10 to read before the apocalypse?

OxfordComma · 21-02-2010 04:54PM

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 · 27-02-2010 01:38AM

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 · 28-02-2010 02:29PM

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 · 28-02-2010 02:36PM

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 · 28-02-2010 10:37PM

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 · 02-03-2010 01:24AM

what about life of pi a truly inspiring work of fiction

buck65 · 02-03-2010 01:52PM

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 · 05-03-2010 12:16AM

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

FullHouse · 10-03-2010 12:15AM

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 · 13-03-2010 08:35PM

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 · 13-03-2010 11:40PM

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 · 25-03-2010 05:32AM

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 · 25-03-2010 06:34AM

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 · 25-03-2010 11:09PM

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 · 30-03-2010 07:18AM

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 · 30-03-2010 09:14AM

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 · 15-04-2010 10:38AM

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 · 15-04-2010 07:31PM

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 · 15-04-2010 09:01PM

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 · 11-05-2010 01:12PM

. 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 · 11-05-2010 02:10PM

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 · 18-05-2010 02:33AM

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 · 25-05-2010 05:33PM

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 · 25-05-2010 10:29PM

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

Damian Duffy · 26-05-2010 04:54PM

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 · 26-05-2010 08:25PM

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 · 01-06-2010 11:37PM

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 · 10-06-2010 11:34AM

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 · 11-06-2010 09:31PM

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 · 14-06-2010 10:25PM

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

10 to read before the apocalypse?

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