Books to read before you die

[Latinidiot]

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?

Aeneis is written in beautiful Latin, if that's your thing, but I always found Homeros a better writer than Vergilius. Which is logical, because Vergilius is trying very hard to rip Homeros off.

 

[Ekonk]

Anything written by H.P.Lovecraft

I recommend 'The Dunwhich Horror'.

PFFF SO MANY

The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
Metro 2033 - Dmitry Glukhovsky
Roadside Picnic - Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
The Dark Tower - Stephen King
Huid en Haar - Arnon Grunberg
The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood

And that´s just a couple of ´em.

 

[unicron44]

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.

Plus I think its only about 130 pages or so. Also the text is larger than normal and the pages don't have that much context on it so you could get it done in an afternoon, like all my friends said they did.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

Aeneis is written in beautiful Latin, if that's your thing, but I always found Homeros a better writer than Vergilius. Which is logical, because Vergilius is trying very hard to rip Homeros off.

If anything, it'll be an English translation. Is it a good story thoughh?

 

[Cyberius]

Necronomicon

 

[westhamhaz]

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?

Oh yeah its pretty great, not quite as good as the odyssey though my favourite part is the sacking of troy (obviously from the trojan perspective)

 

[wammnebu]

Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, amazing piece of literature and even changed my world-view a lil' bit.

Really anything by Vonnegut to be honest.

And House of Leave's by Mark Z. Danielewski. Shit's trippy.

Kurt Vonnegut aka Aldous Huxley as a pastiche of Douglas Adams with the following of Rocky Horror

 

[Latinidiot]

Aeneis is written in beautiful Latin, if that's your thing, but I always found Homeros a better writer than Vergilius. Which is logical, because Vergilius is trying very hard to rip Homeros off.

If anything, it'll be an English translation. Is it a good story thoughh?

It's a bit heavy on contemporary politics. And it's 2000 years old, so that would make ancient politics. But yeah, it alright.

 

[wammnebu]

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?

Oh yeah its pretty great, not quite as good as the odyssey though my favourite part is the sacking of troy (obviously from the trojan perspective)

Yes Book 3 and 6 of the aeneid are the best. Especially with Aeneas' vision of the glories of Rome that seems to say "Bend lower Augustus for I, Virgil, must kiss thy ass."

If your on the topic of classics, i would like to recommended Apellius' The Golden Ass and Plutarch's Morallia (especially the one on in consolation to his wife)

I personally really like Aurelius and Augustine too, but they are more moody and sentimental (borderline angst)

 

[HotPocket]

what are your favourite novels you would suggest I read?, i'm not picky about genre.
my personal favourites include Captain Corelli's Mandolin and 1984

Name of the Wind, it is much better than any of these books posted.

 

[westhamhaz]

what are your favourite novels you would suggest I read?, i'm not picky about genre.
my personal favourites include Captain Corelli's Mandolin and 1984

Name of the Wind, it is much better than any of these books posted.

come on now no need to be a fanboy we have enough of that in videogame related forums

 

[Gudrests]

Ender's game, and Madame Bovary. The first is my favourite book, like ever. The second is fucking amazing.

I suggest you read the rest of the ender series also....and yes there is a book about Bean that takes place the exact same time as ender...its nice to see it from such a different view

 

[Quaxar]

Anything written by H.P.Lovecraft

I recommend 'The Dunwhich Horror'.

Shadow over Innsmouth, man. Pure psychic horror!

Can't really add much to this thread other than a lot of "this", but I may want to add all 5 Artemis Fowl and works by Russian sci-fi author Sergej Lukianenko (Night Watch is really good for example).
Oh, not to forget Don Rosa's epic biography The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. This comic made me shed tears more than once, absolutely brilliant.

 

[Continuity]

what are your favourite novels you would suggest I read?, i'm not picky about genre.
my personal favourites include Captain Corelli's Mandolin and 1984

If it hasn't been said: Les Miserables

Awesome read and a tonne of culture to boot.

 

[Ekonk]

Anything written by H.P.Lovecraft

I recommend 'The Dunwhich Horror'.

Shadow over Innsmouth, man. Pure psychic horror!

Can't really add much to this thread other than a lot of "this", but I may want to add all 5 Artemis Fowl and works by Russian sci-fi author Sergej Lukianenko (Night Watch is really good for example).
Oh, not to forget Don Rosa's epic biography The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. This comic made me shed tears more than once, absolutely brilliant.

Haven´t read anything by Lukianenko, but apart from that, I fully agree with your list.

Artemis Fowls rocks. Although I think it was slightly better when he was still the evil genius instead of the good genius.

 

[sheic99]

[HEADING=3]MAUS[/HEADING] by Art Spiegelman.

Seriously, this book never gets as much attention as it deserves. If you are reading this and haven't read it, go and buy it now.

 

[Wintermute_]

Dune, easily my most favourite work of literature ever. It's oh-so very atmospheric and it's a true linguistical delight.

Seconded. The some of the best sci-fi you'll read, and the sequels are pretty amazing too.

But you MUST READ William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, & Mona Lisa Overdrive). What started cyberpunk right there. What started cyber space actually. Neo didn't know shit. (I'm a fan, in case my name didn't make it readily apparent). it rivals Dune

 

[Blindrooster]

Try
The redemption of althalus
it's a good sci fi in a lord of the ringsish......time jumpy way.

 

[TheLiham]

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.

:O I love Darren Shan

I even has a signed copy of blood beast and a picture of him strangling me

OT: Of Mice and Men if freakin awesome!

 

[PhoenixKing]

Ender's game, and Madame Bovary. The first is my favourite book, like ever. The second is fucking amazing.

I suggest you read the rest of the ender series also....and yes there is a book about Bean that takes place the exact same time as ender...its nice to see it from such a different view

Yeah I know, I've read both series xD. The Ender's Shadow series was pretty cool, but the Ender's game spinoff's weren't as good I wanted to be. But in any case, Ender's game is the Shawshank Redemption of the book world.