. Annoying at the very least.

I think the cast of the First King was quite good; Tay, Allanon and Bremen were all entertaining.

Hopefully in a few more years I'll have a highly changed most seven influential books, probably not however.

[Skywalker]

Ok, here's my list... in chronological order of me reading them. I'm sticking to (more or less) one per genre that I read.

The Call of the Wild - Jack London. First unabridged novel I read... the tale of Buck really touched me.

The Time Machine - H G Wells. What got me hooked to science fiction.

The Story of Philosophy - Will Durant. The book that got me thinking in a structured way about the world.

The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov. Some of the best scifi imaginable. Profound.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand. However zealous the book may seem in hindsight, it fascinated me in my college years and I was (shudder) a zealot for some time myself.

Of Human Bondage - Somerset Maugham. Served as an excellent antidote to Ayn Rand. Very painful to read, because almost everytime you empathize with the lead character, you hate yourself. But still, very tangible and feasible a tale.

The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein. This and the Silmarillion opened my eyes to High Fantasy...

If I had to name 3 more to round out the then, I'd probably include Dan Simmons' Hyperion quartet, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and JK Rowling's Harry Potter septet...

Check out my sig for a very comprehensive SFF bibliography

[moridin]

Tough list to come up with, may not have 7 and these books, while they may not have influenced me, they have stayed with me the longest.

Elfstones of Shannara(spelling?)-First fantasy type book I ever read. Loved it when I was a kid and it still has some enjoyment when read now.

It-This book scared the poop out of me when I read it the first time. To this day I read this book once a year and still get a little chill from it.

Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower-I loved this series and read them for so long. When I first finished it I threw the book across the room and screamed that King was a coward for the ending, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was perfect.

Game of Thrones-First fantasy I read where you never know who was going to die and who was going to be the main character.

Memories of Ice-Gut wrenching toward the end. Shear scope of the series.

Half-blood Prince-Another book with an ending that was(to me anyway) unexpected. I think it is a good example on how to turn from appealing to just kids to appealing to everyone.

Gardens of the Moon-Just because it introduced the huge world to me and I especially love the way the reader is just dropped into the middle of things and kind of left to figure stuff out on there own.

[Deragoth]

The Hardy Boys Series
--> the first series I ever read on my own. Got me into the world of books and expanded my imagination a thousand fold.

The Thief of Kalimar - Graham Diamond
--> the first fantasy and first "novel" I ever read. Very good book.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
--> My first "series" of fantasy books

The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
--> It's funny, I kept trying to read this book when I was in grade 9 or 10 and I made it through the first 50 or so pages and put it back down. I did that a bunch of times for close to two years. Finally I read the whole thing and was introduced to a more adult and realistic fantasy. (too bad it went downhill after Dumai's Wells)

The Art of War - Sun Tzu
--> Nothing really needs to be said. Timeless and applicable to almost every aspect of life.

Cosmos - Carl Sagan
--> Sated my imagination and love for science/technology/future(isms)

A Storm of Swords - GRRM
--> A powerhouse epic with quite possibly the most unexpected/emotional scene in any book I have ever read. I often skip over that chapter when I re-read it due to it being a climactic shock with some 400 pages left to read.


Other Notables:
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking, The Book of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi, The Bible (I'm not religious but it's good to know what you're dealing with), Inferno - Dante, Bridge to Terabithia (read in grade two by teacher lol)