10 to read before the apocalypse?

pixiegaga

well i dont think they can be classed as childrens books either but ya they are stocked in the childrens section but i found an old copy of the subtile knife in our secondary school?? very odd....

yes i forgot to kill a mockingbird too...and bel canto has a massive impact

footing

Just shows - good books are ageless!

pixiegaga

ya i can see myself reading those books even when im finished college....make me feel like im small again

pixiegaga

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

and how can you forget...Alice in Wounderland by Lewis Carrol! it was magical

Elenxor

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. I read this many years ago, would love to read it again. Anyone know who wrote it? Appreciate any info. Thanks.

Tabnabs

I'm struggling to get ten but,

Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim - Couldn't put the book down, outstanding.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque- Infamous title and a most memorable read

Lord of the Rings - the movie's have cheapened the experience (IMHO) but it's a classic trilogy

Njáls saga, the most enjoyable of the Icelandic offerings.

The Incredible Voyage by Tristan Jones - sailing, travel, life and humour.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - only read this as an adult but wasn't disappointed.

The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier - sailing alone around the world in the 60's, the thoughts of a crazy French man.

The Hobbit, Tolkien - it's a little gem of a book and thus far unspoilt by the big screen, read it now before the apocalypse arrives!

Swampy

I'd have to agree with some of the previous people.

Magician
Sho-gun
Noble House

Cicero

the alchemist by paulo coelho

...give me a while and I'll edit this and come up with another 9...

hermunkla

The Mayan Prophecies. The Cassandra Crossing. 10 Rillington place.

Novella

To Kill A Mockingbird.
The Catcher in the Rye.
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.

(Will get back to this later!)

OxfordComma

I'm finding it hard to come up with ten, but the following are all absolutely wonderful books that you should definitely read at some point:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (probably my favourite book, if it's possible to have a favourite)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Othello and Hamlet (although I don't know whether Shakespearean plays count or not...)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

If I come up with any more I'll post again. Just as an aside (I'll probably be lynched for saying this) but did anyone else think Lord of the Flies was horribly over-rated? Or was it just me...?

MUTINEER

HERE'S MY TEN FAVOURITE:
THE LITTLE PRINCE-Antoine De Saint-Exupery
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE-J.D.SALINGER
HAM ON RYE-CHARLES BUKOWSKI
TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD-HARPER LEE
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT-FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN-MARK TWAIN
THE GRAPES OF WRATH-JOHN STEINBECK
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA-ERNEST HEMMINGWAY
THE GREAT GATSBY-F.SCOTT FITZGERALD
MANUFACTURING CONSENT-NOAM CHOMSKY

wurzlitzer

hey

catch 22-joseph heller
the plague - albert camus
wuthering heights-bronte
blindness-jose saramago
down and out in london and paris-orwell
love in the time of cholera-gabriel garcia marquez
a clockwork orange-anthony burgess
perfume-peter suskind
the american dream-norman mailer
the naked and the dead -norman mailer
the blackest bird-joel rose
in true blood-truman capote
alchemist-paolo coelho
invisible man-ralph ellison
in the name of the rose-umberto eco

these are some my favorites, there are tonnes more that have given me pleasure...

wurzlitzer

the next ten would be

to kill a mocking bird
the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime-
the green fool-kavanagh
the green man-amis
the unbearable lightness of being-milan kundera
catcher in the rye
shantaram
three swans
the great gatsby
brighton rock-
the day of the triffids-

MsMoo

1. In Cold Blood - Capote
2. The Road - Cormac Mc Carthy
3. A Christmas Carol - Dickens
4. The Trial - Kafka
5. The Crow Road - Iain Banks
6. The Godfather - Puzo
7. 1984 - Orwell
8. The hobbit - Tolkien
9. A Confederacy of Dunces - Kennedy O'Toole
10. The alchemist - Coelho

214horatio

what about life of pi a truly inspiring work of fiction

buck65

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. Perhaps if you have seen the movie you mightn't want to. This is so much better than the film.

sparkfire

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Road by Cormac McCarthy

FullHouse

Caesar_Bojangle wrote: »

What ten books would you consider as a must, to be read in ones lifetime?

