What Books really rock/shock your world?

Originally posted by Absinth3
If you haven't read anything from H.P. Lovecraft, I recommend everyone give it a try. Brilliant horror author way ahead of his time that inspired Stephen King and many others.

I would recommend "Dreams in the Witch House", "At the Mountains of Madness", and "Shadow over Innsmouth."

But ALL of his stories are genius.

Shadow over Innsmouth has been turned into a VIDEO GAME CALLED::

Call Of Cthulhu: Dark corners of the Earth

OMG! I have read (one I'm currently reading) two awesome books I would like to share. The first one is called: Have a nice day! A tale of blood and sweatsocks by Mick Foley. Anyone who watches should know who Mick Foley is as his book is a NY Times bestseller and a vivid tale of his life up to the point on his WWF career in the late 1990's. Mick Foley writes with a great sense of humor and knowledge of the pro-wrestling business.

Here is a YouTube upload of the audio book which is a very condensed on his book. But I listened to this before I purchased the book. I'm almost done and I have learned a lot about Mick Foley, business, relationships and of course professional wrestling.


I also read Kim Jong-Il, North Korea's Dear Leader: Who He is, What He Wants, What to Do About Him. This book is mostly about Kim Jong-il. From his life, to his characteristics, and a little of North Korea. A lot of the took tries to teach the reader about North Korea, how the North Koreans see themselves and the world, and of course the crazy life of Kim Jong-il. A must read!

reply to post by fr33kSh0w2012


I am a big Lovecraft fan,and I have also played that game...pretty creepy in parts,although the story is more creepy.
Lovecraft was maybe the first to develop the "ancient aliens"ideas in many of his tales,and also postulated the idea of a "ninth planet" a year or so before the discovery of Pluto!!

That was where his "old ones" came from.

A great although disturbed writer.

"On the beach" was one that made me appreciate every day..... Sad book but still very possible even today..

Bill Coopers "Behold a Pale Horse" I read while incarcerated and it really is what made me get my life together because if even a tiny bit of what he said is true, I definitely didn't wanna be in Jail when the governments plans that are in motion come into full effect..... (That still gives me Nightmares)

Alvin Conways "The Extinction Protocol" was my most recent life changing read.... That book with all its Scientific Examples of how the world is undergoing changes that will soon create another bottle neck in human history, was amazing.. But truth be told it was a little heavy on the God talk at times. (although it was just explaining how Christianity is really just a reinterpretation of older religious texts like Sumerian)

For me it would definitely by "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" by Manly Palmer Hall.
It is such a dense book, you have to read it very slowly to really take in its full worth.

It makes for a very good read for anyone interested, though I would recommend that you have some kind of background in esoteric matters before reading it,as it is steeped in hidden things.


www.sacred-texts.com...

I've enjoyed a great many books. One author I discovered I really liked is Abraham Merritt (January 20, 1884–August 21, 1943). About any of his books.

People of the Pit (1918)
The Moon Pool (1919)
The Metal Monster (1920)
The Face in the Abyss (1923)
The Ship of Ishtar (1924)
Seven Footprints to Satan (1927)
Burn, Witch, Burn! (1932)
Dwellers in the Mirage (1932)
Creep, Shadow! (1934)
The Woman of the Wood (1934)
The Fox Woman: And Other Stories (1949)

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child make a great writing team if you enjoy science fiction and "paranormal" fiction.

I use the term paranormal loosely. They don't write about ghosts, but they do use the mysterious in their novels.

One of my favorites is called Thunderhead and deals with the Native American legend of the Skinwalker, along with a fascinating look at Anasazi tribal culture and archaeology.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Oh wow,Thuderhead looks amazing-up to the top 10 it goes!
I can't wait.
Thanks G

Have to agree with many suggestions here. Philip K. Dick, Pynchon, Asimov, and Barker are good options.

I was born and raised in Bangor, ME, quite literally a half mile or so from Stephen King's foreboding mansion home complete with the black metal gate adorned with bats. He's probably my favorite author for nostalgic reasons, I started reading his books at a very early age (Cycle of the Werewolf being my first) and whatever he writes I am drawn to and amazed by. The Shining, Carrie, Salems Lot, The Dark Tower series, and The Dead Zone are good places to start.

I'm a writer and a constant reader so my hypothetical list would be quite long but one author I must add who has not been mentioned is David Foster Wallace. He may be my favorite for other reasons, his attention to detail and vocabulary is unmatched. Seriously, even for me, he had me lost in some parts of his books. But I was always drawn in. Infinite Jest and The Pale King are the only novels he ever wrote, unfortunately he took his life some years ago.

Wallace's non-fiction and essays may be the most spectacular though. He was truly a genius. Watch some of his interviews on YouTube

Also, I'd have to add Carl Jung and Noam Chomsky to the list of very astute and mind-opening non-fiction writers.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse
Ummm...those would be...The Nag Hammadi Library...The Path of Purification...The Long discourses of the Buddha...The middlelength discourses of the Buddha...The other Bible...The spiritual Guide...The Tibetan book of the dead...Tibetan Yoga and secret Doctrines...Sri AurobindoThe Adventure ofConsciousness...The Serpent power...Light on Yoga...........

There are a large number of other books that I could add.........but these are among the best of my collection.....that have "rocked my world"...

YouSir

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


I just want to say thank you very much to the OP for this thread!!!!! Also a special Thank you to Smyleegrl for her recommendation to Bookbub!!! Also to those whom have posted reviews to books that they enjoyed reading!!!

I just purchased and got my Kindle reader last week. I always enjoyed reading and due to my eyesight going bad, and my stubbornness to HATE wearing glasses, I gave up on one of the things I enjoyed most in life,,,,,,reading!!!

All of you have given me enough suggestions, that I won't have to worry about what I want to read for at least a year!

But special thanks to Smylee!!!! I meant it! Dinner is on me!

reply to post by PatriotGames2


Wow. Great point. I forgot Wallace on my list but Infinite Jest is a fantastic book. I recently read Under the Dome first King book I read in 15 years or so. One thing I noticed is he has a way of connecting to modern culture without much effort which is surprising to me. He always seems to use current bands or current slang in his books to great degree. I think Barker is a better writer but King just has a way. I recently read The Passage which I thought was really good but am not big on vampires. Although to be real I should have had Dracula by Bram Stoker on my list. I read it as a senior ( high school English project) and it was fantastic.

reply to post by GArnold


Stephen is known as the better storyteller, he has more of an "every guy" general appeal I feel that benefits him. I think a lot of that is what you mentioned, he's kind of a hip dude or would consider himself so and stays up to date with current pop culture. He's a constant reader as well (in fact his #1 advice for being a good writer is to read - constantly, and I tend to agree), reviews movies/TV for Entertainment Weekly, and is a rock and roll fan (he owns a rock radio station in our home town of Bangor) so I think he keeps up on such things. Having said that, I still do not think he gets the credit he deserves as a writer, his book On Writing, is extremely instructive and informative and widely critically acclaimed and I would recommend it to any young writer.

Barker, even though personally I favor King, I love because the dark subject matter he delves into and the fascinating imagination he has. He is incredibly entertaining and his stories are brilliant really.

I love them both though.

Wallace just always intrigued me, not only for his formidable literary skills, but his grasp on our reality and culture and the human condition. I will say it again because it's true, he was a genius and in my eyes probably the most important contemporary writer thus far. I forgot to add Broom of the System to his list, which was his first book. As I mentioned he had some collections of essays and short stories as well that are worth reading. Those that I remember: Oblivion, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Consider the Lobster -- there are more

reply to post by PatriotGames2


Yes I can see Wallace as a genius easily. His books are great and the article he wrote about Rodger Federer for NY Times is my favorite sports article ever. I am a really big William Gaddis fan. Not only were his books hilarious they were shocking indictments of modern America. They are tricky to read. Written in ways that ate very unique. JR is the best but Frolic of His Own was amazingly good as well. Your points about King and Barker are spot on as far as I am concerned



The article of which I speak.

www.nytimes.com...

Carl Claudy - The Land Of No Shadow

Carl H Claudy is one of my favorites. I found one sifting through a used book store once. These seem to be difficult to find.

A short bio...

We used to go to every jumble sale and second-hand bookstore to find every science fiction novel and short story collection available.

Everything from the UFO encyclopedia books (Close Encounters to stories by the famous authors; Asimov, Bradbury, Dune, The Mote in Gods Eye. Some stories I can just remember the names of; "The Giant Killers", a couple of soldiers try and take out a sentient battle-tank while avoiding other intelligent systems like owl shaped drones and ground-thumping communication systems. There were other stories; about a cube computer in a school, or a miniature model of a star that the owner could feed, but some kid overfeeds their star, and it keeps becoming more and more elongated until it becomes a black hole.

The books by Eric von Daniken and the idea of ancient flying vehicles. He seems to have prototyped the quadrocopter before it became a surveillance platform.

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The future prediction books from the 1980's like the "The Coming of the Chip" by Anthony Hyman, a future prediction of what the UK would be like. Predictions of 7 million unemployed, computer databases.

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It's called Wicked
This is the "life story" of the Wicked Witch of the west.
I want to be clear I was never a Wizard of Oz fan and
when I saw the words "3 million in print" on the cover, I thought it was a joke.
Who would want to read that? I would have never bought it on my own but it was a gift.

www.amazon.ca...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367453555&sr=8-1&keywords=wicked

I LOVE it.

Seriously can't put it down at night.

'How I Found Freedom In an Unfree World' by Harry Browne - this truly changed my life when I read it at 17 or so; it needs to be on everyone's reading list if only to explain to you how the world around you works and how to avoid being entrapped in it.

'The Search for Omm Seti' - by Jonathan Cott; this is an amazing biography of a woman who was born in England, was declared dead after an accident as a child, and when she 'woke up' declared she 'wanted to go home'. Her perplexed parents at some later point took her to the London Egyptian Museum and she refused to leave... I'll leave the rest for the reader to find out but it's been called the 'best evidence ever for reincarnation.' I believe that it was a favorite of Jackie Kennedy and one that she personally edited while she worked for Random House.

Anything by Richard Heinberg if you're interested in peak oil and how fooked we are; ditto anything by Derrick Jensen and how technology and 'civilization' are going to kill the planet.

The compendium of work by Ingo Swann that is now available in full on line since his death; everyone should read 'Penetration' about his experience remote viewing for the NSA, or whoever they are. He never found out either.
archive.org.../n3/mode/1up

Although it's considered fiction, I read this as nonfiction at least the first 7/8 of the book; it gets kinda weird in the end:
www.thenewearth.org...

Books that have changed my way of thinking: Alas Babylon, The Rainbow Conspiracy, and The Alien Agenda.

Favorite books aside from the three listed already: The Dark Tower Series, The Stand, Ender's Game, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Invitation to the Game, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit, and various Star Wars Novels, Oh, and I can't forget The Grapes Of Wrath, Slaughterhouse Five, Dead Eye Dick, and Breakfast of Champions.