What's one book everyone should read?

[SweetpeaAeryn]

Well, it doesn't have to be just one, but what are your top reading recommendations?

I'm an English major and I read a lot for classes and everything...but there are SOOOO many books I've never read! Wanna help me build my reading list?

Note: Please include the genre of the book or even a quick synopsis, just so I know what I'm getting into. ;)

Oh, and nothing scary, please. I get scared easily!! :horror:

[BlackThorn]

"Cosmos," "Pale Bue Dot," and "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark," by Carl Sagan. Very interesting books on space, science, and humanity. All three are written beautifully and make the subjects entertaining. No dry technobabble here.

Speaking of, I need to go see if I can get a hold of new copies of "Cosmos" and "Demon-Haunted World." Frelling ex-father-in-law trashed and lost mine.

[AgentSun]

frank herbert's dune
douglas adams - hitchhiker's guide

okay sure that was 2...

dave marinaccio, All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek: The Next Generation

that book is HILARIOUS.

[StarsGoBlue]

BT, I just got a copy of Cosmos in paperback, so it's available...

And SweetpeaAeryn, I suggest Watership Down by Richard Adams. It's an allegory about totalitarian governments, but that's the subtext underneath a fascinating story about rabbits facing the destruction of their home, who set out to make new lives for themselves.

*****Stars :book:

[BlackThorn]

Coolness, Stars. Thanks! Memo to me: go look into that tomorrow.

Oh, and "Watership Down" is a total must read!

[vhsiv]

Ok, it's not one, but 3.

'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess and '1984' by George Orwell. If you haven't read either, they'll change the way you think about everything. They're totally ontological books - the former is written in an invented language, the latter is about the elimination of language - and therefore ideas from human experience.

And if you're still hungry for experimental prose after those two, you might check out William Faulkner's 'The Sound and the Fury'. Those are the three most important books I've ever read - but then, many people might consider me a bit intellectually eccentric.

I'm not going to give you a synopsis - you can find those at Amazon or something. If you're not familiar with them, become so - they'll blow you mind.

I wonder why no one's ever tried to film 'Fury'? There's no 'science' in it, but it would make one hell of a science-fiction film, if only by premise. Alas, the spirit of '60's filmmaking is dead...

"She smelled like Daisies..."

[grinner]

Decameron by Boccaccio
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Beowulf

[trubador]

I'm 2/3 of the way thru a non-fiction book: "American Jihad" by Stephen Emerson. Absolutely fascinating and eye-opening!

Once I finish that, I'm going to start reading a novel my nephew gave me: "The Eight" by Katherine Neville (apparently in the style of Umberto Eco's books).

[Lord Loser]

Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand

[grinner]

I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

[AyuRocks]

"Power of One" - Bryce Courtenay
and
"One Child" and "Tiger's Child" by Torey Hayden

(yes.. more than one but still..lol)

I also agree with Hicthiker's Guide... great book :)

Ashley

[chri-baby]

I couldn't Specify one must read because it depends so much on individual taste and emotional state. But I can list a few that I believe are essential both for the quality of writing as well as intellectual and emotional content:

100 years of solitude; Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Rebecca; Daphne du Maurier
My sister Carrie; Theodore Dreiser,
The Metamorphoses; Franz Kafka
Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Possession; A.S. Bayatt
The God of Small Things; Arundhati Roy
The Lord Of The Rings; JRR Tolkien
A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving

Plus the classic staples of Jane Austin, the Bronte Sisters,George Elliot and Thomas Hardy.

[AgentSun]

i really liked that book by gabriel garcia marquez....its really interesting stuff. and crime and punishment by dostoyevky is a fun read...sort of...

[StarsGoBlue]

People should read more poetry. :D

[the_cadpig]

Lord Loser... my mom would love you. Atlas Shrugged is like her favorite book of all time.

And if you can recongnize the extremism of Rand's philosophy for what it is (I, personally, don't believe that helping is futile), then I can recommend it as well.

I also highly recommend Watership Down, as have others before me. That's my favorite book of all time. That and Lord Of The Rings.