1. the colour of magic
2. one hundred years of solitude
3. a suitable boy
4. lord of the rings ( i know, i'm sorry!! it can't be denied though)
5. satanic verses
6. legend (david gemmell)
7. nightwatch (pratchett)
8. wheel of time series
9. life of pi
10. the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series

susanroth

Here are some i love

Rich Man Poor Man by irwin shaw(am looking forward to reading top of the hill from him next)
The Catcher in the Rye
The Life of Pi
East of Eden by John Steinbeck(am currently reading the grapes of wrath)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
The Secret Life of Bees
A Prayer for Owen Meany- john Irving

footing

If you want your brain twisted inside and out, try anything by Bill Drummond.

Other must reads in this general category:
Plato's Republic
Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra
Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations
Marx's Community Manifesto
Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning
de Beauvoir's The Second Sex
Paine's The Rights of Man
Kropotkin's Memoirs of a Revolutionist
Galbraith's The Affluent Society.

Better than drugs!

AnBealBocht

footing wrote: »

If you want your brain twisted inside and out, try anything by Bill Drummond.

It is good to see that many GREAT books have retained their standing.

But, where did E. Waugh & P.G. Wodehouse go to?.

= Vile Bodies
= Decline & Fall
= Scoop
= Brideshead Revisited
= Black Mischief
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
= Uncle Fred in the Springtime
= PSmith
= The Wooster & Jeeves series
= Laughing Gas
= The Mating Season

>>> MCS. ?????????????????????????????????

AnBealBocht

sxt wrote: »

I have been meaning to get "swan song" for ages ,Have you read "the stand " by S.king by the way?

Also, Have you read "I,claudious" by robert graves (It's a roman historic novel too)..out of curiousity?,another one I have been looking for in the books shops for a while.

Additionally, never let us forget " Goodbye to All That ", Graves' autobiography of his experiences in the trenches of World War I. ( It should have, but it didn't, make WW I ' The War to End All Wars '.)

patff

mailer, the executioners song
herlihy, midnight cowboy
greene, the power and the glory
conrad, the secret agent
benchley, jaws
mccarthy, blood meridian
fitzgerald, the great gatsby
hemingway, death in the afternoon
turgenev, fathers and sons
thompson, hells angels

AnBealBocht

It is good to see that many GREAT books have retained their standing.

But, where did E. Waugh & P.G. Wodehouse go to?.

= Vile Bodies
= Decline & Fall
= Scoop
= Brideshead Revisited
= Black Mischief
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
= Uncle Fred in the Springtime
= PSmith
= The Wooster & Jeeves series
= Laughing Gas
= The Mating Season

>>> MCS. ?????????????????????????????????[/QUOTE]

Hands up those who have read Wodehouse and/or Waugh and, please give age and gender, if you could.

Me: 66 y/o, male.

footing

AnBealBocht wrote: »

It is good to see that many GREAT books have retained their standing.

But, where did E. Waugh & P.G. Wodehouse go to?.

= Vile Bodies
= Decline & Fall
= Scoop
= Brideshead Revisited
= Black Mischief
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
= Uncle Fred in the Springtime
= PSmith
= The Wooster & Jeeves series
= Laughing Gas
= The Mating Season

>>> MCS. ?????????????????????????????????

Hands up those who have read Wodehouse and/or Waugh and, please give age and gender, if you could.

Me: 66 y/o, male.[/QUOTE]

Still read at least one Wodehouse every year; started when I was 13 and that was in 1967! Not so keen on Waugh - too much religion in there - but love "Scoop". Edith Wharton is another I read for her glorious command of the English language.

PlayMusiC.SCT

If you were to compile a top ten must reads - The Art Of Seduction by Robert Green should be in the top ten . Every politician should read this book. There would be hope for us

Monkeybonkers

AnBealBocht wrote: »

Hands up those who have read Wodehouse and/or Waugh and, please give age and gender, if you could.

Me: 66 y/o, male.

I have read every Wodehouse book I can get my hands on. In my opinion one of the funniest authors ever. Any book that can make you laugh out loud repeatedly is a winner for me. I usually leave a gap and then re-read them again. A master of comedy.
I originally read them when I was in school, so from about 16-18yo I had read the majority of them. Still reading them today.

I've never read any Waugh though. Any recommendations for my first one?

