Books that got to you.

[Grimward]

S P O I L E R S




Earliest was the Lloyd Alexander Prydain series when I was in elementary school. I forget exactly which book (either The Black Cauldron or the last in the series) when Taran's competitive peer (forget the character's name, too...but it's been a really long time!) uncharacteristically and conclusively deals with the Cauldron-Born's source.

Like HB, Donaldson twice. First with Lord Foul's Bane, because I absolutely wasn't expecting what happened to Lena (was a soph in HS at at the time), and then again with the utter debasement that was Angus Thermopyle's treatment of Morn in the opening salvo of the Gap series.

Also Feist, in Magician, (as noted elsewhere here in the Chrons) during the Emporer's birthday celebration, rarely have I wanted to stand up and cheer for such a commanding passage as that.

Finally, Wurts had a passage in her latest WoLaS novel (you didn't expect to get thru this without a Janny mention, did you? She's too good not to have something....), describing the "awakening" (for brevity's sake, we'll call it that here) of the dragon Seshkrozchiel, that similarly pulled me back to re-read the passage many times because of how well it reached out and grabbed me the first time.

 

[ChrisBfla]

I would have to say Enemy Mine, was a real favorite of mine as was Footfall and an obscure novel by someone named Fehy called Invader.

All of these had an impact on my own writing as well as my feelings for the collective human race.

Chris

 

[Werewoman]

Dark Rivers of the Heart

 

[dask]

Watership Down by Richard Adams. Stunning!

 

[Fried Egg]

I would say that, in recent years, 1984 is the story that had the biggest effect on me. Deep emotional impact.

 

[Lioness]

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Set in Germany during world war 2 it is the story of a girl narrated by Death. Though you are told in the middle of the story what happens at the end, it still doesn't prepare you for it when it happens. It is well written and at times a very emotional read.

I searched for a thread like this just to mention this book.

Just...wow. So emotional, so beautiful, and also very well written.

One of the best books I have ever read, and I'm about to go read it again.

 

[j d worthington]

For me, the list is quite extensive. Some of those germane to the focus of this forum would be:

LotR -- there are so many moments in there which have touched me and moved me deeply over the years, and with each reading I seem to find new ones. As has been said elsewhere, this extends to other books by Tolkien as well, especially The Silmarillion, which simply has so many beautiful passages touching on deep emotions of courage and steadfastness in the face of loss, grief, and endurance even without hope; one of my favorites is that in the "Valaquenta" describing Nienna, who

dwells alone. She is acquainted with grief, and mourns for every wound that Arda has suffered in the marring of Melkor. So great was her sorrow, as the Music unfolded, that her song turned to lamentation long before its end, and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began. But she does not weep for herself; and those who hearken to her learn pity, and endurance in hope. Her halls are west of West, upon the borders of the world; an she comes seldom to the city of Valimar where all is glad. She goes rather to the halls of Mandos, which are near to her own; and all those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom. The windows of her home look outward from the walls of the world.

"Flowers for Algernon" -- I'd pick the short story above the novel because it has always affected me more strongly, as it seems in even more concentrated form. I've read it more times than I can count, and yet I still end up with a huge lump in my throat and the tears welling up, every darned time...

Asimov's "The Ugly Little Boy" and "Eyes Do More than See"... both hit home in ways one might not expect from Isaac, in a surprisingly deeply emotional fashion and with a great deal of poetic beauty and poignancy.

Several of Heinlein's pieces have such an effect on me; sections of Stranger in a Strange Land, for instance; or Time Enough for Love; or the ending of Double Star; several of the juveniles have their moments like this; and I even find a few passages of this sort in I Will Fear No Evil...

Lovecraft's "The Quest of Iranon", The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, "The Colour Out of Space" (a beautiful blending of horror and pity at the fate of the Gardner family), and several others which have had a strong effect on me over the years... of varying types.

A rather large selection of pieces by Harlan Ellison: "Jeffty is Five"; "On the Downhill Side" (despite some flaws); "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams"; "The Night of Delicate Terrors"; "Silent in Gehenna"; "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"; "The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World"; "In Lonely Lands"; "All the Sounds of Fear"; "Alive and Well and On a Friendless Voyage"; "Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine"; "Pennies, Off a Dead Man's Eyes"; "A Prayer for No One's Enemy"; "The Deathbird"....

Some of Moorcock's work has had that effect on me, as well; parts of the Cornelius cycle (especially The Cornelius Chronicles/Quartet); some of the Elric tales -- especially the latter part of The Sleeping Sorceress and much of The Revenge of the Rose; Blood....

Yes, Frankenstein, for the reasons mentioned above, and others.

Several pieces by James Branch Cabell, notably Jurgen; Figures of Earth; Something About Eve; and The Cream of the Jest...

James Blish's A Case of Conscience.

Hawthorne's "Feathertop", oddly, is one of those which has moved me deeply....

Quite a few pieces by Poe; notably some of his poetry, but also some of his more delicate pieces....

CAS' "The Last Incantation".

Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man.

Kuttner and Moore's "Mimsey Were the Borogoves", "The Children's Hour", and "Vintage Season".

Ted Sturgeon's "The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff" and More Than Human; "A Saucerfull of Loneliness"....

Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands".

Numerous pieces by Bradbury... far too many to name, actually....

Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations".

Lester Del Rey's "Day is Done".

A. E. van Vogt's The Weapon Shops of Isher (especially the final lines).

etc., etc., etc.....

 

[HoopyFrood]

"Flowers for Algernon" -- I'd pick the short story above the novel because it has always affected me more strongly, as it seems in even more concentrated form. I've read it more times than I can count, and yet I still end up with a huge lump in my throat and the tears welling up, every darned time...

Amen to that. Only it's the other way around, it's the novel that gets me.

I keep pushing it onto my friends, telling them that they'll be weeping by the end. They scoff...then they read it and I'm proved right every time.

 

[Connavar]

I recently read The Star Rover by Jack London and the book have had like very few other books big emotional impact on me.

Its a brillantly written book but emotionally its very brutal,very beautiful. The prison side of the story is brutal,depressing and "The star rovings" are beautiful no matter how they end.

 

[soulsinging]

Watership Down by Richard Adams. Stunning!

i remember feeling like my guts had been ripped out by the end of this one. great novel.

i wish i liked hobb more than i did, but i got so frustrated in the second book... it was so overlong and repetitive. hobb's devotees do a good job of making me think i should give it another chance though.

for me, number one is Catch-22. no book has had such a lasting impact on me, in all aspects of my life. it's the core of my worldview... the insanity, arbitrariness, and dehumanization of modern society is spot on. there is no logic, no reason, no plan in this world. only selfish little animals clawing for the best slice of the pie they can get.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

First I'll agree with all the mentions of Flowers for Algernon, although I haven't read it in years and wouldn't have thought of it unless someone else mentioned it.

One that is a little offbeat that I'd like to plug is Brundibar by Maurice Sendak and ...somebody else whose name I forget. There is a bit in there that I will someday do in cross-stitch and hang on the wall: "People are happy helping. It's never hard to find help, it is only hard to know that it's time to ask." This is a children's book (ostensibly) based on a broadway play about a couple of polish kids in the time of the Holocaust--sounds joyful, doesn't it? But it's truly a great book.

I always try to have on hand a couple of copies of Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions, both by Richard Bach, because I like to give them away to people who need to discover them.

Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold has a lot that resonates with me.

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, is a book that doesn't so much rip your guts out as just nibble away at them slowly until all that's left is a hole.

Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides and Beach Music are two more of those. Unlike, I might add, his latest book, South of Broad, which didn't really do it for me.

 

[Iorek444]

Michael Moorcock's The Eternal Champion. Not the entire 'series' of books, but rather just the one book of that name. It just really grabbed me and made me think for quite a while.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I recently finished Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, and was moved almost to tears by the ending.

 

[Rodders]

Although it didn't exactly get to me, Christopher Fowler 's Roofworld use to get me fantasising about living outside of the mainstream culture zinging about on the top of London.

 

[AE35Unit]

Bob Shaw's Palace of Eternity springs to ind here! Phenomenal food for thought!

 

[Mouse]

Second everyone who's said Robin Hobb. The tree stuff in Renegade's Magic is grim!!

 

[Boneman]

Shogun, by James Clavell. Incomparable... whenever I face a long flight I take it along with me - to hell with the movies, stop disturbing me with food and drinks, God, have we landed already? I must read it about every two years, and still get something from it.

A Kind of Loving trilogy: I even wrote to Stan Barstow complaining that he hadn't finished, despite naming the last book 'The Right True End'. He didn't reply.

The Name of The Wind: another book that I read regularly - at least twice a year at the moment. The only book I've ever read written in the first person that not only worked, it was staggering in its simple complexity - it sneaks ideas past you that just seem so real and believable, particularly Kvothe's relationships. It's an awesome book, and I cannot wait for the sequel.

Looking at my list, I realise I've listed three incredible love stories... yup, I admit I'm a hopeless romantic - did you ever see 'Anne of Green Gables' the Kevin Sullivan TV production? Moves me to tears every time...

 

[Vargev]

Although not a fantasy or SF book, Erich von danikens chariots of the gods definately got me thinking, mainly due to the fact that when he wrote that book he was facing ridicule from the scientific community for doing so.

Also Michael Moorcocks warhound and the worlds pain, i loved the depiction of Lucifers castle in that book, where nothing lives, just a barren black castle for miles around, not even a bird song. And the fact that Von Bek didnt know he was already damned simply by entering the castle.

 

[AE35Unit]

Although not a fantasy or SF book, Erich von danikens chariots of the gods definately got me thinking, mainly due to the fact that when he wrote that book he was facing ridicule from the scientific community for doing so.

Oh I'd say Daniken was definitely a writer of fantasies

 

[AE35Unit]

Shogun, by James Clavell. Incomparable... whenever I face a long flight I take it along with me - to hell with the movies, stop disturbing me with food and drinks, God, have we landed already? I must read it about every two years, and still get something from it.


.

Excellent book! Took me ages to read it but it helped get me thru a bout of anxiety attacks way back in the late 80s! Also taught me a bit of Japanese. Arigato Mr Clavell!