some of the books that did something to my brain

[ritaxis]

Not favorites, because I don't understand the concept anymore.

Just a bunch of books.

Cement by Gladkov

Gorky's Autobiography

The Land of Schvambrania by Lev Kassil

Cyteen by C. J. CHerryh

Double Star by Heinlein

The Idiot by Dostoevsky

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

Hunger by Knut Hamsun

Jakobowski and the Colonel by Franz Werfel

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol ("Charles Dodgson" was what came to mind first!)

a book which I have not been able to locate since about the Weaver's Darling which was probably an extended allegory but it haunted me because "Ninety-nine and Ninety" was one of my favorite songs

Everything by E. Nesbit

Once on a Time by A. A. Milne

the Willy Ley science books

The Poem Book of the Gael

The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle

the Roger Lancelyn Green retellings of Robin Hood and KIng Arthur

He Went with Marco Polo

These oversize, garishly illustrated children's biographies -- The Quest of Isaac Newton and The Quest of Galileo which I think never mentioned Newton's religon or his madness

The White Pony collection of Chinese poems translated by Arthur Waley

A collection of Yegveni Yefremov's science fiction stories

How to Cook a Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher

Half Magic by Edward Eager

a collection of Federico Garcia Lorca poems given to me by my brother when I was twelve

Dangerous Thoughts, a collection of newspaper columns by Mike Quinn

-- and that's enough for now. Just a few of the books that did something to my brain. All but the Bronte and the Cherry I read before I was 18.

Comments

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

Double Star is my favorite Heinlein.

On sf that did stuff to my brain -- I'd have to list Reefs of Space.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

This year I suddenly realized that time wasn't infinite, so I obtained all the Edward Eager books and read them. I tried to space them out a bit so they'd last longer, but I inevitably got to the last line of the last page of the last book, which was something like, "...but he had all the time in the world." And boy, did I feel sad just then.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Okay -- is the last book Seven Day Magic?

Because I almost listed that one instead. Because of "I am Barnaby the Barnaby."

some of the books that did something to my brain

[crow-fjord.livejournal.com]

Half Magic -- by Edward Eager

Checked it out thanks to the librarian who kindly suggested I'd enjoy it. I enjoyed it.

I usually checked out denser tomes at the time (1963), though I barely dented the collected works of:
Edgar Allan Poe, heady stuff for a lazy 9 year old mind.
H.G. Wells I had better luck with.

From those little paperbacks on artists such as Modigliani and Degas, I learned to tell the artist's styles apart but the text was well over my head.

The Phantom Tollbooth-- by Norton Juster, illustrations by Jules Feiffer (whom I'll get back to later, below).
Highly recommended for kids of all ages.


The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935)
by Charles G. Finney

Started reading this at your home in 1970, and never got around to finishing it, but I still remember the beautiful illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff.
The circus of creatures included a Chimera, a Unicorn, a Sphinx, a Sea Serpent, a mermaid, a werewolf, a hedge hound, the Golden Ass, a medusa, a satyr, a faun, nymphs, a Roc, and more.
Quite a little show for the sleepy little town of Abalone, Arizona.

The Sirens of Titan -- by Kurt Vonnegut
I'll always remember the chrono-synclastic infindibulum.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test -- by Tom Wolfe

I Go Pogo -- by Walt Kelly
and other Pogo paperbacks;
There was a nebbish character who only said one thing to the main critters who stared back, with no reply:
"Poltergeists make up the principle type of material manifestations."
I got a lot of mileage quoting that phrase.

The Abortion -- by Richard Brautigan

One of his better books. I also read his lighter works, and figured if he could get away with it so could I!

Broken Wings-- by Kahlil Gibran

For one who thought India was all gurus and garlands, this was a wake-up call.

The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer (1965)

An eye-popping anthology of color reprints from the dawn of super heroes; with autobiographical text by the cartoonist best known for his "Sick Sick Sick" psychoanalitical cartoons.
Feiffer recalls what it was like to start at the bottom in the comic book publishing world in decline, slightly after the initial glory of it's "golden age".
Taking on meager jobs in order to learn the trade, he cut his teeth
signing Will Eisner's name "even better than Eisner himself", erasing mistakes left by guys who had seniority because they had been there a week longer than him, collecting partial pay from cigar-chomping publishers if possible...

Seduction of the Innocent --by Dr. Fredrick Wertham

If any one tome warped my mind, this is it.
I found it at the San Francisco State college library in 1966.
Wertham's clinical exposé revealed the sick secrets of comic books...
Wonder Woman was a lesbian... Batman and Robin charter members of NAMBLA... hidden drawings of genitalia now revealed by the good doctor - "pictures within pictures for children who know how to look!"

Ray Bradbury - everything - ! I devoured all of his short stories over an 18 month period from 1968 to 1969.

Later I discovered the Weird Tales pulp fiction brethren of Bradbury such as Clark Ashton Smith, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Margret Brundage (the mag's classic cover artist) and Robert Bloch.

The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich -- by William Shirer

Left an unintended impression on my 13 year old mind.
Luckily my brain was thoroughly washed when I became a member of the science fiction fantasy witchcraft and weird things club in high school, who's instigators were allowed to run loose.