10 to read before the apocalypse?

Monkeybonkers · 19-10-2011 4:02pm

Slattsy wrote: »

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

I saw this while browsing in the library the other day. I will read it now based on this recommendation.

Slattsy · 19-10-2011 4:07pm

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

Slattsy wrote: »

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

I saw this while browsing in the library the other day. I will read it now based on this recommendation.

Very good I hope you like it

Slattsy · 19-10-2011 4:11pm

I've just finished Slaughterhouse 5 based on a few recommended comments on the thread.

Although a good read it simply doesn't have a patch on Catch 22, as a few people have said it was the better war sattire, but not for me.

Glad I read it though.

emeraldstar · 19-10-2011 8:48pm

^ I read it recently and wasn't blown away either.

Slattsy · 19-10-2011 9:16pm

emeraldstar wrote: »

^ I read it recently and wasn't blown away either.

Into Eason's tomorrow for my next book. What to pick, what to pick......

flyaway. · 22-10-2011 4:06am

Ten books I could just read over and over, in no particular order:

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
3. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
4.The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
7. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
10. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Honourable mentions:
Room by Emma Donoghue
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngnozi Adichi
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

cezarcr · 23-10-2011 7:38pm

Hello!
Just signed up to the boards.
My list would be

On the road - Jack Kerouack
Ham on rye - Bukowski
Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Gracias por el fuego - Mario Benedetti

These books changed my life some way, they really worth a shot

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 27-10-2011 10:17pm

May as well do mine, may be seen as a bit typical but sure I'm typical :pac:

1984 - George Orwell
Of Mice and Men - Steinback
Grapes of Wrath - Steinback
Great Expectations - Dickens
Wild Swans - Jung Chan
Star of the Sea - Joseph O'Connor
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
a Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle
Shogun - James Clavell
Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Ziggy*Dust · 10-11-2011 12:08pm

A more recent addition to the list - The Sisters Brothers, By Patrick Dewitt. Similar in many ways to No Country for Old Men but not as vague.

Johnno Mack · 18-11-2011 3:32am

Yeah I have to say the Sisters Brothers is a pretty good read. Very gritty and quite funny western wandering adventure. Anyone have any other books to recommend by Patrick De Witt?

bobbaggio · 28-11-2011 4:17am

A western wandering Adventure? Sounds like my kind of story! I am reading Paolo Coelho - by the river piedra I sat down and wept, quite good, very spiritual but easy reading!

Colonialboy · 23-12-2011 1:26pm

in no particular order, books I am glad I read

An Invisible Sign of my Own - Aimee Bender
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Ulysses - Joyce
Manual of Painting and Caligraphy - Saramago
Captain Corellis Mandolin
The Prodigy - Herman Hesse
Catch 22
Hitchhikers
Lord of the rings
The Unfortunate Fursey - Mervyn Wall

harrythehat · 23-12-2011 1:32pm

Anything by George Orwell or Haruki Murakami.

Harry the Red · 03-01-2012 5:30am

teh twilight saga harry poter and thoes x factor books that i got

Mr Trade In · 04-01-2012 10:12pm

Ten I would recommend.

American Gods: Neil Gaiman
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Roald Dahl
The Prince: Machiavelli
American Psycho: Bret Easton Ellis
12 Caesars: Suetonius
I Claudius: Robert Graves
The Republic: Plato
Complete Works: William Shakespeare
Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck
The Iliad: Homer

tabstheatre · 13-01-2012 5:23pm

I've read Jane Eyre about a million times and love it more each time. Also the Stieg Larsson trilogy is fantastic. It's a bit tough to get through the first 50 pages or so but then you kind of tune into the language and you're hooked.

