Drumroll... Okay, so it's not that important. This is just a list I put together of the top 100 books that had some sort of influence - either on my life or my writing. Not an easy task. For most of the middle numbers, their spots are interchangeable.
Remember, this list is my opinion only. If you have any disagreements, submit them in triplicate with carbon paper attached. I thought about putting a little note next to each giving my reasoning, but in the end, this was just an exercise in procrastination that I found really interesting and enlightening.
As I may have said, some of these books I really don't like, but that doesn't mean they didn't influence me. Sadly, I never remembered enough details about that one book to put it on the list.
Anyway, here goes nothing... If you decide to post a list of your own, please leave a link so I can see what books influenced you.
100. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
99. 1st to Die by James Patterson
98. The Tao of Pooh
97. To Sir with Love by ER Braithwaite
96. Cass Timberlane by Sinclair Lewis
95. To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
94. Fearless Jones by Walter Mosley
93. Carrie by Stephen King
92. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
91. Big Red – Jim Kjelgaard
90. The Firm by John Grisham
89. Stalking Horse by Bill Shoemaker
88. Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Travers
87. Ninety Three by Victor Hugo
86. Patriot Games by Tom Clancy
85. The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne duMaurier
84. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
83. Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
82. Othello by Shakespeare
81. Firestarter by Stephen King
80. Jaws by Peter Benchley
79. The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follett
78. The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough
77. QBVII by Leon Uris
76. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
75. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
74. The Phule series by Robert Aspirin
73. The Vlad Taltos novels by Steven Brust
72. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
71. The V.I. Warshawski novel by Sara Paretsky
70. The Darkyn series by Lynn Viehl
69. The Nine Lives of Catseye Gomez by Simon Hawke
68. Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson
67. The Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster
66. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
65. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
64. The Gunslinger by Stephen King
63. Star Ka’at by Andre Norton
62. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
61. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
60. Far Country by Nevil Shute
59. The Hammer of Eden by Ken Follett
58. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John LeCarre
57. Marco Polo
56. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
55. The Stardoc series by SL Viehl
54. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
53. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare
52. Murder on the Calais Coach by Agatha Christie
51. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
50. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand
49. The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour
48. On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
47. Calumet K
46. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
45. The Searchers by Alan le May
44. The King of the Castle by Victoria Holt
43. Grow Up America by Dr. Michael Hurd
42. The Mummy by Anne Rice
41. Feed by Mira Grant
40. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
39. 1984 by George Orwell
38. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
37. The Golden Unicorn by Phyllis Whitney
36. The Kill by Allison Brennan
35. The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire
34. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
33. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
32. Unchosen by Nan Gilbert
31. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
30. The Savage Sword of Conan magazine
29. Unwind by Neil Shusterman
28. State of Fear by Michael Crichton
27. Don Quixote by Cervantes
26. E Pluribus Unicorn by Theodore Sturgeon
25. The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
24. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
23. Watership Down by Richard Adams
22. To Kill a Mockingbird
21. King Arthur and His Knights
20. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
19. The Mystical Beast by Alison Farthing
18. The Stand by Stephen King
17. The World According to Garp by John Irving
16. Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
15. The Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum
14. The first six Xanth novels by Piers Anthony
13. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
12. D’Aulaires Greek Mythology
11. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
10. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
9. We The Living by Ayn Rand
8. I, the Jury by Mickey Spillane
7. Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
6. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
5. Animal Farm by George Orwell
4. One on Me by Tim Huntley
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
2. Anthem by Ayn Rand
1. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Any books on here you've never heard of? I know there are a couple I've never seen anywhere other than my own shelves. (And a couple titles I need to reclaim.)
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