My top 10 most influential books

My top 10 most influential books

Hey friends and readers,

You voted for what kind of post you’d like me to do for my birthday, November 16th, so here it is. My top 10 favorite fiction books that influenced me the most.

1. Silence - Shusaku Endo

This is the book that influenced me the most as it helped push me back into going to church on my own and praying there more frequently. It also helped me dive deeper into my own understanding of personal faith. It made me think how far I would go and what it means to me. It gave me more hope and more strength in the face of long term struggles.

2. A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter Miller

This book has everything I like combined into one, and it was a genre starter. An incredible blend of religion, philosophy, horror and comedy put this story at my second most influential and favorite. This book also has the best dialogue I have ever read. The way this book influenced me was giving me more confidence in writing my faith based horror genre, and also it made me ponder about our true legacy in the world.

3. Dune - Frank Herbert

This book was incredibly influential during my teen years. I had my emails and messenger names all based on Dune. Obviously besides being one of the smartest books about corruption by power, Herbert also gets deeper into understanding how to take on human fears, and that’s the part that influenced me the most.

4. Interview with a vampire - Anne Rice

Another book from my teen years. It was my favorite fiction book in high school. I didn’t know it at the time, but eventually this writing style became my favorite way of writing my own fiction, as I transitioned from third person books to first, or blend of the two. The beauty of Anne’s writing greatly influenced me. I loved the atmosphere and the setting. Even thought it’s been long since I’ve read it, some scenes still linger with me.

5. Lord of the rings/Hobbit - Tolkien

A great classic and perhaps the greatest work of fiction ever. There is much wisdom in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The Hobbit was my favorite childhood book, while I came to appreciate LOTR only much later as an adult. Biggest influence from these works is the inspiration that we can draw as far as taking on the darkness within ourselves and on the outside.   

6. Cthulhu Mythos - Lovecraft

Lovecraft had the most unique way of writing horror. His writing has influenced many other books, games, films, etc. Including some of my own. The biggest influence from Lovecraft that we can observe is in some of my Paradise trilogy.

7. Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle    

These stories is another example of something that influenced my own writing and creation of atmosphere. One of my favorite things about Sherlock books is not even the actions/deductions, but the descriptions of the city, the streets, homes, rooms. Doyle did it in such a way that didn’t drag, yet you felt like you were there.

8. The Witcher - Adrzej Spakowski

I love The Witcher books for the entertainment value, but also for the philosophy behind them. The three big themes that run in these books are; You can’t predict the future, evil is evil, don’t judge the book by its cover.

9. I am legend - Richard Matheson

This book was influential for me because of the way it addressed loneliness, personal fears, change and adversity. All that while brining in a unique element of horror. In a certain way it reminded me of the last book on our list…

10. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

This book is influential for me because of what it says about society. The addictions, the brainwashing using addictions and human weakness. It is very relevant to any age and any time.

Hope you enjoyed the list!

God bless!