Who's your favaorite author and what are the coolest/trippiest books you've ever read?

Originally posted by itsallmaya

As a child, I loved "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle. I found a beat-up copy of it a few years back at a yard sale, and of course, had to have it.

reply to post by Habit4ming

 

"A Swiftly Tilting Planet" was another great book of hers. The Chronicle of Narnia series and anything by C.S. Lewis is good too.

C.S. Lewis was a staunch atheist, until he had a conversion experience as a result of his late night talks with his fiend J.R.R. Tolkien, from which he came to recognize in "the story" something so radically foreign to our human conceptions of justice that he came to see, for him, that it, the story, had in his words "the fingerprints of God written all over it", but even still he described his conversion as one where he was dragged kicking and screaming to the light of truth.

"Our liberation is God's compulsion."
~ C.S. Lewis

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Stanislav Grof and Laszlo are likeminded theorists, I'd recommend reading his book, The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontier of Human Consciousness, if you haven't already. He extrapolates on Jung's theories on the collective unconscious in an incredibly erudite and articulate manner.

I'd also recommend Ken Wilber, his work on the spectrum of consciousness and on postconventional growth is incredibly fresh, although his manner can be a little off the cuff when dismissing other theorists. I'm currently reading the Eye of Spirit by him, and plan to get The Atman Project after this. I would suggest reading his earlier works first, as it seems that collectively his works show the unfolding of his ideas. Whilst the Eye of Spirit is very good a lot of the content is wrapped up in anecdotes pointing to previous works.

Robert Anton Wilson is also very fun. The examination fo Leary's Eight Circuit Model of Consciousness with reference to Gurdjieff and other occult theorists in Prometheus Rising is well worth the read - even if to be taken with a grain of salt at times.

I just started Frank Herbert's Dune, thoroughly enjoying his musings on the possibilities of remote viewing, future seeing and ESP.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

Originally posted by itsallmaya

As a child, I loved "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle. I found a beat-up copy of it a few years back at a yard sale, and of course, had to have it.

reply to post by Habit4ming

 

"A Swiftly Tilting Planet" was another great book of hers. The Chronicle of Narnia series and anything by C.S. Lewis is good too.

C.S. Lewis was a staunch atheist, until he had a conversion experience as a result of his late night talks with his fiend J.R.R. Tolkien, from which he came to recognize in "the story" something so radically foreign to our human conceptions of justice that he came to see, for him, that it, the story, had in his words "the fingerprints of God written all over it", but even still he described his conversion as one where he was dragged kicking and screaming to the light of truth.

"Our liberation is God's compulsion."
~ C.S. Lewis

Wow, I had NO idea that C.S. Lewis was an atheist or of his friendship with Tolkien.

Can you please clarify something: "the story" your referring to is the Narnia books, right? I know the book series were allegorical in that the Lion Aslan is representative of God. I felt very close to what he tried to signify as portraying the nature of good vs. bad and the proverbal lessons of a God-like deity which I loved. Its the religious nonsense of day to day living that ruins it for me. For the record, I am a believer in a creator God.

I feel sort of embarrassed to admit, but I have never read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. It is on my reading list though.

Thanks for the post

reply to post by itsallmaya

No "the story" I was referring to was the Gospel story, also rather "trippy"..

I was surprised as well to find out that Tolkien was a Christian who so influenced C.S. Lewis, to the degree that he (Lewis) moved from being a stuanch atheist, to one of the most recognized and well read and respected theologians of the 20th century. If you like Lewis and would like to find out more about his thinking in this regard, "Mere Christianity" and "God in the Dock" are good reads.

Cheers,

NAM

I studied literature at university and have read quite a bit. I've enjoyed many different authors and have some real faves among them, mostly in the crime/spy/thriller genres, but when people ask me about books I have read that were important to me, one book always comes to mind as one of the strangest and most interesting and revealing books that I have ever come across.

This book is seldom referenced. I've never heard anyone mention it, but it is an important book if one is interested in shamanism, African spirituality and authentic spiritual practices of people in Africa.

The book is the account of a trip to a West African country by a French film crew who went there with the intention of filming ceremonies and spiritual dances conducted by a tribe in the hinterland of the country in question. Most of the book is what one would expect of such a journey, difficulties of travelling in the area, personalities who helped and hindered the travellers, encounters with officials, etc.

When they finally get to the place and start filming, strange things begin to happen and they become the center of a dispute and power struggle among the locals. Some of the villagers are friendly and welcoming. Others are hostile and don't want them filming their rituals.

The accounts of what they saw are very authentic and not spun in any way. They saw ritual practices that I have never seen described in any other book or film. Very strange sights were seen by the author and told in an absolutely convincing way.

The book is a very revealing and almost unknown account of living spiritual practices that go back thousands of years in the history of man. It was written by a French author, Phillipe Gaisseau. The title of the book is La Forêt Sacrée.

In English, The Sacred Forest.

I read the book in English and bought it used. I don't know if it is in print anymore, but it is a very important book in its genre, which would be ethnography or religious studies or anthropology.

It is one of those stories that should never have been told in such detail. I hesitated a long time before even posting this and drawing attention to the book. I'm still not sure if I am doing the right thing.

We live in evil times. Reading this book will strengthen the right people. I hope it doesn't strengthen the wrong people.

reply to post by ipsedixit

Nice. That's the kind of thing I was hoping to run across.

