Which books have influenced you the most?

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Sprinkly

Firstly great list! I am a bookworm off the top of my head, here are some of the novels that linger in my mind and have probably had an influence on me. (Also in no particular order):

* Life of Pi, Yann Martel
* Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguru
* God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
* Beloved, Toni Morrison
* Bang-Bang Club, Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva
* Cry the beloved Country, Alan Paton
* Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela
* Imaginings of Sand and Chain of Voices, Andre Brink (actually most of his books, he is brilliant)
*Country of my Skull, Antjie Krog
* Foe, Disgrace, Life and Times of Micheal K, JM Coetzee (I donâ€™t like the man but he can write)
* Animal Farm and 1984, George Orwell

Iâ€™m probably leaving out some really important ones but that is my quick list.

The books I enjoy the most however are fantasy novels, I love the escapism, the imagination that goes into creating other worlds so maybe the works of JRR Tolkien, James Barry, JK Rowling , C.S Lewis, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Roald Dahl and Tamora Pierce etc etc have actually had a bigger effect on my life.

Vango

Impressive list MJ. Good for you. Here's mine:

Preschool: Diermekaar (a book with pics of animals where the pages is split in half so you can line up the bottom half of one animal with the top half of another, to, for example get a "croco-phant".)

Primary school: Vosperd van Die Kalahari - I.D. Lamprecht
The Fanie-series - P.J. Schoeman

High school: The Wooden Horse

Varsity: Invertebrate Zoology - Grove & Newell (my first zoology textbook)
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Later adult life: A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
Rage - Wilbur Smith

My whole life: The Bible - God

Slipper man

I like the question....

But maybe I am too simply minded to appreciate any of the above mentioned titles....

I think my greatest literary influence (now doesn't that sound grand?) was........

<<Drum roll>>>

The Dragons of:

Summer night
Autumn winter etc.

By Tracey Hickman (Dragonlance)

Taught me how to use my imagination......

by the way I am the richest, smartest, happiest individual on this earth (see my imagination does work!!!)

Joppie

The Bible influenced me the most
Mattheus
Mark
Luke and
John

cheri

I loved the books of Francine Rivers about the Christian girl who was a slave in a Jewish household in The Mark Of The Lion Series

Hank H

How to Win Friends and Infuence People- Dale Carnegie, Murder in Brentwood- Mark Fuhrman

Bibi

The road to nowhere.

jgrey1goose

all the MARK TWAIN novels

a book called THE MASTER OF THE GAME excellent book, i recommend anyone to read it.

and a few others.

my favorite is called Anything For Billy. i don't pay much attention to the authors name.(sorry)

cakes4africa

Roald DahlÂ´s books have made me look at life from a different viewpoint. He allows one to explore life on a different level, one that we are not allowed to, or are hesitant to experience in our real lives.

Hey, whatnow, I also read that book The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time. YouÂ´re right, the book was too short, he could have included a few more adventures. It was very interesting discovering how he saw and understood life.

And Sprinkly, I also enjoyed JM CoetzeeÂ´s book, and Andre BrinkÂ´s.

NeverGuess

I'm not what you would call much of a 'reader' but from the books I have read one really sticks in my mind, and that's The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time by Mark Haddon. It gives the reader a good understanding of people with Aspergers Syndrome (a form of Autism).

By the end of the book I was dissopointed because I wanted it to go on, I loved it so much and I felt as if I knew the main chracter so well. I just wanted to go back to the begining again and follow his life all over.

I think it's a must for everyone to read as people with dissorders need to be understood by the common public in order to be accepted. This book really makes you feel empathy towards the main character who has Aspergers.

Habib

The Books of God, Koran & Bible, have influenced me the most and has changed my life! Praise belongs to God!

Ashwin B

Noughts And Crosses: Malory Blackman

Tevin B

Rich dad Poor dad

Blazing Pen Avenger.

To quote Nicky Henson: "Great English and Welsh lovers - the world's shortest book!"

Darth Vader

I was not going to answer this question because I would sound pompous, but I will let my secret out. In the eighties my brothers and I started to invest in a series of books, called "The great books of the western world" to give us a general knowledge and a higher level of education.
Here is a link I found that would better describe to you what it all is about. We treat it as a finishing course for young adults. I haven't read it all yet, but are working towards it. My niece and nephews are now reading it as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World

sailor

My rent book

Ozzy D

The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey

Ian s

Are we supposed to be imressed.

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