Name 3 books that you think of from time-to-time.

[Bullwinkle925]

Mine would be:

"Earth Abides"

"Accordion Crimes"

"Of Mice and Men"


Ok - can't stop at 3 -

"The Old Man and The Sea"

"Three Years Before the Mast"

[shadowlight]

1. i'd say, in no particular order,

Jitterbug Perfume
A Fine Balance
The Handmaid's Tale

[poverlay]

132. Thanks for reminding me to re-read "Jitterbug Perfume". It was so good. n/t

[iamjoy]

143. Definately Handmaid's Tale

very, very moving.

When I think of what the "Religious Right" would do to our country...

but I find myself thinking about it a lot, not just from time to time.

[rodeodance]

2. the grapes of wrath,

[Bullwinkle925]

4. the only one that haunts you?

i admit, it is a good one

[opusprime]

3. Mine are:

"A prayer for Owen Meany"

"The Age of Spiritual Machines"

"Thinking in Java"

Whoops, two arent fiction.

[shadowlight]

5. A prayer for Owen Meany

good one.
John Irving is great.

[opusprime]

9. John Irving was on John Stewart last week...

It was a pretty good interview, although he (Irving) is quite dry.

I have never laughed so hard in my life as when I was reading Owen Meany. The armadillo (sp?), sewing dummy, and the volkswagon on stage.

I have to back an read that one again someday.

[shadowlight]

10. I have read all his books

with the exception of his latest and Garp (if you can belive it).

[the arkansas liberal]

126. "Prayer" is a masterpiece!

Have read it several times...now I want to read it again! Thanks!

[reichstag911]

144. Of course.

Owen Meany is a modern classic, IMHO. Also, Dennis Lehane's Mystic River and Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby. Like my shirt says in the pic, "So many books, so little time":

.

[etherealtruth]

6. Top 3

"A Confederacy of Dunces"

"Lonesome Dove"

"Watership Down," "Of Mice and Men" and finally "To Kill a Mockingbird"

(OK, that's more than 3 ... I must admit that I read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" when I was 10 or 11 and still think about it from time to time)

[Bullwinkle925]

7. You're right - so do I. "Tree" has also become one of my daughter's

favorites.

[etherealtruth]

11. I am sitting here a little stunned ...

I have an 11 year old daughter and have never mentioned "A Tree..." to her ... (??????)

[Bullwinkle925]

13. Never too late - suggest it to her. Read it together as a 'mini' book

club.

[etherealtruth]

8. I can't believe I forgot ...

E. O Wilson's "The Future of Life"

I changed careers because of Wilson's writings.

[Bullwinkle925]

12. Wow - I haven't read that one.

Tell me more - the book and your story?

[etherealtruth]

15. My first career was nursing ...

... I quit to have a family and support my (then) husbands career aspirations (moved from state to state as he was promoted).

I did not have a BSN, I had an associates degree (adn) ... I took classes here and there (at Universities in whatever state we were living) A political science prof. suggested that he thought I would enjoy a book by a prominent sociobiologist E.O Wilson (I believe it was "The Naturalist" ... It was a fairly interesting book.

A few years (and an other child) later, I picked up an other book by Wilson, "The Future of Life," (This coincided with the end of my marriage).

Wilson's book described the pending crisis we (humans) and all living creatures of the earth face because of our misuse and squandering of the earths resources coupled with explosive human population growth ... he painstakingly describes exactly what we have done, what we are doing and the intricate effects our actions have on the earth and all it's inhabitants ... I realize this sounds very depressing, and often is ... Wilson also details that even though we are at a bottleneck and "things" may become very dire, WE CAN STILL CHANGE and avoid horror. This sounds very dry, but his writing is very engaging and he explains concepts in very understandable ways.

So, when I divorced (I was fortunate and received "Alimony") I went back to school and this May (at the ripe old age of 43), I graduated with a degree in Environmental Science (think enviro engineering).

Scientific american did a wonderful piece on wilson following "The Future of Life" ... many experts and explanations by Wilson.

How did you find "A Tree..."?

[Bullwinkle925]

18. Fascinating. Isn't it amazing how a book can change one's course

in life?

I remember reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" when I was in Jr. High School. It had such a whispered past about it and I was curious.
That book, and others, molded me into a person who always cheered for the underdogs in life. "The Jungle" by Sinclair Lewis falls into that category for me as well.
It is interesting for me to find characters who seemingly have no chance in life but ultimately find a way to pick themselves up and carry on, sometimes succeeding.
Your story is wonderful. Have you procured a job yet in your field?

self-edited for typo

[etherealtruth]

20. I forgot about "The Jungle" ...

It is good to read (and believe) that the human spirit will prevail.

No, no job yet ... I take some (albeit it won't pay the bills)consolation in the fact that Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation (makes it a little less personal). Thank you for asking.

[Bullwinkle925]

21. Are you falling back on nursing to get you through?

And sending your thanks to Dubya for this economic mess we have as well?

[etherealtruth]

22. No to both ...

Considerring the nursing, though.

Bush has all but destroyed the environmental field ... he's undone all he can and what he can't und he slashed the enforcement budget for ... Government doesn't care; corporations don't care.

Federal, state and local enviro budgets slashed ... but (seriously) i am very hopeful and remain happy with my choices. (not always sure whether it's happiness or delusion;-) )

[Speck Tater]

14. My three fiction that I re-read often:

Illusions, Richard Bach
Code of the Lifemaker, James P. Hogan (SciFi)
Earth Abides, George R. Stewart (SciFi)

Oh, and I also re-read the whole set of Hobbit/Lord of the Rings and the whole set (so far) of Harry Potter from time to time.

But my ABSOLUTE favorite SciFi in 50 years of reading SciFi is Red Thunder by John Varley. Excellent, and believable book about a bunch of nerds and misfits that decide to join the race to Mars with a homemade space ship!

[Bullwinkle925]

16. I just love these queries - this way I learn of books that I would never

have heard or thought about.
Hope more people answer.

