Help me catch up...(Books)

[MegaloMialo]

I guess i should tell a bit about myself first. 22 years of age, graduated through high school in Sweden, going to college now studying international economics.
Here is the thing, there are tons of good books that i haven't read and that i am not even aware of.
I would appreciate it very much if you could help me out and sort of make a list for me with the books (all kind of books) that i must read..classics, masterpieces, philosophy books, important psychology books etc.
I have a lot of catching up to do and if you like you can even make a complete list of must reads, or you can just make some suggestions.

Some good books that i enjoyed, the life o pi, the fountainhead, the great gatsby, catch 22 etc.

and by all means from authors all over the world!

By the way, not sure this is the right place to ask for this type of help.

Thanks for the help!

[Mondogarage]

John Irving - A Son Of the Circus

[TheDudeAbides]

It's kind of a general question. But I just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and can wholeheartedly recommend it.

[ChipStorm]

OP, "Fountainhead" and "Gatsby" are two of my all-time favorites. FWIW, I also loved "Atlas Shrugged" and "We The Living", but never really took to any other Fitzgerald.

Probably lots of web pages listing the great "Western Classics"....

[inside??]

"The Catcher in the Rye" FTW

[MegaloMialo]

Ty for your suggestions so far! please keep them coming.
What does OP mean? FWIW? FTW?

thanks!

[PokerFox]

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

The Stranger - Albert Camus

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

Dante's Inferno

[barryc83]

crime and punishment - dostoevsky (sp?)

a portrait of the artist as a young man - joyce

[Slow Play Ray]

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A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

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This is the ultimate 2+2er book.

[SpaceAce]

[ QUOTE ]
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

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This is a good suggestion. If you finished (and enjoyed) Catch-22, this book is right up your alley. I seriously doubt there are many people on this planet who are more voracious readers than I am and in a lifetime filled with books, A Confederacy of Dunces stands out as one of the most bizarre and unique books I have read.

I can suggest literally thousands of titles if you want. PM me if you like. Here are a few off the top of my head:

The Road to Gandolfo and The Road to Omaha, both by Robert Ludlum. These two books are among the greatest American humor novels I have ever read. If you only know Ludlum from his action/suspense hits like the Bourne series, you're really missing out.

Falls the Shadow and When Christ and his Saints Slept, both by Sharon Kay Penman. These two books introduced me to really enjoyable historical fiction, with the emphasis on historical. I really can't say enough about these books, they are incredible. If you think English and Welsh history are boring, read these and see how wrong you are.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. One of the greatest, if not THE greatest, science fiction novels of all time, this book has sociological elements that are progressive even today, although a lot of it is less shocking than it was when it first came out. Make sure to get the "complete" version and not the abridged early publication.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I don't think I need to explain this one. Read it if you haven't.

Shogun, Tai-Pan, Gaijin, King Rat (the whole Asian saga) by James Clavelle. These books kick ass, period. You probably won't be enlightened or become a better person by reading them but if you want compelling characters, extreme non-western social views and kick-ass sword fights, here's the place to get them.

Kon-Tiki by Thor Hyerdahl. Six guys cross the Pacific Ocean on a freaking raft and it's a true story! Thor Hyerdahl has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way over the years, but holy [censored], he crossed the Pacific Ocean on a freaking raft!

The Walls of Jolo by Alan Caillou. An interesting novel about one of the lesser-known American conflicts, this book centers on American occupation and administration in the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.

E=MC^2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis and Simon Singh. This book is a biography of the equation, not of Albert Einstein. Obviously, you can't ignore Einstein when discussing E=MC^2, but the book focuses on the equation itself rather than the man most famous for the equation's existence. This is a great read if you're science- or history-oriented.

SpaceAce