10 to read before the apocalypse?

LD 50

For me, it'd be:
Jarhead
Fight Club
The Dice Man by Luke Rheinhart
Day Watch, Night Watch, Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
1984

I don't know if you'd call them classics, or epics, but they're my fav's

Calina

1. The Brendan Voyage - Tim Severin
2. A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson
3. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
4. The Neverending Story - Michael Ende
5. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austin (although I've read it so often, I'm nearly bored with it)
6. Good Omens - Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett
7. The Princess Bride - William Goldman
8. The Great Railway Bazaar - Paul Theroux

I know there are 2 missing but I just ... can't.

turgon

Have skimmed through the last few lists, and felt that the Grapes of Wrath be John Steinbeck deserved a mention.

1984 is also a must.

EmoMatt15

I second The Grapes of Wrath and 1984..also Animal Farm and The Liar by Stephen Fry

NorthenQueen

Sitting in a bunker during/after the apocalypse, I'd read these brilliant stories:
1. Catch 22 (it would help me to laugh at the situation). This is actually a brilliant book, its funny and clever and makes you feel like laughing and crying at the same time, I suppose its bitter sweet.
2. Disgrace - this book is really captivating, it sucessfully brings you into the world of the narrator and you get to see everything from his point of view. He's an anti hero at the start, but he is much more interesting than a lot of those boring, depressed protagonists, he is really at the end of this tether, but he is still vividly interesting.
3. The Heart of the Matter- this book tells the story of the moral demise of a good, albeit weak, man. Its emotive and it captured my heart. The characterisation is insightful and accurate and the story carries you along in its momentum.
4. The heart of darkness - Apololypse now is based on this, I think, the book isn't about the Vietnam war, its about an ivory dealer, but the story is about the loss of a man's sanity and morality in the jungle.
5. Catcher in the rye - I read this in school and I still remember all the subtle, wonderfully poetic lines.
6. The dark Tower (by Stephen King) - if you are going to read any post - Tolkien fantasy novel series.... read this one.
7. The beach - I can't believe that Alex Garland was younger than me when he published this, its a masterpiece.
8. V for Vendetta - This is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore, its poignant, touching and sweet.
9. The Flood by Gunter Graas. This play is really wierd but worth reading. I think its better than the Tin Drum.
10. Brave new world - Aldeous Huxley, I've saved the best till last!!

IpreDictDeatH

"Making history" - Stephen Fry

"Down and out in Paris and London" - George Orwell

"The curious incident of the dog at night time" - Mark Haddon

"Essays in love" - Alain De Botton

"By the rivers of babylon" - Nelson De Mille

"Nothing to say" - Mannix Flynn

"Communist manifesto" - Karl Marx

"Chocolat" - Joanne Harris

"The God delusion" - Richard dawkins

"The world according to carp" - John Irving

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

In no particular order

American Gods-Neil Gaiman
Atonement-Ian Mc Ewan
Catch22-Joseph Heller
Sirens of Titan-Kurt Vonnegut (I had to be nearly bodily forced to read this, having at the time an unreasonable prejudice against sci-fi, but I can't reccomend it highly enough)
The Portrait of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde
Ghostwritten-David Mitchell
Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov
Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte
Fight Club-his name escapes me atm
Fear and Loathing in Lasvegas-H.S Thompson (<I'd advise you to see that movie at around the same time you read the book)

Messy Missy

In no particular order:

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
The Screwtape Letters - C. S. Lewis
How The Irish Saved The Civilisation - Thomas Cahill
The Bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstad
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Shangai Baby - Wei Hui
A Short Story of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Christ The Lord - Anne Rice
Sold - Zana Muhsen

Bonus Track: Everything by Marian Keyes because she is hilarious and I love her.

sloppydrunk

Just finished Star of the Sea by Joseph o Conner

Wow,, think its my new favourite book

Mr Benevolent

1. Anything by Peter Biddlecombe. A brilliant raconteur, but not a novelist. You'll learn lots about the world.

2. Fate is the Hunter - Ernest K Gann - Autobiography of a typical 1950s airline pilot. Wonderful use of language.

3. My Godawful Life - Michael Kelly/Sunny McCreary. A brilliant pisstake on the 'abusive childhood' memoirs. DON'T read it in public, because people will think you're bonkers for laughing so much.