Another excellent book, if you can ever manage to find a copy, is Ancient Of Days by Irving Greenfield which delves into the ancient past and is about man on the edge of civilization.

~cp

[Jul]

a must read for everybody??

Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

[KellEy.. "red"]

another must read for everyone

To Kill a Mockingbird

one of my all time favorite reads...

and i'm also into Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series.. it's fictional fantasy, but it really makes you think about the way society is laid out and the difference between believing in freedom and fighting for freedom... addresses prejudice and intolerance, greed, love and loss... my favorite of all of them is Faith of the Fallen...


plus i'm a huge fan of david eddings.. have all but the last of his books... another fictional fantasy writer...

[Lord Loser]

Originally posted by the_cadpig
Lord Loser... my mom would love you. Atlas Shrugged is like her favorite book of all time.

And if you can recongnize the extremism of Rand's philosophy for what it is (I, personally, don't believe that helping is futile), then I can recommend it as well.

~cp Everyone should read it, for it expands your mind in a direction that most people will never venture into on their own...

[SweetpeaAeryn]

Thanks for all of these great books! I really look forward to getting to them all!!!

Right now, I'm enrolled in a lit class that takes up most of my reading time, but when I get free time I am on The Two Towers after reading The Hobbit and the Fellowship.

Thanks so much!!!

As many as you can throw at me are more than welcome!!! :)

[AgentSun]

People should read more poetry.
right now i'm reading sylvia plath :)

[KellEy.. "red"]

i love Edgar Allen Poe

[Pip_The_Great]

The Harry Potter series, that counts as one book, lol

[BaseLine]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick is also a very good read.

[B Sharp]

by Gene Wolfe:

Book of the New Sun (or the individual titles- 'Shadow of the Torturer', 'Sword of the Lictor', 'Citadel of the Autarch'; 'Claw of the Conciliator', 'Urth of the New Sun')

Book of the Long Sun ( can't remember all the titles here...)

Book of the Short Sun ('On Blue's Waters', 'In Green's Jungles' and 'Return to the Whorl')

anything by Philip K Dick - half the movies and 90% of the ideas you see in any sci-fi movie are likely to have come from this demented genuis, and I mean that in a good way....

'Do Androids Dream' is a novella, I think- it's in several collections- it's the story that's in "Blade Runner". I think Dick's best book is "The Crap Artist", but there's a lot of good one.

by Iain Banks:

'Inversions'
'Excession'
'A Song of Stone'

or a a trip into a really strange place- try 50's / 60's sci-fi author Cordwainer Smith.

and if you like those, you might like 'Nova Express' by William S Burroughs. Or maybe not.

and if you're stuck on a plane on your way to a cold place, pick up anything written by Carl Hiaasen in the airport bookstore. You'll warm up and forget where you are. Be careful- you might laugh out loud and scare the person next to you....

[BlackThorn]

A second vote for the Sword of Truth series. For the most part, an excellent series. My advice: if you don't like being beaten over the head with a concept, Beware the 8th Book. :g2f:

Another book: "By Way of Deception" by Victor Ostrovsky, makes for a very interesting read. Supposedly a true espionage story ( :shrug: ), the author wrote about his experiences inside Israel's Mossad. Whether it's true or not, it's entertaining, nonetheless. Either way, Israel sought to ban the book, and I have a special soft spot for banned books of any kind. :love:

*just found out another of the books she owns (not Ostrovsky's) is now officially banned from sale* :groove:

[KellEy.. "red"]

yeahhh.. i have to agree with you there, BT..

Naked Empire was a bit much for most..

[BlackThorn]

He used to weave the philosophy into the story, demonstrating his views through the actions of his characters and the plots. With Naked Empire, it almost seemed like he tossed all that out the window and just started preaching directly through his characters. While I understand what he's been trying to accomplish with the series, it just rubbed me the wrong way to have his views so blatant. Kept saying to myself, "Yes, I get it! I got your message back in the first book! You don't have to be so obvious about it!"