P.S. I thought that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie were a perfect choice to play Jeeves and Wooster in the TV series. Not usually a fan of TV adaptations but thought this was done very well. With material like that to work with though it would have been hard to mess it up.

footing

Waugh is tricky. Love "Scoop" and re-read it every few years. But re-read "Brideshead Revisited" a few years ago and hated it; it came after Waugh coverted to Roman Catholicism and is an apologia for his new faith.
My other favourite comic writer is the late John Mortimer. His Rumpole series are Wodehouse with bite - and a lot more. Plus the TV series was absolutely brilliant and is available as a box set.

FoxT

. I read Vile bodies and thought it was OK-ish. Wouldnt be on my top 10.
(Male, 40 something, I forget)

Good 'uns for me would be

- almost anything by John Banville.
- The Life of PI.....Stands out in my mind as one of the best novels I have ever written.
- Anna Karenina
- The Third Policeman (flann O'Brien)
- Death of a salesman
- collected works of S. Heaney
- Any 1 of Paul Theroux's train travel books.

-FoxT

Bigtoe107

michaelanthony wrote: »

Lolita - it's a masterpiece

100 percent agree, it's the masterpiece of a genius.

I would also add Jane Eyre, Animal Farm, Wuthering Heights and any of Joyce's greats.

indough

PlayMusiC.SCT wrote: »

If you were to compile a top ten must reads - The Art Of Seduction by Robert Green should be in the top ten . Every politician should read this book. There would be hope for us

his other books are better to be honest (and more appropriate for that type of reader haha), i mean 'the 48 laws of power' and 'the 33 strategies of war' by the way

megadodge

FoxT wrote: »

. I read Vile bodies and thought it was OK-ish. Wouldnt be on my top 10.
(Male, 40 something, I forget)

Good 'uns for me would be

- almost anything by John Banville.
- The Life of PI.....Stands out in my mind as one of the best novels I have ever written.
- Anna Karenina
- The Third Policeman (flann O'Brien)
- Death of a salesman
- collected works of S. Heaney
- Any 1 of Paul Theroux's train travel books.

-FoxT

Welcome to boards Mr. Martel.

FoxT

Feck it, I should never, ever, post on boards after midnight!

Damian Duffy

civichead wrote: »

100 percent agree, it's the masterpiece of a genius.

I would also add Jane Eyre, Animal Farm, Wuthering Heights and any of Joyce's greats.

Agree entirely about Lolita. Just loved that book from start to finish. I couldn't stand Jane Eyre, it irritated me but I read to end to uphold a never put a book down tradition that was severely put to the test with that one.

Monkeybonkers

Damian Duffy wrote: »

but I read to end to uphold a never put a book down tradition that was severely put to the test with that one.

My own 'never put a book down' tradition is being severely tested with Flann O Briens 'At Swim Two Birds'.

JuliusCaesar

AnBealBocht wrote: »

It is good to see that many GREAT books have retained their standing.

But, where did E. Waugh & P.G. Wodehouse go to?.

= Vile Bodies
= Decline & Fall
= Scoop
= Brideshead Revisited
= Black Mischief
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
= Uncle Fred in the Springtime
= PSmith
= The Wooster & Jeeves series
= Laughing Gas
= The Mating Season

>>> MCS. ?????????????????????????????????

Hands up those who have read Wodehouse and/or Waugh and, please give age and gender, if you could.

Me: 66 y/o, male.[/QUOTE]

Yes; F; 50; but not since I was a teenager...though I've re-read Wodehouse a few times; Waugh not so much

O. Henry? Ogden Nash? I'll think of a few more forgotten authors soon...

rapparee

Robert Fisk - The Great War For Civilization (The conquest of the Middle East)

Gore Vidal - Creation

Norman Finkelstein - Beyond chutzpah (The misuse of Anti Semitism)

Robert Harris - Fatherland

Roy Jenkins - Churchill

Gore Vidal - Messiah

Anthony Beevor - Stalingrad

Noam Chomsky - Hegemony or survival

Aristotle - Politics (A Treatise on Government)

Robert Fisk - The point of no return (The strike that broke the British in Ulster)

lordgoat

A.M. Homes - This book will save your life.
Murakami - Kafka
And Lolita is a must even if it will creep you out.
Sarah - JT LeRoy

ViennaShamrock

I'd definitely say <<Water for elephants>> by Sara Gruen should be one of them!

