10 to read before the apocalypse?

Sconsey

Ten books I've really enjoyed in no particular order....

Enders Game - Orson Scott Card
the Foundation series (all of 'em) - Isaac Asimov
Dune - Frank Herbert
Vernon God Little - ???
It - Stephen King
The Magician - Raymond E Feist
Live From Golgotha - Gore Vidal
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (sp?)
Imperium - Robert Harris
...and all the 'Culture' books by Iain M Banks were a godd read.

inverted_world

This is really difficult to narrow it down to just ten. Here are mine:

60 Stories - Donald Barthelme (kudos to the guy who mentioned him earlier! Wonderful, quirky stories!)
The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - David Foster Wallace
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Trilogy - Samuel Beckett
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

Under Milk Wood nearly made it, but then I decided to leave it out because it really needs to be heard and not read to appreciate it. I had Joyce in there too, but he's been mentioned so often that I figured the others deserve a chance. It was also a little painful not including Poe. But there you are.

navin.r.johnson

1-Slaughterhouse 5 (Vonnegut)
2-On The Road (Kerouac)
3-Norweigen Wood (Murakami)
4-The Road (McCarthy)
5-Middlesex (Eugenedies)
6-I Am Legend (Matheson)
7-Naked Pictures of Famous People (Stewart)
8-In Cold Blood (Capote)
9-Catcher in The Rye (Salinger)
10-Old Man And The Sea (Hemmingway)

Fursey

A list of great 10 great War Novels:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan

The Emperor of Ice Cream, by Brian Moore

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy

Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh

An Ice Cream War by William Boyd

Bomber by Len Deighton

Shogun, by James Clavell

Sand in the Wind, by Robert Roth

Troubles by J.G. Farrell

yermandan

The monk who sold his ferrari - Robin S. Sharma

AmieeHeartsKeak

I have recently purchased some Umberto Eco and F. Scott Fitzgerald in order to prepare myself for intelligent conversation with other bookish-types, but if I really knew the world was going to end I would advise people to read these 5, because they are books I've read at least 3 times each with the exception of Middlesex, which is kinda long to read over and over....

1. Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat - she is a Haitian writer and this might be the most intense book I've ever read.
2. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides, because I couldn't put it down.
3. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbin, another one that I couldn't put down.
4. The Way Forward Is With A Broken Heart by Alice Walker, because the older I get (ah so wise at 23) the more her writing makes sense to me, this book in particular.
5. Huis Clos by Sartre, because it's pretentious AND enjoyable to read.


This is a really weird cluster of books but they are ones I can re-read and still enjoy. I'm a big fan of poetry as well...

emkey

never heard about any of them, but after the recommendation i'll check them at least.

AmieeHeartsKeak

they're all over the place, so hope at least one suits your taste!

crotalus667

AmieeHeartsKeak wrote: »

2. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides, because I couldn't put it down.

I just baught this one on the recomedation of oprah , it got praise from her show but mixed reviews form amazon , to be honest most of the negitive stuff on amazon seemed petty and bitter :rolleyes: I cant wait to read it (im about 100 pages into the golden compas at the moment (sorry for the bad spelling)

AmieeHeartsKeak

! I hope you like it - its sort of a history lesson and a life story all in one. Read Krik?Krak! as well, I think Oprah might be a fan of Edwidge Danticat... (oh Oprah, such an outrageous lady but great book recommendations sometimes).

P.S. I like fellow readers-who-are-bad-spellers!

crotalus667

AmieeHeartsKeak wrote: »

! I hope you like it - its sort of a history lesson and a life story all in one.

OMG!!! now I rely cant wait to start it (It looks like I will be starting it around tuesday/wensday)

AmieeHeartsKeak wrote: »

!
P.S. I like fellow readers-who-are-bad-spellers!

Your going to love me then:rolleyes: I have a mild form of dislexia , (to cut a long story short it realy only effects my spelling apart from the normal bad spelling I tend to spell words as they sound )

Monkey61

In no particular order, if I could only read ten books ever again...

1. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
2. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
3. Five on a treasure island - Enid Blyton
4. Harry Potter 1-6 - JK Rowling
5. Just William - Richmal Crompton
6. A Disaffection - James Kelman
7. Tipping the Velvet -Sarah Waters
8. The Shadow in the North - Philip Pullman
9. All Adrian Mole - Sue Townsend
10. All Paddington Bear - Michael Bond

greatscott

No order:

Dubliners - Joyce
100 years of Solitude- Gracia Marquez
Going Solo - Dahl
Life After God - Coupland
The Road - McCarthy
Money - Amis
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
Catch 22 - Heller
Nine Stories - Salinger
Despair - Nabokov

(i deliberately only chose one book per authour)

beautiation

The Interpretation of Murder- Jed Rubenfield
Psychology student attempts to catch New York murderer at start of 20th century through psychoanalysis, with a little help from Sigmund Freud.

Eclipse- John Banville
Actor returns to childhood home to try and forget his ruined life, but finds he can't leave it behind.

The Secret History- Donna Tartt
Elite Classics students in Vermont college search for a hedonism beyond the constraints of modern society, find it, and through an accident and their warped values enter a logical progression that threatens to destroy them all.

Norwegian Wood- Murakami
Isolated boy tries to help the girl left alone by his best friends suicide as she threatens to follow suit, and becomes conflicted between his love for her and for a free spirit who represents a way he can escape the force of death in his life.

We Need to Talk About Kevin- Lionel Shriver
Mother of kid who shoots up school digs into memories of his upbringing to see if she is to blame.

The Virgin Suicides- Jeffrey Euginides
Reflections on the captivating power of a mysterious family of doomed teenage girls by the men who only knew fragments of them, but never could get free of them through their life.

