Saturday, January 03, 2009

Question of the Day

What novel has had the most impact on your life?

18 comments:

David said...

I would have to go with:
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, By Christopher Moore

Beth Quick said...

For real impact, I'd have to go with Louisa May Alcott - Rose in Bloom.

Anonymous said...

All the King's Men
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brother K (David James Duncan -- something of a modern rewrite of Brothers Karamazov)

Anonymous said...

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

It is not the most enjoyable to read due to it essentially being in King James English, but I can easily say that next to the Bible, it has definately had the most impact on my life.

Bunyan was arrested and thrown in jail for preaching without a license. He must have been a United Methodist. While in jail, he wrote the book as a Christian Allegory and it is pure wonder to read. It is amazing how practical it is to life in modern times. Especially the episode at Vanity Fair with Christian and Faithful.

Divers and Sundry said...

Middlemarch, by George Eliot. It's available online here and at other sites. It can be read at any age teen and older, and I've found it speaks to me in a new way each time I read it.

Theresa Coleman said...

"The Three Musketeers" by Alexander Dumas.

Must have read that book 20 times since 2nd grade.

Made me a total romantic.

Alisha said...

The Temple of My Familiar - Alice Walker

BruceA said...

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

John said...

"To Kill A Mockingbird"- Harper Lee.

If I can't manage entire sanctification in this lifetime, I hope to at least become as decent a man as Atticus Finch. He makes me proud to be southern.

RevAnne said...

Hmmm...Lamb is on the list, perhaps not at the very top. There's Tolkein, of course. And my most recent enthusiasms are Maya Angelou's Letter to My Daughter and Barbara Brown Taylor's Leaving Church.

Anonymous said...

John Wilkes,

To Kill a Mockingbird is an excellent pick. It is definately my #2 for the same reason you mentioned.

Keith

Anonymous said...

The Fall by Albert Camus

It jolted my worldview when I was a teenager and brilliantly exposed the thin line between absurdity and meaning that, in my opinion, sooner or later has to be confronted.

I also understood it to offer a unique paradoxical criticism of atheism wherein if we accept that there is no God, then life reduces to absurdity and each of us becomes universally guilty for it's suffering.

Anonymous said...

"All Quiet on the Western Front" had a huge impact on me, mainly because I was the same age as the main character when I read it. Changed a lot of my thoughts on war and good guys vs bad guys.

truevyne said...

Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut. I read it and never have thought of people with handicaps in the same way again. There were twins in the story who "acted" as the doctors and family said they should, but at night, they'd sneak away and solve quadratic equations and invent marvelous things...
When I meet someone with a handicap, I treat her or him as if the they are my peer, my equal instead of with fear or pity, because of this book.

DannyG said...

Martian Chronicels- Ray Bradbury I never was much of a fiction fan, but Bradbury and Asimov could get me to read when I couldn't have cared less about other material.

greg milinovich said...

a prayer for owen meany

Brian Vinson said...

The Brothers Karamazov

Brian Vinson said...

Ooops; I sent before I was ready...

Im Westen Nichts Neues - Remarque
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers - Goethe