5 Books Everybody Should Read

[tdarko]

KKF,

Usually you should read the book before making the judgement but just so you know typical inspirational and books with bits of wisdom sprinkled throughout are the exact types of books I usually hate and stay away from. This book is different, it isn't forceful or cheesy, it is extremely well-written and applies to many walks of life. I have read a couple of his other books b/c of "The Alchemist" and they are good as well but not even remotely as good as "The Alchemist." It is a quick read and well worth it. It is the only "inspirational" and/or book that many claim as "life-changing" (I think people saying books change their lives is kind of weird) that I have ever liked.

~td

[RJT]

I hate to sound like a broken record but <u>To Kill A Mockingbird</u> ,of course. (This saves Tannebaum and Kidcolin from having to post it anyway.)

I agree with Huck Finn too , btw.

[diebitter]

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That is a good list. I would like to know how many out there have read "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy? It is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest novels and pieces of history together and should be required reading by anyone who considers themselves well read. But perhaps the length throws some people off.

So throw that and "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky onto the list as well.

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Yeah, read both of these. War and Peace is worth reading, but only once. Crime and Punishment I read many years ago, and do intend to read again. 'Brothers Karamazov' would also be worth adding, as we're getting Russian here.



Huck finn is a great suggestion too.


My own 5 are smaller, and consist of things I read and read again, and definitely lower brow than some of the suggestions here. Note mine are inspired roughly equally by the ideas and knowledge about the way the world works as much as the writing.

1. 1984
2. Lord of the Flies
3. Silas Marner
4. Dune
5. Different Seasons - (this is the Stephen King collection containing Shawshank Redemption, The Body (made into 'Stand By Me'), and Apt Pupil, each of which I consider significant works about different aspects of the human condition.

[gisb0rne]

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1. Blood Meridian- Cormac McCarthy (Greatest living American author)


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While I absolutely loved All the Pretty Horses, I have tried and failed to read BM at least 3 times.

[John Cole]

Nice list, especially Blood Meridien and Ulysses, but I'd prefer Moby Dick (how can you understand BM without it?) or Huck Finn.

For non-fiction, I'd go with Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey or Stop-Time by Frank Conroy, perhaps the greatest memoir ever written.

Walden defies categorization: it's non-fiction but better read as a novel, and it's certainly America's Bible. Every American should read Thoreau. ("We can string telegraph poles coast to coast, but what if no one has anything to say to each other." Did he forsee the advent of the cell phone?)

Poetry, sticking in the American grain: Leaves of Grass or Frost for beginners, but it seems that every American poet I've talked to (and I've talked to quite a few) has been deeply influenced by Wallace Stevens, so read his collected poems.

Drama: Oedipus Rex (when you find out who you are do you pluck out your eyes or do you smile?) or King Lear, a play so terrible in its depravity that it was performed for over two hundred years with Nahum Tate's alternative "happy ending." This is the only work of fiction that leaves me shaking.

Special Mention: I am a devoted reader of the personal essay, and as I get older, it's become my favorite form of literature. Philip Lopate's The Art of the Personal Essay is a fine collection. For one essay, though, try to find William Nack's essay on the death of Secretariat, a beautifully written, ultimately moving look at the great horse. It's one of the few pieces of writting that moved me to tears.

[lozen]

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The Bible

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Agreed a great peice of fiction

alchemist is a must

[Utah]

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Lets see your list!

[/ QUOTE ]The humor in the book I chose just struck me as I was about to write this.

My favorite book of all-times is High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. I thought the book was brilliantly written, very entertaining, gripping, and had valuable things to say. I can't think of another book off the top of my head that meets all those qualities. I can think of books that meet some of these criteria (e.g., "Into Thin Air", and "of Mice and Men") but not all.

The book is centered around lists - which I thought was funny because this is a thread about lists [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] So, if you like lists then this is a great book. Of course, the lists are simply a vehicle to convey something much deeper.

The book starts:

"My desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups, in chronological order:

1. Alison Ashworth
2. Penny Hardwick
3. Jackie Allen
4. Charlie Nicholson
5. Sarah Kendrew

These were the ones that really hurt.......

[Tonding]

The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann (Greatest writer of the 20th century)
The Capital - Karl Marx (Influenced one of the systems for society)
Faust - Goethe (The most important piece of fiction ever written)
The Bible (That's were Western culture is build on. A must read even for atheists.)
The Art of War - Sun Tzu (This is how you deal with everybody in society)

[Zeno]

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Walden defies categorization: it's non-fiction but better read as a novel, and it's certainly America's Bible. Every American should read Thoreau. ("We can string telegraph poles coast to coast, but what if no one has anything to say to each other." Did he forsee the advent of the cell phone?)

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Or the Internet? We are saying something important to each other right now, eh John?!

Anyway, I second Walden. I have read it at least twice and no doubt it deserves one more read before I pass on from the living into oblivion and the worms and grubs feast on my flesh.

Under the lash of a guilty conscience, I read Moby Dick years ago. I agree with your assessment, it’s just that personally; I prefer Twain. Cannibalism in the cars and so forth. By the way, The Library of America put out a two volume set of Mark Twains “Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, and Essays" covering his entire career, 1852 – 1910. I consider this an essential for every American to read.

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Poetry, sticking in the American grain: Leaves of Grass or Frost for beginners, but it seems that every American poet I've talked to (and I've talked to quite a few) has been deeply influenced by Wallace Stevens, so read his collected poems.


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As I become older and my mind more closely resembles a ceramic bowl filled with warm mush instead of a plastic one filled with rigid crispy corn flakes, my predilection for Eastern poetry grows. I think I now prefer Po Chü-I to any Western Author.



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Special Mention: I am a devoted reader of the personal essay, and as I get older, it's become my favorite form of literature.

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Ditto. Though I would lean more toward say, Bertrand Russell's Unpopular Essays, a small but potent collection of excellent writing. But the family is vast and pickings ripe and various.

I think it impossible to cull out 'the best' but certainly it is fun to try and all that are mentioned are worthy of consideration. We all have favorites.


I find it odd that works of old are scarce on lists, for example say, Metamorphoses by Ovid.

-Zeno

[Zeno]

The Bible
Huck Finn
Walden
Moby Dick
On the Nature of Things, by Lucretius


^