Books to read before you kick the bucket!Follow

I'm sure this has been posted before, oh well.

Post books that people should read before they...die.

edit: I changed my mind after realizing a lot of the stuff in the Left Behind series are mixed up and taken to literal.

Anything by Tolkien.
Mostly anything from Neil Gaimen, especially American Gods.


I'm just starting to really enjoy books, so I can't add a lot to the list.

Edited, Jun 3rd 2008 7:20pm by Azazel

How could I forget LotR?

Jack Vance, no real biggie which book, most are good enough. "Chronicles of Cadwal" or "Lyonesse" would be my adviced ones though. (not his latest books unfortunately, not good)

Stephen King: "The Shining"

Dan Simmons: "Carrion Comfort"

Frank Herbert: "Dune"

Philip José Farmer: "To your scattered bodies go"

Philip K. Richard: "A maze of death"

George R. Martin: "A song of ice and fire"

Douglas Adams: "The ultimate Hitchiker's guide"

Katsuhiro Otomo: "Akira" (hey, comics and manga are just as good imo)

Rosinski/Van Hamme: "De Chninkel" (best of luck finding this one, voted best Belgian comic)

Joe Haldeman: "The Forever War"

Roger Zelazny: "Eye of Cat" (odd choice perhaps, but it is my favourite)

Clive Barker: "Imajica" or "Weaveworld"

Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons: "The Watchmen" (even made the Times top 100 of books and literature, deservedlyà

Robert Anson Heinlein: "Time enough for love" (tough choice actually, but this one seems to capture Lazarus Long the best I'ld say)

Terry Pratchett: "Sourcery" (my favourite)

Harry Mulisch: "The discovery of Heaven" (magnificent book, decent movie with Stephen Fry")

Ernest Claes: "De witte van Zichem" (now this one you'll never find in English, unfortunately, very funny book about a young boy growing up in the early 1920's amidst a very Catholic and restrictive society, amidst farmers)

Isaac Asimov: "End of Eternity". (sure, Foundation is better known, or his robot stories, but I'm going to commit a serious offense here and state that I don't really care for them anymore, they feel outdated to me. Only my opinion though, they were one of the first real science fiction books I've read, but still)

Marion Bradley: "Mists of Avalon" (still the best Arthur version out there imo)



This list is far from complete, but it's a start!

Edited, Mar 10th 2008 10:08pm by Zieveraar

Terry Brooks the Shanarra series....just the first 3.
Anne McCafferty the Pern series.
JR Tolkins LOTR and the Hobbit.
Arthur C Clarks Rama and 2001 series's.
Robert Heinlein's Starship troopers.
Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series.
Stephen King's the Stand ( uncut ) and IT.

Mmmmmm. Let's see.....

Stephen King: "Salem's Lot", "The Stand" (full version)
James Ellroy: The L.A. Quartet ("The Black Dahlia", "The Big Nowhere", "L.A. Confidential" and "White Jazz")....brutal AND fascinating
H.P. Lovecraft: "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Dunwich Horror"
Arthur C. Clarke: Geez...."2001" (et.al.), "Childhood's End", the Rama series

MANY MORE I can't think of right now! Man! I gotta update my library card!

Just bought the book. The movie is one of my favorites and while the book is supposed to be quite different, I'm looking forward to it.

As for books I think everyone should read before kicking it, well, most of them have already been mentioned, but Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials and the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling are among the heavy hitter that I recommend.

I know, I know, not everyone likes Harry Potter, but they had just as big an impression as Tolkien's trilogy, or any other legendary classic.

Also recommended is just about every book by Dean R. Koontz. Man, I love that author. His books aren't that heavy, but they're thrilling and have yet to leave me disappointed. Can't say the same about Stephen King, though. I enjoyed most of his works, but they have a much darker undertone, often bordering to the surreal and depressive. However, Insomnia and Bag of Bones are among the few King books I've read more than once and are highly recommended.

Edited, Apr 10th 2008 12:32am by Mazra

the original set was 3 books and is imho the hardest books i have ever picked up to read.

Brilliant certainly but very uncomfortable reading.

he also did a follow up trilogy

David Eddings: The Belgariad, The Malloreon, Belgarth the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress, The Elenium, The Tamali, The Redemption of Althalus

C. S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia

Brandon Mull: The Fablehaven series

Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

Chris D'lacey: The Dragon Trilogy

Christopher Paolini: The Inheritance Trilogy

Anything Shakespeare

Homer

The Little House Series

Edith Hamilton: Mythology

Walter Isaacson: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, A Benjamin Franklin Reader

The Entire "Don't Know Much About..." series

I could go on, but that should keep you busy for a couple of years - or decades - possibly.

Wonderful book! You should read the rest of his books, especially American Gods.

Thanks for the list Bodhi! I have heard that most of those books are wonderful, I just havn't gotten around to reading them. So once I am finished with Anansi Boys (I agree with you, it's not to great. Needs more action like American Gods) I will read basically everything on that list.

Neil Stephenson "Snow Crash"

Nerdy Samurai, not many things better than that.

Oooh, the Recluce novels by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Thanks Bodhi, almost forgot about them.

Edited, Jun 8th 2008 3:14am by Monique

<big sigh> I read the first three books when I was a kid. Absolutely loved them.

I guess there is simply so much great material out there, it would be impossible to think of all of them.

Ah Ha! A House Harkonnen spie! The way you describe the series is though you are a direct decendent of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen himself.