10 to read before the apocalypse?

KM88

Did anyone mention Brent Weeks? He's the best fantasy writer I've come across.

1. The Way of Shadows(Brent Weeks)
2.Shadow's Edge(Brent Weeks)
3. Beyond the Shadows(Brent Weeks)
4. The Lord of the Rings
4.5.6.The Age of the Five Trilogy (Trudi Canavan)
7.The Hobbit(Tolkein)
8.Truckers (Terry Pratchette)
9.To Kill a Mocking Bird(Harper Lee)
10.The B.F.G.or The Big Friendly Giant(Road Dahl)

The best books I've come across in thirteen years of reading.

Ormus

Ormus wrote: »

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
Shogun - James Clavells
1984 - George Orwell
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
The Border Trilogy - Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Anything by Dickens

I gotta add East of Eden to mine, what a book.

Paddy Samurai

PhiloCypher wrote: »

So in no particular order:

1. Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem - a gem of a book about the waning days of the Roman Empire

Great to see this book appearing more and more on peoples lists.It has been in my top 10 for over 10 years.While my list might change from time to time over the years "Eagle in the snow" will always have a place on it.Great stuff!.

marienbad

douniwan wrote: »

Dante - The Divine Comedy
Fake Watches For Sale

Quite simply the greatest poem in any language, I am half a lifetime reading it and it still amazes and delights me. And it is a tragedy the so many hear Dante and think only Inferno. Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.....

sproggy13

Late Have I Loved Thee - Ethal Mannin

Mink

I've compiled a list of books I'm going to get over the next few weeks based off of the lists on here!

Here are my top ten (that I have read) so far:

1) Star of the Sea - Joseph O'Connor (probably best book I've read)
2) The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (have reread this several times, just brilliant)
3) The Other Boelyn Girl - Philippa Gregory (I know it's over dramatised but love reading about the Tudors)
4) Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (beautiful book, still can't believe it was written by an American man, first time I read it I thought it was really her memoirs)
5) Wild Swans - Jung Chang (finishing this up now & it's absolutely engrossing, not literary but really harrowing & interesting especially because there is very very little information out there re China and Chairman Mao)
6) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz (great & bizzare story of a nerdy LOTR loving Dominican Republic teen)
7) High Fidelity - Nick Hornby (hilarious. I had no idea the movie was supposed to be set in London)
8) The Davinci Code - Dan Brown (I know I'll be shot for this but I really enjoyed this book at the time I read it, before the hype. The rest of his books are mulch though)
9) Redemption Falls - Joseph O'Connor (I found it hard to follow at the beginning & didn't get the same vibe as Star of the Sea but it grew on me & loved it by the end. He really is an amazing writer)
10) Candlemoth - RJ Ellory (This is his first book but was always my favourite. Something Shawshank Redemptionish about it)

Will_H

Some really good books here - thanks for the recommendations!

One name which hasn't appeared yet is:
Mission - Patrick Tilley. - Easter Sunday. The naked body of a 35-year old man is rushed into Manhattan General Hospital. He has a two-inch stab wound below his rib cage and nail wounds in his feet and wrists. The impossible has happened: Jesus Christ has appeared 7000 miles and 20 centuries away from the Crucifixion- dead on arrival.

I first read this book over 20 years ago and it's one of those I re-read every few years. Unfortunately, I lost the copy I had. They then stopped printing it, however, a few years ago, I found a printing company via Amazon that would reprint it for me - Yes - I enjoyed it THAT much! The first chapter is a bit heavy to get through, but then, it's unputdownable!

He also has a series called The Amtrak Wars which is very, very good.

sproggy13

Mink wrote: »

I've compiled a list of books I'm going to get over the next few weeks based off of the lists on here!

