Books that are must reads before you die ?

i think the book at the top of my list would be "The Count of Monte Cristo" or the three musketeers series, followed by anything else by Alexander Dumas. also im in the middle of "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo, so far very good in a kind of morbid way. I also enjoyed the Wizard of OZ collection and that will always be one of my favorites.

howwever the best "book" i onw is my Kindle, it is awesome and if you like reading i strongly suggest it i have somewhere around 150 books on mine at the moment so i always have something to read with me and it doesnt take up hardley any room

-dan-

Since folks mentioned Steinbeck and James Jones I thought I would recommend Steinbeck's short read The Pearl. Of all of his books, I love the prose and drama in this one best. As for James Jones, From Here to Eternity is one of my all time favorites. I think he really connects with the male reader. A couple of his others worth noting are The Pistol and The Thin Red Line ... but neither of these measure up to Eternity.

As for books I want to read, I agree on Joyce's Ulysses.

I'll throw out a couple that may distress some, but I really want to read Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler) and The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx). As a very patriotic and right of center American (and who is named for an uncle killed in Normandy during WWII), I would like to get some idea as to how so many were led down either of these paths. I need to research for the best translations before chosing an edition.

Maybe also another HUGE read ... The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich.

I think it's important to understand our history to keep from repeating the worst of it.

Good topic!

Read the "Rise and Fall", I have read "Mein Kamp", the guy was absolutely MAD! The Germans should have read it before it became mandatory.

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Read the "Rise and Fall", I have read "Mein Kamp", the guy was absolutely MAD! The Germans should have read it before it became mandatory.

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The man with the mustache wrote Mein Kampf complicated, unfriendly and difficult to read. It is said that he must have made it on purpose to prevent people from reading it until the point where they would realize what were the master plans of the author :roflmao

As far as books that can really change the way you think - I would highly recommend Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

Yes there is a motorcycle (if that is a requirement) and the story is good - but the discussion is really based on values and methods to reach a conclusion.

I've read it three times so far - and there are many books I never even make it completely through. The only other book I've read more than once is the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy five book trilogy:). I would also recommend that series - but more for entertainment than strengthening brain cells.

Again - you will get more out of these if you read them sooner in life - than later..:medvl:

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Originally Posted by hgrail

Again - you will get more out of these if you read them sooner in life - than later.

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Isn't that the truth.

I have a book of short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, "Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories." I'm only about half way but I really like it so far.

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Originally Posted by hgrail

As far as books that can really change the way you think - I would highly recommend Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

Yes there is a motorcycle (if that is a requirement) and the story is good - but the discussion is really based on values and methods to reach a conclusion.

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I have to second hgrail's recommendation of Pirsig's book. I've probably read it 5-6 times. Just a beautiful exploration of many things: one man's journey into himself, the last 2000 years of intellectual thought-specifically the split between classical and romantic, western and eastern, technological and aesthetic, and so much more....It's a mental and emotional workout, but well worth it.

Others on my list of must reads: Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath; Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel; Ellison's Invisible Man; Heller's Catch-22; and the best book I've read in 15 years, Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible.

I love reading, and if I should pick ten of the best I`ve read over the last 30 years I think it should be something like this:

Knut Hamsun: Hunger. (Sult in Norwegian) This book is just outstanding, I have read about people who learned to speak Norwegian just to read Knut Hamsun in his own language. Hamsun has written many truly fantastic books, and "Pan", "Growth of the Soil" and "Mysteries" are just a few of those.

F. M. Dostojevskij: Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment)

Leo Tolstoj: Anna Karenina

Michail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita

John Steinbeck: Tortilla Flat

Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

Antony Beevor: Stalingrad

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The complete Sherlock Holmes

Alexander Solzhenitsyn: One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich

William Shirer: The rise and fall of the Third Reich

If I should be condemned to only read one book again before I died it would be Pan by Hamsun. The most beautiful love story and description of nature I have read. It would be easier to leave this place with the wonderful words of that book in my mind.

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Originally Posted by MichaelP

Dan Simmons - Cantos series (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion)

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I would also like to add the two books (one story) by Dan Simmons, Illium and Olympos. The sheer amount of ideas in this book is just phenomenal, and, like any good book, it takes you on a journey. From the start to the end, you would never be able to imagine where you'll end up. It's amazing.

His book Phases Of Gravity is another favorite of mine, it's sort of a quiet comfort and you will either love it or hate it.