Must read books

M

mkillio

Regular
I've been on quite a book kick lately and I'm trying to read all the books that everyone is supposed to, I'm currently finishing The Jungle. Right now I prefer more serious non-fiction/heavely "real/istic fiction as well as auto/biographies. I have no problem with fiction though, infact, after my next book 1421: The Year CHina Discovered America I'm going to read the chronicles of Narnia.

Thanks in advance
 
Walter Tevis: "The Man Who Fell To Earth"
William Gibson: "Neuromancer Trilogy"
Carlos Castaneda: everything in chronological order
Vernor Vinge: "A Deepness In The Sky" and "A Fire Upon The Deep"

And more down-to-earth stuff:
William Faulkner: "Sanctuary"
John Updike: "Run, Rabbit, Run"
Herman Hesse "Siddhartha"

Just to get you going... :D

EDIT:
Absolute must-read: "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson
 
Anything by Peter F. Hamilton

The unabridged The Stand by Stephen King

All of the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. :p
 
1. Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

2. The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin

3. Thieves in the Temple: America Under The Federal Reserve System by Andre Eggelletion
 
london-boy said:
The Divine Comedy. In the original language. No notes.
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I don't think most of us have the required language skills for that one :)

But IIRC John Ciardi's translation (at least of the inferno) is quite good, as it keeps the same style as the original (3 line verses etc) but is quite readable (relatively speaking)

CC
 
If you're only talking classics and non-sci fi I'd recomend "Catcher in the Rye "if you haven't read it already and Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"...the book is much better than any movie ever made from it.

"The Tau of Pooh" is also quite good. :)
 
i'll stick with Sage's How to get the bitch back- methods in torture and mind control.
 
Dan Simmons: Hyperion Cantos (4 books)

If you're a scifi fan, and you haven't read these books, you're missing out on one of the best (IMO the best) scifi series ever written. For the longest time Asimov's Foundation series was my favorite, but the Hyperion Cantos just blew me away. In fact, I plan on reading it again here soon, since I'm sure I missed something the first time through.

I'll admit it, I cried like a baby during the last book. I've never been moved to tears by a movie or a book before, but I didn't stand a chance with this one. Thank god I was home alone, or I'm sure my wife would never stop making fun of me for it. :)

Also, the Shrike is by far the coolest scifi creature ever.
 
JBark said:
Dan Simmons: Hyperion Cantos (4 books)

If you're a scifi fan, and you haven't read these books, you're missing out on one of the best (IMO the best) scifi series ever written. For the longest time Asimov's Foundation series was my favorite, but the Hyperion Cantos just blew me away. In fact, I plan on reading it again here soon, since I'm sure I missed something the first time through.
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I'm actually reading "The Fall of Hyperion" at the moment. I thought the first book was much better than the sequel. I expect I'll read the following two books after this one though.

As for something to read - practically anything by Iain M. Banks (sci-fi) is good and some of his non SF books written as Iain Banks are pretty good also.
 
RussSchultz said:
If only he'd get off his ass and finish the next book, which was due LAST April.
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Heh, true. He spoke at a recent convention, two weekends ago I think, and said that the manuscript is now larger than that of ASoS and that he had one chapter left to finish the book and maybe 100 pages to polish up some more. He also said that both British and American publishers were going to push it through their schedules since it's so late. He also has a few chapters already written for the next book, A Dance with Dragons (?).

A Feast for Crows now covers an extremely truncated slice of time as opposed to the original notion of skipping ahead roughly five years. So Martin hinted that the series might balloon to seven books total.
 
*sniff-sniff* *sniff*

Do I smell Martin pulling a Jordan?

Hopefully not. That would be so, so depressing.
 
Zelazny "Lord of Light". Also Chonicles of Amber.

H. Beam Piper, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, and The Fuzzy Papers.

E. E. Smith: Lensman

Dune. Duh.

Trotsky's history of the Russian Revolution (preferably unabridged). Try not to howl out loud at his pride in finally solving the nationalities problem.

Churchill's "History of the English Speaking Peoples".

Heinlein's Future History (The Past Thru Tomorrow), and all the Scribner's juveniles. And. . .and. . .and. . ah, hell, all of Heinlein.

Man in the High Castle. If you like that one, you can try the rest of P.K. Dick.

U.S. Grant's Memoirs. Also "A Rebel War Clerk's Diary" by John B. Jones.

EDIT: Oh! Huge DUH! "Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May - September 1787" by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Awesome book.

EDIT2: And since you're in Indiana, I'll throw in G. R. Tredway's excellent "Democratic Opposition to the Lincoln Administration in Indiana", which might challange what you think you know about Indiana in the Civil War a bit.

That's just random off the top of my head. If I get up and start looking at bookshelves we'll be here all day.
 
I've read most of the sf books mentioned. Some more of the very best:

The forever war - Joe Haldeman (VERY good)

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson (You already did read this one, right? RIGHT?)

Excession - Ian M. Banks (his very best)

A mote in God's eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Heart of the comet - Gregory Benford and David Brin

The Uplift series - David Brin

The Gap series - Stephen Donaldson (his sf is really good, don't bother with the rest)

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig (the book that triggered all the "The Zen of..." books)

Anything from Terry Pratchett, of course.
 
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