Olivia Sutton's Fanfic Journal

15 books you've read that will always stick with you

Don't take long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1.  Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Trilogy, later 5 books) - Douglas Adams

2.  Lord of  the Rings (Trilogy) - JRR Tolkien

3.  Tale of  Two Cities - Charles Dickens

4.  Animal Farm - George Orwell

5.  Gambit (Nero Wolfe Mystery) - Rex Stout

6.  1984 - George Orwell

7.  Seeing Voices - Oliver Sacks

8.  Red Harvest - Dashiell Hammett

9.  Shards of Honor - Lois McMaster Bujold

10.  The Warrior's Apprentice - Lois McMaster Bujold (Both books introduced me to her wonderful Miles Vorkosign series)

11.  Storm Front - Jim Butcher (Introduced me to the Harry Dresden series)

12.  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling

13.  The Other Log of Phileas Fogg - Philip Jose' Farmer

14.  Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne

15.  Paris in the 20^th Century - Jules Verne

Notes:

Douglas Adams' trilogy books had a big influence on me because they went through my high school like wildfire.  EVERYONE was reading them.  I loved the first two books so much that I more-or-less memorized large sections of the books.  I eventually read all five, plus the short story ("Zaphod plays it safe" - only available in the omnibus edition) as they came out.  I also read the radio scripts book, heard the full-length radio plays (and the edited-down version which I found first), watched and now own on DVD the British TV mini-series, and watched the American movie (it was ok, but not great -- and missed the boat in a lot of areas).  I do love the humor of the books though.

Tale of  Two Cities -- read it on my own and loved it.  One of the books that got me interested in reading classic literature "just because" instead of  "because I have to".  Also, made me realise that I really love *novels* not short stories.

Animal Farm and 1984 -- read both on my own in grade school or junior high.  Really liked Animal Farm.  Wasn't as enthusiastic about 1984 (among other things the whole premise of language disappearing was faulty -- English is not losing vocabulary, it's GAINING it and always has been, since the Norman Conquest introduced enough change to create English out of the Celtic languages).  Had to read 1984 at least twice in school (later on after reading it on my own) - where it became even less of a favorite book.  But, yeah, influenced?  It had an influence!

Lord of the Rings -- found it in my junior high school library in 7^th grade.  Read it, loved it, ended-up reading it about every three years.  I loved the films too.  Actually, I really need to watch my DVDs of the films again soon.

Seeing Voices -- Awesome book about a completely different culture (and a culture whom many outside of it don't see AS a culture). Probably the first anthropological book I ever read -- and before I really knew anything about anthropology!

Gambit, Rex Stout, Because it was the first Nero Wolfe mystery I read, and I ended-up reading the entire canon over a period of several years and became a bit of a fan.

BTW - Sherlock Holmes too -- finally finished the entire canon (Complete SH Ed in one volume), which I had been working on for years (I'd read a few stories, put it down, wait several months or even a year, read a few more stories, etc).  I love Holmes, and I remember reading "The Red-Headed League" in an English class, but what really got me hooked on Holmes was watching Jeremy Brett in the Granada SH TV series which actually adopted the original short stories and novels.  But I can't really remember what specific book I read first.

Red Harvest -- got to read it in a "Pop Lit" class in high school -- totally turned me on to Dashiell Hammett, and hard boiled/film noir detective stories.  I must say though, over all, I think I enjoy watching film noir films over reading hard boiled detective fic.  Still, Hammett's books have a very literate, intelligent quality that I like.

Bujold -- Still one of my favorite SF series of all time.  I've been desperately waiting for a new Miles book.  I might have to re-read them soon!

Storm Front / Jim Butcher -- right now he's my favorite fantasy novelist.  I love that it's a combination of  film noir (hard boiled) style and fantasy.  I love that Harry's a protagonist not a hero.  I love that the series is set in Chicago too!

Harry Potter -- yep, caught-up in the mania for this one too.  However, I really liked the earlier books (1-4) rather than the later ones (5-7).

The Other Log of  Phileas Fogg -- I've read this book like three times, and every time I really enjoy it.  I even wrote a review and posted it to the "The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne" Yahoo Group and archive.  Not only is it a fun book, one that's enjoyable to read,  but it shows that a professional can write fan fiction (Farmer also wrote books about Doc Savage, Tarzan, and I think John Carter of Mars -- the man loved his pulp heroes).

Around the World in 80 Days -- My favorite of the classic Jules Verne books, even tho' it's probably considered to be a juvenile title.  It's still fun -- and shows a Victorian novel CAN be fun!

Paris in the 20^th Century -- Verne's "lost" novel.  I absolutely adored everything about this book!  The predictions are astondingly accurate.  The writing was flawless.  It was just the most cool thing.

So what are everyone else's influencial books?

--Olivia