Cedrus · 14-01-2012 5:21am

1984 – George Orwell
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett, I love all of hisbooks but this is the most accessible for sceptics, most people see his books as mere fantasy, but as a satirist he is up there with Swift.
Celebrated Letters - John B Keane –the Field and all of the others could be here but how to choose?
Frank O’Connor – any and all of his short stories
The Hotel new Hampshire, John Irving- better that the world according to Garp IMHO
Pimp - Iceberg Slim, the vilest most brutal , honest, portrayal of a subculture most of us want to know nothing about. Tarantino on speed. Slim is reason why so many American artitstes have Ice in their name.
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh, Moralising in a moral morass
The Tailor and Ansty – Eric Cross, Portrait of a rural Ireland that the church and the civil authorities refused to recognise (where the fluff did they think calves came from)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Illywhacker – Peter Carey, too long and rambling to describe in one line but after I bought this, I just bought faberand faber books for years after.

bitlocked · 15-01-2012 6:07pm

Novels:
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
Old School - Tobias Wolff
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Ulysses - James Joyce
Watchmen - don't remember
Dune - Frank Herbert

Non-fiction:
Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell
Man's Search for Meaning - Victor E. Frankl
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

bitlocked · 15-01-2012 6:09pm

harrythehat wrote: »

Anything by George Orwell or Haruki Murakami.

I was given The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle for Christmas, can't wait to get stuck into it!

bitlocked · 15-01-2012 6:11pm

bobbaggio wrote: »

A western wandering Adventure? Sounds like my kind of story! I am reading Paolo Coelho - by the river piedra I sat down and wept, quite good, very spiritual but easy reading!

Big fan of his. Loved "The Devil and Miss Prym" and "The Fifth Mountain"

bitlocked · 15-01-2012 6:18pm

bitlocked wrote: »

Novels:
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
Old School - Tobias Wolff
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Ulysses - James Joyce
Watchmen - don't remember
Dune - Frank Herbert

Non-fiction:
Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell
Man's Search for Meaning - Victor E. Frankl
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

I left out The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Some read

OwaynOTT · 18-01-2012 4:33am

In no particular order:

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (the book that made me laugh out load the most)

The Gunslinger - Stephen King ( the dark tower series as a whole really but I picked the first book for the list but it's probably not the best in the series. The one with the best line certainly.)

Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett (my favourite but also it's a stand alone so a good place to start reading the excellent discworld books. Also it has Gaspode the wonder dog. It was a toss up between this and Small Gods but only one of the books feature a wonder dog.)

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes ( the book I most recently finished. And it's an exceptional piece of writing. Simple but genius.)

The Princess Bride - William Goldman ( a list of any top ten not featuring a tale of true life and high adventure is in my view inconceivable. The book teaches many valuable lessons that include - the difference between being fully dead and half dead and never ty to poison the man in black.)

Ah that's enough for now.

emeraldstar · 18-01-2012 10:34am

OwaynOTT wrote: »

The Princess Bride - William Goldman ( a list of any top ten not featuring a tale of true life and high adventure is in my view inconceivable.

I see what you did there

Ormus · 18-01-2012 11:35am

Just finished The Count of Monte Cristo

It goes into my earlier list.

Possibly at numero uno.

Ormus · 18-01-2012 11:37am

DapperGent wrote: »

East of Eden is everywhere. Go figure.

Great story, well written, that help?

Slattsy · 18-01-2012 11:50am

Ormus wrote: »

Just finished The Count of Monte Cristo

It goes into my earlier list.

Possibly at numero uno.

How long did it take you ??
I'd love to read it but the size scares the bejaysus outta me !!

Ormus · 18-01-2012 12:19pm

Slattsy wrote: »

How long did it take you ??
I'd love to read it but the size scares the bejaysus outta me !!

I started it on Christmas Day, so had some quiet days over Christmas by the fire with it.

It sucks you in and goes at a great pace, I didn't want it to finish.

That's me though, I tend to like long stories, the bigger the better.

Slattsy · 18-01-2012 1:25pm

Ormus wrote: »

Slattsy wrote: »

How long did it take you ??
I'd love to read it but the size scares the bejaysus outta me !!

I started it on Christmas Day, so had some quiet days over Christmas by the fire with it.

It sucks you in and goes at a great pace, I didn't want it to finish.

That's me though, I tend to like long stories, the bigger the better.

That's some quick reading. The only chance I really get to read is on my lunch break and before bed. That book will take me 6 months !

Ormus · 18-01-2012 5:35pm

Slattsy wrote: »

That's some quick reading. The only chance I really get to read is on my lunch break and before bed. That book will take me 6 months !

6 months well spent!

A friend of mine read a chapter a night for 117 nights.