[CantGetFooledAgain]

54. 1984. A Clockwork Orange. Animal Farm

(on edit: meant to reply to OP, sorry)

[Bullwinkle925]

104. Have you read "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell?

My mind instantly flashed on that book when you mentioned your 'spaceship' book.

[Flying Dream Blues]

191. That book haunted me and fascinated me!

It's not one I could re-read, but it leapt to life in such vivid detail that it was as if I was there. It was beautiful and yet so tragic. It took me awhile to come back from that one.

:hi:

[longship]

17. Okay.

It's hard to pick.

Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester
Structures of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn

Harry Potter! (I know, I know, but they are so entertaining.)

[Bullwinkle925]

19. Yes, they are indeed.

Three cheers for Harry!

[CantGetFooledAgain]

55. I was never able to get through GEB

I recognized the genius in it, and appreciated the incredible wit and cleverness, but simply could not understand it sufficiently to get all the way through it.

[GatoLover]

71. I love A World Lit Only by Fire

especially the descriptions of exactly how dark the Dark Ages really were. (Hint: Really dark!)

[Bullwinkle925]

84. mmmmmmm

you have definitely piqued my curiosity.

[Bullwinkle925]

87. They sound like very heavy reading..... fill me in on them, if you would?

Harry Potter and I are old friends.


Thanks

[paparush]

138. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Moveable Feast, Gatsby

[wli]

23. 1984, der Prozess, Kinkakuji n/t

[ExclamationPoint]

59. It's very difficult to get 1984 off my mind

with it's disturbing truisms. If only the bush administration would read it all together all at once (sigh) :eyes:

[shadowlight]

24. you might be interested in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4459338

[Bullwinkle925]

25. Thanks Shadowlight

I have read "The Sparrow" and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's been a while since I read it and have "Children of God" on my shelf.
Some of the other books mentioned sound equally interesting.

:hi:

[NMMNG]

26. 1984, The Jungle, Brave New World

[LWolf]

27. ok

My hard drive is over-full; I have and have read so many books (thousands) that there are many more that I think about from time-to-time. The first three that popped into my head this morning:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Life of Pi

Welcome to the Monkeyhouse

Along with:

Fried Green Tomatoes

Siddhartha

The Prophet

Prodigal Summer

I'll stop there!

Did you mean Dana's "Two Years Before The Mast?" That one, and the Old Man and The Sea, also hold treasured spots on my shelf.

[Bullwinkle925]

32. Yes - RHD's "Two Years Before the Mast" - I need to re-read that one.

Read it (I think) in either freshman or sophomore year of high school.
Wonderful travel narrative. The first I had experienced and now I live in California!

[Speck Tater]

35. Oh WOW!

I had completely forgotten about that one. I LOVED it in high school. I think I'll jump over to the Gutenberg project and download a copy of it to read again.

Thanks for the reminder.

[LWolf]

42. It was required reading

for a "continuing ed for teachers" California history class I took about 8 years ago. It was a terribly demanding class ;-).

The whole (home-study) class consisted of the novel and a field trip. I read the novel, then had to take a solo 4-day field trip to Monterey. What a trial that was. I stayed within walking distance of fisherman's wharf,and had to take walking tours of historic buildings and sites. I listened to a lecture about the various sites on a walkman while I walked, wrote something about each site (1 paragraph max), and took some sort of artifact to prove I'd been there. A rubbing, or a brochure, etc.. I visited California's first theater, first capital building, the Carmel mission, and a host of other interesting places. And I had to read the novel, and write a response essay. That was no chore; the book fascinated me. Then I shipped everything off to the professor and enjoyed an extra day in California's first capital before heading home.

The Custom House, one of the historic adobes by Fisherman's Wharf, has a scale model of The Pilgrim.

[CantGetFooledAgain]

56. "The Prophet". My favorite.

So very beautiful.

[raccoon]

28. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank,

Going Wrong by Ruth Rendell,
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.


And Earth Abides kicks butt, too.

Edited to add 2nd paragraph.

[yellowdogintexas]

29. To Kill A Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, Gone With The Wind

and The GodFather

George R R Martin's series

[msgadget]

31. I'd have also chosen Jane Eyre if I had more choices,

I read it more than once as a teen.

[Bullwinkle925]

33. Yes, Yellowdog - "Gone with the Wind" would also join my list -

I read that when I was probably around 13-14 and re-read it about a year or so ago. What a different perspective I have now at this advanced old age.......LOL. I didn't realize what a feminist book it was until the last reading.

[msgadget]

30. In no particular order

To Kill a Mockingbird

Rebecca

Down These Mean Streets

[CantGetFooledAgain]

52. I have a "Down These Mean Streets" autographed to me

by Piri Thomas.

Great book. I read it when I was too young to understand a lot of what was in it.

Stunning, highly recommended. Non-fiction, though.

[Richardo]

34. Catch-22, Alice in Wonderland and Heart of Darkness

[Bullwinkle925]

37. Great selections.

Sigh - all I want to do now is curl up on the swing and read my life away.

[Richardo]

38. If you never have, read "The Annotated Alice" by Martin Gardner

Published in the late 50s, I think, but a fascinating study of the Alice books - explains all the in-jokes, satiric references, etc. :thumbsup:

[Bullwinkle925]

39. Thanks much - I shall look for that one.

:hi:

[Richardo]

40. Look in a library or used book store - the only version currently in print

is an expensive deluxe hardback.

I bought a paperback probably 20 years ago and it's one of my favorites - cover is coming off :cry:

[Z_I_Peevey]

36. I am often reminded

of Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner.

Jitterbug Perfume. 1984.

[Bullwinkle925]

86. "1984" is beginning to come true (sadly)........

will check out the other 2 you've suggested.


Thanks a bunch.

[Democrats_win]

41. "The Earth Abides" for certain! How would we survive?

"Battlefield Earth" by L. Ron Hubbard even though Travolta didn't do very well with the movie which covered just the first half of the book. The book was very interesting and had a positive message: It takes all kinds to run the world.

