Books which blew my mind

Last night on the way home I looked up some facts about novels, because I am venturing to read "War and Peace," and we were wondering what was the longest novel ever written. Something interesting I found was that Tolstoy didn't regard "War and Peace" a novel. I also got a link which showed the BBC big reads, which was a readers choice on novels. I looked at the top 200 and was amazed that I have read a few of the top 200 on the list and more in the list of 20.

Reading this list brought back fond memories of reading some of those books which blew my mind at the time I read them. They certainly shaped the way I view the world and how I live.

Here is my unordered list and my memories about them. It's hard to pick one or two favorite ones, they are so different!

Brave new world - read it for college humanities class. Amazed by the vision of the author.

Gone with the wind - one of the first English novels I read. Fascinated by the strength of Scarlet. Learned a lot about the civil war, the south and slavery. Quote to remember: I will not think about it now, I'll think about it tomorrow. One of my first favorite English book.

Grapes of wrath - love, love the writing. I remember reading some paragraphs out loud over and over again and enjoyed the beautiful writings as well as the imagery. Learned a lot about America during the Great Depression. Sadden but amazed at people's strength to survive.  My first favorite English book.

Call of the wild - love the passion in writing and in Jack London's style.

I read the following shortly after I started working and when I have free time to make up some reading assignments which should have been done in high school.

 1984 - Amazed and amused.

 Animal farm - Very intrigued. I remember finding the Chinese version of it online and asked my mom to read it.

 Catch 22 - I remember lying in my cheap costco futon reading this book and rolling around laughing until my belly started aching and had tear in my eyes, yet it was not a happy laugh. It was funny but sad. How could one write something that has such impact in people? Black humor it is.

 Atlas shrugged - Astounded for months. Fascinated by Rearden and Dagny and strived to be like them. Joined Atlas shrugged online fan club, but people in the fan club were biggots and had super ego who like to equate themselves to be the hero and heroine. After struggling a while, I realized that the book was too black and white when judging people, and did not allow any human flaw or weakness, which is not realistic.

 The fountainhead - fascinated by Howard Roark.

 The ugly American - liked it very much, amused.

 Ender's Game - first science fiction I read.

 Harry potter - beautiful writing, fascinating imagination. Good read.

 The hobbit - amazed at the author's imagination.

 Jane Eyre - very difficult to read with lots of unfamiliar vocabularies, but love the super romantic story.

  Slaughterhouse five - amazing writing style the flows like no other.

I read the following more recently and love them.

A brief history about nearly everything (none fiction)  - learn a lot. Humorous writing style. Fascination about the universe and how some of the scientific discoveries whereby mistake.

Clan of the cave bear - beautiful writing and use of words. Some good facts about prehuman existence. Fascinating.

Guns, germs, and steel (none fiction) - when I entered into a period of curiosity about Archeology, this book is satisfies my craving and more.

The girl with dragon tattoo - liked to read about Swedish (as I never know anything about them). Good read, very tough story. I rather enjoyed the last book in the series because she finally won.

Here be dragons - my recent favorite which was recommended by a local bookstore owner when I told him I was interested in European history. Epic love story!

There are various Chinese historic legendary books I read when I was a child which were amazing too.

Then it brings me to "War and Peace," which I'm only 10% done.