Books to read before you die

[Lilani]

I'd say Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. It is the true story of an amazing man named Morrie Schwartz, who is slowly dying of ALS, a disease where the body slowly begins to shut down and lose function, while the mind stays perfectly intact. The book starts out with the author, Mitch Albom seeing Morrie on a 60 minutes interview on TV. In college Morrie was a great tutor and friend to Mitch, but until then he hadn't spoken with Morrie for 16 years. So Mitch goes back to Morrie and talks with him again, and they begin to have talks every Tuesday.

After a while, Mitch decides to start recording his time with Morrie on tape, and that is what most of the book is based on. And all throughout this, Mitch is going through his own personal struggles and conflicts, which Morrie helps him with.

Morrie has a wonderful sense of humor and a lot of stories to tell. Until I read this book I'd never cried because of a book before. This book made me cry twice, and I never have cried because of another book since. It is a must-read, in my opinion.

 

[chiles]

Seeker by Jack McDevitt. Hands down one of the best books I have ever read.

 

[WittyName]

-Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo.

-Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell To Arms.

-Virgil - The Aeneid.

-Shakespeare - The Winter's Tale.

-Any of Ian Fleming's James Bond books.

 

[unicron44]

Atlas Shrugged, hands down. It is my favorite book ever, I've read it at least 4 or 5 times, it is a little text heavy with difficult philosophical monologues appearing fairly often, but I love the progression of the story as well as the morals it espouses. It can be a little bit difficult to get into but once you past the first few chapters of exposition it becomes deeply engaging.
Definitely something to read, regardless of whether you agree with the philosophy behind it or not, because hey, it never hurts to be informed about the views you disagree with, and if you agree with the philosophy then the whole book completely reaffirms your belief in it.

Hmmm im very interested, what sort of philosophical questions does it pose?

I haven't read it yet because I just bought it, but I think it involves the smart and head people of society "going on strike" because the stupid, lazy people take advantage of them. I think it's supposed to propose you should help out people who are blind or handicapped but shouldn't give hand out to lazy people.

 

[Chechosaurus]

Breakfast of Champions. That book made me feel like I was some kind of strange alien visitor to Earth, having my new world described to me by someone that didn't really know the best way to go about it.

It's funny, well written, a delightfully bizarre attention to detail, a great use of the fourth wall and a truly excellent story.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

Well I'm reading through Homer's The Odyssey in my Classical Civilisation class...

Tbh, you have to read that and The Illiad some time in your life, their really nice books, and also considered the first works of Western Literature, so surely that's enough to have you interested?

The Hobbit obviously...
Actually the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy as well.

I also hear Dante's The Divine Comedy is really good, as is Milton's Paradise Lost; they're considered classics.

Pff...err..OH, a good ol'Gothic novella goes down a treat. I enjoyed Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.

Bleh, so many more><

EDIT: Actually, I can also recommend F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Really short novel, and it...hmm...I don't know, I'm reading it at the moment and finding it really enjoyable...maybe because it's in my English Lit class and all the symbology in it is really interesting.

...Think I said 'really' enough? Haha.

ASDFGHJKL and George Orwell's Animal Farm

k i shush nao.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

How Not To Die: The Illustrated Guide.

 

[westhamhaz]

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams (the first two only, IMO)
1984 - George Orwell (Which depending on where you live, can be downloaded for free. I live in Canada and the copyright has expired here as far as I know... I won't link to it just in case [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_novel#Copyright_status], though)
War of the Worlds - Orson Wells
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
God's Debris - Scott Adams (if you take it as intended - a thought experiment - it's really interesting. Don't be put off by the fact it's written by the same guy who does the Dilbert comics. You can get it absoloutely free and legal from here [http://nowscape.com/godsdebris.pdf]. PDF warning on that link. My anti virus didn't throw up a fit when I clicked on that link, but just so you're aware.)
Little Brother - Cory Doctrow (which you can also get for free, [and legally] from here [http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/])
The Watchmen - Alan Moore (if graphic novels count)
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - (I'm unsure of the author offhand) The author has a whole series of these, I haven't read any of the others though.
The Hobbit + Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Stuff, The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
An Anthropologist on Mars - Oliver Sacks
Many of the books in the Halo series. They're actually really good sci-fi. This goes for Larry Niven's Ringworld as well, although I've only read the first two.
A good chunk of Chuck Palahniuk's books too. Specifically, Fight Club, Lullaby and Survivor.



I'm sure I've forgotten a whole bunch and I'll kick myself later. But that should keep you busy for a while .

I hope you enjoy a few of them. And if you read Little Brother or God's Debris for free, maybe you could consider going out and purchasing some other books by the author? It's great they let us have these for free, but if they go bankrupt and can no longer write, we all lose.

