10 BOOKS THAT INFLUENCED YOU

12 May 2020, 17:14

During this time of Covid the silly season hit Facebook - I decided to post (on FB) a list of books that influenced me most as a boy and young man. Here I leave out the commentary as to why and how, rather just the list - What's your list look like?

1.MEMORIES OF A GAME RANGER by Harry Wolhuter

2.MEN OF THE LAST FRONTEIR by Grey Owl

3.HUNTER by J.A Hunter

4.THE OLD MAN AND THE BOY by Rob Ruark

5.THE END OF THE GAME by Peter H. Beard

6.DEATH IN THE LONG GRASS by Peter Hathaway Capstick.

7.FIELD AND STREAM MAGAZINE, HILL COUNTY by Gene Hill.

8. JUNGLE MAN by Maj. P.J. Pretorius

9.UHURU and SOMETHING OF VALUE by Robert Ruark

10.COMMANDO: A Boer Journal of the Boer War, by Deneys Reitz

12 May 2020, 18:44

BaxterB

Good list!

Here’s a try, in no specific order:

1\ Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow

2\ The Last Ivory Hunter by Capstick

3\ War and Peace by Tolstoy

4\ The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

5\ The Bible

6\ Resurrection by Tolstoy

7\ All of Hemingway

8\ Something of Value by Ruark

9\ Republic by Plato

10\ Immortal Poems of the English Language (collection)

12 May 2020, 22:27

skl1

1) The Bible
2) Mere Christianity--C.S. Lewis
3) All of Hemingway
4) Billy Budd--Herman Melville
5) Vietnam: A History--Stanley Karnow
6) A Gentleman in Moscow--Amor Towles
7) Return of the Native--Thomas Hardy
8) all of James Clavell
9) Burmese Days--George Orwell
10) Goodbye to All That--Robert Graves

13 May 2020, 09:29

NormanConquest

Ernest Thompson Seton
Hemingway
Tarzan Of The Apes
Monte Walsh
The Life Of Carl Ackley
Jungle Man
Falcons Of France
Any books on WW1 aviation
Jim Corbett
J.A. Hunter

13 May 2020, 09:30

NormanConquest

Oh, I forgot one, H.Rider Haggard.

13 May 2020, 09:38

NormanConquest

sk1, I forgot about James Clavell but I didn't start reading him until I was grown, but I do have all of his, + come to think of it, all those large volumes will be great to reread. I was so distressed when he died + I knew he would never write any more + then a posthumous copy came out + I rushed out to buy it + it turned out to be just a rendition of Whirlwind. If anyone has not read James Clavell's Asian saga, you are in for a treat.

13 May 2020, 12:17

JBrown

These all had lasting influence on me, in no particular order(I couldn’t keep it to ten):

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A Hunters Wanderings in Africa by F.C. Selous

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Hunt Gather Cook by Hank Shaw

Scavengers Guide to Haute Cuisine by Steven Rinella

Maneaters of Kaumon by Jim Corbett

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller

Death in the Long Grass by P. H. Capstick

The Horn of the Hunter by Robert Ruark

Jason

"You're not hard-core, unless you live hard-core."
_______________________

Hunting in Africa is an adventure. The number of variables involved preclude the possibility of a perfect hunt. Some problems will arise. How you decide to handle them will determine how much you enjoy your hunt.

Just tell yourself, "it's all part of the adventure." Remember, if Robert Ruark had gotten upset every time problems with Harry
Selby's flat bed truck delayed the safari, Horn of the Hunter would have read like an indictment of Selby. But Ruark rolled with the punches, poured some gin, and enjoyed the adventure.

-Jason Brown

13 May 2020, 17:00

BaxterB

Scribbling the Cat is great. I enjoy Fuller’s books.

14 May 2020, 01:19

LHeym500

This will technically not be 10, but here I go:
African Game Trails: President Theodore Roosevelt;

Man Eaters of Tsavo: John Patterson

Safari Rifles: Craig Boddington;

The Mighty Nimrod: Stephen Taylor

Zoo Books: A serious on fauna of the earth. It had anatomically correct muso-skeletal pictures, range, habitat, and all that.

World War I in Africa: Edward Pace

The Rise of Roosevelt: Edmund Morris

Hatchet: Gary Paulsen

Death in the Long Grass: Capstick

King Solomon's Mines: Haggard

The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories: Hemmingway (2002)

Kambaku!: Harry Manners

14 May 2020, 01:40

skl1

quote:
Originally posted by NormanConquest:
sk1, I forgot about James Clavell but I didn't start reading him until I was grown, but I do have all of his, + come to think of it, all those large volumes will be great to reread. I was so distressed when he died + I knew he would never write any more + then a posthumous copy came out + I rushed out to buy it + it turned out to be just a rendition of Whirlwind. If anyone has not read James Clavell's Asian saga, you are in for a treat.

Yes, I loved his books too. When John D. MacDonald died, I had the same feeling. Loved his writing. But like you indicated, most of the books that influenced you seem to have crossed your path when you were younger, and you read them in a class with an exceptional teacher, or for me during some exceptionally unusual circumstances. I had one modern book that really affected me. A Gentleman in Moscow is really great. Also, if you like Western and American Indian history, Empire of the Summer Moon is a great book about the Comanche from the 1600's through 1900.

14 May 2020, 04:48

squeezenhope

One of my favorites that I do not see on the above lists is "Trails of a Wilderness Wanderer", by Andy Russell.

14 May 2020, 10:19

NormanConquest

I have to add Robert Heinlein, although I am not a sci-fi buff, Stranger in a Strange Land + Time Enough for Love were kinda required reading in the 60s along with Vonnegut + Fahrenheit 451. That being said about Bradbury + sci-fi, I really liked the short story "The Sound of Thunder".

14 May 2020, 19:03

BaxterB

This could go on (happily!) forever.

I loved Stranger in a Strange Land or should I say, I grok!

If anyone writes, Orwell’s Politics and the English Language is indispensable. Also, his Shooting an Elephant essay is masterful.

15 May 2020, 02:49

LHeym500

If we are going to include more recent reads:

Islands in the Stream: Hemmineay
The Old Man and the Boy: Ruark
West with the Night: Beryl Markham
Reminanences of an Elephant Hunter: Bell
Incidenance from a Elephant Humter’s Diary: Bell
Out of Africa: Dinesen/Blixen
For Whim the Bell Tolls: Hemingway
AH Fox: Michael McIntosh

15 May 2020, 05:13

NormanConquest

skd1, Empire of The Summer Moon is a great book + it even is more interesting as we live where it all happened. If you can find it I recommend "Land Of Good Water /history of Williamson County." by Clara Yarborough. Another historical interest is "A Twist At The End" by Steven Saylor that tells the real + novelistic story of the 1st serial killer here in America + it happened in Austin. When you are reading about addresses that you know where bodies of the girls were found it adds credence to the interest of the tale, not to mention that O. Henry was a suspect. Really. It's a good read. Get me going there are a plethora of great books out there + in all honesty, asking anyone to pick 10 was a chore but the MOST important factor was the asked rule was (the ones that influenced you in your youth) Otherwise this could go on forever (why not? Someone illterate might benefit

)

15 May 2020, 09:25

NormanConquest

You know just saying that recalled the statement from Robert Ruark, "As long as I had something to read I was never alone; it might just be a matchbook in a toilet stall but if there was the written word I was never alone."

15 May 2020, 21:29

umzingele

The Bible is the only book I read every day...

Hemmingway vs Ruark.... I have all of Hemmingways books and have read and re read them - fantastic writer but prefer Ruark... For me..IMHO he was the real deal that did everything without have to promote himself in various ways...the Poor Man's Hemmingway - yes I must be a poor man!

18 May 2020, 23:29

LHeym500

The River of Doubt.

About President Roosevelt’s sojourn down that river.

28 May 2020, 08:35

lavaca

Impossible to limit it to ten, so I'll go with a few individual books and some authors:

1. TR African Game Trails
2. Capstick, from Death in the Long Grass to his last and the republications from St. Martin's Press
3. Ruark, especially Something of Value and Uhuru
4. Miller, Battle for the Bundu and Lunatic Line
5. Hemmingway
6. Species: Elephant: Bell, Boddington, Stigand, Harlan, Nyeschens;
Buffalo: Robertson, Boddington, Flack
Lion: Patterson, Boddington
Leopard: Boddington, Grant
Spiral Horns: Flack
7. Anything historical from the Colonial era through Uhuru, especially WWI, including My Life, as well as accounts of Khartoum and Omderman, and the books by Kenyatta and Njoma and on the Selous Scouts;
8. Richard Harlan's books deserve a special place -- The Hunting Imperative; African Legend.

9. African Hunter by Mellon
10. Torn for #10. Either Selous, or Hunter.

30 May 2020, 08:39

rabbithabit

quote:
Originally posted by NormanConquest:
skd1, Empire of The Summer Moon is a great book + it even is more interesting as we live where it all happened. If you can find it I recommend "Land Of Good Water /history of Williamson County." by Clara Yarborough. Another historical interest is "A Twist At The End" by Steven Saylor that tells the real + novelistic story of the 1st serial killer here in America + it happened in Austin. When you are reading about addresses that you know where bodies of the girls were found it adds credence to the interest of the tale, not to mention that O. Henry was a suspect. Really. It's a good read. Get me going there are a plethora of great books out there + in all honesty, asking anyone to pick 10 was a chore but the MOST important factor was the asked rule was (the ones that influenced you in your youth) Otherwise this could go on forever (why not? Someone illterate might benefit )

I would have to do some digging but the first serial killer in America was along the Mississippi around the mid-1800s.

31 May 2020, 09:50

NormanConquest

Possibly, I am only going on what I have read. I also recommend "The Devil In The White City" by Eric Larson about the serial killer at the Chicago World's Fair in the late 1800s.

02 June 2020, 21:46

jens poulsen

John A Hunter 'Hunter' (1952)
Henry Morton Stanley 'In darkest Africa"(1890)
Rudolf Sand 'Africa still wild'
Bror Blixens 'African hunter'
Martin & Osa Johnson 'Safari'
Jim Corbett books
John H Patterson 'maneaters of Tsavo'
Boerwar books
Tarzan

03 June 2020, 08:45

NormanConquest

Yeah, it's hard to get away from Tarzan, I think it was a large part of every young man's life.

08 June 2020, 02:06

jens poulsen

quote:
Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Yeah, it's hard to get away from Tarzan, I think it was a large part of every young man's life.

Tarzan books and movies was my peek(imagination) into victorian "africa". Later movies like `King Salomons mines`.

08 June 2020, 09:50

NormanConquest

Yeah I remember as a kid swinging in the trees + trying to emulate the Tarzan yell ( I think I did at least as well as Carol Burnett

) I understand that that classic yell was the product of several voices dubbed together; whatever, we all know it. I met Johnny Weissmuller in the early 60s + got an autographed pic.