In my previous post I asked for some kick-ass book suggestions.
I got suggestions for "fun reads."
My fault. I did not convey clearly what I am looking for.
Please disregard the previous post (except for the title, which is a good line, and my comment about Donny's recommendations which is true)
I am not looking for a fun read. I have a bookshelf full of those at home. I really enjoy them.
I don't want a book that I'll "enjoy." I want a book so well written that I shake when I read it. A book so good that you have to put it down because you can't take how good it is all in one sitting. A book you throw across the room because you can't bear to turn the page and find out what happens next but you know you're going to because you can't not turn the page.
I'm looking for kick-ass books. What was the last (or first) book you read that changed your life? What books make you cry when you get to the end? Or the middle? What books have you read that have had a significant impact on the way you think?
Please limit the suggestions to works of fiction, because fake-life is way cooler than real life.
Humor, dramatic works, plays, screenplays, etc are welcome. Depressing books aren't the only ones that can change lives.
I want a challenge. I want a book that is well-written and that will challenge what I believe. I want a book that is so good it will rock the foundation of beliefs I have constructed over these past fourteen years and eight months.
I want to shake things up.
So what have you got?
-t
11 comments:
I'm so confused. "Kick-ass" by your definition means life-changing, but your previous post starts by saying Jitterbug Perfume is "kick ass." My life has never changed because of a Tom Robbins novel.
I finished East of Eden months ago but I'm still thinking about it. Try that. And Geek Love is not fun. It's creepy. Creepy-cool. That stays with you too.
cool.
and just because your life has never been changed by tom robbins doesn't mean he's never changed someone's life.
everybody's different, but, that's why I'm asking for input.
I really liked The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's like a modern Catcher In the Rye.
i would say that jitterbug perfume also changed my life. not monumental, but enough.
robbins' skinny legs and all is also on the list of books that changed my life.
if you're looking for supremely kick ass i'd suggest getting out of american authors and into russians and japanese. in concert performance by nikolai dezhnev is out of print but you can find it on amazon auctions and it completely changed my way of thinking, even though it's pretty sentimental. hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world by haruki murakami, also an ass kicker.
Man, I hated Catcher in the Rye.
And not like "I hated a Separate Peace in high school but after I grew up a little and reread it in college I really appreciated it because it turns out it is a great novel" hated, but more like "this is the stupidest book I've ever read" hated.
So nobody recommend a book because you think it's like Catcher in the Rye.
"Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn is pretty life-changing. It's technically fiction, I guess, but honestly it's philosophy/religion embedded in a flimsy narrative.
"A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley is really good - when I think about it I still feel the emotions I felt when I first read it. I think it was made into a movie (which I've never seen), but I can't imagine that the movie comes close to matching the book.
"Night" by Wiesel is a book that changed my life, though apparently is not interesting enough to pique your interest as it is real life and not "fake life".
For "fake life" I enjoyed:
To the Lighthouse - Woolfe
The Very Man - Chris Binchy
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors - Doyle
Snow in August - Hamill
I Know This Much is True - Budnitz
so i posted the other recommendations on the wrong entry, stupid me.
also good, if not up your alley, are zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance (my pick) and "the dancing wu li masters", which my fiancee staunchly maintains is the best book ever written.
is your fiance a huge dork? (that will factor in to my decision)
Dubliners was the first book that changed my life.
Lolita was the first book that I felt guilty about not being able to put down.
Written on the Body was the first book that I had planned to write but then someone else wrote it before me. (But to be honest I think you'd hate it).
Confederacy of Dunces I think you'd like.
yeah, he's kind of a dork.
Post a Comment