Books you just have to read!

[v15ben]

I am sure there are some bookworms hidden in the mad world of PH so here is a question for you:

What books do you have to read at least once in your lifetime?

I reckon my library would contain Jack Kerouac's "On the Road", To Kill a Mockingbird and The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara!

So what else do people think is worth a read?

Cheers
Ben! :D

[Wildfire]

Hmmmm must read..... Not sure. But books I have read recently:

Battle Royale - Excellent
All the Mike Gayle books - All highly reccomended!
Paul Auster - Pretty good - Excellent.

[timmy30]

'1984.'

'A Brave New World'

'Roger Mellies Profanasaurus'

[staceyb]

"Roots" is a must but a long read.

[bosscerbera]

Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig

If current affairs-minded:
The Ingenuity Gap - Thomas Homer Dixon
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
Shopped - Joanna Blythman

If business-minded:
The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
The Deviant's* Advantage - Mathews & Wacker*

* An unfortunate title and author...

[anonymous-user]

timmy30 said:

'A Brave New World'

You'd gave to be an epsilon not to.

[fazz81]

'The Complete Robot ' by Isaac Asimov

[D_Mike]

a recent favourate of mine has been "The Time Traveller's Wife" by (I think) audrey neiffenegger.

I love "The Crow Road" by Iain Banks.


edit - please nobody mention DAn Brown or his "books"

>> Edited by D_Mike on Friday 16th September 11:58

[anonymous-user]

bosscerbera said:

If business-minded: The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell The Deviant's* Advantage - Mathews & Wacker* * An unfortunate title and author...

Barbarians at the Gate.

[JagLover]

fazz81 said:

'The Complete Robot ' by Isaac Asimov

Good choice, and let us not forget the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

[planetdave]

Catch 22 - everyone seems to miss the real point..it passes in one line.

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
by Richard Bach. A bit 70s but asks some interesting questions about the human soul and how to fly without fuel.

The Bible - just to find out what a load of claptrap you are up against.

Terry Pratchet - the discworld is a very smart satire on modern life. Mostly.

[UKbob]

Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
A fantastic epic centered around a stone mason, poverty, ambition and greed, relationships, wars, life and death

[andy mac]

JagLover said:

fazz81 said: 'The Complete Robot ' by Isaac Asimov Good choice, and let us not forget the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Love both. And 2001:Space odyssey, jaws, battle royale, Snow falling on cedars, Nights dawn trilogy, The stalking...

[planetdave]

unrepentant said:

timmy30 said: 'A Brave New World' You'd gave to be an epsilon not to.

I think you might be ;-)

[Prof Beard]

"Stand on Zanzibar" and "The Sheep Look Up" by John Brunner

The Collected Short Stories (all 5 volumes - starting with "Beyond Lies the Wub" of Phillip K Dick

"Wasp" by Eric Frank Russell

"Stalin" by Leon Trotsky - a fanzine it ain't! (Also doesn't cover Stalin's whole life )

Prof Beard

[D_Mike]

planetdave said:

Terry Pratchet - the discworld is a very smart satire on modern life. Mostly.

I agree with you here Dave, the later books are so much better than the early ones though (which are much more "traditional" fantasy stuff).

[D_Mike]

andy mac said:

Snow falling on cedars,

oh yes, this is an amazing book!

Can I also add "Birdsong" by Sebastian Faulks... It made me cry.

[anhamgrimmar]

Stalingrad

also checkout the science of the discworld books, co written by t.pratchett and a couple of scientists. they break complicated scientific theorys into little bits that the hard of thinking (like me) can understand.

[andy mac]

D_Mike said:

I love "The Crow Road" by Iain Banks.

Oh yeah.. Anythink by Ian M Banks! (His sci fi stuff is incredible!)

[Plotloss]

Douglas Adams - HHGTTG and Dirk Gentlys Holistics Detective Agency/Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul

Ranulph Fiennes - The Feather Men

Howard Marks - Mr Nice

I can read these again and again and again...