Inspiring the Artist in Everyone: Writers and Artists Share Handwritten Lists of Their Favorite Influential Books

Some of the writing is too difficult to read.

Invisible man by Ralph Ellison
Clydebourne Park
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

If you click on the names or photos, you'll find links to each book.

Any and all of May Sarton's writings

Same as above for authors Daniel Silva and Oliver Sacks

Anything written by David Adams Richards -his first gift to me was Mercy Among The Children

Thank you for commenting about the writing being too difficult to read. My thoughts also. I will try what you said.

The different graphologies are fascinating!

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie; Anything by Thomas Pynchon, Charles Dickens, Phillip K. Dick, Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna

Anna Karinina - Tolstoy
The Agony and the Ecstasy - Irving Stone
Man's Search for Meaning - Victor e. Frankl
The Profit - Kahlil Gibran

Only one respondent referenced Shakespeare (The Tempest). What about King Lear, Hamlet, As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Henry IV (Pt 1 and 2) and Henry V? Only one mentioned Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) as well, when so many of hers are significant. I saw that someone who posted a comment earlier mentioned Lewis Carroll, excellent, but I didn't see any AA Milne; how could we forget poor Pooh?

Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
The Stranger Albert Camus
The Raven EA Poe
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
Cannery Row John Steinbeck
East of Eden John Steinbeck
The Divine Comedy Dante
TChe Exorcist William Peter Blatty
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
Coma Robin Cook
Lord of the Flies William Golding
The Island of Dr. Moreau H.G. Wells

I remember reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding, in my English class when I was in high school (late 60s). We had an excellent English teacher!

Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

Almost everyone of them. Why couldn't they print it instead?

While teaching A level General Studies, quite a few years ago now, I gave each student a list of notable books I had read included fiction and non fiction. The list was quite diverse and I told them that the list might help them in their future when, like me, they are 'stuck' for something interesting to read. I explained about some of the books and why I put them on the list for them. I then, asked them to write down their own list of 6 books they would recommend to others. For the following weeks lesson, I typed up their lists and handed them out. Very interesting responses when I asked some of them to give their reasonings for their choices.

Harry Potter got me into reading in the first place, and Percy Jackson, Divergent, Scorched, and Unwind all influenced me, and I can't put them down, just as my friends (or teachers who may not be as enthusiastic about this)!

[book:Les Misérables Victor Hugo

Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

i was thinking the same thing.. i skipped some

Ili wrote: "Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

i was thinking the same thing.. i skipped some"

+1.

Interesting question, hard to answer for sure, but I'd say (in no particular Order):

Anything by Arthur C. Clarke, but 2001: A Space Odyssey most.
Ward Greene's Lady and the Tramp
Shakespeare's Hamlet, but which moody youngster couldn't identify with that character, Romeo and Juliet to a lesser extent.
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Gustav Schwab: Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece
E.A. Poe (same reason as with Shakespeare and Hamlet)

And turning from the authors I read with more or less comprehension during my teens to authors that fell in my later formative years:
Stephen King, Mary Wollstonecraft Schelley, Lord Byron, William Blake, J.R.R. Tolkien, Daniel Keys...

Last but not least I need to say this:
Every writer I ever read or ever will read, no matter how I may like or dislike him or her, I'm sure has had and will continue to inspire me or other wise have an influence on my life.

to all the folks saying the writing is too difficult to read, you can click on each list and it will take you to their goodreads entries.

I love books what really inspired me to start reading was Harry potter and the book thief. I have recently been reading to kill a mocking bird.

Jenny wrote: "to all the folks saying the writing is too difficult to read, you can click on each list and it will take you to their goodreads entries."

Thanks!

I tried to keep my list short.

The Bible
The Book of Mormon
Jesus the Christ - James E. Talmage
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Door Within - Wayne Thomas Batson
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Graceling - Kristin Cashore
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
How to Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie
The Iliad - Homer

Here's my short list of inspiring books:

Any kids book by Rick Riordan
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
The Breadwinner Trilogy by... I cannot remember
Many others!

All the Bright Places for sure. Mental health matters and it is so often neglected in people, especially teens.

