Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
what are the books which have most influenced you?
most influential books
- Thread starter Pickman's model
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fractionMan
Custom Title
The Ray bradbury short stories I read as a teenager. Specifically, the pedestrian.
) that most influenced/resonated with me. 
)
Phototropic
Active Member
I completley fucked with my head with out really intending to when I was 16. I had just discovered the joys of Amazon and decided to do a load of reading. I wanted Nineteen-Eighty-Four but then Amazon has that 'other users bought thing, so I ended up with Nineteen-Eighty-Four, Farenheight 451, Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange. Read them all in one month.
Never quite saw the world the same after that month
Never quite saw the world the same after that month
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Well, after a few years of nihilsm/do nothingism/it's all fucked-ism in my mid 20s James Kelman's A Disaffection re-instilled a sense of creative anger and the determination to act on that in me.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
philip meadows taylor, confessions of a thug
raoul vaneigem, the revolution of everyday life
robert e howard, pigeons from hell
tacitus, the annals of imperial rome
steven runciman, the sicilian vespers
raoul vaneigem, the revolution of everyday life
robert e howard, pigeons from hell
tacitus, the annals of imperial rome
steven runciman, the sicilian vespers
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
oh - i recently got "liquidate paris"...sipriano said:It was the Eclipse and re-emergence of the communist movement by barrot and martin that did it for me, or else O.G.P.U. Prison by sven hassel
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
1984, first read it at about 12 or 13. animal farm too, which i can remember nicking from the school library and bunking off PE to read it, which means i must have been about 13.
both majorly influenced the way i looked at the world.
all quiet on the western front was another major influence on me too, as it just touched me completely... the whole futility of war thing - combined with the more chilling aspects of the war poets that we studied at 14.
reading hamlet was a revelation too - the first play that grabbed me - i went out and got a copy of rosencrantz and guildenstern and from there godot, just hopping along vaguely relevant works. hamlet worked because it was then that shakespeare really fell into place for me - i guess because we did both hamlet and lear in the same course and the angstyness and darkness of both pieces reflected my teenage moods, whilst both godot and R+G reflected other bits of my fractured mind.
in terms of poetry, the first poets who i fell for were sylvia plath (cliche, i know but both daddy and lazy lazarus articulated my self-perception better than i could at 16), and ts eliot who made me realise that there was this weird world of imagery out there.
i think an honourable mention should go to lord of the rings which gave me a love of myth, fable and storytelling that endures today.
both majorly influenced the way i looked at the world.
all quiet on the western front was another major influence on me too, as it just touched me completely... the whole futility of war thing - combined with the more chilling aspects of the war poets that we studied at 14.
reading hamlet was a revelation too - the first play that grabbed me - i went out and got a copy of rosencrantz and guildenstern and from there godot, just hopping along vaguely relevant works. hamlet worked because it was then that shakespeare really fell into place for me - i guess because we did both hamlet and lear in the same course and the angstyness and darkness of both pieces reflected my teenage moods, whilst both godot and R+G reflected other bits of my fractured mind.
in terms of poetry, the first poets who i fell for were sylvia plath (cliche, i know but both daddy and lazy lazarus articulated my self-perception better than i could at 16), and ts eliot who made me realise that there was this weird world of imagery out there.
i think an honourable mention should go to lord of the rings which gave me a love of myth, fable and storytelling that endures today.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
yeh - i reread 'liquidate paris' in a couple of days last month - & i'm looking forward to 'the bloody road to death', which i'll have a look at later.easy g said:
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
i think "the bloody road to death" is the best one - had to get another copy cos my first one died.marty21 said:i've got all 14i started collecting them a few years ago, no idea why, it became a bit of an obsession to hunt them down in 2nd hand shops...eventually had to resort to e-bay...i have some spare svens if anyone is interested
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Never read any of them, but some great titles i have to say...
madamv
Oi! With the poodle already
marty21 said:i've got all 14
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=126066 and set some free!!!
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
madamv said:http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=126066 and set some free!!!
good idea....sven deserves to be unleashed
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Alasadir Gray?Maddalene said:
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
This essay influenced me a great deal (as did quite a lot of Orwell's writings).
"One Flew over The Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey
"Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser
"The Road to Wigan Pier", "1984" and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell.
"Book of Dope Stories", Howard Marks et al.
"Orientalism" by Edward Said
"Cry Freedom" by John Briley and Donald Woods
"Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser
"The Road to Wigan Pier", "1984" and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell.
"Book of Dope Stories", Howard Marks et al.
"Orientalism" by Edward Said
"Cry Freedom" by John Briley and Donald Woods
oneflewover
Following "The Tigers"
Hi all,
Rattling through a novel, Patricia Cornwell type, fills and passes time but is just about forgotten straight away.
Can't recall reading a book that influenced me, yet those that provoked me (is it the same thing) lately :-
Slaughterhouse Five
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Rattling through a novel, Patricia Cornwell type, fills and passes time but is just about forgotten straight away.
Can't recall reading a book that influenced me, yet those that provoked me (is it the same thing) lately :-
Slaughterhouse Five
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Although later compiled into books, and some having the titles changed, I like the writings of Jack Common. A genuine working class viewpoint from his lifetime, well his younger days, while putting up with Orwell down the pub (sorry, had to have a pop). One of the original creative angry young men.
Hunger and Love by Lionel Britton too is a British working class forgotten classic.
My Childhood by Maxim Gorky (bitter) had an impact, the first of his autobiographical books, as did other works, even though he became and unbecame a cultural darling in Stalinist USSR.
Hunger and Love by Lionel Britton too is a British working class forgotten classic.
My Childhood by Maxim Gorky (bitter) had an impact, the first of his autobiographical books, as did other works, even though he became and unbecame a cultural darling in Stalinist USSR.
marty21 said:i've got all 14
I wouldn't mind...but I'm an out of towner
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