"A Separate Peace" by John Knowles. The dangers of taking competition too far. Here these boys lived in this boarding school, fighting their own wars, while the real war (WW2) raged.

[Hamlette]

43. hate to be so lowbrow but I think of stuff from Carl Hiaasen's books

all the time. And laugh all over again.

[Richardo]

44. "White Clarion Aryans"

:rofl:

[Bullwinkle925]

103. I don't think anything is lowbrow. Books touch each one of us in

various ways. Thankfully we have them in our lives to broaden our horizons!

[msrbly]

45. "Cider House Rules" "Replay" and "To Kill a Mockingbird"

[kweerwolf]

46. Only three?

OK ... so I'll cheat a bit and include a few more than that.

East of Eden, IMO Steinbeck's greatest work.

Narcissus and Goldman by Hermann Hesse (with The Glass Bead Game as a close runner-up)

The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann (with A Death In Venice a close second)

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut (I still find myself using phrases like "unstuck in time" and "so it goes.")

Aztec by Gary Jennings. (His books tend to be very long historical novels, but he has such a way of getting you inside the head of his characters that reading some of this books are like being another person for a while.)

The World According to Garp, by John Irving. (I still think of passages and phrases from the book ... like today when I happened to drive past a college campus and thought about returning to school and becoming a "gradual student." And who can forget "the undertoad"?)

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

47. Naked Lunch, Ringolevio, Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn nt

[bemildred]

62. Damn, I didn't think anybody remembered Ringolevio.

Emmet would be proud. I've been thinking about digging
up a copy to see how it reads 35 years on.

I agree about TOC, everybody ought to read it once.

While I have great respect for Burroughs, I've never
been able to get into "Naked Lunch". But you have
encouraged me to give it another shot.

[closeupready]

48. "House on the Borderland", "Huckleberry Finn" and "City of Night"

All evoke familiar states of mind.

[Sequoia]

49. Food of the Gods, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, and

A Christmas Carol.

[artemisia1]

50. "Sophie's Choice", "Great Expectations", "The Stand". nt

[NYC]

51. The Trial by Franz Kafka.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Obedience to Authority by Stanley Milgram

And because of the current political climate:

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

[CantGetFooledAgain]

53. Ooh, this is fun. Let me think...

Dickens: "Hard Times"

"Bright Lights, Big City" (Jay McInerney)

"About a Boy", "High Fidelity" (Nick Hornby)

"Jitterbug Perfume" (Tom Robbins)

"The Crying of Lot 49" (Pynchon, I don't understand the guy but he creeps me right out)

"Underworld" (DeLillo, see Pynchon :-) )

[Bullwinkle925]

82. Boy - with the list I'm compiling - I shall never come up for air!!

Thanks for your additions!

[Parrcrow]

57. I Always come back to...

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

and

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

to name just three

[Bullwinkle925]

85. OH BOY - Robertson Davies - adore him!!

Thanks for your additions to this ever-growing list of mine.

[AuntieM1957]

58. Interesting Question

Johnny Got His Gun

Little Women

Crime and Punishment

[Bullwinkle925]

80. Ahhhhh.....

"Little Women" - I must re-read it.

I shall put the other 2 on my (growing) list.


Thanks.

[StatsBabe]

60. That Old Ace in the Hole

and Shipping News by Annie Proulx and of course, To Kill a Mockingbird.

[smbjoe]

61. 3 books I love

3 wise Men By Stephen Buckler

Fierce invalids home from warm climates Tom Robbins

Da Vinci Code

[jannyk]

63. I'm awfully late to this party. Can I still play?

I only discovered today that we have a book forum. So here are some of the ones that have 'stayed' with me for whatever reason. I have also read each of these over and over again:

Earth Abides - George Stewart

Mockingbird - Walter Tevis

1984 - Orwell

Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck

Bonfire of the Vanities - Wolfe

Diary of Anne Frank

Shogun - James Clavell

throw in the rest of Steinbeck and Orwell, Dickens and Twain and I'd be happy on my desert island forever.

[Bullwinkle925]

65. Your selections are all good.

I do think of "Earth Abides" (esp. in these times) frequently.
Don't know how I'd do in that situation.

[jannyk]

69. I'm always surprised

by how many have read it.

I found a beat up copy at a used book store years ago. I'd never heard of it or the author, I just liked the 'sound' of it. Paid 15c for it. Wow, what a bargain! I've read that poor, battered book over and over again through the years. I know there are many 'apocolyptic' books/films, but this is the one that struck a chord for some reason.

I love books!

[abluelady]

64. I'm Embarrassed to Say

the one I think about the most is the one that I can't remember the name. It is science fiction and it is about a society that can decide characteristics of new children. The one characteristic that was key to the book was sleeplessness. The people who did not need sleep were the "haves" and the others were the "have nots." I need lots of sleep so I think about the book all the time wishing I had more energy!

The other two would be "Life of Pi" and "Ciderhouse Rules"

[Bullwinkle925]

66. When I first began reading your post my thought was "The Giver",

but I know that is incorrect. I don't know. Have you found the title yet?

[abluelady]

68. Beggars in Spain

by Nancy Kress. It was driving me crazy. Thank goodness for google!

[Bullwinkle925]

81. Okay -

another one for me to add.

Thanks!!

[Boojatta]

179. There's more than one book with the title "The Giver."

Which author did you have in mind when your thought was "The Giver"?

[flordehinojos]

67. ANNE RADCLIFFE'S THE ITALIAN,

Michael Dorris, Yellow Raft on Blule Water and the sequel CLOUD CHAMBER

[Bullwinkle925]

79. My list is growing..........

I've read "Yellow Raft" - will have to read the sequel and "The Italian".

Thanks.

[pcboss49]

70. Here are mine:

"The Plague" by Camus
"Of Mice and Men" Steinbeck
"Snow Crash" Stephenson

[Bullwinkle925]

75. Haven't read "The Plague", but Camus' "The Stranger" is very

haunting indeed.