Oh, and sorry for the wall o'text. I like to read, haha.

thats ok thanks for the tips!
but if you had to choose one out of them all could you pick one?

 

[googleit6]

Atlas Shrugged, hands down. It is my favorite book ever, I've read it at least 4 or 5 times, it is a little text heavy with difficult philosophical monologues appearing fairly often, but I love the progression of the story as well as the morals it espouses. It can be a little bit difficult to get into but once you past the first few chapters of exposition it becomes deeply engaging.
Definitely something to read, regardless of whether you agree with the philosophy behind it or not, because hey, it never hurts to be informed about the views you disagree with, and if you agree with the philosophy then the whole book completely reaffirms your belief in it.

I just bought that yesterday I'm really excited to get it started. I bought The Fountainhead a few months ago, but my brother took it with him to college. He wanted to read it really bad because it appearently inspired Neil Peart to write 2112.


I would say anything written by Mark Twain, Shakespear, Upton Sinclar, Ayn Rand, Greorge Orwell, Kafka, Poe, Oscar Wilde, Neil Gaiman just to name a few.

EDIT: If you loved Bioshock, then you'll love Ayn Rand because a lot of Bioshock's themes were inspired from Rand's books.

I heard about The Fountainhead from "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and have wanted to read it ever since then.

OT: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is a great book, for anyone who was ever/is lonely/angsty/confused about being/having been a teenager. Which means it's pretty much for everyone.

 

[Woodsey]

- Hitchhiker's trilogy (all 5 of them)
- The Hobbit
- To Kill a Mockingbird

 

[unicron44]

Here we go, in no particular order;

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams (the first two only, IMO)
1984 - George Orwell (Which depending on where you live, can be downloaded for free. I live in Canada and the copyright has expired here as far as I know... I won't link to it just in case [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_novel#Copyright_status], though)
War of the Worlds - Orson Wells
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
God's Debris - Scott Adams (if you take it as intended - a thought experiment - it's really interesting. Don't be put off by the fact it's written by the same guy who does the Dilbert comics. You can get it absoloutely free and legal from here [http://nowscape.com/godsdebris.pdf]. PDF warning on that link. My anti virus didn't throw up a fit when I clicked on that link, but just so you're aware.)
Little Brother - Cory Doctrow (which you can also get for free, [and legally] from here [http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/])
The Watchmen - Alan Moore (if graphic novels count)
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - (I'm unsure of the author offhand) The author has a whole series of these, I haven't read any of the others though.
The Hobbit + Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein
Stiff, The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
An Anthropologist on Mars - Oliver Sacks
Many of the books in the Halo series. They're actually really good sci-fi. This goes for Larry Niven's Ringworld as well, although I've only read the first two.
A good chunk of Chuck Palahniuk's books too. Specifically, Fight Club, Lullaby and Survivor.



I'm sure I've forgotten a whole bunch and I'll kick myself later. But that should keep you busy for a while .

I hope you enjoy a few of them. And if you read Little Brother or God's Debris for free, maybe you could consider going out and purchasing some other books by the author? It's great they let us have these for free, but if they go bankrupt and can no longer write, we all lose.

Oh, and sorry for the wall o'text. I like to read, haha.

.[hr]

Edited to clean up the formatting a bit. I know it's still kind of a mess, but oh well...

1. Great list.
2. I believe War of the Worlds was also H.G. Wells and Orson Wells did the radio play that caused people to panic.
3. I own God's Debris. I read the first chapter and found it absolutely fascinating and let a friend borrow it. He passed it around to a couple of our other friends. I am the only one in our circle of friends who hasn't read it yet and its my book. I still don't have it back yet. Funny how things work out that way.

 

[westhamhaz]

Well I'm reading through Homer's The Odyssey in my Classical Civilisation class...

Tbh, you have to read that and The Illiad some time in your life, their really nice books, and also considered the first works of Western Literature, so surely that's enough to have you interested?

The Hobbit obviously...
Actually the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy as well.

I also hear Dante's The Divine Comedy is really good, as is Milton's Paradise Lost; they're considered classics.

Pff...err..OH, a good ol'Gothic novella goes down a treat. I enjoyed Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.

Bleh, so many more><

Odyssey and illiad are simply the daddy of the literature world... I also did classics will you be doing Aenid at some point?

 

[Terminate421]

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Its the greatest book ever........

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

Odyssey and illiad are simply the daddy of the literature world... I also did classics will you be doing Aenid at some point?

I LOVE Classics maha. I think we might be doing it next year but I don't know. I'd like to read it anyway...do you recommend it?

