What are the books you read that are on your “MUST read” list?
In addition, give a reason for it, possible why it moved you and what it changed.
One I’d mention would be After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection by James West Davidson and Mark H. Lytle. It’s about how historians look at the evidence they have to work with. But the authors go beyond this narrow scope and discuss broader issues that can apply to many areas of life. In my personal experience, this book made a huge impact. It made me realize you can’t just listen to what people are saying without considering issues like why they are saying it and what they aren’t saying and why other people may be saying different things.
Katherine Kerr’s “Daggerspell” was the book that made me want to be a writer. I’d written stories before, but it had always been a passing hobby, something I didn’t take very seriously.
I read it when I was still a young teenager, and aside from the Sherlock Holmes books I’d read when I was 10, it was the only really serious book I’d ever read. Aside from that, I’d read stuff aimed at children and Piers Anthony books, that sort of thing. Encountering something set up in a well-researched, gritty fantasy world really blew my mind. I hadn’t known you were allowed to do that!
(“Daggerspell” is a book set in a celtic-themed world, very gritty stuff. War is ugly and bloody and very realistically written. They don’t have sanitation, and the effects are pretty commonly felt, from one guy dying of food poisoning due to bad pork (although that might be in a later book) to the heaps of excrement from emptied chamber pots stinking up the yard areas outside of castles. Magic is subtle and based heavily on the modern new age movement, which gives it a sense of “reality”, especially to a girl whose mother was very into new age. I’d never been able to wrap myself around wizards chucking fireballs, but I could handle this.)
In a less literary part of my life, “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior”, an inspirational type book by Dan Millman (he claims it’s a true story, but I have my doubts :P) changed my life in that it taught me a new way of seeing the world and my place in it. When I read it, I was very, very depressed and not coping well with some things that had been going on in my life, and it set me on the path of starting to more carefully examine how my interactions with my surroundings were bringing about or worsening some of my problems. It’s hard to describe exactly how it helped me, but it definately helped me to take control of my life in a way that I hadn’t before then. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who shows the slightest inclination to listen.
Finally, there is a children’s book, which was my favorite as a child, titled “The Caretakers of Wonder”. The book talks about all of these people who do things ‘behind the scenes’ such as weaving the meadows, feeding the moon when he’s too thin and watching his diet when he’s too full, lighting the stars, putting the night into storage, etc, to help keep the world beautiful and magical. At the end, it tells the reader to think of what -they- would like to do to keep the world magical, because one day they’re going to hear a tap on their window and be invited to become one of the caretakers of wonder. I -believed- that book more intensely than I believed pretty much anything else, growing up, and I still believe it today. I think that it has driven me on a subconscious level to the things that I’ve chosen to do with my life – I’m a fiction writer, and since that doesn’t really pay at all, I work at a yarn store on the side. (I’d decided that I wanted to weave the meadows, because I liked the pretty colors in the picture that accompanied that passage.)
Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches by Marvin Harris. The first book of his I read on his “Cultural Materialism” theory. Great suff. It encouraged me to read his others.
Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth – wel-written thriller. Great style. He uses multiple viewpoints, which some people condemn, but this book certainly shows that it can be done very well and unambiguouosly.
The Science Fiction Writer’s Handbook by L. Sprague de Camp – not just good for SF, but all types of fiction. Excellent advice on How to Write Fiction.
Elements of Style by Strunk and White – the classic. I still think that Strunk and White are a couple of crotchety old guys who stated their views very well, and whose ideas of Good Style in general coincide with those of most writers and readers. But it’s not Gospel. If you think it is, then why aren’t you using studentry[ instead of student body?
Introductionm to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow – my first college physics text. It forced me to re-evaluate my ways of thinking about science. The problems in it are still good puzzlers fo professionals, and not immediately obvious. Figure out the location of the “sweet spot” on a basdeball bat, or the radius of the circle a rolling coin describes as it rolls around.
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth. Pretty much forgotten now, but it’s a gloriously bawdy, funny alternate history (or rather, an alternate explanation of historical events).
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. "Many years later, when he faced the firing squad, . . . " Now you’re hooked; read the rest.
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes – the history of the founding of Australia. Absolutely fascinating.
Most influential (on me):
Titan by John Varley. The catalyst that made me a science fiction writer.
For some reason, I think I’ve learned the most about writing from William Boyd’s The Blue Afternoon and Any Human Heart. His style is so technical and concrete, it’s hard not to recognize that this is one really great way to write a book. I feel like he is very overlooked.
One of the most enjoyable books out there, is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Has anyone else read this? It’s about a writer aching for something new in his life and a hefty gentlemen looking to lose some weight and put his life back together. It’s a wildly funny book. If you’ve ever had the desire to hike the trail but don’t have the time, read this book and you’ll feel like you have.
For days I’ve been walking.
(A Walk in the Woods is about hiking the Appalachian Trail)
oops