The “10 influential books” meme is going around Facebook right now, so here are mine. They’re not all on the list for the same reason(s), and after Lord of the Rings, in no particular order. It is definitely the single most influential non-sacred text in my life.
Some of these might be exchanged for others, including something by Bertrand Russell. These do represent works that I “come back to” in the sense of rereading periodically. Lord of the Rings I re-read every year from when I was a teenager until about a decade or two ago. Have just finished re-reading it for the first time in a number of years.
It’s interesting to me that as interested as I am in philosophy, no “philosopher” made the list except for Cornel West. It’s quite possible that something by Thoreau should be on the list, though Walden is awfully long/repetitive. But some of the quotes from it are superb and have resonated with me ever since I first read it with Robert P Moore (founder of Chinquapin School) when I was in 9th grade.
The challenge: in your status, list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. They do not have to be great works of literature. Tag (10) people to do the same, plus me so I can see your choices. So here they are in no particular order:
- The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
- The American Evasion of Philosophy (West)
- The Bible
- Catch-22 (Heller)
- Ajax (Sophocles)
- Hamlet (Shakespeare)
- The Warden (Trollope)
- The Fall (Camus)
- The War Prayer (Twain)
- Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein)
Just wondering, what about the Lord of the Rings made you enjoy it so much/re-read it so often/find it so influential?
A combination of things. It is one of the most realistic novels I know where there is still a good ending (especially for the 60’s); it’s an epic tale, which I like. I love the realism of the world (especially its back story, which again was unusual back then) and the depth of the major characters (esp Frodo). I like, for instance, that Denethor, though I think he’s terrible, is still very human. I like the tie-ins to Norse culture and Old English; I like that the varieties of Elvish are almost real languages. I like many of the messages in it. One of my favorite is Gandalf’s “Deserves death? I daresay he does. Many who live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment.” Another is Frodo’s at the end, when he tells Sam that some people must give things up in order to save them for others….