[GatoLover]

72. My three books

1. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
2. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
3. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

[Bullwinkle925]

83. LOVED "The Old Man and the Sea".......

shall get busy with the other 2.


Can't believe I've never read "The Great Gatsby" - but it is on my shelf.

[LWolf]

181. I love the Rushdie book.

I think of it first when I think of him.

[Ezlivin]

73. Count me in

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

"Stranger in a Strange Land"

"Don Quixote"

"The Martian Chronicles"

"Mister Roberts"

[Bullwinkle925]

88. It's been a very long time since I've read "To Kill a Mockingbird"..

will add the others to my list.


Thank you.

[The-Cynic]

74. Well, I'd have to say.....

(Original post, that's an awful lot of American Lit....classic)


Chapter House Dune
------------------
(its hard either the above or God Emperor)

The Silmarion
-------------

AND
---

Cat's Cradle
------------

ooo ooo I can't leave off
-------------------------

Player Piano
------------

[Bullwinkle925]

89. Thanks for these wonderful suggestions - will be adding them along

with the others.

[YankeyMCC]

76. Oedipus Rex

- The stories in Greek tragedies never fail to grab me.

"Stranger in a Strange land"

And I can't decide between these for number three Asimov's "Foundation" stories and "Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad

[Bullwinkle925]

90. Boy - my list is growing by leaps and bounds.

Thanks for adding to it.

[Bullwinkle925]

91. Wow - what selections you have chosen!

Thanks for responding!!

[Babel_17]

77. Hmmm, tough one

Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks (wildly underrated title imo)

The Last Dancer by Daniel Keys Moran

The Crown Jewels by Walter Jon Williams

[Bullwinkle925]

78. Haven't read any of these - shall add them to my list.

Thank you.

[Room101]

92. 1984, Brave new world, Creation

Orwell, Huxley and Vidal

[Buck Laser]

93. OK, so as a newbie, I'm coning in late here...

But Zorba the Greek, The Last Temptation of Christ, and just to bring a newer one in here, Cold Mountain all turned me upside down for a long while. In no case am I talking about the films. I saw the first two, didn't see Cold Mountain. Most film adaptations of novels suck. The only exception, IMO, was Lonesome Dove.

[northamericancitizen]

94. I am a late visitor, here are my favorites:

Tender is the night (I read it every year for the last 10 years.)

Any books from Georges Simenon (Maigret polar series, and novels)

The honourable schoolboy from John Le Carré
"I prefer to live one day as a lion over one life as a mouse".

This quotation is probably not accurate but the meaning is.


I Robot , Isaac Asimov.

Any book from Ruth Rendell

And so many more. In french or in english.

I can't live without books....

Glad to have found this hidden corner of DU.

northamericancitizen

[Bullwinkle925]

99. Welcome -

I come back to this thread once in a while to catch up with the new selections. It's always fun to see what it is/was that catches/caught people's attention and imagination.

Thanks for adding to it.

[McCamy Taylor]

95. "Absalom, Absalom" "Heart of Darkness", everything by William Blake

for fiction.

"Saint Francis" Leonardo Boff

"S/Z" Roland Barthe

"The Mind of the South" Cash


for nonfiction

[otherlander]

96. Animal Farm, and this children's book called

The People of Sparks, which was really thought-provoking for a kid's book, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

[skyblue]

97. Armies of the Night - Norman Mailer, Dreamland - Kevin Baker, DaVinci Code

by Dan Brown.

[dropkickpa]

98. SO hard to pick

But here goes

Dune by Frank Herbert (first read it in 4th grade, stolen from my dad)

The entirety of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (I'eve re-read the early books so many times I've had to replace at least 3 of them twice so far)

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

[jobycom]

100. The Virgin Blue, The Sun Also Rises, and The Color Purple.

[Maud]

101. Two fiction and one book that I wish was fiction.

The Invisible Man
The Good Earth
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

The last one might look like it doesn't fit but it really is one of my favorites. I was sitting on the outside deck on a ferry boat on my way to Newfoundland reading it and laughing out loud. A little old man and woman came up to me and the woman said she just had to know what I was reading that was so funny. When I showed her the cover, they both began to lament about what the far right and the Bush Administration was doing to America. We ended up having a great discussion. The woman insisted that we have to go out and try to educate people about the danger the country is in. They must have been in their eighties but they said they have never been more worried about America.

[Bullwinkle925]

102. I agree with you.

"Lies" was such an entertaining read. Franken has a way through his comedic viewpoint to hammer home the reality of what is happening in this country. Of course - he is only preaching to the choir since those who really need to read the book won't.
I haven't read "The Good Earth" in years. I need to pick it up again. Have not read "The Invisible Man" - will put on my list.

Thanks.

[baby_bear]

105. I just have to add mine here, though the others are great

It has been so interesting to scroll through all these names of books that make people
think, and think of the books themselves.

The ones that haunt me:

"Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner - wonderful especially if you love the West. Compelling, excellent literature.

"The Second Coming" by Walker Percy - an incredible Southern author; this is about humans interacting with each other in unexpected ways. Again, a compelling author who draws you into his world and his mind.

"Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis" - I read this in 10th grade and at least 4 or 5 times since. It is such a great portrait of sad, hypocritical middle America. Wonderful book. Timeless.

