Your favourite book/lierature.

limerickman

In my opinion, one of the most important things that any human being can do is to be able to read.
The ability to read informs, ones ability to learn.
Reading allows a person the chance to learn, to get an education.

But in other ways, reading can liberate a person and open them up to new experiences, new locations, allows them to visit times past and it allows access to thoughts and deeds of people, with whom they may never have any contact with.
One may never get the chance to visit Antartica - but read Ernest Shackelton's biography and you're immediately placed in that desolate location.
Thankfully many of us will never experience the life of a soldier in WW1 - but read Sassoon or Wilfred Owen and one is transported back to a time/place which can only be regarded as hellish.

Which books have you read and which you could say have made a great impression on you?

My list would have to include the following (in no particular order) :

1. 1984, Animal Farm, by George Orwell.
2. Most of Shakespeares works.
3. Ulysses by James Joyce
4. Strumpet City by James Plunkett
5. Most of Charles Dickens stories.
6. The Time Machine by HG Wells
7. Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan
8. Catch-22 Joseph Heller

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

alienator

In no particular order:

1. The Gates of the Forest, by Elie Wiesel
2. The first three Foundation books, by Isaac Asimov
3. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
4. Still Life with Woodpecker, Tom Robbins
5. Illusions, Richard Bach
6. The entire Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, by Douglas Adams
7. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
8. Feynman Lectures on Physics, a three book series, by Richard Feynman

Cycler6n

The Bible, The Far Side gallerys, The Crucible, and Laura Ingalls Wilder

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“(Training) doesn't get easier; you just get faster”
-Greg Lemond

kdelong

In no particular order:
1) Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
2) Dracula by Bram Stoker
3) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
4) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
5) Oddesy and Iliad by Homer
6) War and Peace by Leon Tolstoy
7) Metamorphosis by Franz Kalfka
8) The entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
9) All of the Clive Cussler Novels just for entertainment
10) The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair for Road & Mountain Bikes by Todd Downs

Just for a diversion, I love to read Calvin & Hobbs collections. I am also almost finished with a book called The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova which may well be added to this list.

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One life, one chance. Don't waste it!

coneofsilence

I need to read a bit more.

The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien.

Cycler6n

No way! I collect Calvin and Hobbes books!

__________________
“(Training) doesn't get easier; you just get faster”
-Greg Lemond

kdelong

Yep, my favorite is Scientific Progress Goes Boink! I was crushed when Bill Waterson decided to discontinue the comic strip. I have four different collections but I am sort of saving for the entire works in one hardbound edition. It is as thick as Webster's Unabridged Dictionary and costs $399.00.

__________________
One life, one chance. Don't waste it!

janiejones

I read a book called Mr Popper's Penguins in about year four, and since then I have read loads of stuff from Chaucer onwards, and I still think Mr Popper is the greatest.

fujibike

John Steinbeck...Grapes of Wrath being my favorite

Cycler6n

Really? that much? I could have sworn it was only $150.

__________________
“(Training) doesn't get easier; you just get faster”
-Greg Lemond

kdelong

You have the patience to read Chaucer????? Did you actually understand what you had read???? Or was it an abridged version.

__________________
One life, one chance. Don't waste it!

kdelong

I am pretty sure that it was close to $400 when I saw it. I would have paid $150 for it in a heartbeat.

__________________
One life, one chance. Don't waste it!

janiejones

Yeah, I did Chaucer at uni, but I always had the modern English version right next to the "old" English - I would always sit the "old" one on top for my lecturer to see. But actually there is some good stuff in there - pretty raunchy!!!!

Scotttri

Anything by Bernard Cornwell