[personal profile] learnedax
The infamous "they" suggest this diversion: "List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you: list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it."

  1. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein

  2. Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

  3. The Guns of August - Barbara Tuchman

  4. Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand

  5. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce

  6. The Warrior's Apprentice - Lois McMaster Bujold

  7. The Once and Future King - T.H. White

  8. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams

  9. The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov

  10. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein

  11. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin

  12. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster

  13. Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett

  14. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

  15. How Much for Just the Planet? - John M. Ford


I found it diverting. My list contains some works that are not lifechanging high literature, but are truly memorable to me, so I think that's fair.

Date: 2009-06-10 02:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bluestocking.livejournal.com
4 Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand

Whee! I knew I adored you for a reason. :-)

Date: 2009-06-10 02:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] learnedax.livejournal.com
For my panache!

Date: 2009-06-10 03:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teddywookie.livejournal.com
To keep myself honest, I put my list in a comment on cat9's list since I don't have a paid account and the ability to edit comments. This was the right thing to do because I'd really like to steal your How Much for Just the Planet. Also, huh, I always thought the Phantom Tollbooth was Roald Dahl.

Date: 2009-06-10 03:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] learnedax.livejournal.com
Dahl is another of those authors whose works as a whole had a formative effect on me, but none of which I could quickly identify as individually a standout.

Date: 2009-06-10 03:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gyzki.livejournal.com
One cent: I applaud your sticking to the spirit of the game, and not listing whole series and "The Works of..."

Other cent: although there's only two titles of your Top 15 that I put on my list too, I think I've read more of your list than of anyone else's I've seen yet (12.5 out of 15). Therefore I approve :-)

Date: 2009-06-10 03:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] learnedax.livejournal.com
Naturally I am moved to wonder, which book have you but half read?

(And since I thought it might be Once and Future King, I see that it could be said to be half on your list, as well.)

Date: 2009-06-10 10:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gyzki.livejournal.com
Once and Future King indeed. I admit to inconsistency in how I count it.

My understanding is that T.H. White wrote Sword in the Stone first, as a standalone, and then later got the urge to write the longer, fuller work, at which point he went back and made some changes to what was now become his preamble (some by necessity, some by change of mind). Me, I devoured the original Sword (one of only three books I had in English, while in Alsace at age 9), but I never have been able to get into Once & Future. De gustibus, and all that.

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