Which works have made your soul tremble?

Emerson said that in the greatest works of genius we recognize our own discarded thoughts, which return to us with a certain alienated majesty. For me, this has been true of:

-Most of Shakespeare (Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, the Tempest, the Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Othello, Henry IV and Measure for Measure especially)
-Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
-Dante's Divine Comedy
-Paradise Lost by John Milton
-Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
-1984 by George Orwell
-Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
-the essay "The Soul of Man under Socialism" by Oscar Wilde
-All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
-The poetry of William Blake, William Wordsworth, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Walt Whitman, D. H. Lawrence, Hart Crane, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, the Earl of Rochester, Emerson, etc.

o man, what a good question. there have been a few, but off the top of my head I'd have to say:

-The Qu'ran
-Crime and Punishment
-Siddhartha
-The Bhagvad-Gita (the first 10 chapters or so, basically the whole scenario of arjuana refusing to wage war on his family and god telling how he must preform his "sacred duty". it makes my skin crawl.)

All excellent--the Koran is so powerful and neglected; Siddhartha I haven't read yet but my girlfriend raves about it.

Yes, the Qu'ran is incredibly neglected/misunderstood, its sad really. The general publuc needs to expand their minds beyond the fear and cultural barriers that imprision them.

Read siddhartha! it is little more than 100 pages long, you could probably finish it in one sitting and it will leave a lasting impression.

Another one I've read recently I forgot to mention: Under Western Eyes, by Joseph Conrad. (I found it to be a vindication of Oscar Wilde's belief that thought is superior to action. It is a great, great book.)

And by the way Percy Shelly's Ozymandias is my favorite poem ever. I like your tastes, will have to look at some of the books you listed I havnt read yet.

1984 classic
I actually just got done reading Cats Cradle, and it was pretty good, and two days ago i finished an unknown book called Darkmans By Nicola Barker, it was pretty interesting, kinda along the lines of a modern day Great Expectations, but with more plot and suspense.
I really like classic literature. so One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, I read Siddartha a few months ago, and it was quite nice. Tao Te Ching, Art of War, the Testament. pretty much everything that your told to read from Highschool and on.

Though i will say, that there are two books which i personally will say changed my life, and those were 1984, and the book Anthem. I would highly recommend anthem if you havent read it, like siddartha it is short, but its impact is grave. and 1984, the book that opened my eyes, more people should read it and not talk about it like they have.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy ~ Tolkien
Book of Merlin ~ TH White
Hammer and the Cross Trilogy ~ Harry Harrison
Anything by George Carlin (funny and deceptively thought provoking) :thumbsup:

Schroeppel's "Lessons in advanced perception" can give one pause.



Most folks get scared silly by the second chapter.

'zard.

Herman Hesse's works are a must read for cannabis users. :D