Poll: Novels that have impacted you the most?

[Koroviev]

I ask this as I am in a slump in terms of having a novel that I really want to read. I'm currently reading Requiem for a Dream every now and then, and I don't dislike it, but I have to say that the writing style, though it served a purpose, does a disservice to me as a reader. Rather than being immersed, I find myself constantly breaking my attention to the story to figure out who the hell is speaking at any given moment.

Tepid rant aside, what are some novels that have not only immersed you, but also impacted you? For me, the best example of this is Crime and Punishment. I was very emotionally invested in the plights of the various characters, and found myself depressed for days following the novel's conclusion. In my opinion, a book capable of influencing my emotions in such a way is worth reading simply because it has the power to do so, even if it doesn't leave me feeling like Susie Sunshine(and who wants to feel like that broad anyway?).

Others I'd add to my list are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1984, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and A Clockwork Orange.

 

[Danzaivar]

"Is a good novel the product of immersion?" should be "Is immersion the product of a good novel?", unless your suggesting immersive games/movie create good novels as a byproduct.

The Hannibal Lecter books (Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal) would certainly qualify, in my humble opinion.

 

[Koroviev]

Writing wise, Joe Abercrombies The First Law; an excellent fantasy series and thoroughly recommended.

For all else...hmm, The Great Gatsby. Such a great book...

I definitely enjoyed the Great Gatsby on my own, but between my English teacher drilling every last ounce of "meaning" into my skull and it not being set in Russia, it hasn't emerged a favorite. And yes, the second criteria is unfair, but I'm a Russophile, so you'll have to excuse me. (It's mainly just the first reason, anyway.)

 

[Ekonk]

Oryx & Crake, by Margaret Atwood. I never looked at our society quite the same again.

 

[Snowden's Secret]

I vividly remember Catch-22, for it's uncanny ability to drum the themes of mortality & human moral cowardice & fickleties into me, lessons which proved all too relevant to life in general. As for immersion, well, it did a pretty good job at that too.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I'd actually say Metro 2033... It was so spiritualistic and ideological that it took me by surprise.

It was amazing...

 

[Axolotl]

I finished reading The Trial today. That's had an impact upon me.

Beyond that I really can't think of many.

 

[Koroviev]

Kafka on the Shore. It pretty much defines me as a person, if my life was slightly more surreal.

On top of that, American Psycho really affected me for some reason. Not because of it's explicit nature, but because it really is brilliant in deconstructing certain aspects of the human condition, whether that be a stand alone complex, an inferiority complex, whatever.

Kafka on the Shore has actually been on my to-read least for quite a while, though I'll have to add American Psycho.

 

[mazeut]

Pattern Recognition by Gibson. There are very few authors who can write a book that's worth reading again, Gibson is one of them.

 

[DragonChi]

The Silmarillion
Dune
The Hobbit

 

[Koroviev]

I finished reading The Trial today. That's had an impact upon me.

Beyond that I really can't think of many.

I love Franz Kafka's writing, but I have to admit that with the Trial I felt a little left out in the cold. That being said, there are certain scenes that have stuck with me, and the premise alone is some of the purest nightmare fodder.

 

[Koroviev]

Pattern Recognition by Gibson. There are very few authors who can write a book that's worth reading again, Gibson is one of them.

How would you say it compares to Necromancer? Necromancer definitely didn't make me a fan, but perhaps I was looking in the wrong place.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Lovecraftian stuff just really gets me going. It's the narration that really does it fo rme, since I do consider the Artemis Fowl series good, it just doesn't really...immerse me that much.

 

[Axolotl]

I finished reading The Trial today. That's had an impact upon me.

Beyond that I really can't think of many.

I love Franz Kafka's writing, but I have to admit that with the Trial I felt a little left out in the cold. That being said, there are certain scenes that have stuck with me, and the premise alone is some of the purest nightmare fodder.

What I liked about it was how the sheer corruption and constraining beaurocracy of the legal system is shown to have spread to all levels of society so that even K is a fairly ammoral and unsymapathetic character.

It's certainly a hard read though, I'm now stuck wondering whether to read something of Kurt Vonnegut or start reading a Brave New World.

 

[Koroviev]

Lovecraftian stuff just really gets me going. It's the narration that really does it fo rme, since I do consider the Artemis Fowl series good, it just doesn't really...immerse me that much.

I find Lovecraft to be interesting, but not particularly immersive. In my opinion, there needs to be an edition of his works for people who struggle to stomach purple prose. If it weren't for the writing, I think the stories would most certainly have a lot to offer.

 

[Delock]

Night Angel Trilogy and the Republic Commando books both got to me. I actually liked a lot of the characters and whenever the former decided to off one, it was actually very heavy. The latter of course had several great points as well.

Spoiler

Fi's fate in the third (I think) book had me in shock, and up until the final part of the book gave me a hollow feeling that just wouldn't go away. Here was the comic relief guy, as well as the one you'd grown to pity as you got to see through his eyes during the story, suddenly near to death, in a coma where he is almost killed due to being determined to be a waste of resources, almost desposed of again due to the fact that he was "property" rather than a person, and being told at the end that he would never be the same again. Traviss chose the exact right person to make you feel for them the whole way through.

 

[Betancore]

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. But about the immersion thing, I found that even though it was almost in another language, I didn't keep stopping to think what was happening. It just worked. I did end up reading it several times, but less because I had to and more because I wanted to. Did help though, since now I more or less know what they're saying without having to guess.

 

[Koroviev]

I finished reading The Trial today. That's had an impact upon me.

Beyond that I really can't think of many.

I love Franz Kafka's writing, but I have to admit that with the Trial I felt a little left out in the cold. That being said, there are certain scenes that have stuck with me, and the premise alone is some of the purest nightmare fodder.

What I liked about it was how the sheer corruption and constraining beaurocracy of the legal system is shown to have spread to all levels of society so that even K is a fairly ammoral and unsymapathetic character.

It's certainly a hard read though, I'm now stuck wondering whether to read something of Kurt Vonnegut or start reading a Brave New World.

Yes, it is. I will never understand why some authors are so afraid of paragraph breaks. To use an analogy, why shove a whole sandwich in your mouth, when you could simply take a bite and actually enjoy it?

And that depends on what you're looking for at the moment. I have a thing for dystopian societies, so I would say Brave New World, but Kurt Vonnegut is usually a fairly quick, entertaining read.