On Books

[pen_grunt]

I'm a reader.

I always have been. Books are an escape. My mother used to limit the number of books I could check out from the library by the number I could carry. My little arms could carry as many as 15. Sure, you couldn't see my face, but I was going to get as many as I could, dammit.

So I've read a lot of books. And yet, I haven't read many at all.

Because that's the great and terrible beauty about books--there are so MANY. I alternate between wild excitement at the number of books left to read and wild terror at the idea that I will not--even if I made it my unbathing-nongrooming job to do so--ever read all the books there are to read.

I won't even be able to read all the truly good books out there.

That being said, I know my LJ friends are a bookish sort. I want more of those truly good books. I don't want to skip any. I asked this on Facebook with mixed results. I'll ask again here:

I need reading direction. Which novel(s) have had the deepest impact, most personal meaning or have offered the richest reading experience for you?

Comments

[purplesquirrel.livejournal.com]

I generally don't read novels. The ones I've enjoyed the most were
Jitterbug Perfume, Revolutionary Road and Dune.

I like some young adult lit, particularly Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lately I just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I like young adult lit, too. I've heard that The Hunger Games trilogy is good--I plan to check it out.

Thanks for the recs.

[eyelid.livejournal.com]

Jane Austen.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I went through an Austen phase just recently. Amazing how underrated the novels are. I mean, in terms of for-pleasure reading instead of in-high-school reading.

[gwangi.livejournal.com]

After I recommended The Grapes Of Wrath over on facebook, I thought about it more, and decided that I should put some more suggestions down, but I went to bed instead. So here's more of my thoughts on books:

Deepest impact: Gould's Full House. More than any other, this book fundamentally changed the way I thought about the world. It's partially about baseball, partially about biology, partly about math, and totally fascinating in every way. It's what convinced me that not everything has a knowable cause. Sometimes, things happen just because the math says they will. Weird, but true. I honestly never looked at anything the same way again.

Most personal meaning: Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It. Although it's a book ostensibly about brothers and fly fishing, it's actually about the beauty of the world. It's a book that I wouldn't change a single word of, because doing so would decrease its perfection. It's beautiful. I tear up every single time I read the last two or three paragraphs because I know that nothing will ever be written as well as that again.

Richest reading experience: Although I hate everything the book stands for, I firmly believe that Lolita is the closest thing to a prose poem that anybody's ever come up with. The words are so wonderful, and the subject matter is so terrible, that it makes for a confusing but most excellent reading experience.

Also, seriously, if you haven't read Grapes of Wrath lately, like since the recession started, you should. The economy is better now than it was then, but it's still so incredibly applicable to the situations so many people find themselves in.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Thank you *so* much. I have everything but Lolita on my list now. But the omission is only because I've read (and deeply enjoyed) Lolita.