All the Bright Places

Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

Yes, but when you click on the picture it will give you the Goodreads list with the links to the books below the picture with the handwritten list.

I have so many influential books and authors but here are just a few:

1. Joy luck club (or any by Amy tan)
2. The angel on the square: Gloria whelan
3. The kitchen boy: Robert Alexander
4. Night: Eli weisel
5. Number the stars: Lois lowry
6. Redwall series: Brian jacques
7. Harry potter series: j. K. Rowling
8. The hobbit, Lord Of The Rings, etc.
9. Anything of Edgar Allen Poe
10. Shakespeare
11. The mists of avalon: m. Z. Bradley
12. The dark is rising series: Susan cooper
13. Anything by Yoshiko uchida
15. Emily Dickinson
16. Anything by Barbara kingsolver
17. Alice & wonderland: Lewis Carroll
18. Queen's own fool (or any Jane Yolen material)
19. Diary of Anne frank
20. The chronicles of Narnia
21. Infidel: a. H. Ali
22. A tale of love and darkness: Amos oz
23. Left to tell: I. Ilibagiza
24. They poured fire on us from the sky: a. Benjamin
25. Go Ask Alice

So nice to see people writing in cursive, which seems to be a dying art. And is Lisa Anne Auerbach using a fountain pen?
Be still my beating heart!

I don't known whether to laugh or be depressed about all the "but it's so hard to read" comments. When I think of all the primary source documents tucked away in family attics -- letters, diaries, cards, notes, even older wills and deeds -- that are no longer accessible by people because they can't be bothered to learn to read and write cursive....

Call of the Wild by Jack London

1) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
2) Carrie by Stephen King
3) Harry Potter Boxset by J.K. Rowling
4) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
5) Different Seasons by Stephen King

Of course, there are a lot more books that I love but those would be my main 5. Also, apart from The Color Purple in the top slot the rest are in no particular order.

1. The chronicles of Narnia
2. Emily Dickinson
3. Shakespeare
4. Harry potter series: j. K. Rowling
5. The hobbit
6. The Door Within
7. The Raven EA Poe

Francesca wrote: "1) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
2) Carrie by Stephen King
3) Harry Potter Boxset by J.K. Rowling
4) [boo..."

This is how all the recomendations should look like :-)

Some of those hand writings though. It feels like I'm reading alien

1- The Forty rules of Love Elif Shafak
2- Book of secrets Deepak Chopra
3- Essential Rumi
4- A new Earth Eckhart Tolle
5- Jane Eyer
6- Quiet Susan Cain
7- and other Arab authors such as Ali Alwardi's books, Turki al Hamad, Mohammad Al Ansari, Abid AlJabiri, Taha Abdulrahman.

Andrea wrote: "Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

Almost everyone of them. Why couldn't they print it instead?"

Click on the photo and it will show you a Goodreads list so you don't have to try to read it :)

1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
2. The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
3. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
4. Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
5. Books and short stories by Stephen King
6. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
and so many more!

Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

When you click on the image, you will get to see the list of the books on Goodreads :)

Suzanne wrote: "Only one respondent referenced Shakespeare (The Tempest). What about King Lear, Hamlet, As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Henry IV (Pt 1 and 2) and Henry V? Only one mentioned Ja..."

No doubt those books you mention are significant, but not necessarily most significant to everyone. These are personal lists about the books that influences these writers/artists.

1.) Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
2.) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3.) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
4.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5.) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

There are many more but this is the top 5.

All the writing is too difficult to read except one.

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung- Lester Bangs

Ulysses

Absalom, Absalom!

The Annotated Lolita

Pale Fire

The Selected Poems of Rilke

Infinite Jest

To The Lighthouse

Pity I don't hae opportunity to head out LA way again this month... I would totally be there!

My two big ones are:

After the King

Wollheim's World's Best SF 9 (1980)

I could list so many more, but these two editions are old, beloved copies that have survived much travel and many re-reads.