[Selena]

Must reads ...
Shane Maloney : Something Fishy

Douglas Adams : Long Dark Teatime of the Soul

[fermicat]

As soon as I saw this thread I thought "Watership Down". But others already beat me to that suggestion (although I highly recommend it along with them). So I will change my recommendation to this one:

Doomsday Book - Connie Willis

[SweetpeaAeryn]

Originally posted by BlackThorn
and I have a special soft spot for banned books of any kind. :love:


Me too, execpt it's like the one's that are banned from public libraries and public high schools. I learned to love them from my own high school teacher who only teaches banned books such as "To Kill a Mockingbird" (can you believe that's actually banned?!?!?), "The Great Gasby", "The Color Purple", "Of Mice and Men," and many others.

[JadedLegend3]

Originally posted by grinner
Decameron by Boccaccio
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Beowulf

:thud: I love your reccommendations, grinner! Three of the greatest peices ever written.

For a novel, I would say, "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee. In other literature, I would say "The Morte D'Arthur," by Sir Thomas Mallory. Poetry, anything Poe, Tenneyson, Coleridge (ST or Mary), Blake, wow, I could just keep going. And finally for drama, any Shakespeare, anything by Tennesse Williams but particularly "A Streetcar Named Desire," and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," Marlowe's version of "Faust," and many of Jonson's works.


Jacqui :love:

[DRD2001]

I, Claudius by Rober Graves
Anything by Nigel Tranter

[I-am-so-Johns-girl]

"The Importance of being Ernest" by Oscar Wilde

Here's a link to the entire play online:
http://www.geocities.com/eedd88/earnest.html

[recklesshumor]

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain

Any good translation of "Code of the Samurai" by Taira Shigesuke. Much easier to read than Sun Tzu.

[stellar]

Moby Dick by Herman Mellville.

[VBKatLou]

In addition to everything else listed in this thread.

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Tool

The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov (start with the trilogy and then the others - this is what got me interested in science fiction in the first place)

Of Human Bondage - Somerset Maugham

[Palin]

Hello SweetpeaAeryn. :)

My two favourite books are Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and 1984 by George Orwell.

Whilst the former is wonderfully romantic, for me the latter really addresses your question about which book everyone should read.

I've found that this thread has provided some very interesting reading itself. :)

[janey_13]

I pretty much only read young adult novels and I highly recommend the following:

Zel
by Donna Jo Napoli

From Booklist: This time the novel is based on Rapunzel, the setting is fifteenth-century Switzerland, and the story is told in the present tense from three alternating points of view: the happy peasant girl, Zel, about to turn 13, eager, creative, daring; the young nobleman who falls in love with her and wants to marry her; and her mother, who loves Zel so much that she is driven to lock her beloved daughter in a tall tower because she cannot bear to let her go. Only the mother's narrative is in the first person; she's at the center of the story. Her intense tenderness for Zel is never in question; in the wild, beautiful mountains she has raised a wonderful child. But gradually we learn that the loving mother is also a witch--and why. Barren, in anguish, 13 years earlier she had made a pact with the devil and had stolen another woman's baby. Now she sees that child, Zel, fall in love, and the desperate witch uses lies and black magic to try to keep her daughter. The storytelling is poetic and languorous, especially in the Zel chapters, which show Zel cavorting in the natural world and then held in stasis for two years in the imprisoning tower. Teens may not fully understand the childless woman's yearning. What will move them profoundly is the pull of possessive love, the coming-of-age drama from the parent's point of view. Above all, there's the shocking realization that even the best of us, given the need, will sell her soul.


Crazy Jack
by Donna Jo Napoli

From Amazon.com: Here she follows the traditional story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" pretty closely--the cow traded for magic beans, the vast beanstalk reaching up a cliff, and the cannibalistic giant chanting "Fee, fi, fo, fum" are all present. But Napoli enriches the tale with a romance between Jack and a neighbor girl and the mysterious disappearance of Jack's father, all told in vibrant poetic language and studded with authentic details of country life in the 1500s. On another level, she adds resonance to the narrative by creating an oedipal dimension--a disturbing buried suggestion that the devouring giant is a dangerous aspect of Jack's otherwise loving father. In the same manner, the giant's wife, who feeds Jack luscious food and hides him from the giant, recalls his own mother in the aspect of temptress. All this is very subliminal, but even younger readers will feel the mythological power as they devour this exciting story.