4. Anything by Jasper Fforde. This guy is a genius.

5. PG Wodehouse. As above.

6. The historical novels of Tom Holt. Olympiad, The Walled Orchard, Alexander at the World's End, A Song for Nero and Meadowland. He's more famous for his nutty comic fantasy, but the above titles are grounded in fact and exceptional.

7. Tim Moore. He's a travel writer, but a 'personal' one. It's not really about the travelling, it's about the ideas. Excellent stuff.

8. Robert Rankin. Zany, insane and brilliant.

9. Das Boot - Lothar-Gunther Bucheim. Utterly captivating.

chenguin

sloppydrunk wrote: »

Just finished Star of the Sea by Joseph o Conner

Wow,, think its my new favourite book

I totally agree with this being on the list. It is a brilliant book.
I have also read Redemption Falls which is also amazing

godspal

F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William S. Burroughs - Naked Lunch
Thomas Pychon - Gravity's Rainbow
Virgnia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
Leo Tolstoy - War & Peace
Gustav Flaubert - Madame Bovary
Flan O'Brien - The Third Policeman
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Notes from the Underground
Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis
James Joyce - Ulysses

thebigcheese22

1. 1984 by George Orwell.... no explanation needed really

2. Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres.... I just loved this book! Its written in a mystical kind of way which makes it a truly epic read

3. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde... His only book and a great read

4. Dracula by Bram Stoker... A great horror story and really original in the way it is narrated

5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy... A great book about society in Russia at that time, and how often the richest are the most miserable, Anna is a really memorable tragic character IMO
(Tried to read War and Peace as well but twas too long for my poor brain! I will do it one day tho)

6. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov... I didn't really appreciate it until i re-read it recently and found out the back story to its publication - Bulgakov could only publish it after his death so never found out the world's reaction to it. This is tragic as its a wonderful, wacky book with great characters. It intertwines the story of Jesus' death, and specifically Pontius Pilates role in it, with the story of the Devil coming to atheistic Soviet Russia. Come on, it has a huge demonic talking cat...it has to be brilliant!

7. Crime and Punishment by Doestoevsky... Another great Russian novel by a master storyteller. He made me sympathise with the character, even after killing two people for money. It is a detective story in some parts, but it dissects human's emotions revealingly and shows that redemption is possible for people even after dispicable acts.

Thats all for now!

deromalley

short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson

Northern lights

Paddy Samurai

Hard to pick just 10 books ,so picked books that i had read more than once and that i was sorry when the books were finished.

1. Swan song by Robert mcgammon (its about life after the apocalypse)

2.Legend by david Gemmell (the number one fantasy classic)

3.Shogun by James clavell (historic linked fiction)

4.Necroscope by Brian Lumley (unique vampire horror series)

5.Dune by Frank Herbert (sci fi epic novel)

6.On stranger Tides by Tim Powers (blackbeard and zombies )

7.Magician by Raymond e feist (the number two fantasy classic)

8.The Religion by Tim Willocks (muslims vs christians @ siege of Malta)

9.The Matarese Circle by robert Ludnum (top notch conspiracy thriller)

10. The Ninja by Eric van lustbader (great thriller)

TinyMontgomery

Hmmm..

On the road - Jack Kerouac
Kingdom of Fear - Hunter S Thompson
The Alchemist - Paulo Cohelo
Filth - Irvine Welsh
Tain Bo Culaigne
Desolation Angels - Jack Kerouac
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

Elbi

I have just finished reading "The Paupers Graveyard" by Gemma Mawdsley (a newLimerick writer) and i have to say I just loved it.
For the first time I have a good understanding of the true horror of the Great Famine in ireland,
Brilliantly written, I didnt want it to end. Cant wait to read more from her.

Miskatonic

A few off the top of my head..can't think of 10!

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
1984 - George Orwell
Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland
The Lovely Bones - Alice Seebold
The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

Kablamo!