I was up til about 4 O'Clock a few nights, couldn't tear myself away from it.

Yep, I'm single.

Lucifer31 · 18-01-2012 5:54pm

Slaughterhouse 5 (Vonnegut)
Cosmos (Sagan)
Cloud Atlas
Birdsong (Faulks)
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (Kesey)
The Watchmen (Moore / Gibbons)
The God Delusion (Dawkins)
The Third Policeman (O'Brien)
Timequake (Vonnegut)
Brave New World (Huxley)

superman123 · 18-01-2012 6:05pm

Seeing as the book starts with the demolition of the earth, id say it would be pretty appropriate.

judgefudge · 23-01-2012 8:02pm

OKAY. So I decided in the New Year that I wanted to read more this year. I was reading this thread for a while and decided to compile a list of the books most mentioned. It's not a hundred percent accurate, but I have the top 20 books in order here. I'd say its right for the most part. I didn't take into account when people just mentioned authors or anything. Anyways here it is:

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy -- Tolkien (mentioned 99 times)

2. 1984 -- George Orwell

3. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

4. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

5. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee

6. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams

7. Animal Farm -- George Orwell

8. Harry Potter Series -- J.K. Rowling

9. Wuthering Heights -- Emily Bronte

10. Crime and Punishment -- Dostoevsky

11. A Clockwork Orange -- Anthony Burgess

12. Lord of the Flies -- William Golding

13. On the Road -- Jack Kerouac

14. Ulysses -- James Joyce

15. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -- Hunter S. Thompson

16. His Dark Materials -- Philip Pullman

17. Life of Pi -- Yann Martel

18. Lolita --Vladimir Nabokov

19. The Hobbit -- Tolkien

20. War and Peace -- Leo Tolstoy

Yes... I have far too much time on my hands, but it made work more interesting!
And now for me to get cracking on the ones I have not read

Thanks guys!!

Slattsy · 23-01-2012 10:56pm

judgefudge wrote: »

OKAY. So I decided in the New Year that I wanted to read more this year. I was reading this thread for a while and decided to compile a list of the books most mentioned. It's not a hundred percent accurate, but I have the top 20 books in order here. I'd say its right for the most part. I didn't take into account when people just mentioned authors or anything. Anyways here it is:

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy -- Tolkien (mentioned 99 times)

2. 1984 -- George Orwell

3. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

4. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

5. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee

6. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams

7. Animal Farm -- George Orwell

8. Harry Potter Series -- J.K. Rowling

9. Wuthering Heights -- Emily Bronte

10. Crime and Punishment -- Dostoevsky

11. A Clockwork Orange -- Anthony Burgess

12. Lord of the Flies -- William Golding

13. On the Road -- Jack Kerouac

14. Ulysses -- James Joyce

15. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -- Hunter S. Thompson

16. His Dark Materials -- Philip Pullman

17. Life of Pi -- Yann Martel

18. Lolita --Vladimir Nabokov

19. The Hobbit -- Tolkien

20. War and Peace -- Leo Tolstoy

Yes... I have far too much time on my hands, but it made work more interesting!
And now for me to get cracking on the ones I have not read
Thanks guys!!

I found Magician (Feist) and Eagle in the Snow (Breem) were two of the most common on my first browse through the thread.

judgefudge · 24-01-2012 10:55am

Slattsy wrote: »

I found Magician (Feist) and Eagle in the Snow (Breem) were two of the most common on my first browse through the thread.

Well yeah, they were both mentioned somewhere in the teens, (as were pride and prejudice, the alchemist, the road etc.) but no.20 above was mentioned ~22 times so it should be fairly accurate. If you don't believe me be my guest and go back and check yourself! I sure aint doin it.

Slattsy · 24-01-2012 12:04pm

I believe ya buddy

Paddy Samurai · 15-02-2012 3:01pm

As usual hard to pick ten,but have a few changes since I last posted.Tried to include all my favourite genres.At the moment they are the following.........

Eagle in the snow Wallace Breen
Powerful emotive read,one of those books I was sad to finish.Breem only wrote three books as far as I know.Liked two ,was'nt mad on the third.

