My cousin challenged me to list the 10 books that had the most influence on me and/or I loved the most. I dont normally play into these FB lists or chains or whatever (and so Im not challenging anyone else) but my mind kept drifting back to it all day, so I decided what the hell. It turned out to be a lot of fun to think back on this list. Thanks Jeremy Bullard for the challenge! In no particular order of significance: 1.The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss – first book I acquired as a child and probably read it 20-30 times. 2, 3, and 4. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, The Dead Zone by Stephen King – these were all either given to me or suggested to me by my Aunt Becky and opened my eyes to how entertaining, exciting, and imagination-expanding good writing can be (and in the case of Stranger, opened my eyes in other ways as well.) 5. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum – first book I literally couldn’t put down and lost sleep over. 6. Without Remorse by Tom Clancy – I read nearly all of Clancy’s books up until about 10 years ago. This is my favorite from one of the best authors who ever lived. 7. The Foundation and Robot series by Isaac Asimov – Master of the twist ending. And the way he pulled those two book series together at the end was a thing of beauty. 8. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling – You can read this series over and over (and I have) and come away with new bits you missed each time. She packs so much Interesting into every page! 9. A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin – Book 3 in the series is actually my favorite and the last two have been very difficult to get through, but the first book blew me away with its ability to surprise me time after time. I loved the grit and unpredictability. 10. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway – This was my introduction to Hemingway. I marveled at how similar the scandalous Paris nightlife in the ‘20’s is to a typical Saturday night spent with my little band of bar-hoppers. Also, his writing style really is like no other. Every sentence is crafted to sparse precise perfection.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 20:37:06 +0000