Top 10 influences – Books / Authors

I admit; this was first posted on Facebook a few months ago, but I believe this post is crucial in terms of my readers* getting to know the person behind this blog.

As things stand then, this is a list of ten authors / books / series that have influenced me, or at the very least, made for books I have really, really enjoyed reading**. Some of them may be shocking, and even plain boring / annoying / downright irritating to you. But then, that is the beauty of it – I doubt there is one other person in the known universe who would come up with the exact same list that I have come up with here***

1. The Bible – Incidentally, the first book I remember reading, and one that I still continue to read (prefer the NKJV version – the others just don’t have that authority in the language for me, and KJV is way too archaic)

2. Sherlock Holmes (Specifically, the Blue Carbuncle) – mum’s the word! Serious! My mum first introduced me to the world of mystery… Okay, strictly, more short-story than book, but this was genesis!

3. Enid Blyton’s Famous Five – credits to Arun for introducing me to reading from the school library. class 6, I think (and Anne was my first crush!)

4. Biggles & Co (Captain W. E. Johns) – By the time I had finished checking out all the Famous Five books in the school library, Arun had started reading these – my first introduction into World War I, and of course, the Sopwith Camel; I still dream of being able to fly one because, you know, “if you can fly a Camel, you can fly anything!”

5. Robert Ludlum’s The Icarus Agenda – My all-time favorite author, and what I still consider the equivalent of Dream Theater in terms of books. Had everything I’d ever want to read in a novel, and more, way more! Of course, The Prometheus Deception was the first book of Ludlum’s that I ever read, but The Icarus Agenda is by far my favorite. Special credit to The Bourne Identity of course… those first 2 chapters are the stuff of story-writing legend, in my opinion; and The Road to Gandolfo & Omaha series – Ludlum’s attempt at comedy was riotous – I mean, who else comes up with the idea of the Pope having an evil twin and makes a genuinely good book with the idea! And years later, being stuck for 14 hours on the road thanks to faulty buses, and then finding The Matlock Paper in a shack in the middle of nowhere made me realize how badly I wished he was still alive…

6. Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – was always curious why (some) people called this the best book in the world; expectations ran very high, and yet, I was not disappointed! The one book that’s made me laugh more than just about everything else!

7. J. R. R. Tolkien’s LOTR & The Silmarillion – Arjun takes credit here – watching the first LOTR movie at Coimbatore was a revelation, and my first introduction into the world of fantasy. That said, reading the Silmarillion was a revelation in itself – the attention to detail, the genius behind the effort!

8. P. G. Wodehouse – I forget which book I actually read first, but this was recommendation from Arjun’s dad… am I glad I listened!

9. Max Lucado – In the Grip of Grace was the first Lucado book I ever read – Ashley’s the inspiration here, and the first, and possibly only Christian author I’ve enjoyed reading.

10. J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series – Sacrilege? For a guy running around the hostel in search of decent books to read, it sure didn’t feel like it – she may not be much of an author, but I certainly liked the characters growing up in every book (I will not even tell you guys about the fake Deathly Hallows book which had all the stuff J K Rowling couldn’t write in her own Deathly Hallows book).

There you go… hope you guys liked it!

* I do hope you read the posts, as opposed to just clicking on the links – I have not received any comments on me blog so far 😥

** If you’re actually reading this post, you already know how difficult it is to stick to only 10 books!

*** and if there exists, and she**** is reading this post, I would surely love to get acquainted!

**** I’m not sexist! :-B