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In 8th grade, I was shocked by Jack London's Martin Eden. One of the few books that has had a direct impact on my lifestyle is that I gave up everything and started reading the same authors that Eden read: Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and even the poet Swinburne. Of course, these books then led me to completely unfamiliar areas for me. It got to the point where I began to imitate Martin's lifestyle: I started learning new words, pasting various pieces of paper with reminders around the room. He started a diary and began writing regularly (Martin Eden, like Jack London himself, forced himself to write several pages a day). This is not to mention some changes in the worldview, which are quite difficult to articulate clearly.
I will make a reservation that I can hardly be called very impressionable, but this book at one time simply plowed me. I don't know how it will be perceived at a later age, but even if it doesn't change your mind, it will definitely attract you with a strong plot.
After Martin Eden, I read many more books in London, but none of them, in my opinion, even comes close to his semi-autobiographical masterpiece.
At the age of 7, I read the first novel in my life – “White Fang” of London. This book instilled a love of literature in general.
As a child, I read Setton-Thompson's stories dozens of times, which instilled in me a love of animals and nature.�
Burroughs '”Tarzan” finally drove an 11-year-old boy crazy, who carried bundles of books from the library of Cooper, Reed, Verne and many others.
The romance of those books will always remain in me.
“The Hobbit…” It was the beginning of Tolkien's great undying love of fantasy.
A qualitative transition from teenage reading material occurred after the series of short stories “I, Robot” by Asimov. And Clifford Simak, the great science fiction humanist, cemented the love of science fiction with his “City”.
The novel” Razor's Edge ” by Efremov significantly contributed to the formation of my attitude to the surrounding reality.
And Lao She taught the teenager humanity and compassion with his “Rickshaw”.
These books don't happen very often. The last one was D. Tart's novel “Goldfinch”. I recognized myself in the main character in some situations that are turning points in the novel. First of all, the reaction to a trauma or disaster. The trauma was lived and lived out by the hero for many years, which led to various good and bad events. Then – final reflections on the meaning of existence, suffering, art, and a life manifesto. These words helped me a lot – I was thinking about something like this myself, and here I received strong support in the artistic and human sense.
“One hundred years of solitude”. The impressions were so strong that during the reading I closed the book several times with a cry of ” Well, fuck…”, and when I finished, I was silent for several hours. I definitely didn't leave the table the same way I did before.
Dystopias.Maximus Grom will go to the younger ones,Orwell to the older ones.From the adventure of Neil Stevenson, who became a Revelation for me.As a satire-Douglas Adams with his Hitchhiker's Guide and the Mythology of Robert Asprin, which I consider just a must-read.Remarque's works with his historical drama had a great influence.Right now, I'm devouring Frank Herbert's Dune, an unmistakable masterpiece of science fiction.The Asimov Foundation can also be attributed here.
Dan Millman's book “The Way of a Peaceful Warrior” had a very strong effect. Absolutely turned my mind upside down. It brought to the surface those questions that we always want to ask ourselves, but are afraid to. A book about what is most important to be here and now.
As mainstream as it may sound, the Harry Potter series of novels had a very strong influence on the formation of my personality as a teenager. They are so comprehensive that the consequences of the ideas of friendship, honor and bravery that were laid down at that time are still felt inside. These books did not affect my consciousness, they shaped it.
If visual novels can be attributed to fiction, then I was most influenced by the Katawa shoujo exhibition Hall
Her characters have sunk into my soul, influenced me as a person, in some ways helped me cope with loneliness and taught me a lesson.
I advise everyone to read it, everyone will find something for themselves. The meaning of a visual novel is to build a relationship with one of the five heroines. The action takes place in a boarding school for Ivalids. The main character, Hisao Nakai, with a heart defect, in the prologue when a girl confessed her love to him, he had a heart attack and after 4 months in the hospital, he was sent to the Yamaku school. Then we get acquainted with the heroines together.
Lilly-a blind girl, is a headman with Scot-Land roots.
Hanako, her friend, has burns on the floor of her body and because of this, she suffers and closes in on herself. Only friends with Lilly, who can't see her defect.
Amy, as she calls herself, is the fastest legless runner in the world.
Rin is Amy's roommate. It has no hands. He is very good at drawing with his mouth and feet. She has an unusual view of the world. Very interesting character.
Shizzune is the head of the school board, a deaf-mute girl. She has a friend, Misha, who helps Shizuna and “works” as a sign language interpreter.
Each character has its own personality, story and events in the novel.
A novel should be based on acts. In the course of reading, the reader is given choices that affect the course of the story. Each character has good and bad endings and which one will be up to you. There are drama and erotic scenes in VN. You can disable them in the settings. Although, in my opinion, they are executed very well and romantically. “Katawa shoujo” will make you cry more than once.
