Your literary influences

[lindya]

the "message", LINDYA, is what your mind perceives it to be....there is no right and no wrong. Everyone who looks at a particular famous painting or listens to Beethoven's symphonies may come away with quite dis-similar perceptions.

 

That's what I'm saying! I like hearing other people's interpretations of books I've read, or films I've seen, though.

[Outcast]

As an aside, I've always hated people who dissect literature

 

Why?

 

It's ok to speculate but to present one's speculation as a definitive interpretation does violence to the author, IMHO. I'd be some ticked at someone who claimed to read things into my writing that I didn't want them to read into it and I've seen interviews with authors and artists who have said exactly that.

 

Fine, imagine things about them if you will, but to then write an article and say 'this is what the author meant' is a bit much. I love reading auteurs' words about their work; let the creator speak his own mind but don't put words in his mouth.

[lindya]

It's ok to speculate but to present one's speculation as a definitive interpretation does violence to the author, IMHO. I'd be some ticked at someone who claimed to read things into my writing that I didn't want them to read into it and I've seen interviews with authors and artists who have said exactly that.

 

Well. I agree with that. I had an English teacher who marked down anyone who departed from her dictated notes regarding what this poet or that writer intended to convey to the reader. I once asked her how she knew what message Shakespeare meant to convey. Her answer? "I've got a degree in English. I've been trained to interpret literature"

 

I laughed and laughed. In return, she gave me 15% for every piece of work I submitted that term.

[Outcast]

Her answer? "I've got a degree in English. I've been trained to interpret literature"

 

Yup. Those are the sorts I can't stand.

[Becoming]

I had an English teacher in high school who could spot a phallic figure at a thousand paces.

 

That must have been some phallus! (Sorry, couldn't resist. )

 

The Bible--I sat down and read the NT on vacation as a teen, later read history books of OT and found them better than any soap opera ever thought about. Great stories--and church started making sense, sparking an interest in the meaning of life.

The Color Purple -- when Celie stands up and says "I am here!" Wow.

Little Women--Jo was the only girl I understood in literature as a girl

To Kill a Mockingbird--goodness & justice prevail over human indecency

Macbeth--not a novel, but simply amazing as a literary work. Made me want to be an English major and go in search of phalluses. (just kidding, Outcast! I know exactly what you mean about silly lit crit and folks trying to tell you THE meaning. BS!)

Gulliver's Travels introduced me to social critique through fantasy worlds written with biting wit.

Light in August Faulkner does things with language that are astonishingly beautiful and disturbing all at the same time.

To the Lighthouse like an impressionist painting in language. Helped me claim my mind as a woman and not as a woman with a man's mind.

[lindya]

Little Women--Jo was the only girl I understood in literature as a girl.

 

Remember when Amy burned Jo's manuscript? I could have reached into the pages and slapped her until my arm was tired.

 

...other grim, brooding looks into the future are enjoyable....

 

GP - you should have a look at Oryx and Craik by Margaret Atwood.

[loony]

"1984" by George Orwell. It wasn't that much the almighty government with which I had such a problem, but the fact that the two lovers in the end betrayed each other in order to save themselves. It always made me wonder how far does love for another person really go. And do you deserve love if you are not willing to sacrifice yourself for it?

 

"Dune" by Frank Herbert. I wouldn't recall any kind of serious influence on my life, but it's just a really fascinating book (if you like science-fiction).

[Becoming]

Remember when Amy burned Jo's manuscript? I could have reached into the pages and slapped her until my arm was tired.

 

Oooh, yes! I hated Amy. I found Beth to be insipid (how cruel is that?). Was rather indifferent to Meg.

 

The movie was pretty good that was made of this book with Susan Sarandon, a wonderful Marmie. Though I always felt Jo betrayed herself in marrying the professor at the end of the book, the movie portrayed it in a more positive light for me.

 

I think all stories are meant to be for public discussion, which is why I like hearing others' interpretations, even literary critics'.

 

My sister has a book club every month with intelligent chums who drink a lot and discuss books. Great fun. I think western society is missing the storytelling and discussion that used to go on around the fire in traditional societies. Now we read all these things to ourselves.