The Magic Circle also by Donna Jo Napoli is also very good which is the Hansel and Gretel story told from the perspective of the witch).


The Giver
by Lois Lowry

From Amazon.com: In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price.


The House With a Clock in Its Walls
by John Bellairs

From Amazon.com: Lewis always dreamed of living in an old house full of secret passageways, hidden rooms, and big marble fireplaces. And suddenly, after the death of his parents, he finds himself in just such a mansion--his Uncle Jonathan's. When he discovers that his big friendly uncle is also a wizard, Lewis has a hard time keeping himself from jumping up and down in his seat. Unfortunately, what Lewis doesn't bank on is the fact that the previous owner of the mansion was also a wizard--but an evil one who has placed a tick-tocking clock somewhere in the bowels of the house, marking off the minutes until the end of the world. And when Lewis accidentally awakens the dead on Halloween night, the clock only ticks louder and faster. Doomsday draws near--unless Lewis can stop the clock!

[sny]

I'm kinda partial to recommending The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. They're written as supposed letters from, basically, a mid-level bureaucrat in Hell to a Junior Tempter. In essence, it's a look at Christianity/religion from the Devil's side of things. Not only does it have a lot of humor, it explores moral issues and worship without being "preachy" or dry. But then, I enjoy C.S. Lewis a great deal in general and I'm Christian. I have recommended it to several folks though, and they all found it thought-provoking and a refreshing way of approaching the subject.

But, as a bonus, it's a very slender volume, a quick read, and there is a fantastic audiobook version read with great gusto and character by none other than John Cleese. His snarling, simpering, unctuous portrayal of Screwtape is a masterpiece in itself. If you enjoyed The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, you'll probably enjoy Screwtape a great deal. It's a nicely layered book, and one not a lot of people are terribly familiar with. And all my other likely top ten choices were already recommended.

[grinner]

Originally posted by JadedLegend3
:thud: I love your reccommendations, grinner! Three of the greatest peices ever written.

Jacqui :love: I had to read those twice for two different classes. In a history class with regard to my History Degree and for literature class for my English degree. Decameron is an incredible book... if only I could read Italian... so I can read it untranslated.

[KellEy.. "red"]

another one that really was interesting to me..

Dante's Inferno

*extremely* fascinating concept.. a bit difficult to follow at times, but well worth it...

[NYPinTA]

I tried to read War and Peace once, but it ticked me off so I put it down and just never got back to it.

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov was good. Made me look at the sun in a whole new... uh... light... (but not directly at it. :rollin: )
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Teach you everything you need to know about a coup. LOL!

[r0b]

The Otherworld series by Tad Williams if you can find it it is a awesome book. Itsabout people stuck in vr i've only read three of the books. I was never able to find the 4th one

[I-am-so-Johns-girl]

Originally posted by VBKatLou


A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Tool

If you like this book......you MUST read "Yats in Movieland" by Michael F. Russo! It's the funniest book about New Orleans that I've ever read! :aok: :aok: :aok:

I belly laughed out load while reading it.

[Eve11]

Oh, I liked Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Good one NYPinTA

janey_13, you should check out "Beauty" by Sheri S. Tepper; it is another one of those stories that take fairy tales and expand upon them, though I think it is more "adult" than "young adult". It is a great read.

My suggestions overall:

"The 13 Clocks" by James Thurber. This is another dark fairy tale in the spirit of the brothers Grimm -- I'd say it's kind of like prose poetry. It's a short, illustrated book, completely engrossing.

"The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman. An atheists take on the meaning of life, souls and purpose. The next two books are okay, but the first one is a must-read.

"This is the Way the World Ends" by James Morrow. This book was written at the height of the arms race (1986) and takes an allegorical, fantastical look at the end of civilization through the eyes of one man who is chosen by a tragic, supernatural society as a scapegoat for the escalation of world war. This writer really moves me to feel for his characters, and he always makes difficult, surprising choices. Not a happy tale, but strange, compelling and beautifully sad.

