This book changed my lifeThe Goat writes, "Some books have made a huge impact on my life." It's true. It wasn't until the b3ta mods read the Flashman novels that we changed from mild-mannered computer operators into heavily-whiskered copulators, poltroons and all round bastards in a well-known cavalry regiment.
What books have changed the way you think, the way you live, or just gave you a rollicking good time?
Friendly hint: A bit of background rather than just a bunch of book titles would make your stories more readable
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chthonic, Thu 15 May 2008, 15:11)
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Kids BooksI've always thought that many of the best books out there are (supposedly) children's books. I've still got my faves from my early years. My top book that also introduced me to the magic/fantasy genre was Alan Garner's "Weirdstone of Brisingamen". Written in the early 60s, it manages to bridge the real world and the imaginary, allowing all sorts to flow between the two.
I first met it in the 70s when I was about 11-12 and it alternately amazed me and scared me shitless - the escape through the cave system in particular. I later picked up the Tolkien hobbit (yeah, weak), but this book is special to me.
I got the chance to visit the place in Cheshire at the centre of it all about 10 years ago, and found it to be the epicentre of the "Footballers' Wives" culture - Alderley Edge. Bollocks. I hoped for a traditional country town and got the only branch of Gucci I've ever seen in real life, plus specialist shops for the super-rich. It was worth it, however, for the freaking out I got when I found that the cave system actually exisited.
Brrr....
If anyone's interested, Alan Garner's other book "The Owl Service" is bloody good too.
(, Thu 15 May 2008, 17:11, 5 replies)
Well...I'm actually there for a night out tonight, haha!
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Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Thu 15 May 2008, 17:13,
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it's a great bookI re-read it recently and still loved it.
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crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 15 May 2008, 17:14,
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Yes yes yesI agree - I read this over and over too. It's ripe for filming, I always thought. I loved Elidor too, although it was dark as fuck. And of course at the same time there was Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence, which was so sadly abused recently.
More recently, I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events.
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flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Thu 15 May 2008, 17:18,
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weirdstone of brisingamenI had totally forgotten about that.
Loved it, and The Dark is Rising.
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Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 15 May 2008, 21:25,
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YepI read this to my nipper (10) a year or two ago - the grammar and syntax are really stilted now - almost like the way we think and formulate sentences has changed - proper old school - but the story is great. Owl service is way more creepy (god I even remember the tv series). Elidor... now there's an odd book too :)
(, Fri 16 May 2008, 9:23, closed)
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