So..Casper Stockton nominated me to do this- list 10 books that changed my life type thing. To be honest, Im terrible at remembering books I read as a child, so only one will make an appearance here...so, in no particular order: 1) The Witches by Roald Dahl- the one childhood one! Admittedly Ive only got vague memories of this one, which are also interwoven with the film adaptation of it, but I do remember at the time finding the witches pretty damn scary. I loved reading as a child (and still do), and growing up an only child with one parent meant many a long hour reading... 2) Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell- might be a cliché to include this one, but I remember reading it in my last year at uni, and being genuinely terrified by its depiction of the human desire to hold on to power at all costs. Also helped get me massively into dystopian literature, which is still probably my favourite genre of novels...And its my favourite book ever. 3) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes- you seriously need to read this book if you havent. Ive become a bit of an evangelist for it, and the four people I know whove read it on my recommendation to date have all loved it (one said she was up reading it in tears at 1am). A great book about how we treat the disabled, among other things. 4) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Gabriel García Márquez- sometimes when you get asked what a book is about, you can give a plot, or some themes. To me, this one is just about life, and how crazy, sad, funny and beautiful it can be. 5) Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo- I challenge anyone to read the bit where the main character figures out how to tell time by feeling the change of temperature in his room when the some comes up and how he reacts to it and not be moved. A poignant anti-war novel. 6) The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges- ok, not a book, but a short story...but a goddamn great one. Admittedly a bit complicated (for me at least) at times, and Im not sure I fully get it, but the one thing I got out of it is to me it speaked volumes about humankinds attempts to find the meaning of life and our place in the universe (and how after thousands of years of existence, were STILL searching). 7) High Fidelity by Nick Hornby- I saw the film of this first, after a friend at uni said The main guy in it is just like you. An ode to musical geekiness that I related to more than anything else Ive ever read. 8) Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy- out of all of McCarthys books Ive read (including No Country for Old Men and Child of God), this is probably the darkest. Shows how violence seems to be (sadly) an integral part of humanity. 9) Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler- a fictionalised account of the Moscow show trials. If you help bring about a change, but arent happy with the result, how responsible are you for it? If you treat people harshly to gain your own ends, can you complain when others do the same to you? JUST READ IT. 10) In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn- a book about Soviet scientists and engineers who are imprisoned, but if the work for the government, they get an easier life in a nice prison, rather than being sent to the Gulags. Makes you question what youd do in that situation, and to what extent you can judge the choices of others in that position. Honourable mentions....Shit, ONLY TEN BOOKS??? Im gonna throw two more in here. 11) I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Niimura- ok, this this is a comic, and not a book as such, but it shows how the mind of child tries to deal with bad situations in an amazing way. 12) White Noise (novel) by Don DeLillio- again, this is a book where Id struggle to say what its about, but it helped me understand what postmodernism AND postmodern literature are... Im not gonna say anyone HAS to do this, but Jennifer McLean and Spana Bo are big book readers, so feel free to guys. And anyone else who wants to.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 19:12:22 +0000
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