It sounds so much like Carlos Casteneda's experience but instead of a tribe an individual in his case one who was surely the very last of his kind in the Western Hemisphere in the person the very REAL person, of Don Juan.

This sounds COOL. That it might be and most certainly is a TRUE story makes it all the more "trippy".

reply to post by NewAgeMan


The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman is a great book. If someone has read it please reply. A story of a college student meeting a true warrior named Socrates....guaranteed to make you think about life

My favourite series ever was by Philip Jose Farmer, and it was the Riverworld series.

They made a terrible movie out of the series a long time ago, and recently they attempted to do it again and both times they failed horribly at it

reply to post by NewAgeMan

Because one of the villagers took a liking to the author, he was given a much deeper look at and demonstration of the spiritual practices in question. The author reveals what was shown to him and what happened. Things in the village headed south shortly thereafter.

Great topic!

Psion by Joan D Vinge - on how it might be if psychics were outcast by society - you feel like you really, really know the main character, he works his way into your mind as the reader to the point where you feel like you know him so well you could practically be him.

Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee - where young people can discard their bodies and take on a new one on a whim - but it doesn't solve their ennui.

I love James Michner - his books are usually epic and cover multiple generations living in an area, through various phases of history. Some of my favorites are The Source, Mexico, and Hawaii

Some others mentioned Perfume - very trippy and interesting.

A merican Gods by Neil Gaiman - works in all kinds of crazy places in the US and mythological Gods and archetypes and how they might be tied to those places and what might happen if they didn't all "get along" so well.

Thanks to the person who recommended "The Years of Salt and Rice" - I downloaded it and look forward to getting into it this weekend!

edit on 28-0920129-1212 by gwynnhwyfar because: Apostrophe

reply to post by intrepid

Have you read Weaveworld?

No, but it sounds very good and the idea is very original. Thanks, intrepid.

Clive Barker's Weaveworld

The novel revolves around the world of the Fugue, a magical world which lies woven within a rug. Many decades ago the Seerkind (creatures of magical abilities) decided to hide themselves through a spell or "Rapture" in a safe haven after being hunted down and eradicated by humans for centuries (with humans most commonly depicting them as demons and fairies in their mythological tales) as well as being decimated by a destructive being known as The Scourge.

en.wikipedia.org...

I do tend to go for the Dark Fantasy, but the good stuff can be hard to come by. Gene Wolfe may be my favorite fiction author, and his 4 volume The Book of the New Sun has a been a regular companion for the last more than 20 years. Awesome stuff; science fiction actually, but the earth is so far along, in Wolfe's novels, that it becomes a sort of fantasy setting again.

William S. Burroughs
Naked Lunch

I always liked "A Wrinkle In Time".

Re: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I don't know why but that cracked me up, in a gleeful way, talking about this particular book about a bird in search of higher perfection, by the name of.. Jonathan Livingston Seagull!

I'm just glad he didn't turn out to be a lone gunman like all those individuals of the unusual three named variety..!

My goodness what a well read bunch we are, how do find time to read between making foil hats and preparing for the end of the world?
Whilst I agree that reading a real book is a much more tactile experience I downloaded kindle onto my phone. It is so much more convinient if want to read at work or suddenly get urge to continue a book, I have it in my pocket. However having said that, at home it must be a real book.
Favs ? Jeez where to start ?
Phillip Pullmans Dark materials trilolgy excellent read
Ken Follet Pillars of the earth Ditto
Douglas adams obviously
The reluctant fundementalist (author escapes me)
Go ask Alice authour unknown
The little prince Anton de Saint Le Exupery
Pretty much anything byRobert Rankin (Terry Pratchett reads them as well)
Man I could on all day and still not list them all , I'm sure I've done an injustice to so many authors for which I apologise

Cormac McCarthy

The Border Trilogy
Blood Meridian
No Country for Old Men
The Road
etc.

Everything McCarthy writes is "trippy." The greatest (virtually unknown) living American writer, imo. Now somewhat better known since "No Country" and "The Road" were made into motion pictures.

I have found that the books by Zechariah Sitchin to be at the very least thought provoking. I encourage everyone to broaden their mind a bit a read anything by him.

Another favorite... The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon.

In the books, a woman ends up going back in time to Scotland and the Bonnie Prince Jacobite attempt for the throne. There's a whole series of books, currently the protagonists are in 1776 America and fighting in the revolution.

I love these books for e history (Gabaldon does her research and is historically accurate) as well as the fictional plot. Great read, will definetly make you think.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Another favorite... The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon.

In the books, a woman ends up going back in time to Scotland and the Bonnie Prince Jacobite attempt for the throne. There's a whole series of books, currently the protagonists are in 1776 America and fighting in the revolution.

I love these books for e history (Gabaldon does her research and is historically accurate) as well as the fictional plot. Great read, will definetly make you think.

edit on 29-9-2012 by smyleegrl because: (no reason given)

Those are my sister's favorite books also! She's been trying to get me to read them for years. She started them when my niece was a toddler (she's in high school now) and has reread them so many times they are falling apart! Last I heard she was trying to find downloads of them for her Kindle.

I just wanted to add a correction to my first post. The Author of The Sacred Forest was Pierre Dominique Gaisseau. I had his first name wrong.

He was an interesting guy in his own right. One of his films won the first Oscar given to a documentary film.

The book is available in used condition. Here is the cover.