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

Here we go, in no particular order;

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams (the first two only, IMO)
1984 - George Orwell (Which depending on where you live, can be downloaded for free. I live in Canada and the copyright has expired here as far as I know... I won't link to it just in case [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_novel#Copyright_status], though)
War of the Worlds - Orson Wells
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
God's Debris - Scott Adams (if you take it as intended - a thought experiment - it's really interesting. Don't be put off by the fact it's written by the same guy who does the Dilbert comics. You can get it absoloutely free and legal from here [http://nowscape.com/godsdebris.pdf]. PDF warning on that link. My anti virus didn't throw up a fit when I clicked on that link, but just so you're aware.)
Little Brother - Cory Doctrow (which you can also get for free, [and legally] from here [http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/])
The Watchmen - Alan Moore (if graphic novels count)
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - (I'm unsure of the author offhand) The author has a whole series of these, I haven't read any of the others though.
The Hobbit + Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein
Stuff, The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
An Anthropologist on Mars - Oliver Sacks
Many of the books in the Halo series. They're actually really good sci-fi. This goes for Larry Niven's Ringworld as well, although I've only read the first two.
A good chunk of Chuck Palahniuk's books too. Specifically, Fight Club, Lullaby and Survivor.



I'm sure I've forgotten a whole bunch and I'll kick myself later. But that should keep you busy for a while .

I hope you enjoy a few of them. And if you read Little Brother or God's Debris for free, maybe you could consider going out and purchasing some other books by the author? It's great they let us have these for free, but if they go bankrupt and can no longer write, we all lose.

Oh, and sorry for the wall o'text. I like to read, haha.

.

Edited to clean up the formatting a bit. I know it's still kind of a mess, but oh well...

Of all the books on that list, the ones that I have studied at Degree level are: 1984, Brave New World, Watchmen, Slaughterhouse 5 and Fight Club. Fun times for me!

OT: Catch 22 is something everyone who loves to read should make the effort to finish. Structurally, linguistically, morally, politically, philosophically, side-splittingly and depressingly awesome, Joseph Heller's massive novel is something that most people cannot put down, forget or dislike.

As far as anti-war books go...it's probably the best. Although Slaughterhouse 5 is fucking incredible too, so i'm definitely in agreement with sunami88.

EDIT: In terms of a book that I'd like to read before I die, it's have to be Don Quixote by Cervantes. I'v ehad a fascination with it for a long time but have never gotten around to buying it. I wouldn't have the time right now anyways.

 

[Latinidiot]

Atlas Shrugged
Moby Dick
Do Robots dream of electric sheep?
The God Delusion
Mogworld
works from Terry Pratchett
works from Leon de Winter
Works from Edgar Allan Poe
Cthulu book
Journey To The West
Bible
Thora
Koran
Plato, Socrates, Euripides, and Aristoteles
The Stoa, as by Seneca
The Alphabet of Manliness
Maybe Stephen King, if I have the time

that'll do for no-WAIT, I haven't put Shakespeare there.

so, lots of Shakespeare, and I'll call it a day for now.

Damn, I think I misread something. These are books I still want to read before I die, not my favourites, because I obviously haven't read them yet. But If I had only one book before I died, I think I would take something Douglas Adams wrote. Because there's no better death than one with a smile!

 

[the_bearpelt]

The Belgaraid and Mallorean series by David Eddings are my favorite series. (Mallorean is the sequel series to the Belgaraid.) If you like epic fantasy that has an excellent, dry sense of humor, then you'll love David & Leigh Eddings.

The Cirque du Freaks series by Darren Shan is also really good. I've never liked vampire stories much (just not my thing), but this one is amazing because it creates a real culture and the story, in the end, isn't ABOUT vampires. Vampires are necessary to tell the tale, but it's not about vampires. It's a series that gets more in depth as it goes by.

The Demonata series by Darren Shan is also great. Very grotesque, very dark. Shan does many things that you would never ever expect in the series. It's extremely well-written.

The Montmorency series is really good, too. Can't remember the author. Something Updale, I think. Anyways, Montmorency is set in old England, right around the time the sewer system was installed. There's very interesting character development about Montmorency/Scarper, but I can't explain too much without giving it away. If you like character-focused stories, then you'll like Montmorency.

 

[sunami88]

thats ok thanks for the tips!
but if you had to choose one out of them all could you pick one?

Hmmm... It'd be tough... I think I'd pick Slaughterhouse Five. I read it way back in high school and it's still very clear in my mind. It's really not an easy choice, though.

1. Great list.
2. I believe War of the Worlds was also H.G. Wells and Orson Wells did the radio play that caused people to panic.
3. I own God's Debris. I read the first chapter and found it absolutely fascinating and let a friend borrow it. He passed it around to a couple of our other friends. I am the only one in our circle of friends who hasn't read it yet and its my book. I still don't have it back yet. Funny how things work out that way.

1. Thanks!
2. Yep, you're right. I'll edit and credit appropriately.
3. Haha, I've had that happen a few times too. If you can track down who has it, I highly recommend reading it all. I was glued to my seat from start to finish.