The Drawing of the Dark Tim Powers A blending of real historical events/people, with fantasy.Mad stuff made reality,no one does it as well as Powers.

In the Rogue Blood James Carlos Blake
Prefer it to Blood Meridian.Considered more brutal,but an easier read IMO.

Troy Trilogy David Gemmell
Storytelling at its best.

Swan Song Robert mcCammon
Love The Stand ,but this is better IMO.It ticks more boxes for me.
Although I prefer Kings "Salems Lot" over McCammons "They Thirst".

Speaks The Nightbird Robert McCammon
A Sumptuous read.

Shogun James Clavell
Epic historical novel set in Japan during the samurai era.Great stuff.

The Religion Tim Willocks
Seige of Malta.A real page turner IMO.

Necroscope (series) Brian Lumley
Unique take on Vampire Horror,set in the cold war era.

Dune Frank Herbert
My favourite sci/fi book .

A Song of Fire and Ice(series) RR.Martin
While still in progress,I love this book series and hope Martin lives to complete it.

Lets pretend it adds up to ten.

quickbeam · 18-02-2012 8:38pm

Ormus wrote: »

6 months well spent!

A friend of mine read a chapter a night for 117 nights.

I was up til about 4 O'Clock a few nights, couldn't tear myself away from it.

Yep, I'm single.

I'm a slow reader and it took me nowhere near 6 months to read it. A top 3 book for me, absolutely loved it. I deliberately slowed myself down reading it though because I wanted to stretch out the experience. Never been so disappointed finishing a book, not because it was a poor ending but because I no longer had it there to read every day. Highly recommended.

planet1 · 04-03-2012 7:30pm

Have read loads of books in my time, but the ones that have stayed most with me are

The Boy with the dog in the night
The lovely bones
Anything by dearbhla Murphy
Victorian london
The tenament houses of Dublin
Black Baby
The Prophet Kilbran
The Book of Facts
Liverpool Miss

I am very fond of travel writing hence Dearbhla Murphy who I think is one of Irelands best writers living today/ The Novels I feel have a lot to say on lifes problems ; I love books about the way life was lived in the past especially London and Dublin/ The Prophet I think all should read / Facts because they are easy to read and Liverpool Miss because it was something I read a long time ago

Monkeybonkers · 04-03-2012 8:49pm

planet1 wrote: »

Have read loads of books in my time, but the ones that have stayed most with me are

The Boy with the dog in the night
The lovely bones
Anything by dearbhla Murphy
Victorian london
The tenament houses of Dublin
Black Baby
The Prophet Kilbran
The Book of Facts
Liverpool Miss

I am very fond of travel writing hence Dearbhla Murphy who I think is one of Irelands best writers living today/ The Novels I feel have a lot to say on lifes problems ; I love books about the way life was lived in the past especially London and Dublin/ The Prophet I think all should read / Facts because they are easy to read and Liverpool Miss because it was something I read a long time ago

Do you mean 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time? Excellent book. Bought it for my 14 year old niece for Christmas and she loved it too. One for readers of all ages

Pintoplain · 18-03-2012 9:54am

The Beckett Trilogy
Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon
The Goldbug Variations - Richard Powers
Don Quixote - Cervantes
Moby Dick - Melville
Pale Fire - Nabokov
Money - Martin Amis
Ulysses - Joyce
The Secret Agent - Conrad
The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster

AmeliaO · 30-03-2012 1:23pm

I suppose it's all a matter of taste; I just finished Caleb Williams by William Godwin & Bleak House by Charles Dickens and they blew my mind! I would recommend Caleb Williams as the better of the two though!

emeraldstar · 30-03-2012 1:36pm

AmeliaO wrote: »

I suppose it's all a matter of taste; I just finished Caleb Williams by William Godwin & Bleak House by Charles Dickens and they blew my mind! I would recommend Caleb Williams as the better of the two though!

A matter of taste is right! Bleak House is one of my very, very favourite books in the whole wide world, whereas I found Caleb Williams unbearably dreadful and wearisome.

Solidarity · 08-04-2012 11:33pm

I've only got one major book - Wuthering Heights.
Without a doubt an amazing read.