The Gadfly by Ethel Lillian Voynich. Reading a book at the age of 8 turned me away from religion as such.
Books by Vladislav Krapivin. Wonderful, light novels and novellas. Universes enclosed in sparks, parallel worlds, drummers, ships, trains and roads. As a child, I was imbued with a subtle feeling that life is not limited to school, the world visible to the eye, and that all sorts of brave Boys fight with wooden swords with spirits from the interior of black balls. Oh, amazing memories.
“Stars over the Farm” by Zdenek Adla.
Love for budgies and understanding that it's still great when you have an adult who is both your friend and teacher.
“Martin Eden” Jack London. I was shaken up at the age of 15 by this book. There were associations with the main character, some things turned out to be accepted and partly understood thanks to her.
“Creativity” by Emile Zola.
A stream of thoughts. Creation. Ambitions and aspirations. You're so young and talented. And it seems that with enough effort you will create a masterpiece.
At one time, I was greatly influenced by the books of Douglas Copeland. So much so that I even partially adopted his writing style for myself. And “Slaves of Microsoft” and “Generation X” were for me like a kind of instructions to life.
When I was 14, I read John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, and it completely changed my perception of the world around me. If earlier I often went into reflections in the spirit of “I live badly, everything is terrible, bring it forward with your feet”, then after reading this work I can't think like that at all – my conscience just doesn't allow it. Whenever I want to complain about life, I remember the Joad story and realize that there are people who are really bad and my far-fetched problems are just nonsense compared to the things they face/have faced.
Let's start in order. Nosov's books at the age of 5-6 taught me that intelligence and caution are more necessary in life than audacity, and adventures are usually accompanied by unpleasant sensations (such as: cold, wet, painful, hungry, etc.). As a result, I was much less of a schoolboy than I could have been.
Volkov's books taught me that it is very useful to know a lot about how things work and how to do them.
Because in life, you may suddenly need the ability not only to make up someone's brains, but also to fix an old gun for even a single shot, which will save many.
In the middle (5-7) grades of school, the Strugatskys showed me the people I needed to be. For one thing, they taught me that happiness is not in a new mobile phone.
And then I became old enough that everything I read did not change my worldview, but only completed it, put new bricks in the existing fendament.
But I have never experienced any epiphanies, catharsis and other upheavals in the jump in the ideological sphere. Basically, my reaction is: well, yes, it's logical.
Because everything usually fits neatly and competently into my existing picture of the world.
Dystopias can have an impact when you read something like this for the first time. In my case, the first was E. Zamyatin's novel “We”. It didn't even occur to me that I could write better – I must have read it four times. Orwell and Huxley, A. Rand's” Anthem “were after – I expected about the same explosion, but no, the impression was not even close to the emotions of”We”. Although I have often heard that Zamyatin is even laughed at in comparison with Orwell, which upsets me, but at the same time I am glad that he has not acquired so much unnecessary pathos.
In general, I came here to write about the incomparable Donna Tartt. I haven't read “Little Friend” yet, but “Goldfinch” and “Secret History” are what I would recommend to everyone. Not only because it's interesting in the plot, but also because both books, and especially Goldfinch, are psychologists who don't ask a single question, but give you answers that you've been wanting to hear for a long time. The last pages of the book fly at breakneck speed, because I don't have enough patience, I want to have as much time as possible to feel the hero, whom you followed for so long, until you yourself were cut down by a dream. And in the morning you wake up with the feeling that the best heart-to-heart conversation that you've ever had in your life took place at night, and you put the book on the shelf with trepidation, or run to give it to a loved one to read, so that they will experience the same thing.
I'll start with a brief background : as a child, I was a very reserved child who always plays by himself in kindergarten, but at home sits in his room and sticks to the walls. I read everything my parents gave my little child, but when I was 10 or 11, The Golden Compass was released, based on the first book in Philip Pullman's Dark Beginnings trilogy. I do not know why, but as soon as I saw the advertisement for the film, I realized that it was vital for me to read these books, and after a short time they appeared in my hands.
This trilogy dramatically changed me as a person : the main character is a sociable, proud, cheeky, lively little girl, she inspired me to get out of my “shell” and start communicating with people. Also, this trilogy greatly influenced my attitude to religion, to relationships between people.
If it weren't for these books, I absolutely wouldn't be the person I am )
Yes, I agree with those who have written about Jonathan Livingstone's Seagull and Orwell (1984), and also read Huxley's Brave New World in contrast. It also turns on the brain
Jack London, Victor Pelevin, Charles Dickens, Strugatsky, Max Fry, symbols symbols symbols symbols symbols symbols symbols symbols symbols
For me, the entire work of H. L. Borges became a doorway from the world of flat and monosyllabic images to the multidimensional quantum world, expressed simply and concisely, limited only by the reader's abilities. The main thing here is not to drown in the infinity and irrefutability of what is written. It is a rare case when all the most complex things are expressed simply. I will read it all my life, rediscovering or reinventing it .