Here are my top ten (that I have read) so far:

1) Star of the Sea - Joseph O'Connor (probably best book I've read)
2) The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (have reread this several times, just brilliant)
3) The Other Boelyn Girl - Philippa Gregory (I know it's over dramatised but love reading about the Tudors)
4) Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (beautiful book, still can't believe it was written by an American man, first time I read it I thought it was really her memoirs)
5) Wild Swans - Jung Chang (finishing this up now & it's absolutely engrossing, not literary but really harrowing & interesting especially because there is very very little information out there re China and Chairman Mao)
6) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz (great & bizzare story of a nerdy LOTR loving Dominican Republic teen)
7) High Fidelity - Nick Hornby (hilarious. I had no idea the movie was supposed to be set in London)
8) The Davinci Code - Dan Brown (I know I'll be shot for this but I really enjoyed this book at the time I read it, before the hype. The rest of his books are mulch though)
9) Redemption Falls - Joseph O'Connor (I found it hard to follow at the beginning & didn't get the same vibe as Star of the Sea but it grew on me & loved it by the end. He really is an amazing writer)
10) Candlemoth - RJ Ellory (This is his first book but was always my favourite. Something Shawshank Redemptionish about it)

Agree about 'Star of the Sea' brilliant but , Redemption Falls is hard going and not sure persevering to the end is worth it?

Trepzi

Here are my top ten:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
2. The Girl. . . (Trilogy) - Stieg Larsson
3. Black Magician Trilogy - Trudi Canavan
4. Age of the Five Trilogy - Trudi Canavan
5. Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
6. Midnight Sun (partial draft 4) - Stephanie Meyer
7. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
8. Pendragon Series - D. J MacHale
9. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
10. The Last Chevalier - Alexandre Dumas

sallydan

The Book Thief by Marcus Zucsack

Brilliant, makes you laugh and cry, good story...all that you'd want in a book reallly! Every home should have one!

TheoBoone

1. Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens
2. 1984 - George Orwell
3. Fatherland - Robert Harris
4. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
5. V for Vendetta - Alan Moore(It's a comic book but I'm putting it in here anyway!)
6. Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith
7. The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King(It's technically seven books, but they're amazingly good)
8. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
10. The Bible - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (I figure if your about to die, this might be a good one to have a skim through!)

This is not in any order of preference.

greenman667

Started going through this thread in search of leads - Thank you all - I still have loads to get through

Anyway, it inspired me to come up with a list of my own - what else to do with a Monday morning?

So this list of 8 are my top books - read all of these, please!!
1984 - Orwell
To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
A Clockwork Orange - Burgess
Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil - Berendt
Kafka on the Shore - Murakami
The Kite Runner - Hosseini
The Book Thief - Zusak


Then take 2 of the following to make 10
Life of Pi - Martell
The Pillars of the Earth - Follett
The Beach - Garland
Trainspotting - Welsh
Brave New World - Huxley
Empire Series - Feist
Shadow of the Wind - Zafon
The Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck

All of them are great.

Also, I'm currently reading Foucault's Pendulum. Half way through now and I know it's going to make one of the lists. I just don't know which yet.

The book thief was good, but I wouldn't be putting it in any top 10 list

greenman667

The internet - serious business.

I'll consider myself well told then.

It's not about telling you off, I'm just offering up my opinion
I'm surprised to see it mentioned frequently as being a top book, that's all.

emeraldstar

bluewolf wrote: »

The book thief was good, but I wouldn't be putting it in any top 10 list

Either would I - found it rather disappointing.

sallydan

emeraldstar wrote: »

Either would I - found it rather disappointing.

I thought it was brilliant, so many books on the same topic, this had a different take on it!

Belle E. Flops

I loved it aswell. Thought it was a really interesting book and a very enjoyable read!

DapperGent

bluewolf wrote: »

I'm surprised to see it mentioned frequently as being a top book, that's all.

East of Eden is everywhere. Go figure.

Whippersnapper

No top ten list is complete without both "Catch 22" and "Crime and Punishment".

slownightsolong

Paradise Lost.

Since we're talking about books to read before the apocalypse, I'll settle for listing this one:

markievicz

There's so many I love, I'm finding it hard to narrow my list down!

1. Romance of the Forest - Ann Radcliffe
2. Ulysses - Joyce
3. Amongst Women - John McGahern
4. At-Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O' Brien
5. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
6. Heart of Darkness - Conrad
7. The Last September - Elizabeth Bowen
8. Animal Farm - Orwell
9. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
10. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys

Hermy

markievicz wrote: »

3. Amongst Women - John McGahern

I'm halfway through this book at the moment and undecided about finishing it.
What did you like about it?

markievicz

It was the first proper book I ever read!