WickedWest · 23-04-2012 8:47am

There are too many good books to limit it to ten! I'll give you a few I can think of at the moment, though.

Animal Farm
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Catch 22
LOTR
Dante's Divine Comedy

ViveLaVie · 24-04-2012 10:07pm

Hamlet
Wuthering Heights
The Picture of Dorian Gray
1984
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
Twelfth Night
Alice in Wonderland
In the Lake of the Woods
To Kill a Mockingbird

Monkeybonkers · 26-04-2012 1:51pm

Having just recently finished this amazing book I would have to include 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman' by Laurence Sterne in this list

fusuf · 05-06-2012 7:01pm

WickedWest wrote: »

There are too many good books to limit it to ten! I'll give you a few I can think of at the moment, though.

Animal Farm
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Catch 22
LOTR
Dante's Divine Comedy

Why did you only list 5 then?

Monkeybonkers · 05-06-2012 10:08pm

WickedWest wrote: »

There are too many good books to limit it to ten! I'll give you a few I can think of at the moment, though.

Animal Farm
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Catch 22
LOTR
Dante's Divine Comedy

fusuf wrote: »

Why did you only list 5 then?

The answer to your question is in bold above

robbie7171 · 17-06-2012 9:05am

Here is my humble contribution.....
The old man and the sea...Hemmingway
Tortilla flat...Steinbeck
To kill a mocking bird....Lee
1984.....Orwell
The lord of the rings...Tolkein
Fight club...Palaniuk
The life of Pi.....Martell
The grapes of wrath....Steinbeck
Trainspotting....Welsh
A prayer for Owen Meaney......Irving

....so many books, so little time

BrendanCro · 04-07-2012 1:06pm

Personally, if the apocalypse was coming I want to read the books that brought me the most pleasure rather than neccesarily the best literature. So as a lover of non-fiction and fiction here is my top 10 books that for some reason or other I enjoyed most and have resonated with me the longest

Count of Monte Cristo - simply the most enjoyable reading experience fo my life. Nearly cried when I finished it
Matilda by Roald Dahl - as a kid I read this over and over. Maybe as a nerdy kid with evil teachers something resonated. Little concerned by how excited I was when i heard Tim Minchin had made a musical version!
Rubicon by Tom Holland - best work of narriative history I have ever read. Incredible history of the last days of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire.
Lords of Finance - by Liaquat Ahamed. History of the Great Depression (the last one, not this one) told by examining the 4 most powerful Central Bankers. Superbly written and its amazing how many insights in to todays crisis can be gleaned. If only Merkel read this she would have changed her mind on austerity long ago.
The Stand - Stephen King. Read this as a kid and would stay up all night due to a) enjoying the book and b) terror. Spawned a lifelong love of apocalypse fiction!
The Miracle of St. Anthony's by Adrian Wojnarowski . The story of an American High School basketball team and its Coach who has been responsible for hundreds of underpriviliged kids making it to college. Wojnarowski follows them for one unbelievable season. It is to my mind the greatest sports book ever written and I have read a LOT of great sports books.
Open by Andre Agassi. Incredibly honest autobiography and one which gave me incredible motivation to sort out things I need to sort out. I must have reread one passage about how Agassi summed the strenght to build his career back a thousand times.
Team of Rivals by Dorothy Kearns Goodwin. Story of Lincoln and how he turned his rivals into his strongest cabnet allies. Obamas inspiration behind making Hillary Sec of State. Very well told and immensly enjoyable.
The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb. Story of 3 runners competing to break the 4 minute mile barrier. Despite knowing how it ends you find yourslef routing for them all! Reads like the best fiction. Incredibly gripping and the book I have passed on to more people than any other. And they all absolutely loved it!
More than a gmae: football v apartheid by Henry Corr. Rugby may have helped heal South Africa by football helped prepare the prisoners of Robben Island for leadership

Honourable mention goes to
Garrincha by Rui Castros
State of Africa by Martin Meridith
Football against the enemy by Simon Kuper
Donnie Brasco by Joe Pistone
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
World War Z by Maz Brooks
The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
Imperium by Robert Harris
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakeur
Friday Night Lights - by H.G. Bissinger
Hand of God by Jimmy Burns

10 to read before the apocalypse?

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