BenK

Here are 10 books I really enjoyed and in no particular order:

-The Road
-1984
-The Selfish Gene
-Catch 22
-Brave New World
-The Fountainhead
-The God Delusion
-Austerlitz
-Atomised
-The Shadow of the Wind

DaveQuirky

The road i know it's a bit ironic but still a classic

Robbyn

I want to echo whoever said "The Picture of Dorian gray" by Oscar Wilde; an amazing book altogether, really makes you think.

freedomrevolt

The Fear of Freedom by Erich Fromm - an easy to read philosophy book that will change how understand everything.
Dubliners by James Joyce - never gets boring no matter how many times i read it.
On the road by Jack Kerouac - A fun pacy novel.
1984 by George Orwell - Doesn't get any better than this.
Anything by Paul Auster except his last two books.
Anything by Philip Roth, especially When She Was Good and American Pastoral.
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham - My favourite of all time.
Michael Chabon's first three novels are great reads.
John McGahern's Creatures of the Earth is a fantastic book of short stories.
I also recommend Kevin Barry's There Are Little Kingdoms and anything by Michael Curtin.

MonkeySocks24

My top ten would be..

Firmin by Sam Savage
Dubliners By James Joyce
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Veronica decides to die by Paulo Coelho
The Women who walked into doors by Roddy Doyle
A Confederacy of Dunces By John Kennedy
The Eaten Heart &unlikely tales of love by Giovanni Boccaccio
A Short History of Tractors in the Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
A Matter of life and Death by Andrey KurKov

All of Douglas Adams, Orwell, lots. Too hard to narrow down fav books but those ten defo worth a read.

--Kaiser--

The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Odyssey by Homer
Shakespeare Complete Works
The Hobbit by Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
Maps in a Mirror (short stories) by Orson Scott Card
Dune by Frank Herbert
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

An addition as it made me cry with laughter.....
The Alphabet of Manliness by Maddox

Scatterbrain

My top 10 would be:

-The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (just read it).
-The Lives of Insects, by Victor Pelevin (colorful and creative social commentary).
-Omon Ra, by Victor Pelevin (will leave you reeling).
-The Stranger/Outsider, by Camus (thought-provoking).
-Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami (incredible).
-The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami (incredible).
-Less Than Zero, by Bret Easton Ellis (very dark book with an extremely 'cool' voice).
-Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk (entertaining and interesting read).
-1984, by George Orwell (well, obviously).
-The Painted Veil, by W. Somerset Maugham (great film, great book. Maugham never fails to impress).

Jessie Tuggles

It's hard to beat a good list. Here's one I prepared earlier:

The book of lost things - John Connolly
Every Dead Thing - John Connolly.
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.
John Crow's Devil by Marlon James.
The book of Negroes - Laurence Hill.
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.
The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre.
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.
Revolutionary Road by Richard York.
Kevin by Lionel Shriver
"The Secret History" & "The Little Friend" by Donna Tarte
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyle
The Shipping News by Annie Proux.

Damian Duffy

Jessie Tuggles wrote: »

It's hard to beat a good list. Here's one I prepared earlier:

The book of lost things - John Connolly
Every Dead Thing - John Connolly.
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.
John Crow's Devil by Marlon James.
The book of Negroes - Laurence Hill.
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.
The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre.
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.
Revolutionary Road by Richard York.
Kevin by Lionel Shriver
"The Secret History" & "The Little Friend" by Donna Tarte
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyle
The Shipping News by Annie Proux.

So you chose 13 to read before the apocalypse? You must have more time than the rest of us.

Damian Duffy

AnBealBocht wrote: »

It is good to see that many GREAT books have retained their standing.

But, where did E. Waugh & P.G. Wodehouse go to?.

= Vile Bodies
= Decline & Fall
= Scoop
= Brideshead Revisited
= Black Mischief
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
= Uncle Fred in the Springtime
= PSmith
= The Wooster & Jeeves series
= Laughing Gas
= The Mating Season

>>> MCS. ?????????????????????????????????

Hands up those who have read Wodehouse and/or Waugh and, please give age and gender, if you could.

Me: 66 y/o, male.[/QUOTE]

Have read all of Wodehouse' stuff. 23 old male. Great writer.