We need to talk about Kevin- Lionel Shriver
A fraction of the whole- Steve Toltz
I know this much is true- Wally Lamb
The Stand- Stephen King
The book of lost things- John Connolly
A good and happy child- Justin Evans
Audrey Rose- Frank DeFelitta
Extremely loud and incredibly close- Jonathan Safran Foer

Ah I dunno, I'll read anything but I'll re-read those over and over

SassyC

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - incredible!
My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult - WOW.
The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare - amazing.
Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare - great love story.
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Anything by James Patterson particularly Womens Murder Club.
The Road - Cormac McCarthy - it might actually help you survive the apocalypse.

eZe^

In no particular order;

The Catcher In The Rye
Catch 22
Moab Is My Washpot
Life of Pi
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Barring Some Unforeseen Accident
Magus
The Beach
Good Omens
Homage to Catalonia

I tried to get a mix of fantasy, travel, feel good, deep involving story lines, character pieces and just genuinely fun enjoyable books. Moab is my Washpot is the only autobiography I ever finished.

pdelahunty

1. The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
2. The Informant - Kurt Eichanwald
3. The Lies of Lock Lomora - Scott Lynch
4. The Millemium books - Steig Larsson
5. The Bible - various

Lovecat

In no particular order:
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
I Am the Messenger, Markus Zusak
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier
The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford
The Beach, Alex Garland
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol
The Cat in the Hat, Dr Seuss

jbree

1. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger "he put my goddam paper down and looked at me like he had just beaten hell outta me at ping-pong or somethin." The funniest line I have ever read and the greatest book ever in my opinion. I bought this book in Munich when I was travelling and read it on a train in one day passing from Munich over the Alps to Geneva. Part of me wishes I had watched the Alps, most of me doesn't.
2. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller. "Tight bomb patterns" Do not even attempt to watch the welles movie without reading it first. the second best ever.
3. 1984 - George Orwell - says a lot about our society when people now think he stole the BB idea from Channel Four.
4. A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway - his entire works could easily make the top ten on their own. The greatest novellist of all time.
5. The Black Dahlia - James Elroy - the best detective noir novel of them all, i think.
6. American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis, the last shocking novel. Nothing will surprise me again after reading Less Than Zero and then this.
7. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess- a latter day Joyce, being the pedant I have my bookshelf alphabetised. This sits beside the Da Vinci (shudder).
8. A Goat's Tale - Dermot Healy, the greatest living Irish writer (bold statement).
9. Get Shorty - Elmore Leonard - the punchiest book ever.
10. Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky- still has it after all the years.
11. The Trial - Franz Kafka - the original rebel.
ok i know that's 11 but...

Notable absentees, any other works by those already mentioned, Raymond Chandler- The Big Easy, Martin Amis- London Fields, Nabakov-Lolita, Peter Carey, any, John Banville- the Sea, Albert Camus, the Plague, the Outsider.

viztopia

the dark tower by Stephen King anybody? the last book was a bit of a let down but the series of books were magnificant.

0ubliette

The Stranger - Camus
The Plague - Camus
Mr. Vertigo - Paul Auster
IT - Stephen King
A clockwork orange - Anthony Burgess
The wasp factory - Ian Banks
The dice man - Luke Reinhart
The inferno - Dante
The man in the high castle - Philip K. Dick

In particular, i have to say the plague is probably one of the most amazingly written novels ive ever read.

threeleggedhors

Frankenstein
A Tale of Two Cities
Othello
Human Instinct
The Selfish Gene
The Godfather
The Catcher in the Rye
The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

randomguy

jbree wrote: »

8. A Goat's Tale - Dermot Healy, the greatest living Irish writer (bold statement).

Some great books there alright - I am guessing number 8 is "A Goat's Song" - I wouldn't be so pedantic except that it's a great book and I'd encourage everyone to read it. I read it about 10 years ago and it blew me away at the time. Have been meaning to go back and read it again to see if it stands the test of time.

For Anthony Burgess, I'd rate Earthly Powers ahead of Clockwork Orange, but I suppose it makes more sense to say that they are very different books rather than saying one is better than the other.

turgon

Well I cant say I have 10- to put down.

1984 by George Orwell.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

I suppose Clockwork Orange is pretty excellent too.
Heart of Darkness is pretty great, but a lot more "literature-esque" than most books Ive read, so harder to feel the same passion towards it.

triseke

Lolita by Nabokov


just a fantastic book

pauline fayne

Madame Bovary- Flaubert
To kill a mocking bird- Harper Lee
Amongst Women- John Mc Gahern
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
The woman who walked into doors - Roddy Doyle
Star of the sea - Joseph O' Connor
Jude the obscure - Thomas Hardy
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne -Brian Moore
The End of the world (and other stories)-Bryan Mc Mahon
Paradise -Toni Morrison

GalwayGunner

1. High Fidelity :: Nick Hornby
Utterly brilliant book. For any guy who’s even been in a breakup this book maps out every type of girlfriend you’ve ever had. The little introspections and views he has are just hilarious. Read it loads of times – would definitely recommend it.

