Salvatore's Book Picks
These are the books I've
read that really stood out, really held me and even changed my life.
--R. A. Salvatore
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings:
Of course, this series was the first on my list. To say that J. R. R. Tolkien inspired me would be a great understatement; the man changed my life. Until I had read these books, I had no idea that you could even write a book like this. Sure, I had read some science fiction, but this was different, this was magical. I was in college when I read these, on an unexpected break (a blizzard shut the school down for a week). When I got back, the first thing I did was change my major from computer science to technical writing, so that my curriculum would include many more literature classes.
The Dead (a novella by James Joyce):
Simply put, this is the finest writing I've ever encountered. It's not the story, or even the characters, but just the wonderful rhythm of the words. Whenever I get cocky as a writer, I read the last three pages of The Dead out loud and I am humbled.
The Peanuts books:
I have a collection of all the early (circa 1960) Charlie Brown books by Charles Shultz. I wouldn't sell them for a million dollars. These were the books I grew up with, often bagging school just to sit in my room and spend the day with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus (my favorite) and the rest of the gang. Even as a youngster, I recognized so much embedded truth there about the human condition. I saw my friends in Shultz's characters, and myself--usually those parts of myself I didn't like and didn't really understand, in the insecurities of Charlie Brown. When Lucy put up her psychology stand, she really was listening to me and helping me sort things out.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller:
I read this book while working in a factory, standing in a freezing room, making sure an extruder didn't explode. This book perfectly captured the human condition, the fatal flaw of pride, the fight between science and religion that I find so relevant today. I don't know what it was about those characters, but they've stayed with me and haunted me.
The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks:
After I read Tolkien, I found myself disappointed again and again in trying to follow it up. Then I picked up the first Shannara series (Elfstones was my favorite), and the magic was turned on again. I read an article that gave Terry Brooks credit for reviving fantasy, and I whole-heartedly agree.
Salem's Lot by Stephen King:
This was the book that clobbered me, the horrifying read that kept me awake at night. Early one morning (I was about two-thirds of the way through the book), I woke up with a start. My room was dark, dawn still two hours away, and I felt as though I was being watched. Without moving my head (any movement would surely bring the vampires swarming), I let my gaze shift about the room, and there it was, an pale blue eye staring at me from across the way. I lay there in terror (now, you have to understand that I was not a little kid, but a high school senior, an avid weightlifter, an athlete, etc.). I kept glancing at the clock, praying that the sun would hurry up an brighten the room. Well, finally, mercifully, the room grew less dark, then a bit more, and then I realized that the "eye" was the lighted dial on my wristwatch, staring at me from the top of my dresser. How Stephen King ever coaxed that little-kid terror out of me, I'll never know, but boy, did I love the feeling!
"Hamlet":
Again, that portrayal of the human condition just hit me, and rang so very true to me. I was a bouncer in a night club, when these (very cute) young ladies came in and sat at a table right beside the door, where I was working. They proceeded to taunt me with the dumb-bouncer jokes, and after a few, I just walked over to them, took the glasses off the table, then climbed up and recited the "to be or not to be" speech. I knew the play that well. I never could read Shakespeare until I got to college, but when at last his words began to sink in, I realized why he is so revered.