[harveywhispers]

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Stranger In A Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein

"The Narnia Chronicles" by C.S. Lewis

[JadedLegend3]

Originally posted by grinner
I had to read those twice for two different classes. In a history class with regard to my History Degree and for literature class for my English degree. Decameron is an incredible book... if only I could read Italian... so I can read it untranslated.

I know! I live to be able to one day read ancient Greek and Latin so that I can read everything in it's original. I can only read English and Middle English. I can read very small parts of Anglo-Saxon, and can struggle through French, Spanish, and Italian.

To know languages would be a wonderful thing. I regret not continuing my studying of foreign languages.



Jacqui :love:

[grinner]

I wouldn't mind being able to read in a number of languages. That would be an incredible thing... hey... That could be my Mutant power... I hope I don't end up like Doug Ramsey.

[JadedLegend3]

:rollin:



Jacqui :love:

[grinner]

Doug Ramseyhttp://24.188.68.181:8000/cypher.jpg + Warlockhttp://24.188.68.181:8000/warlockII.jpg = Douglockhttp://www.magpage.com/~spidey/FIGURES/images/photos/douglock.jpg

[zap]

John Crowley,Little, Big (http://www.greenmanreview.com/little_big.html) (Bantam, 1981; Harper Perennial, 2002)

[AnnieBW]

I have to agree with "Hitchhiker's Guide" and the follow-on books. Classics of geek literature if there ever were! And "Dune", which I read the first time in 10th grade, but didn't really "get" until after my History of the Middle East class in college. It's especially relevant in this day and age. And "Stranger In a Strange Land". Although, Heinlein became a dirty old man about halfway through the book, and then you start having characters naked in the hot tub with snakes. But it's still a great book.

For "fun" reading, I'd recommend the "Harry Dresden, Wizard" series by Jim Butcher. And the Harry Potter books, which aren't as tough to slog through as you'd think. I think they're paying JKR by the page, though. Get an EDITOR, lady!!! I also recommend "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. I'm about halfway through it right now, and it's fan-frelling-tastic!

- Annie

[littulkittons]

A few recommendations:

Neuromancer by William Gibson, early cyberpunk

Any early Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser for painless history regarding the British Empire in India & Afghanistan

Alice in Wonderland and Annotated Alice

Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landis—world economic history

[AnnieBW]

I forgot "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Another classic!

[sny]

Originally posted by AnnieBW

For "fun" reading, I'd recommend the "Harry Dresden, Wizard" series by Jim Butcher. And the Harry Potter books, which aren't as tough to slog through as you'd think. I think they're paying JKR by the page, though. Get an EDITOR, lady!!! I also recommend "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. I'm about halfway through it right now, and it's fan-frelling-tastic!

- Annie

I didn't even think the word "slog" in reference to a Potter book until Order of the Phoenix. I devoured all the rest in less than 2 days. Goblet of Fire is still my favorite (darned soft spot for Viktor Krum...) but, jeepers... I actually had to force myself to finish the fifth one. I kept thinking "Gee, I wish she had written about x instead of this." Not that I hated the book or anything, but it is by far my least favorite of the Potter books so far. (I'm hoping it's just suffering from "middle of the series" syndrome, a bit like the second movie in a trilogy, where you can't quite put it in perspective until they're all out...)

Yeah, in Order, she definitely could have used an editor with a machete, in my opinion. Maybe I'll change my mind later.

Speaking of children's books, I just remembered another must-read. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry . Only thing is, it always makes me cry. It's a heartbreakingly beautiful little book. Again, nicely layered. Every adult should be forced to read or reread it at least once after reaching the age of 20.

[Hegemon]

My recs...

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Slaughterhouse Five (aka The Children's Crusade) by Kurt Vonnegut (probably the most "important" book I've read)
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
The Outsider by Albert Camus


For all the fans of Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's series, I really recommend reading something by Kurt Vonnegut. It's pretty much the exact same sense of bizzare/crazy/witty/satire humour blended in with some pretty powerful messages. Reading Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is almost identical to Adams' "voice".

[waltersgirl]

I wonder why no one's ever tried to film 'Fury'? There's no 'science' in it, but it would make one hell of a science-fiction film, if only by premise. Alas, the spirit of '60's filmmaking is dead...

how would you articulate visually a book told entirely in stream of consciousness?

[VBKatLou]

Originally posted by Hegemon

For all the fans of Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's series, I really recommend reading something by Kurt Vonnegut. It's pretty much the exact same sense of bizzare/crazy/witty/satire humour blended in with some pretty powerful messages. Reading Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is almost identical to Adams' "voice".

I love Vonnegut. I've got a lot of his stuff. Player Piano, Mother Night, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater. I think everyone should read at least one of his works. Take you're pick. He's written quite a few.

[Eve11]

Wow, this is a great list, everyone. Somebody remember to bump this thread in the summer when I have more time.

We could even do an online book club or something.

[BlackThorn]

Good idea, Eve11.

[SweetpeaAeryn]

OOOH! I love that idea!!!!!

(Except, I read slow...and you all would get bored if you had to wait for me, which I would never ask you to do.)

I'll try to remember to bump in the summer. I've been making a list for myself to read this summer from this list. I feel like I haven't read a lot of the classics that everyone else has and so feel exculded from many conversations and understanding many references. I'm hoping that the list you all provided will help. :)

Thanks again everyone for all these great books! :)

[VBKatLou]

You could ask the mods to 'sticky' this like our other threads with lists.

[SweetpeaAeryn]

I just thought I'd bump this back up to the top with summer fast approaching. :)

[janey_13]

Well, I replied a while ago somewhere in this thread, but right now I'm reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. It's a very interesting read, it flips back in forth in time and between the perspectives of Henry and Claire (the two main characters). It's long, 518 pages, but it reads rather quickly. And since it's broken down into different "times" you can read a bit and put it down and pick it back up rather easily.

Here's a review:

From Booklist
On the surface, Henry and Clare Detamble are a normal couple living in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Henry works at the Newberry Library and Clare creates abstract paper art, but the cruel reality is that Henry is a prisoner of time. It sweeps him back and forth at its leisure, from the present to the past, with no regard for where he is or what he is doing. It drops him naked and vulnerable into another decade, wearing an age-appropriate face. In fact, it's not unusual for Henry to run into the other Henry and help him out of a jam. Sound unusual? Imagine Clare Detamble's astonishment at seeing Henry dropped stark naked into her parents' meadow when she was only six. Though, of course, until she came of age, Henry was always the perfect gentleman and gave young Clare nothing but his friendship as he dropped in and out of her life. It's no wonder that the film rights to this hip and urban love story have been acquired.

[abbadon]

Well if we're talking perennial classics I'd go with...

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
and as a decent introduction to one of my favourite Authors..

Selected Poems and Four Plays of William Butler Yeats

I know you dont like scary..but I feel compelled to recomend any of the works of HP Lovecraft..

Two titles that have stayed with me since childhood are
The Chronicles of Narnia ..and
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster

And currently for pure enjoyment I enjoy anything by..

Tom clancy
Clive Cussler
Mathew Reilly..In particular Ice Station and The Temple
John Case..The First Horseman
And My favourite Sci fi /Fantasy series The Many Colored Land - Julian May

[faustus]

Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
it's a play do we count plays?

Imajica by Clive Barker an indescribable book but compelling

American Gods by Neil Gaiman an intresting view on how gods are brought with you

aything by Maya Angelou especially her poems

any 3 world books by Ian Irvine

[Trusting Illusion]

Hmm, good books.
The Incarnations of Imortality by Peirs Anthony, a very good book series Xanth if you can handle all the puns.
And the Animorphs Series is a good read if one has the time.

[Judith]

If you haven't read it...the Bible. And I'm not pushing religion here.

I wasn't raised religious, and I've never read the Bible. I have a BA in English Lit. Next semester, I'm starting my MFA in Fiction. There's an undergrad class at my University (I'm doing my MFA at the same university that I did my undergrad in) called Bible as Lit. I always meant to get around to taking it, but I never did. Now I feel like I've hit a wall in my writing and in my lit studies. I feel that the Bible is a HUGE resource for anyone interested in Western lit because it's referenced so often, and because the values and stories are so ingrained in our culture. Whether you believe in it or not is pretty irrelevent in this respect. A lot of our archetypes come from the Bible.

Because I want to understand lit as well as possible, I feel that I need to read the Bible. I worked out an arrangement with my adivisor and the professor who teaches the Bible as Lit class, and they're letting me take it for grad credit next semester. I'm so happy, because it would be hard to get through the Bible by myself without any religious background. Cause man...that book has some good stories...but it can be really confusing! (To me anyway). It's not that I want to make sweeping Biblical metaphors in my writing. But I would like that knowledge, that everyone else seems to have accessible, in the the back of my head, both when I'm writing and when I'm reading.

[SweetpeaAeryn]

Judith, I agree. I was raised religiously, and have read through the Bible cover to cover "in order" so to say. MANY people use the Bible for references. In fact, one great example is Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison that I just finished reading, very good by the way, so add that to your list anyone else who's watching this subject. A good grounding in BIblical knowledge helped me get a lot more out of that book.

[Curly]

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Dunno if this is on here already, but it is great. PLease to be reading this before watching the delighful Colin Firth yet all wet in a lake/ pond...

Also most of Yeats' Poetry, and Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg. It's about a lady of eskimo herititage, ascerbic and lonely by nature, who has an affinity for all the many types of snow and uses this knowledge to uncover a conspiracy surrounding the murder of a young friend.

And if you want a book or three that defu description but MUST be read, try Jasper Fforde's "Eyre Affair", "Lost in a Good Book" and "the Well of Lost Plots." Miss Haversham in Nikes indeed...

Enjoy

C

[Third EYe]

Must reads

The Bible
The Septuagint
The Aprocrypha
Mein Kempf
Moby Dick
All of Poe
Bhagavad Gita
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Divrei Torah
Kingdom of the Cults
Bias - Bernard Goldberg
Anything by Malachi Martin
Plan of Attack - Woodward


I got more, but this is a good start

[Antrobus]

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (already mentioned twice)
Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington
Elmer Gantry - Sinclair Lewis
The Crucible - Arthur Miller (ok, a play, not a book)
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Tool

Most definately! I never laughed so hard reading a book in my life!

[Gelfling]

If you like scifi/fantasy I would recomend The Heralds of Valdemar series. She tends to write them in trillogys that are loosly related in their history. Its a great one for good and honor and all that. The first book she wrote was Arrows of the Queen.

[Aeryn_Sun99]

My recomendations

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Anything by Jane Austin (there are lots of good ones)
Anything by Mark Twain (but only if you like satire-a lot of his stuff is really dry)
The DragonLance Series - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (there are like 13 books in the series-i have yet to read them all, but the ones I've read are very good)

well, that's it for now...But i'm sure i'll come up with more...

[TokyoScaper]

Has anyone mentioned Ender's Game (but stop there before Card gets hacked out).
Anything by Hemingway.
I have to add my vote for Foundation, Dune (only the ones written by Frank Herbert), Lord of the Rings, Hobbit.

I think that some of my young adult favorites were Heinlien's like Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and Space Cadet. I used to love the young adult section in the library - you can fan some real classics there.

Agony and the Ectasy

I loved all the old Authur Conan Doyle Sherlock Homes mysteries - just like reading a bit of history as current events. Who could ever forget the Outsiders or A Separate Piece?
I'd also vote for Chronicles of Narnia.

Stephen Donaldson's tales of Thomas Convenant the Unbeliever although very dark. The first series is more imaginative than anything that you'll find in fantasy. Fantasy fiction is now just endless clones of the Sword of Shanara (which I would reccomend, but just the first one).

Muruakami - both of them.

David McCullough

David Brin

Arthur C. Clarke.

Robert Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs

I'm now very sad. I used to read a book (or more) a week. Now I'm lucky if I read a book a year.

[TokyoScaper]

Oh, I almost forgot Colleen McCullough (sp) First Man in Rome series. Fantastic books leading up from the end of the Roman Republic to the rise of Caesar. She really makes you believe in the world of 2000 years ago and makes your morn for what could have been had Western Civilization continued along that path. Sure, there was brutality, wars and slavery but almost every single important civil institution we have can be traced to Rome.