The first also boasts a Sir Terry Pratchett story, and the latter opens with a George R.R. Martin short that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Some of my many, many favorite books include
-The Color Purple- by Alice Walker
-The Tempest- by William Shakespeare
-Urgent Message from Mother : Gather the Women, Save the Earth- by Jean Shinoda Bolen
-What if: A Lifetime of Questions, Speculations, Reasonable Guesses, and a Few Things I Know for Sure- by Shirley McClain

This post is beautiful and inspirational.

The one book I borrowed kinds took and kept from my mother many years ago, literally saved me many times over and that is by Dan Millman

I've read it many, many times and when we lost everything the original of that book was one of the casualties so one of the first things on my rebuilding list was to replace this book. I'll never forget how much it changed my mindset and eventually me as a whole.

Right now I'm still referring back to by Michele Rosenthal

Both of those are personal use.

Fictional and my own writing inspiration will always, always, unfailingly be by Laura Dave

by Jodi Picoult

"Jane Eyre" and to be fair in writing this, I have only seen the movie a million times, however I have seven different editions of the book and it is on my list to read because I know it's going to be better than the movie. I'm terrified of reading the classics in fear I won't understand them so I don't know if that one counts here. Jane Eyre is special and powerful on many levels and the one quote not from Jane Eyre which makes me think of "JE" is

"If I find in myself desires which this world cannot satisfy, the only explanation is that I was made for another world" ~ C. S. Lewis

That quote always makes me want to be in the times of Jane Eyre. In love with the movie.

Others which just had a very powerful impact on me are.....

by John Steinbeck

by Ken Follett

by Paul Brickhill

by Victor Hugo

Most recent fiction.....

by Sally Hepworth

by Helen Klein Ross

by Robin Cain

by Gavriel Savit

by Joshua Horwitz

by Sy Montgomery

My God, I know I'm missing so many. So many more of all genres, fiction and non-fiction.....off the top of my head the above have all stuck with me in powerful ways.

Erma wrote: "Pity I don't hae opportunity to head out LA way again this month... I would totally be there!

My two big ones are:

After the King

Wollheim's World's Best SF 9 (1980)

I could list..."

Same, Erma. When I read that I wished so much to be able to attend these amazing events. LA and New York were my dreams. I could have made it to so many. Lol, I almost started typing the lyrics to Sinatra's "New York"...."If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere, it's up to you New York, New Yoork"......*dancing to the beat of the music now*. Awesome song from an extraordinary talent. Now that songs stuck in my head, lol.

Andrea wrote: "Francesca wrote: "1) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
2) Carrie by Stephen King
3) Harry Potter Boxset by [author:J.K. Rowlin..."

+1

Suzanne wrote: "Only one respondent referenced Shakespeare (The Tempest). What about King Lear, Hamlet, As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Henry IV (Pt 1 and 2) and Henry V? Only one mentioned Ja..."

Excellent point. Maybe Shakespeare depresses writers who despair of his simplicity and force, "Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch/ One of her feathered creatures broke away,/ Sets down her babe, and makes all swift despatch/ In pursuit …Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase…"

Ili wrote: "Meg wrote: "Some of the writing is too difficult to read."

i was thinking the same thing.. i skipped some"

you click on the list and you can see it in a goodreads-style list from which you can add the books to your shelves.
Why are people so whiny?

Alan wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Only one respondent referenced Shakespeare (The Tempest). What about King Lear, Hamlet, As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Henry IV (Pt 1 and 2) and Henry V? Only ..."

Plays are meant to be seen, so watching the play on youtube or on dvd helps. When I am learning a new shakespearean play, this is my preferred way to learn it. Hope this helps others to more easily access the plays.

Cynthia wrote: "Alan wrote: "Suzanne wrote: "Only one respondent referenced Shakespeare (The Tempest). What about King Lear, Hamlet, As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Henry IV (Pt 1 and 2) and H..."

Well, I'd agree on "meant to be heard"--like verse, songs. Seen, a bit. Very few original performances, compared to what we expect--say, of musicals. Sometimes, none…as with Bruno's Candelaio. Of course, watching can also "hurt"--as with Branagh's Henry V, which cuts all the comic dialect Oivier keeps: say, Fluelen's "Alexander the Pig" " Alexander the Great?" FL, "The Pig and the Great is the same…"