10 to read before the apocalypse?

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.

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

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.

a great many great books have been mentioned and quite a lot i would agree with. so just thought id throw these into the mix in terms of fun

FILTH irvine welsh(never laughed out loud so much, strangers on the bus tutted and stopped talking to look at me while i broke me arse crying)
IN THE MISO SOUP ryu murakami(the lesser known murakami)
NOBLE HOUSE james cavill(whose best book shogun has already been
mentioned)
FILTH Grant Morrison
WATCHMEN alan moore
PERFUME patrick suskind
IN THE FOREST enda o brian(not so funny, more terrifying)

then i would say read any of these authors before you die,
issac asimov,
phillip k dick,
phillip roth,
haruki murakami,
iain (m) banks,(after wasp factory i prefer his sci fi by a mile)
alexander solzhenitsen,
hunter s thompsom,
charles bukowski,
irvine welsh,
james cavell,

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists- Robert Tressell
Wuthering Heights.- Bronte
Ullysses- Joyce
The Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck
Writing Home- Alan Bennett
In Cold Blood- Capote
Only A Game by Eamonn Dunphy is a great football book.
On The Road-Keruoak
The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas-Boyle
The Moons a Balloon-David Niven

I could try and be hip and namecheck all the greats of the last century of literature or I could be honest and just name the books I feel would hold your attention and distract you from the oncoming apocalypse .


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
2. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson - hard sci fi page turner about the challanges of colonising Mars.
3. Voyage by Steven Baxter - A fascinating what if tale where Kennedy survives Dallas and presses Nasa on to Mars.
4. Imperium/lustrum by Richard Harris - Follows that great Roman orator Cicero through the turbulent times that saw the end of a republic and the birth of an Empire .
5. Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan - future noir done superbly
6. The Kerry Kilcannon trilogy by Richard North Paterson - the first book covers his US presidential candidacy and the challenges therein, the second abortion and the third gun control .
7. Gates of fire by Steven Pressfield - a trully gripping account of the battle of Thermopylae.
8. Watchmen by Alan Moore - simply sublime
9. The Bible - if thats your thing .
10. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins - If not

The Lord of the Rings + The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Harry Potter books - JK Rowling
1984- George Orwell
The Wheel of Time Series- Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The Dark Tower Series- Stephen King
The Time Travelers Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
The Art of War- Sun Tzu

Every single one is sensational for me and just makes me wont to read more and more and possibly take up journalism in the future, as i have gone from a person who hated writing to loving it and putting it out their for public criticism.

Band of Brothers - if you are planning to read a War book make it this one. Then watch the series.

Memoirs of a Geisha

The Boy in the Stripped Pjyamas

To Kill a Mocking Bird

Rebecca

The Woman in Black

The Da Vinci Code......regardless of reviews this is a great page turner and does make you think

Felicia's Journey

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

There's a book who's name escapes me now but it's about the POWs in Japanese camps during World War II and it just really made an impression on me.

Having trouble thinking of ten at this hour, so here's eight, in no particular order:

• Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein
• The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein
• The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien
• Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter Thompson
• The Stand - Stephen King
• The Odyssey - Homer
• King Lear - Shakespeare

Shantram-Gregory David Roberts

+1 million

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