2. LOTR :: JRR Tolkien
Epic novels. Worth reading alone to get a tiny glimpse of the entire worlds Tolkien created to tell his story. First one can drag a bit at the start but persevere – it’ll be well worth it.

3. 1984 :: George Orwell
Read this a few times but the first time I read it was around 2003 when the U.S. were stampeding towards Iraq and anyone who presented an alternative viewpoint or questioned Bush & Co’s intentions were labeled ‘unpatriotic’ and accused of ‘not supporting the troops’ and considering that it truly was amazing how a book written 60-70 years ago could still be so relevant today. Brilliant read – really gets you thinking.

4. Animal Farm :: George Orwell
A really simple story hiding some seriously complex issues. Very thinly veiled attack on communism. Genius in its simplicity.

5. The Shining :: Stephen King
Do you know the episode of Friends when Joey is reading this book and stores it in the freezer when he’s not reading it because it scares him so much? Yeah you may have laughed then but if you read this book you really understand how he felt!! Scares the bejaysus out of you. Loved every page though ;-)

6. To Kill A Mockingbird :: Harper Lee
Fantastic story, beautifully told. Brilliant characters that really get you involved in the plot. A must read.

7. Dogs Of War :: Frederick Forsyth
I love all of Forsyth’s books but for some reason this book stands out. About a mercenary who’s been hired to stage a rebellion in a small African state so a corporation can mine its resources – great story.

8. Fatherland :: Robert Harris
The plot of this book is very good but it’s the setting of a post WW2 Nazi controlled world that Harris paints that is the most amazing thing about it.

9. Short History Of Nearly Everything :: Bill Bryson
This book was written for people who just didn’t bother listening to science lessons in school and spent the rest of time since thinking about what they might have missed. Bryson is a fantastic writer – he breaks down what should be really complex stuff and makes it all very readable and really really interesting.

10. Angels & Demons/Da Vinci Code :: Dan Brown
Gonna get slagged for adding these books (I know its 2 books but they are pretty much the same story just different setting). You may dismiss them because they may not be the most literally brilliant of books but you have to admit for sheer entertainment they are fantastic stories that are really hard to put down. Just good fun.

11. Different Seasons :: Stephen King
4 novellas/short stories in one book. Proof that King can do so much more that cheap horror. Brilliant short stories that have led to films such as ‘Stand By Me’, ‘Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘Apt Pupil’ – fantastic read.

Yeah I know that's 11 but it was hard enough shortening it down to just that!
Brilliant thread by the way - always looking for recommendations for good books so this should keep me busy for a while!!

Denerick

Rob Roy (Walter Scott)
Point Counter Point (Alduous Huxley)
Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
Snow (Orhan Pamuk)
Lord of the Rings (Do I need to spell his name out?)
Animal Farm (George Orwell)
Fever Pitch (Nick Hornby)
Kane and Abel (I'll defend Jeffry Archer's good name till my last breath )

Just off the top of my head...

turgon

No 1984 Denerick?

Denerick

turgon wrote: »

No 1984 Denerick?

Read it too long ago to include. I don't think one truly grasps the subject matter at 13 years old...

greendom

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
1984 George Orwell
Weaveworld - Clive Barker
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
The Collector - John Fowles
Indecent Exposure - Tom Sharpe
Hitchiker's Guide to the calaky - Douglas Adams
Perfume - Patrick Suskind
His Dark materials - Philip Pulamn

turgon

You should read it again! Amazing stuff

postalservice

GalwayGunner wrote: »

1. High Fidelity :: Nick Hornby
Utterly brilliant book. For any guy who’s even been in a breakup this book maps out every type of girlfriend you’ve ever had. The little introspections and views he has are just hilarious. Read it loads of times – would definitely recommend it.

2. LOTR :: JRR Tolkien
Epic novels. Worth reading alone to get a tiny glimpse of the entire worlds Tolkien created to tell his story. First one can drag a bit at the start but persevere – it’ll be well worth it.