The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro-Joe Mcginniss
Tiny Italian village sensationally makes it to the Italian second division in soccer. The story of their season from an American who goes to live with them for the year. Problem is the team turns out to be run by the mafia, and staffed by madmen, and it's absolutely unbelievable the amount of trouble the team runs into through the year.

The Surviving Plays-Aristophanes
In my opinon, literature hasn't produced a sharper wit in the 2 and a half thousand years since this playwright.

Rubicon- Tom Holland
Persian Fire- Tom Holland
Most exciting telling of the stories of The Roman Republic and The Greco-Persian wars respectively I've ever read.

BurnsCarpenter

Books I've most enjoyed:

Hey Nostradamus - Douglas Coupland
Drop City - TC Boyle
The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Risk Pool - Richard Russo
Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

Bubbling under:
Umberto Eco, George Pelecanos, Neal Stephenson, Jonathan Carroll, Paul Auster, George Orwell, Milan Kundera, Stephen King.

elmyra

In no particular order:

The Thornbirds - Colleen McCullough
Ulysses - James Joyce
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Until I Find You - John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
InkHeart - Cornelia Funke
The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
The Cure for Death by Lightening - Gail Anderson Dargatz

Archebald

well the best ones first

great reads::::
all the harry potter books,

wuthering heights

judging dev,

the roy keane autobiography,
the no.1 ladies detective agency,
the lovely bones,
reaching the heights,
last man standing,
looking for jj,
dangerous lady,
the narnia chronicles

and the worst:::

lord of the rings,
the hobbit,
the intruder,

ShaunC

Its not exactly a war novel but "Band of Brothers" is an essential read, I admit i never heard of it before the mini series but it was brilliantly written.

Afroninja

In no particular order

Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
Old Man and the Sea - Hemmingway
Faust - Goethe
On the Road - Kerouac
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche
War and Peace - Tolstoy
The Iliad - Homer
Macbeth - Shakespeare
In Cold Blood - Capote
Paradise Lost - Milton

funkycat83

1) The Alchemist - Paulo Coehello
2)The Butcher Boy-Patrick Mc Cabe
3) The Harry Potter Series
4)His Dark Materials- Phillip Pullman
5) The Lord Of The Rings
6)At Swim two birds- Flann O brien
7)The Catcher in the rye- J.D Salinger


And i too got bored of catch 22 after about 20 pages, just could not get in to it...i also refuse to put down Ulyssess... Think its more hype than anything else and im still trying to finish it. The catcher, i too found it a bit whiny but alas that is my two cents....

boogle

funkycat83 wrote: »

1)

And i too got bored of catch 22 after about 20 pages, just could not get in to it...

I found it hard to get into at the start too, but stick with it. It's honestly one of my favourite books of all time.

D.Q

1/Terry Pratchett-Lords And Ladies.
2/David and Leigh Eddings- Redemption Of Athalus.
3/J.K.Rowling- Harry Potter series.
4/Chuck Palahniuk- Choke.
5/John Grisham- The Bretheren.
6/ Terry Pratchett- The colour of magic AND The light fantastic.
7/Stephen King -Cujo/The shining/The gunslinger.
8/George Orwell- Animal Farm.
9/James Patterson- Any "Alex Cross" book.
10/Anthiny Burgess- A clockwork orange.

I think that would sort me out nicely for any sort of "end of the world" scenario...

WildBillH

1.) A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
2.) A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
3.) The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
4.) The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
5.) Too Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
6.) The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
7.) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
8.) Midnight Falcon - David Gemmel
9.) The Stand - Steven King
10.) Dracula - Bram Stoker

This is not 1 is the best 10 is the worst, I couldn't decide what order to rank them so it's just random.

Nichololas

Ubik - Philip K. Dick
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

jill_valentine

What kind of psychopath would, upon hearing that the end of the world was coming, read The Road?!?!?!?! Jesus Christ!

Bonzo-Reborn

1. Wheel Of Time Series - Robert Jordan
2. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy - Tolkein
3. The Catcher and The Rye - J.d Salinger
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Ulysses - James Joyce
6. The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King
7. A Brief History Of Time - Stephen Hawking
8. Troy - David Gemmell
9. Harry Potter Series - J K Rowling
10. The Golden Compass Trilogy - Phillip Pullman

Acacia

1. Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
2. Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte
3. Junk- Melvin Burgess ( about a teenage couple and their descent into heroin addiction after running away from home- a good, non-preachy read, especially for teenagers.)
4. Fingersmith- Sarah Waters
5. Tipping the Velvert- Sarah Waters
6. Great Expectations- Chales Dickens
7. Fight Club- Chuch Palahniuk
8. Mainlines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste- A Lester Bangs reader- a collection of essays by the celebrated 1970's rock critic- very enjoyable if you're interested in this era of music- covers lots of genres from the Sex Pistols to Bob Marley in a humorous way, including first-hand interviews with musicians.
9. Trainspotting- Irvine Welsh.
10. Girl with a Pearl Earring- Tracy Chevalier- brilliant fictional account of the making of the famous Vermeer painting.I also recommend Chevalier's other books, they've always impressed me.


And to hell with the purists- the Harry Potter series is excellent fun!:pac:

síofra

1984
Perfume
Lord of the Flies
Brave New World
East of Eden
Turn of the Screw
Down and Out in Paris and London
Divine Beauty
King Lear
The Prophet

Caverna

The Dictionary.

Every other book has copied every single word that they have used from the Dictionary.

crotalus667

Caverna wrote: »

The Dictionary.

Every other book has copied every single word that they have used from the Dictionary.

dont give up your day job :rolleyes: