Books That Make You Enjoy Life

What are books you've read that are enjoyable and fulfilling? Books that after you read them you said I feel like I know myself better, and I feel like I am more in touch with humanity. That is the general idea of what I'm looking for. You can post a reply without reading on or read on about why I am looking for help finding books.

I've spent the large part of the last four years training and studying. I've read numerous books on philosophy, science, and history which has helped me to become knowledgeable, but to what end? Through reading all of this there has been something missing and that is fulfillment. I've been too busy to simply pick up a book and read it for enjoyment. I've been missing out on the "literature" side of reading in favor of dry readings in the quest for knowledge.

I feel like I've lost a piece of who I am by immersing myself in exclusively dry reading. There seems to be something more "alive", possibly even more "human" about people who read and study literature compared to people who study philosophy, science, and history. I say this as a philosopher who doesn't necessarily regret his choice, but does see the value in reading and studying literature.

It seems the dryness of my readings has spilled over into other aspects of my life... my relationships in particular. My emotions are dulled, I don't feel close to anyone, I've taken to drinking more and more, but to what end?

It is in this state that I ask your assistance. I feel like I am not only struggling to develop and maintain meaningful relationships, I feel like I'm losing a part of myself. Maybe this is what some people describe as "just getting older," but I don't buy it! Help me find this lost part of myself! I am asking specifically for books in this thread, but don't feel like you are just limited to commenting about books! Thanks.

reply to post by Wang Tang


Try "The Tao of Pooh" - and if you enjoy that, "The Te of Piglet". Real Taoist philosophy beautifully written using the Pooh characters. Short, light, humorous yet full of wisdom. I know it sounds weird, but sometimes the best things are.

Without really naming any book in particular, you should try comic books. That should entertain you seriously. lol

Taro Gomi
"Everyone Poops"

In my case, I find that some books where the characters are animals provide a "change of pace" to more dense reading. Animal books can be great literature too. In this vein I would recommend "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach and "Watership Down" by Richard Adams.

Thanks for sharing your feelings. I have sometimes felt the same way. I don't know your age, but I think that these feelings are sometimes brought by the knowledge that one is getting old and the belief that one has not really done much in this life. These negative feelings are generally exaggerated - some people are their own worst critics and tend to focus on some perceived deficiencies instead on all the positives they have. Bringing some spirituality in one's life, be it religion, meditation, or the like, will help a lot.

reply to post by Wang Tang


The majority of my technical and purely informational reading is done online, with the normal exceptions, like biographies, and for example A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. However, one of my most favoured pastimes is to sit in my room, or on the couch with a book, several cups of steaming tea, and my imagination set to its most outlandish, and read crime thrillers, action epics, fantasies, science fiction, and the like.

I am also a big fan of comedy, and if a writer combines comedy with any one of the above genres, then I can next to always enjoy it. My working conditions used to be very isolating in some respects, because for a while I used to run a key cutting concession stand on behalf of the family business, out of a large DIY store about eleven miles from here. It was a small stand, and I had to be rooted to it, since custom was once thinner on the ground up there than it is. I became so utterly bored that it actually started killing my brain cells. Their little screams still haunt me to this day ! So bored did I become, that I started writing a personal log of my time there, going into unnecessary levels of detail about the tedium to which I was exposed, describing the sound of rain on the metal roof, the rivets which held together the superstructure of the store, the way the lighting would fail on occasion, making a note of anything and everything, just to pass time. I became extremely introverted while I was there, and this was not my way.

To cure that, I started taking advantage of the Charity Book stand which was next to my little slice of the action. Thirty of my finest British pence would get me a book of my choice, and I had a massive appetite for distraction (because there are only so many times you can sweep a clean counter before you start wanting to insert the dustpan into a passing shopper...slowly). This resulted in my being able to purchase a book of between five and seven hundred pages at nine in the morning, and have it finished by about four in the afternoon, depending on the number of customers I got, and the amount of time required to service their needs. That saved my brain from unhealthy levels of introspection, and was hugely helpful in keeping me alert and ready to greet customers in a cheery manner.

I would read ghost stories, fantasy epic sword and sorcery tales, vast science fiction romps, and spy thrillers, and a boat load else besides, all while at work. It got to the point where I was reading four hefty tomes a week, and staff at the store would look at me with a mixture of respect and confusion (because I look like I fell out of the seventies, and never quite recovered, even though I was born in the eighties, and that is not a look traditionally connected to intelligence and an appreciation for the written word).

The books that have produced the most intense responses from me are:

2001:A Space Odyssey (and indeed every book in that cycle) - Arthur C. Clarke
Songs Of Earth And Power - Greg Bear
Left Hand Of God - Paul Hoffman
The Parsifal Mosaic - Robert Ludlum

The various series of books which have always kept my bloodlust in check:
The Horus Heresy - Published by Black Library , and by various authors (part of the Games Workshop mob).
The Dresden Files - Authored by Jim Butcher
Combat - K - Andy Remic
There are more, but their names are lost beneath the vast pile of cadavers they left in my brain.

The series which have made me chuckle hardest:
The Discworld books - Terry Pratchett
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Anything by Robert Rankin.