3. 1984 :: George Orwell
Read this a few times but the first time I read it was around 2003 when the U.S. were stampeding towards Iraq and anyone who presented an alternative viewpoint or questioned Bush & Co’s intentions were labeled ‘unpatriotic’ and accused of ‘not supporting the troops’ and considering that it truly was amazing how a book written 60-70 years ago could still be so relevant today. Brilliant read – really gets you thinking.

4. Animal Farm :: George Orwell
A really simple story hiding some seriously complex issues. Very thinly veiled attack on communism. Genius in its simplicity.

5. The Shining :: Stephen King
Do you know the episode of Friends when Joey is reading this book and stores it in the freezer when he’s not reading it because it scares him so much? Yeah you may have laughed then but if you read this book you really understand how he felt!! Scares the bejaysus out of you. Loved every page though ;-)

6. To Kill A Mockingbird :: Harper Lee
Fantastic story, beautifully told. Brilliant characters that really get you involved in the plot. A must read.

7. Dogs Of War :: Frederick Forsyth
I love all of Forsyth’s books but for some reason this book stands out. About a mercenary who’s been hired to stage a rebellion in a small African state so a corporation can mine its resources – great story.

8. Fatherland :: Robert Harris
The plot of this book is very good but it’s the setting of a post WW2 Nazi controlled world that Harris paints that is the most amazing thing about it.

9. Short History Of Nearly Everything :: Bill Bryson
This book was written for people who just didn’t bother listening to science lessons in school and spent the rest of time since thinking about what they might have missed. Bryson is a fantastic writer – he breaks down what should be really complex stuff and makes it all very readable and really really interesting.

10. Angels & Demons/Da Vinci Code :: Dan Brown
Gonna get slagged for adding these books (I know its 2 books but they are pretty much the same story just different setting). You may dismiss them because they may not be the most literally brilliant of books but you have to admit for sheer entertainment they are fantastic stories that are really hard to put down. Just good fun.

11. Different Seasons :: Stephen King
4 novellas/short stories in one book. Proof that King can do so much more that cheap horror. Brilliant short stories that have led to films such as ‘Stand By Me’, ‘Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘Apt Pupil’ – fantastic read.

Haha.
I dont read....but i've seen over half of those in movie form.

Animal farm 10+ times:P

Who needs books when you have tv;)

jbree

randomguy wrote: »

Some great books there alright - I am guessing number 8 is "A Goat's Song" - I wouldn't be so pedantic except that it's a great book and I'd encourage everyone to read it. I read it about 10 years ago and it blew me away at the time. Have been meaning to go back and read it again to see if it stands the test of time.

For Anthony Burgess, I'd rate Earthly Powers ahead of Clockwork Orange, but I suppose it makes more sense to say that they are very different books rather than saying one is better than the other.

Yea sorry for the glaring mistake, don't know why I put it in as that!
Ihaven't read Earthly Powers yet although I loved both Enderby and End of the World News, i remember getting them both second hand in the same bookshop at the same time and when i was finished them i said, "right, my head hurts, no more burgess for a while," that was a while ago so i suppose i should be on the lookout for Earthly Powers.

By the by...just started One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest this morning, it has Jack Nicholson on the front cover, anybody else hate this idea of putting characters as actors on the slip? I want to make up in my own head what characters look like, not have it shoe-horned in. I remember buying an Elmore Leonard book (name escapes me) that had been made into a film with clooney and j-lo, i had to throw the goddam thing out, couldn't take Clooney as the character at all.
Apart from that I'm enjoying it.

nerdysal

My favourite book of all time has to be The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough- amazing!

Censorsh!t

Hmmm...well, I have been meaning to read some of the books people have listed, like Catch 22, Lolita, Animal Farm and 1984, and many more, but have yet to get around to them. This summer, though, I will!

On my list so far:

Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt. it's so funny and heart breaking, my favourite book!

The Secret Life of Salvador Dali - Dali. This is Dali's really strange, funny (intentionally? I dont know) and interesting autobiography. I mean, so much of what's in this book is so far fetched and silly, you have to wonder why he wasnt thrown into some sort of institute.

The Shining/Carrie/Salem's Lot - Stephen King - I didn't know which I liked best...so chose all!

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess - Loved this book! It was just so extreme and ultraviolent and the use of 'nadsat', the sort of russian-esque language used in it, made it so interesting and fun to read.

Winterwood - Patrick McCabe - Extremely funny and interesting author, this book was dark and satirical.

Philadelphia, Here I Come! - Brian Friel - Did this one for the leaving cert, and although so many of the people in class hated it, I really loved it. Funny and weird. And although on one hand it seemed miles from reality, I felt a connection and understanding in Gar's character.

The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe - funny. funny. odd.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - If I hadn't kniwn what was going to happen at the end, this book would have been fantastic for me. And if that chapter dedicated solely to all those fecking hings Dorian collected over the years had been excluded (although, yeah i get it, it was emphasising his love for material things), great book. A book I felt with a close connection to this was American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis. I had the great pleasure of reading this at the age of 12....and it was shocking! I had to hide it from my parents. Only after reading it did I know why they didnt want me to have it. Although, so much of it talks of utter boring ****, all of that does have a point.


That's all for now...

Edit.... I forgot Lord of The Rings - J.R.R Tolkien, and along with that, The Hobbit

Surly

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
The Tesseract - Alex Garland
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Glue - Irvine Welsh
Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Last Exit To Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Preacher - Garth Ennis
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck

I'm also addicted to Lee Child's books, but am willing to accept that they are by no means 'good'.

ibbie

Shantaram- Gregory David Roberts
Life of Pi- Yann Martel
Less Than Zero- Brett Easton Ellis
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest- Ken Kesey
Catcher and the Rye- JD Salinger
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
Anna Kerenina- Tolstoy
Trainspotting/ Porno/ Glue- Irvine Welsh
On the Road - Kerouac
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas- Hunter S Thompson

whatever19

cannot believe some of these havent been mentioned!
-tale of two cities (Dickens)
-the things they carried (O'brien)-BRILLIANT doesnt get enough recognition
-captain corelli's mandolin (De Bernières)
-pullman trilogy
-sophie's world (Gaarder)
-an evil cradling (Keenan)
-the kite runner (Hosseini)
-memoirs of a geisha (Golden)
-wuthering heights (Bronte)
and finally.....
-de profundis (Wilde)

lallychops

the lies of locke lamora by scott lynch and the sequel red seas under red skys, reaper man by terry pratchett and twilight

brtoada

davej wrote: »

I'd find it very hard to choose just 10. But included in my favourite books would be:

Lord of the Rings (tolkien)
Notes from the underworld (dostoevsky)
The man in the High Castle (Dick)
Dune (Herbert)
Heart of Darkness (Conrad)

When u go through heart of Darkness it is not finished unless u go through Things Fall A Part (Chinua Achebe )

so i need to this book here

khalid

Monkeybonkers

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
Lord of the Rings.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.
Papillon by Henri Charriere
Wilt by Tom Sharpe
Jeeves and Wooster (any) by P.G. Wodehouse
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams


I have tried to put a mix of different genres in this list as needless to say a list of 10 cannot do justice to the many brilliant books out there.
I loved each of these books and would recommend them to anyone looking for a good read.

CallistaRose

The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived
Stompin' Tom: Before the Fame ( :P )
Motelle (By Gertrude Samuel? It's for a younger audience and Holocaust/ Partisan themed. I enjoyed it and still enjoy it)
The Princess Bride
The Myth series (Robert Asprin. They are hilarious)
Educating Little Tree
Peter Pan
Pride and Prejudice
Othello (Officially the only Shakespeare book I've ever enjoyed...)


These are my recommendations. I'm a fairly picky reader and I tried to stick to more classical novels. There are a number of feminine novels I could recommend as well but didn't. I tried to make my list neutral.

turgon

brtoada wrote: »

When u go through heart of Darkness it is not finished unless u go through Things Fall A Part (Chinua Achebe )

+1 for Heart of Darkness, just added a quote of it to my sig:

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only

So many quotable nuggets like that. I love the "germs of empire" phrase too. It may be though that when I did read that, I went through it with a pen so I thought about it a load. Some times I just take it down and flick through to read some underlining. I ventured to suggest the company was run for a profit.

Didnt enjoy Things Fall Apart that much, although I can see why it is so acclaimed. I thought part 1 was disproportionately long. The frustration in part 3 though was pretty intense, you could just feel what they were going through.

siobhanher

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
The Catcher In The Rye - J.D Salinger
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel García Márquez
Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
Strange Pilgrims - Gabriel García Márquez
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath