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netgirl_y2kFirst, I would like to say that I object to this question in the strongest possible terms, because how do you even begin to answer it--
Actually, I remember being asked in a job interview once what my most influential book was, which was a bit of a wtf question. Admittedly, I was interviewing for a job as a bookseller, so it wasn't just like I had a particularly opaque interviewer, although I've had my share of those too. I once had somebody ask me which historical figure I identified with the most strongly, and I was just sitting there desperately thinking: don't say Doctor Who, don't say Doctor Who, don't say Doctor Who.
I've talked before about how I find Tolkien the next thing to unreadable, but at the same time being exposed to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a wee thing set my imagination on fire, and I directly credit it for my lifelong love of reading, and stories, and genre fiction. The other thing I remember my dad reading to me when I was tiny was White Fang; my dad, best dad in the world, but totally unprepared for fatherhood, hence the slightly esoteric choice of bedtime story material.
There's Crime and Punishment which took me an entire summer to read but taught me that some "difficult" books are well worth the effort -- this was as opposed to Moby Dick, which taught me that some really aren't.
My best friend, actually, only reads, like, five books a year, but they're all classics; I read more like fifty, but a lot of them are about spaceships or dragons. And both of those are excellent ways to read; it's like those people who judged adults for reading Harry Potter, anyone who judges you for not reaching some imaginary heights of literary merit is a tosser of the highest order.
There are those books that I'll recommend to anyone who'll stand still and listen long enough to let me. Death and the Penguin, yeah, it's a metaphorical penguin, but the best bit is that it's also a real penguin! Tooth & Claw, see, you don't understand, there are dragons wearing top hats, regency dragons!
There's High Fidelity, which I read so many times when I was working retail that I probably could have recited it from memory; although no one in High Fidelity ever got punched in the throat by a middle aged customer the week before Christmas because she couldn't find the Best of Rod Stewart.
There's Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, which I'd love for the title alone, even if it wasn't set in Glasgow at a thinly disguised version of where I went to university, and wasn't about what a crock of shit so-called psychics are; as such it delights me on multiple levels.
There are any number of the Discworld books - of the top of my head Guards! Guards! the very first Discworld book I ever read; Monstrous Regiment femslash! Girls disguised as boys!; anything featuring the witches - which I can dip into any time I'm feeling down, and know that they'll pick me up.
Yes, this is mostly a whistle-stop tour of books I have loved through my life for various reasons, but--
In conclusion: books!
Actually, I remember being asked in a job interview once what my most influential book was, which was a bit of a wtf question. Admittedly, I was interviewing for a job as a bookseller, so it wasn't just like I had a particularly opaque interviewer, although I've had my share of those too. I once had somebody ask me which historical figure I identified with the most strongly, and I was just sitting there desperately thinking: don't say Doctor Who, don't say Doctor Who, don't say Doctor Who.
I've talked before about how I find Tolkien the next thing to unreadable, but at the same time being exposed to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a wee thing set my imagination on fire, and I directly credit it for my lifelong love of reading, and stories, and genre fiction. The other thing I remember my dad reading to me when I was tiny was White Fang; my dad, best dad in the world, but totally unprepared for fatherhood, hence the slightly esoteric choice of bedtime story material.
There's Crime and Punishment which took me an entire summer to read but taught me that some "difficult" books are well worth the effort -- this was as opposed to Moby Dick, which taught me that some really aren't.
My best friend, actually, only reads, like, five books a year, but they're all classics; I read more like fifty, but a lot of them are about spaceships or dragons. And both of those are excellent ways to read; it's like those people who judged adults for reading Harry Potter, anyone who judges you for not reaching some imaginary heights of literary merit is a tosser of the highest order.
There are those books that I'll recommend to anyone who'll stand still and listen long enough to let me. Death and the Penguin, yeah, it's a metaphorical penguin, but the best bit is that it's also a real penguin! Tooth & Claw, see, you don't understand, there are dragons wearing top hats, regency dragons!
There's High Fidelity, which I read so many times when I was working retail that I probably could have recited it from memory; although no one in High Fidelity ever got punched in the throat by a middle aged customer the week before Christmas because she couldn't find the Best of Rod Stewart.
There's Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, which I'd love for the title alone, even if it wasn't set in Glasgow at a thinly disguised version of where I went to university, and wasn't about what a crock of shit so-called psychics are; as such it delights me on multiple levels.
There are any number of the Discworld books - of the top of my head Guards! Guards! the very first Discworld book I ever read; Monstrous Regiment femslash! Girls disguised as boys!; anything featuring the witches - which I can dip into any time I'm feeling down, and know that they'll pick me up.
Yes, this is mostly a whistle-stop tour of books I have loved through my life for various reasons, but--
In conclusion: books!