I was once sheltered by Hesse's novels and novellas, in which I first found a hero-a man whose intimate timidity about life was so close to me. Then there were Eko, Marquez, and Wilson. And before that, I was held captive by Irwin Yalom, who made me learn to love all people together with all their shortcomings, revealing them in myself.�
I spent a couple of years going on desert adventures with Don Juan, talking to caiotes and eagles.
Even earlier, there were Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, reading which I was afraid to leave the room to meet adults, because it seemed to me that if my parents looked me in the eye, they would simply throw me out on the street because I “now know everything”, for being friends with Zarathustra. �
And at the beginning of my conscious career as a reader, my life-discoverers were the infinitely sincere and kind Bradbury, and the poetic and bold Verne.�
Maybe someone will need this book map.
We were most impressed by Elie Wiesel's autobiographical work “Night”, and Remarque's” Western Front ” was also impressive. Of course, they cause little positive emotions, but in terms of influencing the worldview they are very strong.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn “Gulag Archipelago”. Orwell's bestseller 1984, with its magnificent syllable, also failed to get around. Orwell completely changed my worldview. After the phrase “In a time of universal lies, telling the truth is EXTREMISM”, I realized the prophetic abilities of the writer.
For me, this is primarily social fiction, a 3-volume book “The Tree of Life” by Vladimir Kuzmenko. It profoundly influenced the formation of my personality. I read the book for the first time at the age of 8, then reread it 13 times, and all the time I found something new as I grew up. The author is completely unknown (and he is not a writer). The book sold a very small print run. It is well written and easy to read, but there are quite a lot of grammatical jambs that are annoying to the eyes. Now it's pretty shabby on my shelf. Let's read to almost all your good friends and no one will be disappointed. At its core, this is a book-an analysis of different possible civilizations and the interaction of reason with ecosystems (while some ecosystems themselves were reason). The book has a lot of action and interesting twists. Sometimes it seems that a book is a collection of several different books that are completely unrelated to each other.
Further, the books of Carlos Castaneda have had a very, very profound impact on the formation of personality. We can say that they allowed us to see the world from a different angle. Here perhaps it is worth noting that the first book in the series is a kind of”preparatory course”. It has a lot of interesting things, but it focuses on the practical factor, and does not really delve into… I don't even know how to explain it in words (sorry, after reading it yourself, you will understand that not everything can be explained in words). It is necessary to read it in order to understand what is happening, but do not think that further (in the next volumes) it will only be about how to “get stoned and catch a glitch” (I received such “reviews” from some friends who read only the first book).
More recently read (within the last 2 years) the following books left a very vivid impression:
“1984” by Orwell. I won't spoil it, but this is the most depressing dystopia I've ever read. After reading it, emptiness and hopelessness settled inside. Perhaps, to some extent, she made it more restrained and circumspect. The main thing after reading it is not to become paranoid.
“Teach Me to Die” by Matsuo Monroe. The book is some incredible trash. You read it and ask yourself “What? What just happened? What the hell?”. It is steeped in despair and hopelessness but… the end of the book is worth reading. It probably teaches you to follow your vocation and never give up(?).
“Bereg” Yuri Bondarev. A book about the post-war period from a man who fought and visited the country in which he fought after the war as a well-known writer. A lot of “flashbacks”, a lot of bright characters. In fact, the book is a metaphor, it shows a lot of” opposite ” shores. Friends and strangers, close and understandable and distant strangers, good and evil… even the coast of life and death.
“Norwegian Forest” by Haruki Murakami. In general, the book is somewhat reminiscent of” The Catcher in the Rye ” Salinger, but there is something in it that takes the soul. It is more mature and mature (and vulgar (?)). However, this is a subjective opinion and I am in no way trying to discredit The Catcher in the Rye (which I also like). It's just that this book is more suitable not for teenagers, but for young people who were recently teenagers.
Jerome D. Sallinger made a big contribution to my life with his novel The Catcher in the Rye. It was an absolute pleasure to read it as a teenager, but now I also sometimes reread it and always feel the same emotions as the first time.
I will recommend it everywhere and at every opportunity – “Dandelion Wine” by Bradbury. Reading as a child, reading as a teenager, and rereading as an adult will always be great.�
As a child, I was also struck by a book by Bach – “A Seagull named Jonathan Livingston”.
But I read” 1984 ” quite late, I can't say that it changed something in me, but if it was at the age of 15, the result would have been different, that's for sure.�
Rand also significantly rebuilds the brain: what is ” Atlant…”, �what is “Source”, although the latter is subjective, I did not master it from the first time for a number of reasons and still have not finished it off.