literary work/book you ever read for you personally?

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

The rich and diverse worlds he created got me through some tough times in high school.

May he rest in peace

I just finished The Trial by Franz Kafka. A novel that deals with the absurd and existentialism. I enjoyed it.

But overall I've been more impacted by non-fiction and scientific writing. Pretty much anything Carl Sagan has written has had a profound impact on my life.

I'm also really into Henry Rollins' writings. Sorry, can't really name just one book. :)

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

Lolita by Nabokov

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand - fiction

The Conscience of a Conservative - Barry Goldwater - Non-fiction

And Yours?

Lewis Carroll -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

literary work/book you ever read for you personally?

Hoffman and Kunze: Linear Algebra

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

I was also in a stage version of it in high school.

I discovered this when I really needed it. Some of it seems overly simplistic right now, but it allowed me to let go of a lot of the things I was fighting against at the time.

A Philosophy to Live By (http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~acceptance/ACourseInHappinessSabine/APhilososophyToLiveBy.htm)

I came across Succulent Wild Woman (http://www.amazon.com/Succulent-Wild-Woman-Sark/dp/068483376X) at a really amazing time too. :)

And I still remember clearly when we read The Most Dangerous Game (http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/danger.html)in grade seven. Other books that made a big impact were To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_new_world), and I Am David (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_David).

Those aren't necessarily my favorite written works, but because of their timing, they are the ones that made the biggest impact.

Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies by Melanie Rawn. I met quite a few friends through the message board back in 99 that I still have to this day. There's actually a lot more to it than that, but that's all you're getting in an open forum. ;)

I'm really into positive psychology. The Seven Habits book. Tuesday's with Morrie, Man's Search for Meaning. Reading about Viktor Frankl's struggle in Auschwitz puts things perspective when I THINK I'm having a bad day. The way people handle extreme situations and cope with a seemingly hopeless predicament is very motivational for me. Right now I'm reading Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment.

EDIT: I just remembered The Bet (http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Bet.shtml)and The Lottery (http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html). I remember being in High School and spending a lot of time thinking about these two stories. Both of these storis relate the paradigm shift Covey talks about in his book.

To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World

I think we share a brain. TCITR is my favorite work of fiction to this day.

I'll also second Kafka's The Trial and add Metamorphosis.

The Fountainhead is the most recent work I have read that comes to mind.

As far as non-fiction goes The Autobiography of Malcolm X sticks out.

But really, the most impactual books we read are as children. And what got me through a lot of difficult times in childhood was the Animorphs series by Applegate and all of the Lloyd Alexander books.

I think we share a brain. TCITR is my favorite work of fiction to this day.I'll have to share my reading list with you. If you haven't already read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (http://www.amazon.com/Extremely-Incredibly-Close-Jonathan-Safran/dp/0618329706), you should give it a try. It's the story of a very unique boy who is socially quirky, has somewhat of an anxious personality, and is also possibly depressed, but we get to see a big part of the "enlightened" part of himself as well.

Night by Elie Wiesel
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Catcher In The Rye J.D Salinger
Anything Leonard Cohen/Irving Layton/Charles Bukowski
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick
At Hells Gate: A soldiers story by Claude Anshen Thomas
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps
Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn by Henry Miller
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Dharma Bums/On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr

My list can go on forever...I have probably read a couple hundred books in my lifetime and plenty of them had an impact in my life at one point or the other.

Would song lyrics count as literary works?

I've read tons of books. Some of the above mentioned and a host of others.

I've found that works of poetry by certain authors hit me harder than a passage from a book.

And I've found that song lyrics hit me harder than either.

I can remember verses,lines, and the like from hundreds of songs (mostly rock/pop/folk from 1950 on...). Many,many of them made an impact on my thinking through the years. Maybe it's because I get the added emotional appeal of the music built into the quote.

If I hear a pop song of vintage I can immediately tell you where I was and what I was doing at the time it came out.

There are tons of songs I like that never made it to national airplay. I usually find them somewhere on an album released by an artist I like.

On the other hand , although I've read alot of books I'd be hard-pressed to quote you a meaningful excerpt from any of them. I know at the time I read them I really enjoyed them though.

There is one other book that I've been doing the same as W.C.Fields did:- looking for loopholes. I've been looking for loopholes in it for years.
Don't think I'm allowed to mention it here...sorry.

Jack Kerouac has been a big influence on anything I write myself.

Any works by the immortal "Name and Address Withheld".:lol:

Actually, I think that "Drinking: A Love Story", by Caroline Knapp was the MOST impactual, (is that a word???) at the time. I'm trudging through a couple of books slowly right now that I'm enjoying and intend to follow some advice on. I'll leave a "film at 11" on those, but one that's really good, and is about 50 years old is The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. Great book.

I only wish I had time to finish all of these, or the willpower to not pick up a new one before I'm done with the others...:bang:

"Creative Visualization" by Shakti Gawain

most impactual? by far, Charlie Brown's encyclopedia. I must have read those 100x when I was a kid and now I'm an engineer :lol:

other favorites:
Eragon Series - Christopher Paolini
Ender's Game/Shadow - Orson Scott Card
Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
The Catcher in the rye - J.D. Salinger

and pretty much everything by Kurt Vonnegut :nod: (cat's cradle is probably my favorite).

honestly, the list goes on quite a bit more. Someone mentioned The Most Dangerous Game which is my all time favorite short story.

In high school, Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury. And later, The Plague Dogs.

An episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" changed my life. (http://www.chrisjericho.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13760&sid=857f87fbd6b011429d5b917425889bd2)

Titus Groan By Mervyn Peake

An episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" changed my life. (http://www.chrisjericho.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13760&sid=857f87fbd6b011429d5b917425889bd2)



I don't care who y'are. That's funny.:lol:

Would song lyrics count as literary works?



Sure, you started the thread.:D

Would song lyrics count as literary works?


In that case,

Long as I remember the rain been comin down.
Clouds of mystry pourin confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages, tryin to find the sun;
And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain.

Try The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. It's the most simple story, but uplifting. However, it seems peole either love it or hate it.

I agree with everyone about Catcher in the Rye.
Tuesdays with Morrie is nice, Freakonomics will make you think about everything, and I could go on forever

The Immortals by Tracy Hickman. Amazing book.