I love John McGahern's style of writing and I think Amongst Women is one of the best examples of his writing. I love the way his stories are all developed around a family, much of the Moran family in AM is based on his own family. The rest of his books are also based around families similar to his own and I find it interesting that he uses the same family name 'Moran' in his other books as it's kinda like a timeline of the family's lives, also a sort-of diary of his own family life.
I like the way AM can be related back to everyday life and the way the mundane acts in the novel become hilarious and exciting. I don't know where you are in the book so I'll not mention specifics! I'd continue on with it because it's good at the end especially, it's quite revelationary moment for everyone. I just love it! Finish it!

Hermy

My interest in McGahern started a couple of years ago when I realised I had been neglecting Irish authors in my reading decisions for too long. So I started with That They May Face The Rising Sun, his final book in the timeline as you rightly describe it. It's a beautiful book which so vividly describes the ups and downs of everyday life in modern-day rural Ireland. I have mixed feelings about the other books and in the case of this one I think he lays on the grim tidings just a bit too much such that even I, the reader, feel oppressed by Moran's stubborn foul-tempered ways. Still, it's a short book and it completes the cycle so I know I will finish it but just not right now.

candlegrease

That They may Face The Rising Sun is the only McGahenr book I have read but I loved it so may have to delve into AM

Looks like I read the wrong one first though?

markievicz

candlegrease wrote: »

Looks like I read the wrong one first though?

Nope, you could read them in whatever order you wanted, you'll just pick up on a few things in one novel that are similar either character wise, ie. names etc or situational wise, ie. similar events to the other novels.

I read AM first and read the rest of the books in a varied order over the last few years, re-reading them again last year for my dissertation in college. I always find something different that I never realised the last time I read them. I can't say enough about McGahern, I just love him and I'm fuming I missed out on his last few lectures in NUIG!:mad:

GO_Bear

Just one too add, I think it gets overlooked as its considered children's or Teen fantasy .... but

The Abhorsen Trilogy by Gareth Nix. (Sabriel, Lireal and Abhorsen)

I found it very entertaining and it would be in my top ten along with alot of other books mentioned

Asphyxia

bluewolf wrote: »

The book thief was good, but I wouldn't be putting it in any top 10 list

I haven't read it yet but I want to it sounds really good. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Hermy

markievicz wrote: »

I'd continue on with it because it's good at the end especially, it's quite revelationary moment for everyone. I just love it! Finish it!

Well I finished it and I'm glad it's over. Reading it was tortuous - Moran is one of the most dis-likeable characters I've ever encountered in literature. His family's ability to forgive the unforgivable only made it all the more difficult to take. That's not necessarily to say it was a bad book but rather that the people in it were not to my liking to put it very mildly.
Sadly I also missed the revelationary moment you mentioned. The way I saw it nothing changed.

Laika_

The Bell Jar
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Wuthering Heights
Anna Karenina
American Psycho (loved this in particular)
Lolita
The Secret History
The Catcher in the Rye - no top ten is complete without!


Reading Homer's Odyssey atm and I have a feeling it could wind up in my favourites, it's compulsive!

girlonfire

The Fountainhead
On The Road
Mrs. Dalloway
The Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
Things Fall Apart
The Virgin Suicides
Dubliners

Aglomerado

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Tressell
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
A Widow for One Year - John Irving (don't bother with the film version, the Door in the Floor)
The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien
The Poor Mouth - Flann O'Brien
Lead us into Temptation - Breandán O'hEithir

(No particular order.)

Slattsy

Many of my top 10 have been mentioned, the more obvious ones like Catch 22, 1984, etc)

Here's a few less obvious ones that are worth the read :

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Cathedral of the Sea - Ildefonso Falcones
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

grohlisagod

Laika_ wrote: »

T
American Psycho (loved this in particular)
Lolita

Just bought both of these. Really looking forward to American Psycho in particular! I've been avoiding the film for years until I could find the book.

grohlisagod

GO_Bear wrote: »

Just one too add, I think it gets overlooked as its considered children's or Teen fantasy .... but

The Abhorsen Trilogy by Gareth Nix. (Sabriel, Lireal and Abhorsen)

I found it very entertaining and it would be in my top ten along with alot of other books mentioned

I absolutely adored those books. They are probably purely children's books, doubt I'd enjoy them anywhere near as much now. I read an awful lot of his books, like The Ragwitch and some of the keys to the Kingdom books too. Glad to see someone else remembers just how good that trilogy was.