And one more, perhaps the one that had the most impression on me when I was a teenager:
"The Diviners" by Margaret Laurence, a late Canadian author. this is another one I first read in high school and then again later (plus everything else she has written). She was my first feminist novelist. She woke me up. I don't know if men would like this, but it's a beautifully written book. It's not preachy or anything like that. The only other person I know of who has read this is my mother because I gave it to her. Laurence also wrote "A Jest of God," from which the movie "Rachel, Rachel" was made, directed by Paul Newman and starring Joanne Woodward. This was the first book by Laurence that I read. I was only 15 when I selected it at the library (just by picking it out and examining it - I had never heard of it and it was before the movie was made) and the librarian wasn't going to let me check it out (because it has sexual content.) My mother was in the library and came over and told the librarian that I could read "anything I wanted to." And so I did. I haven't thought about that memory in a long time. It's a good one. The movie is good too (for a change).

cheers

baby_bear

[Bullwinkle925]

106. Thanks for sharing.

What a wonderful memory - and a wonderful mother! I shall put your selections on my ever-growing list as well.
That is one of the reasons I started this thread - books evoke so many memories and I was curious as to what I would be stirred up for other people as well. Reading was something I did in lieu of other activities during the summer months. I fondly remember my mother taking us to the library and loving those excursions. That made going to the movies even more special when we could afford it.

:hippie:

[baby_bear]

107. I agree, Bullwiinkle925

My mother always encouraged me to seek books from the "adult section." That now would most likely have a negative and sexual conotation. My first selection, in perusing the rows of novels, was "The Yearling." I was nine years old, in fourth grade. I remember vividly closing myself in the bathroom at home when Jody shot the deer. I cried my eyes out, but couldn't or wouldn't snare it with anyone. At about the same time, I had a similar experience with "The Red Pony" by Steinbeck.

b_b

[vssmith]

108. Three off the top of my head

Huckleberry Finn
Elmer Gantry
Catcher in the Rye

[AnotherMother4Peace]

109. "In Cold Blood" x 3 - My absolute favorite & Capote's masterpiece

[bemildred]

110. "South Wind" -- Norman O. Douglas

"Going Away" -- Clancy Sigal
"Jurgen" -- James Branch Cabell

[Redneck Socialist]

111. Just three?

Well, here goes:

Moby Dick

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. This book just haunts me.

A Short History of a Small Place by TR Pearson.

I could type on and on, but I'll stop there.

[Bullwinkle925]

112. What is it about 'Blood Meridian' that haunts you? You've piqued my

curiosity. Must make another trip to the library.

[Redneck Socialist]

113. It's a horrifyingly brutal book

but the images McCarthy paints of the landscape that the men travel through are heartbreakingly beautiful. The contrast between the brutality of the content and beauty of the writing is striking.

If you read it, I promise you won't forget it.

Here is a rather glowing review (from the author's own site) that gives a good idea of the sweep and power of this book. http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/works/bloodmeridian.htm

Excerpt

The judge placed his hands on the ground. He looked at his inquisitor. This is my claim, he said. And yet everywhere upon it are pockets of autonomous life. Autonomous. In order for it to be mine nothing must be permitted to occur upon it save by my dispensation.

Toadvine sat with his boots crossed before the fire. No man can acquaint himself with everything on this earth, he said.

The judge tilted his great head. The man who believes that the secrets of this world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down. The rain will erode the deeds of his life. But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the tapestry will by the decision alone have taken charge of the world and it is only by such taking charge that he will effect a way to dictate the terms of his own fate.

More: http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/cormacmccarthy/content.php?page=bloodex&n=3&e=3&f=3

[sal paradise]

114. 3 nonfiction

Being and Nothingness
The Rebel
The Anti-Christ

[mzteris]

115. The Yearling -

the first book I remember crying over.

A book by Andre Norton. I don't remember the name and can't find it - though I've looked for years. It was the first SF book I remember reading. (Which, of course changed my reading habits for the rest of my life!)

Third would be - whatever I read last! :rofl:

[Bullwinkle925]

117. Tell me more about the Andre Norton book .....

can't find it on Amazon? SF? San Francisco?? or am I totally out of the loop?

:hippie:

[mzteris]

118. Problem is -

I can't remember the name of the damn thing!

I've scanned the back cover of every Norton book I can find - I've scanned on line, I've googled - nada. It's not the Catworld series. It had to be something fairly early in her life I think. I read it in probably 1965-67 - in a very small southern town elementary library with a small budget.

Best I can remember it was a boy on a planet - ?alone? - whether alone on the planet or just by himself. A post-catastrophic-type environment. City ruins, that sort of thing. He was trying to survive - ate rats, I think - or something rat-like - whatever it was. Then a spaceship landed and he spied on them and then he was eventually discovered and saved. I'm thinking there's a possibility he had some psychic/animal bond - but I'm not sure.

God I remember even less than I thought. It's hard for me to articulate sometimes what I've read - as it's like I see/feel books - not just "read them". (Does that make any sense0

Thanks, though!

[Bullwinkle925]

119. Oh God - it totally makes sense. I'm the same way.

It is also difficult for me to articulate some books. They touch my core and just reverberate there. Are you sure Norton was the author? It's interesting that you can't find a connection to it anywhere. I'll look in the Berkeley library when I'm there next.

[mzteris]

121. I'm pretty sure -

but then again it was about 40 years ago! :P

[Babel_17]

161. Starman's Son?

Sounds a lot like it, I think.

Lol, and fwiw, I probably read it not much longer after you did. Wish I could say I really remembered it. :(

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Mans-Son-Andre-Norton/dp/0345325885

Edit: It would seem Daybreak: 2250 AD is the reissue title.

[Sentath]

178. Alright, what about

The Zero Stone
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441959652/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

and
Uncharted Stars
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441844669/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

those really stuck with me.

[The Wizard]

116. off the top

USA, The Big Money
The Public Burning
Slaughter House Five

[haf216]

120. Well, most of the books I read come back to me at one point or another,

the three from my childhood are
Where the Red Ferns Grows It was the first "real" book I read all by myself and it showed me how a book
can get inside your head. Also I don't think I had cried so hard in my life.

Sounder another one that just killed me.

And of course To Kill a Mockingbird
Those are the top three I would be here for a month if I listed all of them.

As for my adult life I tend to read a lot of non-friction, but here goes
The Amber Series by Roger Zelazny (Actually most of what I have read by him.)