 

Nice thread, Lindya. Thanks for hosting us.

[JayKay]

Agree with you about the Rock-a-by-baby rhyme though. I think a lot of nursery rhymes started their lives off as social or political satires for adults rather than being specifically for children.

 

 

Absolutely OP.....the nursery rhyme 'Ring Around A Rosie', for example, was actually about some epidemic that killed a large percentage of the European population. Ashes, ashes...we all fall down is about dying

 

Interestingly, because death, dying and violence were such a predominant part of day-to-day living centuries ago, a lot of children's tales actually were quite gruesome (before Disney got their hands on 'em and mucked them up).

 

The orginal Cinderalla involved the evil stepsisters carving off parts of their feet in order to better jam them into the glass slipper.

The prince didn't notice anything was amiss until birds twittering in the trees warned him that blood was streaming from the maidens' feet.

 

The original Little Red Riding Hood involved her being actually eaten by the wolf; a hunter barged in in the nick of time and hacked the wolf open to rescue her.

 

As far as literature that has inspired me;

 

 

If I had to live on a desert island I'd definitely take Pearl S. Buck's 'The Good Earth' and

Vladmir Nabokov's 'Lolita'

as well as Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary'

 

Not for any of the 'lessons' or moral/ethical/philosophical questions posed.... but because of the sheer beauty of the writing, and for the fact that a human being loved language enough to craft such incredible art from it.

 

That to me is inspiring.

[HotCaliGirl]

There are too many to list all of them, but a few of the fictional books that left a lasting impression growing up include:

Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Caroll), Animal Farm (George Orwell), Charloette's Web (E.B. White), Lord of the Flies (William Golding), To Kill a Mockingbird (harper Lee), Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) and of course The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

[lindya]

The orginal Cinderalla involved the evil stepsisters carving off parts of their feet in order to better jam them into the glass slipper.

The prince didn't notice anything was amiss until birds twittering in the trees warned him that blood was streaming from the maidens' feet.

 

The original Little Red Riding Hood involved her being actually eaten by the wolf; a hunter barged in in the nick of time and hacked the wolf open to rescue her.

 

Angela Carter (The Company of Wolves, The Bloody Chamber) is a good one to read for fairy tales that are based on the original gory formats. In my early twenties I went through a phase of being fascinated by these stories.

 

Some people cut themselves, I read books that disturb me. At 6, I "borrowed" my Mum's copy of "No Adam in Eden" and read it from cover to cover. Having already read "Now we are six", I was at a loose end, but I'm certain that pile of trash left me with a lifelong Madonna/whore complex. I think I'll obtain a copy via Amazon and read it again through the critical eyes of an adult.

[Bogun]

I liked Green Eggs and Ham, and the "Mr Men" books (Mr Greedy, Mr Lazy etc).

These books are far more valuable works than something like The Idiot

 

And of course I loved The Bible. It introduced me to Jesus and showed me that he loves me.

[bluechocolate]

Influences? I'll just stick to books that I remember enjoying and/or read many times:

 

As a child:

 

Charlotte's Web - E.B. White

(read this one dozens of times)

 

The Crazy Mixed Up File of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler - can't remember

(I loved this book & for months after wards I dreamed about running away. living in a museum & having a great adventure)

 

The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

(I checked that out of the library when I was 10 years old, my Mother was livid - luckily I had already finished it when she found out!)

 

Lord of The Rings - Tolkien

(really wish there was a condensed version - too much unnecessary narrative!)

 

Jaws - Peter Benchley

(my Grandfather lent me that book & I included it here because to this day I remember that the sex scene was on page 163!!)

 

All of the Judy Bloom books - everyone in my class read those & "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret" was my first introduction to the subject of menstruation and "Then Again Maybe I Won't" to ejaculation.

 

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

 

The Prophet - Kahil Gibran

(I read all of my parents books that I could get my hands on. Though most of them went straight over my head I distinctly remember being impressed by this guy.)

 

All of the "Alice in Wonderland" books which I read over & over.

 

I could go on & on - the library was my second home as a child.

 

Later in life:

 

Nausea - Jean Paul Sartre

 

The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell

 

The Master & Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

 

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

(the funniest book I've ever read! I really wish they'd finish with the legal wrangling & make the film, too bad John Candy is dead, he'd have been perfect for the lead role)

 

The Stranger - Albert Camus

 

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

 

A Fine Balance - Rohintin Mistry

(brilliant, brilliant, brilliant - what more can I say?)

 

A Journal of the Terror

(this from the book - "being an account of the occurrences in the Temple during the confinement of Louis XVI by M. Clery the King's valet de chambre, together with a description of the last hours of the King, by the Abbe de Firmont")

 

The Diary of Owen Meaney - John Irving

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

OK, I'll stop now, though I could go on & on.

[JayKay]

You know, I liked Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone". What did you guys think of it?

 

I didn't care for his second book. Just couldn't get into it.

 

 

I really liked Joyce Carol Oates' earlier books; "Them", "Expensive People" and "Do With Me What You Will"

 

I don't like her later stuff.

 

As much as I've tried to like Truman Capote's work, I just never could sink my teeth into it. I know he's revered as a genius, but I think his overall pissy-ness seeped into his work too much for me to like it. My problem was reading his biography before reading his work.

[lindya]

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

(the funniest book I've ever read! I really wish they'd finish with the legal wrangling & make the film, too bad John Candy is dead, he'd have been perfect for the lead role)

 

I'm going to have to read that one - I've heard so many good things about it.

 

I just finished Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières. It was touted as being better than Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and whilst I didn't personally agree with that (nobody can replace Captain C in my heart) it was still amazing. That writer's partner is just so lucky to be with a man like that, I think. What a sensational, wonderful mind he has

[bluetuesday]

just some random all-time favourites:

 

the catcher in the rye. it kills me every time, if you want to know the truth.

 

the old man and the sea. oh, what joy to spend an afternoon in that little boat. a life's work, right there in less than 100 pages.

 

three men in a boat. a pointless, delightful jape. i nearly wet my pants laughing when the cheese smelled so bad they had to bury it.

 

the diaries of samuel pepys. a tale of a man who, 350 years ago, once had to take a day off work (no doubt complaining to the wife he had some terrible illness) and was cured the same night by letting out 'eight great and loud farts'. utterly wonderful.

 

pride and prejudice. enough said. i know some people hate austen, but they have littler brains than winnie the pooh and should be mocked.

 

hamlet. not a book, but a piece of literature so extraordinary it almost renders every other written word a fallacy, because they're not IT.

 

the great gatsby, les miserables, a passage to india, the remains of the day, brighton rock, the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, harry potter and the blah blah blah. loved them all, and would expand on them but i have to go to the cinema immediately or i'll miss capote (whose books, incidentally, i never liked).

[bluechocolate]

I'm going to have to read that one - I've heard so many good things about it.

 

I just finished Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières. It was touted as being better than Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and whilst I didn't personally agree with that (nobody can replace Captain C in my heart) it was still amazing. That writer's partner is just so lucky to be with a man like that, I think. What a sensational, wonderful mind he has

You should read it. Now I'm tempted to have another go at it myself. It is one of the few books that made me laugh out load whilst on public transport! It should be even more relevant now after Katrina.

 

As to Captain Corelli's Mandolin - it's sitting there on my bookshelf waiting to be read. Why have I picked it up & put it down so many times now?

 

the catcher in the rye. it kills me every time, if you want to know the truth.

 

the old man and the sea. oh, what joy to spend an afternoon in that little boat. a life's work, right there in less than 100 pages.

 

Unfortunately reading books in school & then dissecting them & then writing essays on them just seemed to take all the joy out of them.

 

I just finished reading "Never Let Me Go", by Kazuo Ishiguro. Definitely some depths to plumb there I 'reckon. An oddly compelling, yet easy read.

[alphamale]

Unfortunately reading books in school & then dissecting them & then writing essays on them just seemed to take all the joy out of them.

Agree BC....but remember that they were just trying to teach you how to analyze and think, it was school afterall....

[lindya]

As to Captain Corelli's Mandolin - it's sitting there on my bookshelf waiting to be read. Why have I picked it up & put it down so many times now?

 

Probably because the format is so similar to Birds Without Wings (another epic - 625 pages of it). He does tend to dot about with his characters, making it difficult to get into the story...ie just as you're starting to warm to one character and his/her situation, you're dragged off to listen to Mussolini having a narcissistic rant, and it throws you off focus.

 

I loved it in parts, got bored in other parts - for quite extensive periods - but I kept plugging at it. Once I'd finished it I was just dumbstruck, and went back over it re-reading lots of parts I hadn't paid much attention to in my first reading. That tends to be how I read books in general; I'll whizz through them - often missing out chunks I think are boring. Then I'll go back and read through the boring bits with the realisation that I need to do that in order to make sense of the full story.

 

I think that's probably the best approach to Captain Corelli - otherwise you end up giving up on it pretty quickly, as a lot of people seem to have done.

[witabix]

On a timeline, memories of literary 'moments'

 

Alice in Wonderland, transported me, with the artwork.

 

Black Beauty, the pathos!

 

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, more escapism, now I love wardrobes!!

 

The Hobbit and Lotr, still escaping.

 

Dickens and Shakespear........

 

Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Jerry Pournelle, Michael Moorcock........

 

William Gibson, Iain Banks.....

 

Any book on Physics or Maths......

 

And all through my life Spike Milligan, my life has been very Milliganesque in places............

[Blind Illusion]

You know, I liked Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone". What did you guys think of it?

 

Interesting that you mentioned that book. I was part of an online group of cyber friends that all took turns choosing a title for everyone to read. This was not a book that I might have normally selected on my own but I enjoyed it. Sometimes my criteria of a well written book is one in which I feel like I personally "know" a character and feel a kinship & affection. I didn't with this one but that could also be because she was not a completely loveable character.

 

Someone mentioned Judy Blume books as being definitive in our teen years and I agree.

 

Now I have to think of others. This is definitely my favorite thread post of all time since I joined LS. Great wondering

[BlossomingMama]

Fiction:The Handmaid's Tale-Atwood

Even when you hould the solution to anothers problems they may despise you for it.

Tell-Tale Heart-Poe

Guilt is a powerful motivation.

Are you there God? It's me, Margaret-Blume

Question and seek

 

Non-ficton:

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

Lost Books of the Bible

The Bible

The Four Agreements

 

There are many more, but I can't remember them all.

I read all the time.

[Blind Illusion]

Fiction:The Handmaid's Tale-Atwood

Even when you hould the solution to anothers problems they may despise you for it.

 

Yes, that was an excellent book. I only read it last year at someone's recommendation. For some reason, I can only think of recent books that have moved me:

 

1. The Kite Runner: by Khaled Hosseini: Things can haunt you all of your life until you deal with it by acknowledgement and feeling.
   
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy : I read that a few years back when I was in a mood that I should read more of the classics & found one that I clearly identified with. Made me realize that some situations can happen anytime and often with the same outcome.
   
3. The Invitation: by Oriah Mountain Dreamer -this isn't a fictional work but the chapter on sadness and the need to be able to sit with one's sadness moved me more than anything. You see, for years, I did the opposite because I was always fearful that it would overwhelm me.
   
4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: by Betty Smith. I have always always been fascinated by my own family history. When I took this book out of the library, I didn't realize that the story took place in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, early 1900s, the time & place where my ancestors settled when coming to America. It was like having a mini-glimpse of their lives. So much did I like this, I just got my own hardcovered version just to have.

[BlossomingMama]

Oh yes, I also enjoyed

 

Memoirs of a Geisha

and

Lovely Bones

[HokeyReligions]

Johnny Got His Gun - about a soldier who lost his arms, legs, sight, ability to speak or hear..... A nurse kept running her finger on his chest and he finally figured out she was spelling out "Merry Christmas". Before he left for war, his girlfriends father set it up so he could have sex with her (back then premarital sex was still a major scandal)

 

The Bell Jar - and many of Sylvia Plath's books.

 

Go Ask Alice - mom couldn't talk to me about anything! She gave me that book in lieu of talking to me about sex and drugs.

 

The Happy Hollisters (when I was in grade school) and

 

The Trixie Belden mystery books (I have them all still!)