Asphyxia

Am I the only one who didn't like The Catcher in the Rye

Slattsy

Asphyxia wrote: »

Am I the only one who didn't like The Catcher in the Rye

Funny, I'm on the bus in to work and I've just finished the book. I was disappointed too, every second person that posted said it was a classic but i have a feeling similar to a non funny joke, as in 'wheres the bloody punchline'. I was waiting for something to happen, page after page but nothing did. I'm glad I've read it though

Straight to easons now, any suggestions????

emeraldstar

Asphyxia wrote: »

Am I the only one who didn't like The Catcher in the Rye

No, there's loads even on this board who've said they don't like it.

Personally, I just don't get the hype about the book. Bit boring.

sudzs

Just two....

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and The Year of the Flood, also Atwood.


Maybe I'll add To Kill a Mocking Bird too as I've just finished it and it was just lovely to read but still managed to move me to tears. Not something a book does often to me!

Hermy

emeraldstar wrote: »

Personally, I just don't get the hype about the book. Bit boring.

I wonder is it the hype that spoils it for some readers - that your expecting so much given all that's been said about it.

emeraldstar

Could well be, although in my case I was quite young when I read it so I don't think I had even heard too much about it at that stage. Perhaps I should give it another reading, from a grown-up point of view.

littlema

Nope.........don't waste your time-plenty more good books out there besides that awful book.
Now if you want one thats off the wall.............. Mission, by Patrick Tilley.
You may have to buy it second hand on Amazon/e-bay;)

Isard

sudzs wrote: »

Just two....

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and The Year of the Flood, also Atwood.

Oh, I love Atwood too, reading her right now))
I'd recommend Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Painter of Battles": this one will make you think if you were one of the reasons for the apocalypse:D

Jackobyte

Slattsy wrote: »

Funny, I'm on the bus in to work and I've just finished the book. I was disappointed too, every second person that posted said it was a classic but i have a feeling similar to a non funny joke, as in 'wheres the bloody punchline'. I was waiting for something to happen, page after page but nothing did. I'm glad I've read it though

Straight to easons now, any suggestions????

emeraldstar wrote: »

No, there's loads even on this board who've said they don't like it.

Personally, I just don't get the hype about the book. Bit boring.

I think that book has to be read at a particular point in life, somewhere around your teens by someone who has some form of depression and is feeling alienated from society, peers, etc.

I have to say, while I enjoyed it, there was nothing fantastic about it at the time of reading but most of its impact was looking back on it after.

I don't have anything that far out of the ordinary that I have read. I had always thought that the Eragon series were great but after a Game of Thrones, they seem a bit lacking. Always loved the Harry Potter, but I wouldn't rank them as top 10 before you die.

Animal Farm, yes, exceedingly witty. Romeo + Juliet. The Book Thief. All great reads. I also have loads of the aforementioned books on my "To Read" list.

Slattsy

Mink wrote: »

I've compiled a list of books I'm going to get over the next few weeks based off of the lists on here!

Here are my top ten (that I have read) so far:

1) Star of the Sea - Joseph O'Connor (probably best book I've read)

Almost finished Star of The Sea.
I only heard of it as it appeared in so many peoples top 10. I have to say its bloody brilliant.

What other O'Connor books can people recommend to me? Thanks

tr0llface

The Catcher In The Rye is such a beautiful book. I'd highly recommend it.

Hermy

Slattsy wrote: »

Almost finished Star of The Sea.
I only heard of it as it appeared in so many peoples top 10. I have to say its bloody brilliant.

What other O'Connor books can people recommend to me? Thanks

I read Star of the Sea a while ago and was a bit disappointed with it given all the praise it has received. Although the writing was good I didn't like the multiple narrators.

Anyway, I'm currently reading The Salesman - a bit patchy at times bit I think it's worth a read.

DB Cooper 23

The Count of Monte Cristo