Blessings by Anna Quinlen

The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Dominque

and Eden Close by Anita Shreve

[Mad_Dem_X]

122. 1. 1984

2. The Handmaid's Tale
3. Watership Down

[Bullwinkle925]

141. I tried to get into "Watership Down" but finally put it down and have not

returned to it - in over 10 years' time. Perhaps I should give it another 'go'? What captured you with this book?

[Codeblue]

123. No order

"1984"

"Dune"

"V for Vendetta"

[Tony Soprano]

124. Here is mine

The Stand - Stephen King
Godfather- Mario Puzo
Dead Solid Perfect - Dan Jenkins

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

125. "War and Peace", "Catch-22", "To Kill a Mockingbird".

[DixieBlue]

127. The Red Tent, Not Wanted on the Voyage and

The Poisonwood Bible.

[Blue Belle]

150. "The Red Tent" was really good.

I forgot about that one.

[Fire Walk With Me]

128. Earth Abides as well.

Earth Abides, The World According to Garp, A Confederacy of Dunces.

Gravity's Rainbow, although I haven't finished it. I'm under its spell.

Adiamante and Flash by L.E. Modessit Jr. as well. Sturgeon, Bester, and Ellison's work as well.

[gratefultobelib]

129. I'm coming in late on this, but I still want to reply...

Exodus
Lord of the Flies
Sophie's Choice

and more recently..
A Fine Balance
The Known World
The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton
The Alienist
I Know This Much is True
Cold Mountain

Like most of you, I could go on and on! I read a lot of books that are just kind of sweet--good books that will never be great, but I enjoy them. I just finished Happiness Sold Separately and I chuckled repeatedly--the sign of a good book!

What a treat to find this forum! Oh, one other thing, we recycle People Mag through my family and, (yes this is true!) there are excellent books reviews there.

[Bullwinkle925]

134. Yes, "Cold Mountain" is my most favorite love story.

The movie did not do it justice (as are so many made-from-book movies). Inman is my fantasy love.
And, what delightful characters - richly drawn and so quirky to boot. I have Frazier's newest book now and am almost afraid to begin reading it because I don't want to be disappointed.

[paulk]

130. that's a tough one - there are so many

three books that rocked my world - that changed the way I looked at things - that I still think about

"the immoralist" - andre gide

"damien" - herman hesse

"in the country of the blind" - hg wells (actually, it's a short story)


------------------

It's interesting that you mention "earth abides" - I read that a long time ago, and didn't think that much of it, but some of the ideas expressed in that book have become more important to me over time. I've been thinking about that book a lot lately, too.

[Bullwinkle925]

142. Perhaps it's begging you to pick it up for a re-read?

I have never read it since the first time over 30 yrs. ago. I should also pick it up again and see if it still haunts me.

[esvhicl]

131. "The Bonesetter's Daughter" "Henderson the Rain King" "The Mists of Avalon"

[Sequoia]

133. That's a hard one.

Secret Knowledge of Water

A Christmas Carol

Jitterbug Perfume

and lately, "The Sheep Look Up" that I just finished. What a scary and now mostly true story. Every day the headlines scream The Sheep book in so many ways (birds and fish dying, chemical spills, ocean full of trash, posion in our food, war everywere...it makes me beyond sad and angry)

[fishwax]

135. The Surrounded, Bless Me Ultima, and On the Road

:)

[Truthseeker013]

136. Name 3 books that you think of from time-to-time.

Well, it's *more* than time-to-time for me, but these are them:

"The Courts of Chaos"- Roger Zelazny

"My Enemy, My Ally"- Diane Duane

"Paradox Alley"- John DeChancie


My favorite all-time books, hands down.

[closeupready]

177. I was FORCED to leave Zelazny off my list, dammit!

:D but I wanted to put him on it so bad. You have exquisite taste. :) Actually, I loved all five or six of those Amber books. Funny how when I was a kid, it would take me FOREVER to read a required book, and on occasion I'd find something like Courts of Chaos and reading it would be effortless, and I'd be done with it, and so sad that I'd finished it.

[AngryOldDem]

137. My three

1) The Great Gatsby
2) Anna Karenina
3) Pride and Prejudice

And runner-up, even though it's more of a novella than a book, "The Body," by Stephen King, perhaps THE best novella/short story ever written, in my opinion.

[vssmith]

139. Sorry--four

Catcher in the Rye
Trinity
Grapes of Wrath
Huckleberry Finn

[pscot]

140. On August 26, this thread will be 2 years old

We should have a birthday party. My three, Pride and Prejudice, Heart of Darkness and Catch-22. Pride and Prejudice may be the perfect novel. Heart of Darkness pre-figures the holocaust and the mass anihilations of the 20th century. I read Catch 22 when I was in the army. It explained a lot, but it also reaches way beyond the military experience, into the corporate leviathon that has swallowed us up.

[Enoch1981]

145. I can't really stop at three either

The top three:

Thomas Ligotti, "The Nightmare Factory"
Charles Fort, "Wild Talents"
Donald Gaskins, "Final Truth"

Honorary mention:

Ramsay Campbell, 'Dark Companions'
Clegg, 'An original man'
Anger, 'Hollywood Babylon'
Crawford, 'Mommy Dearest'

[Clintonista2]

146. "The Simarillion" "The Egyptian" "Dune" NT

[PDJane]

147. I absolutely loved "The Alienist"......

It was given to me by a friend who "couldn't get into it."

"Winds of War" by Herman Wouk...and the other two in the series, of course.
"The Chrysalids" by John Windham.
the "Foreigner" series by C.J.Cherryh........I could reread this until the covers fall off. Have done so. Am now buying the hardcovers as they're released. It's cheaper.
"For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down" by David Adams Richards, a Canadian Writer
"Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury

A couple of oddities:
"Halfway Human" by Carolyn Ives Gilman
"Freak" by Mark Burnell

Short Fiction:
"The Apt Pupil," the only thing I really like by Stephen King.

[gratefultobelib]

148. The Alienist--yes!

I loved this book! I missed the characters enormously when I was finished reading as so often happens with good literature. Anyway, I enthusiastically recommended it to a friend and fellow book lover. She disliked it but determinedly read it (griping continuously!) because I liked it so well. Caleb Carr wrote another book using many of the same characters (I think--it's been awhile!) but it just fell flat for me.

[Blue Belle]

149. "A Tale of Two Cities"... "Anna Karrenina"...

and "Pride & Prejudice"

[superconnected]

151. The ones I return to the most

And there's more than three but the top ones are

The prince - Machiavelli

The Social Contract - Rosseau (It taught me that it doesn't matter if a gov is monarchary, demoncracy, etc. All that matters is that the majority people agree and that it's to the majorities benefit to abide by base rules in society so civilizion can exists -ie most people don't kill others they take them to court.)

Animal Farm - Orwell

Handmaids Tale - Atwood (I'll never forget how the blackwater like troops machine gunned congress and changed the rules so quickly - freezing womens bank accounts, etc.)

The stranger - Camus (everytime someone is being portrayed as not "having a soul", in court, so they get the stiffest sentence which is usually death, I think of this.)

Slaughter house 5 - Vonnegut (The image of Dresden looking the the moon because it had been bombed so badly and the soldiers on both sides being human after all)


I'll throw in a few extra favs:

The hunchback of notre dame - Hugo (the book has everyone die at the end, it's not a love story and it's nothing like the movie. I love it because it's soo human and it rips at my soul.)

Wuthering Heights - Bronte (I like jane eyre(cute) but wuthering heights like the hunchback hugo wrote, does that rarity also, and rips at my soul.)

[Branjor]

152. The Handmaid's Tale

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

And, I don't even know the name of it - I read it some time in the late 60s, about a boy named Rob Roy who lives in a dystopia called "The Conurb" where everyone is crowded in with everyone else and sameness is encouraged by a mindless pop culture propagated by a ruling class which controls the minds of the masses. But the ruling class itself lives in an idyllic country setting called "The County" in which everyone has plenty of space and fresh air. Rob, a Conurban, makes the amazing discovery that his late mother came from the County and sneaks across the border from Conurb to County and discovers how the ruling class manipulates the masses and keeps them docile.

[Branjor]

153. Does anyone know the name

of that last one above?

[fadedrose]

154. Remembering

About 52 years ago - Martin Arrowsmith & Tale of Two Cities, in high school.

Not long after - Lady Chatterley's Lover (I forget author)

Worlds in Collision (Velikovsky)

Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Barbara Theiring)

The Passover Plot (Hugh something or other)

The Marginal Jew (a Catholic Bishop, name forgotten)

Holy Blood, Holy Grail (Baigent/Leigh?)

Something about armegeddan, rapture, Israel, etc. - author, Hal Lindsey

Incident at Exeter (about ufos, forget names of author/abductees)

I'm almost 70, and there are many more I remember, not so much titles or authors, just the stories, legends, etc.

[fadedrose]

156. Sorry

I read your post and did not mean to reply to it, should have rolled to the top and replied to the original. Hope I didn't drive you crazy wondering what the hell I was talking about.

Sorry again.

[Branjor]

157. It's OK, Rose...

I knew you weren't replying to me. I was just hoping someone might know the name of that last book I described. It's a kid's book.

Welcome to DU! :)

[Bullwinkle925]

159. i hope that book comes to someone's mind . . .

the one you're trying to remember - eerily sounds like what has been happening to the sheeple in this dear land.

[litlady]

169. From a children's lit teacher guide:

Author: Christopher, John
Title: The Guardians (1970)

In the divided England of the distant future, a recently-orphaned boy flees the sprawling area known as the Conurb for the serene world of the County where the people seem to live a simpler existence.

[hippywife]

170. Guardians by John Christopher

I've never read it, or even heard of it before, but I googled it. The boy's name is Rob Randall. :hi:

[fadedrose]

155. The Twelfth Planet

It's one of a series of maybe 9 books, softcover, written by Zechariah Sitchen, scientist.

They're about ancient tablets and sites that give clues as to the origen of the earth, the creation of man, etc.

It agrees with evolution up to a point, then shows where a passing planet's occupants interfere with our "apeman" and turn him into man. Look up some websites to get a better picture.

Unforgetable.

[whistler162]

158. Well....

Have Space Suit Will Travel - Heinlien
Sheepfarmer's Daughter - Elizabeth Moon
The Belgariad - David Eddings

[Clintonista2]

160. Mine:

"The Egyptian" by Mika Waltari (My all-time favorite book)
"The Silmarillion" by Tolkien
"Dune" by Frank Herbert

[Tindalos]

162. Only 3, huh?

Plato's Republic
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

I could add so many more.

[davekriss]

163. Fiction only, right?

These come to mind (they do float to mind from time to time -- ask me tomorrow and I'd probably name 10 other titles):

Henry Miller, Big Sur and The Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

James Joyce, A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

Nabokov, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

John Hawkes, The Blood Oranges

Thomas Pychon, V

Stendahl, Red and Black

Andre Dubas, The Times are Never So Bad

Kobo Abe, The Woman in the Dunes

Flaubert, Sentimental Education

Aldous Huxley, Point Counterpoint


To really get to books I think about all the time, we'd have to discuss poetry, philosophy, and economics, as fiction now, at my age, comes in 4th.

[davekriss]

164. There is one book of fiction that frequently comes to mind

But I don't recall the name of it. I was very young, in first grade I think. I had time in the school library/playroom. It had a few books on the shelves. I picked one up. I was already a capable reader "She Jan run. See Jack run. She Jack run after Jane" -- whatever was in those early primers. One day, though, while in the library/playroom I picked up a wonderful SF book -- to this day it gives me warm chills to think about it. I sat down and read it over the ensuing days and the story and images stick with me now, albeit faded with time. It chronicles a world overrun by oceans, with no land mass, and the adventures of its cast of characters as they survive by travelling from one floating city to the next. In my young mind the words came alive for me, allowed me to peer into inner spaces where an exciting, imaginary world was made alive. It was the first book I read for the pure joy of it. I was hooked for life. I've been a reader ever since.

If anyone has any idea what book that might have been (author and title), then let me know as I'd love to read it again (I'll read it to my 7 yo boy if he's not too jaded by now). Perhaps it was the basis for that mediocre movie a while back, Waterworld? Anyway, if anyone has any idea...?

[Bullwinkle925]

166. isn't it absolutely wonderful when a book does that for you?

i feel as if all is right with the world whenever i find a book that transports me away and keeps me in its grip!!!!

[closeupready]

184. For me, that book was "The Hobbit" - I was in 8 or 9 at the time, and

up to that point, I had read stuff like Pippi Longstocking or Escape from Witch Mountain, and one day on the library shelf I just happened upon the hardcover of The Hobbit - had never heard of it before, just looked interesting (was a hard copy of that edition with Tolkien's artwork), and I devoured it! Later I learned that it was actually well-loved by many people - that just made me love it more. :)

[FourScore]

165. To Kill a Mockingbird, grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, The Sun Also Rises, Middlesex

[Rancid Crabtree]

167. Can't remember the titles, but

they were erotic westerns...I think about them from time to time

[Paladin]

168. "In Cold Blood," "The Last Good Kiss," "The World According To Garp" (n/t)

[frankowen7]

173. years since i've read them them, but still remember them well,

[frankowen7]

171. Aztec, Sarum and Instance of the Fingerpost.

[frankowen7]

172. Oh, and Kurt Vonnegut.

[jtwine]

174. hunger

hunger by hamsun
the emigrants by sebald
journey to the end of the night by celin

[Libertyfirst]

175. Just three?

The Grapes of Wrath
The Confederacy of Dunces
Don Quixote

[closeupready]

176. Books I think about r ones that made me appreciate reading or from which I learned important things.

Three that made me appreciate reading as a child would be The Hobbit, A Spell for Chameleon or A Wrinkle in Time. I literally devoured all three.

On the other hand, ones from which I learned something would be Go Ask Alice, The Book of Job (yes, from the Bible), and for something a little different, "The Journey of Ibn Fattouma" by Naguib Mahfouz.

[LWolf]

180. Many; here are a few that come to mind today:

"The Four-Story Mistake"
"The Once And Future King,"
"Onion Girl"
"Jamaica Inn"
"Prodigal Summer"
"Always Coming Home"
"The Way It Is"
"My Side of the Mountain"
"The Hound of the Baskervilles"
"The Princess Bride"
"The Taming of the Shrew"
and, often,
"Two Years Before The Mast"

Are any on the last time I responded to this thread? I'll have to check. ;)

[phasma ex machina]

182. "Triplanetary", "Foundation", "Dune" nt

[closeupready]

183. old thread, lol, but I have three more: "Dancer from the Dance" "Palace of Desire" "Cities of Salt"

to go with the others I mention upthread. :)

[downeyr]

185. here you go

"Catch-22"
"1984"
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

[mackerel]

186. Huckleberry Finn, Confederacy of Dunces, King Dork,

The Petting Zoo, Beloved

[tigereye]

187. Virgina Woolf's The Waves

Reginald Hill's Death's Jest Book


Short Stories by Issac Babel

[Pisces]

188. "Brave New World" , "Of Mice and Men", "Animal Farm" and "Lords of Discipline"

I read these in junior high and high school, and they still have an impact on me. I cried like a baby after reading "Lords of Discipline" because of the utter betrayal.
"Brave New World" haunts me to this day.

[The Northerner]

189. Fahrenheit 451, Harrison Bergeron, & 1984

[YankeyMCC]

190. 4 responses to this question

which is nearly a non-sequitur of a question, and I mean that in the friendliest way. I appreciate the question as a nice conversation starter for people who enjoy novels and fiction. Yet at the same time, those same people will think of any number of the books they've read from time to time depending on what's going on in their lives at the moment.

Anyway, here's 3 plus one (which is really two :) ) I'd like to list:

- "The Grapes of Wrath"
- Asimov's Robot and Empire novels (so even worse math on my part)
- "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

And
The Odyssey and Iliad

To me these could potentially cover a large majority of the important things that come up in life that make me think of a story. I'm tempted too include, "Of Mice and Men", "The Pearl", the Lord of the Rings novels, and Shakespeare.

On Edit: Well this is interesting, I hadn't remembered answering this before and my answers are different.

[SheilaT]

192. I'll control myself and only list a few.

Replay by Ken Grimwood which seems little known but remains in print. The very first sentence and man dies and finds himself inexplicably thrust back about 25 years into his 18-year old self, and although it takes him a while to figure out that his friends aren't simply playing an elaborate hoax on him, he realizes that he now has the opportunity to live his life all over again, only this time he knows pretty much everything that's going to happen in the next 25 years.

Time on My Hands by Peter delaCorte. A travel writer, while on assignment in Paris, meets a man with a time machine, who wants the writer to travel back in time and prevent Ronald Reagan from ever becoming president. The man with the time machine is obsessed with the idea that Reagan was the worst president ever, and our country would be immeasurably better off without him as POTUS. Really good take on the time travel "let's change something and see what happens" genre.

Time and Again and From Time to Time, both by Jack Finney, the second written and taking place 25 years after the first. A government project in time travel is successful. Finney made use of photographs of NYC in the 1880's, when the narrator went back to, and delaCorte did the same thing in his novel.

I adore good time travel and alternate history.

[sea_dream]

193. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, The Great Gatsby, East of Eden

[primavera]

194. Brideshead Revisited, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment - n/t

[Broken_Hero]

195. Okay

Memnoch the Devil-Anne Rice

Needful Things-S. King

Annals of the Black Company by Glenn Cook(I cheated, there are nine or so in this series. )

[The Northerner]

196. Harrison Bergeron, A Clockwork Orange, and 1984

[LWolf]

197. 3 that come to mind today:

"Always Coming Home"

"The Name of the Wind"

"Speak"

[Name removed]

198. Deleted message

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