View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week: What are the three most influential books you have ever read.
See Dick run
The idea of what three books were life-altering for me is an interesting one.
I read a lot as a youngster, and while there were times in my life I put down books for other pursuits, I am again an avid reader. (You can find some recent book reviews exclusive to yorktonthisweek.com).
The book I thought of immediately was Hound of the Baskervilles.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the four crime novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes.
Originally serialized in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England’s West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin.
Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case.
I have read many better books, but Hound created a lasting love of Holmes as a character, one I still seek to read in books by other authors.
Number two has to be J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a fantasy novel and children’s book by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction.
It was The Hobbit I best remember opening my mind to the world of orcs and dragons, fantasy realms as wonderful as the imagination of the reader.
It is a love which has endured whether playing Dungeons & Dragons, writing ‘The Black Wolf’ novels, or simply reading fantasy and science fiction.
And coming in at number one would be my Grade One reader. See Dick Run. See Sally Run. See Spot Run.
Such simple lines, yet they were my first taste of reading. They set me on the course to being not just an avid reader, but someone whose career revolves around words.
Without that first book, and the patience of Miss Middlemiss my Grade One teacher I might never have become a reader in the first place.
- Calvin Daniels
Give me Goosebumps
The topic this week is all about the three most influential books of our lives.
Now, I’m sure that my esteemed co-workers had many a word to say on this topic, so therefore I’ll try (key word here) to keep this fairly short.
The first book on my list is one that I read when I was six-years-old. It’s not exactly a classic, nor is it an in depth book that causes one to question everything around them.
It is, however, one of the reasons why I continue to read books every day. It was the first book that I read (by myself) from cover to cover. And that book is… Welcome to Camp Nightmare, the ninth book in R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series.
Since then I’ve read each and every Goosebumps book!
The second book on the list is one that is slightly more classical than Goosebumps. It’s recently been made into a trilogy of films, however it’s first and foremost a book (and a darn good one as well).
It’s the first long, in depth book that I had ever read. And I did so when I was nine.
The second book on the list (in no particular order) goes to J.R.R. Tolkien’s phenomenal book The Hobbit. A book that the movies simply cannot improve upon (how do you improve upon perfection?)
The third and final book on my list is one that most would be surprised by. It’s even more surprising seeing as I’m not a religious person by any means, other than occasionally praying to the baseball and hockey gods, of course.
This book is one that my ma and pa, Leona and Larry, read to me before bed each night as a very young child.
That book: Bedtime Stories from the Bible.
-Randy Brenzen
A natural selection
The only thing I struggled with on this week’s question was the order to put my three most influential books in. Chronologically, the first is Circus Punk by Bianca Bradbury (1965). It was the first novel I ever read and I credit it for making me a life-long, avid reader.
That is probably unfair, since it was undoubtedly my mom, a voracious reader and lover of books, who set me on that path. Nevertheless, Circus Punk was the book that first captured my imagination and illuminated the incredible power of literature for me.
Number two is The Holy Bible. I started doubting the existence of God around the time I found out Santa Claus did not exist. If my own parents and everybody else had been lying to me about the fat elf in red, it seemed logical.
Nevertheless, while I was raised to be skeptical, I was also raised to be open-minded and come to informed conclusions.
So, when I was a teenager, I started going to church. I visited a synagogue, a Hindu temple and a mosque. I even hung out with a Hare Krishna group one afternoon.
I took the history course in world religions that was offered at my school and read everything about religion and theology I could get my hands on.
Ultimately, it was reading The Bible cover to cover, though, that convinced me God does not exist and that has been the greatest comfort in my life.
Finally, there is Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. This is the book that has shaped my world view more than anything else I have ever read.
It is relevant to everything we know about life and continues to inform generation after generation that has expanded on its eloquent brilliance.
In terms of influence, I was really tempted to put these in the same order, but I really have to put them in reverse order.
On the Origin of Species takes top spot because it has shaped me as a human being more than any other work.
The Bible is number two because the significance of rejecting religion, particularly in a world that is overwhelmingly ruled by believers, cannot be understated.
Circus Punk is last and, really, more of a symbolic choice because had it not been that book, it probably would have been another; I cannot imagine life without reading.
-Thom Barker
