# What books are a permanent part of you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620 "2008-08-20T00:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620/61 "2008-08-22T01:37:38Z")
**Friar Ted** , I have to agree with you that the single book that influences me most is The Bible. I agree with the areas you cited; I like to include Paul’s _Epistle to the Ephesians_. To me, this book has “blue collar”, very practical advice on how to live for God until Jesus returns. My other favorites include Edgar Rice Burrough’s A Fighting Man of Mars, which turned my eleven-year-old self on to science fiction. (Note: my 54-year-old self tried to read it. Yuck.) Also, when I was a kid, I loved the Nancy Drew series. After I finished the series, I was curious about other mysteries, so I read Agatha Christy, Ngao Marsh, and other mystery writers. I also loved Erma Bombeck’s books back when I was a young housewife/mom. Her humor made me laugh, & I could empathize with the situations she wrote about. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620/62 "2008-08-22T19:20:25Z")
My first favorite as a child was the fairy tale The 12 Dancing Princesses, then Louisa May Alcott’ s Eight Cousins/Rose in Bloom, then the Trixie Belden stories. Early teens I found Heinlein (especially Stranger in a Strange Land and Podkayne of Mars). As an adult the stories I love are by Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Christopher Moore. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620/63 "2008-08-22T19:25:44Z")
I forgot Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, loved since about 1972 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620/64 "2008-08-23T18:40:12Z")
**Godstalk** , by P.C. Hodgell, made itself at home in my brain upon first reading, many years ago. I can’t even pinpoint the ways it’s influenced my sense of humor, my rather wry outlook on crises, and even my own writing style. Also, I can repeat the story of the Fall as if Jame were standing behind me, prompting me. The later books in the series reinforced these things, and I love them all, but it was **Godstalk** that opened the door and walked in. **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress** , by Robert Heinlein, is another permanent resident. It was one of the first pieces of mature science fiction that I read, and the corruption and indifference of government made an impression, as did the structure of the revolution. I’ve internalized a lot of pieces of Mercedes Lackey’s books, mainly from the Velgarth novels, but I can’t really point to a particular book, nor can I claim the whole set has settled in. The books have made me think a lot about practical psychology, and affected the way I speak and act when I want to influence people. There’s a lot of surprisingly sensible advice tucked away behind the entertainment. Certainly, I picked up more useful tips on public speaking there than in any class I’ve taken. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620/65 "2008-08-23T20:35:10Z")
I have read _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ at least once a year ever since I was a child. I watched the movie when I was 3, discovered the book when I was about 6, and have been fascinated to rediscover it through adult’s eyes with every passing year. My appreciation is both literary and emotional. No book can hold a candle to that one, and I’ve read some very, very good books. When I was 16, I read _The Catcher in the Rye_ and it forever changed who I am as a writer. To this day Salinger’s voice is an integral part of my writing style. I read that book every year, too. Also, this is weird, but V.C. Andrews books will probably always be a part of me. My grandmother gave me a bunch of them when I was 7. I don’t regard the books very highly in retrospect – literary soap operas with often very one-dimensional characterization (keep in mind I’m referring to a series written after her death under her name.) Yet, they remain a part of me. I think because I read them I am hard-wired for drama. My take on things tends to be very melodramatic. It’s like I’m perpetually living one of those novels–experiencing a fantasy come true, or a nightmare, but never the middle ground. ---
**Author:** ![Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weaver_of_Nightmares)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620/66 "2008-08-23T22:12:47Z")
_Discworld_, pretty much the entire series. _Pilgrim’s Progress_, by John Bunyan. I’ve read it three times in quick succession, and it’s already starting to integrate into my personal furniture. _Screwtape Letters_, together with some of his other books on theology and Christianity. _Lord of the Rings_. I’d like to be able to add the Bible to this list (which is nowhere near complete, I’d wager), but that proces is still in its beginning stage. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620/67 "2008-08-24T00:39:52Z")
**Trinity** by Leon Uris Changed my notion of what literature can be. It made me think about the possible necessity of war. It made me love a man who never existed. **The Tracker** by Tom Brown – Changed the way I relate to the natural world. Fascinating. I think I’ve bought every book that he’s written since even though I take some things when a grain of salt. Set in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. **A Prayer for Owen Meany** – Suggested to me by my granddaughter. Funny, poignant, memorable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-are-a-permanent-part-of-you/460620.md?page=3)