Thread: Books that are must reads before you die ?

[QUOTE=ControlFreak1;517005]

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

The Bible is an easy one to get through as long as you don't have the original King James. There are certainly boring parts, but you can fly through those to the juicy parts. If you're serious about getting through it, pick up one of those Bible in a year book. It breaks it up into easy chunks that don't kill you with geneology. I've been through the Bible both ways, and the Bible in a year is easiest.
QUOTE]

Ah, there are entire books written on this topic. According to the Flesch-Kincaid formula 94% of the King James Bible is at or below the 7th grade reading level, lower than USA Today or People Magazine, and in comparisons with the NIV, NASB, TEV, and NKJB was rated at a lower reading level.

Sorry

AHAAAAA!!! AAARRGGHHH!!!

When I was in fifth grade, I got sick with viral hepatitis and had to spend almost two months in bed. I read the Bible, the whole thing. Some spanish version, my english wouldn't at that time be up to the level of King James version. I skipped through the genealogy parts, though.

Hmmmm, books one must read...
I've consciously not looked at the other posts, my suggestions are, not in any order:

Watership Down
The Sword in the Stone (as a child)
The House at Pooh Corner (as an adult)
Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass (as a child and as an adult)
In Virconium
Every thing ever written by Franz Kafka
Chrome Yellow
The Shadow of the Wind
Three men in a Boat
Heart of Darkness
Youth (Joseph Conrad)
The Secret Sharer (Joseph Conrad)
The Legend of St Julian the Hospitaller (Gustave Flaubert)
Leaves of Grass (poems, Walt Whitman)
The Wasteland, T. S. Eliot (not a book, a poem, but a must read)
The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis in the 'old' English
Leaf, by Niggle (Tolkein)
The Lord of the Rings
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
I and thou, by Martin Buber (this is astonishing, really a must read philosophy book)
Plato's Republic

Thanks to my friend in Russia I have gotten into the short stories of Tolstoy,Checkov and the poetry of Yesenin very good.I'm fond of Tolstoys short stories. Also Grimms fairy tales(uncut) and Jules Vernes 20,000 leagues under the sea are excellent . The Bible is certainly worth it(I have the Orthodox version). Thoreau's Walden Pond is always good.There's Just so many good reads out there. Oh yes......Tolkiens Hobbit and Lord of the rings Ya just gotta read that before you die. A favorite book which probably very few would know, Forbidden Voice Reflections of a Mohawk Indian by Alma Greene lots of good tribal lore and history,superstitions etc. of the Iriquois confederacy . And as a personal opinion...you can never read enough Ghost stories . Good thread Jimmy !

My entire family is big on reading. For the last several years I've read only technical books. I was a big fan of spy/thriller novels from authors like Robert Ludlum and Forsyth but life and work took my time for free reading.
I had read the Ludlum trilogy before the movies were produced. Last month they started to advertise the new Ludlum movie. I wanted to read the book so I bought a Kindle (4th one in my house) and ordered the book. I read the book in about 2 weeks and I have to say I learned how much I missed reading.
I am now reading the next book in the Ludlum series and have promised myself I will continue reading for enjoyment. On occasion, I also read leadership books by Maxwell and a few others. Two of my favorites are "Lincoln on Leadership" by Phillips and "Leadership Secret of Attila the Hun" by Roberts. i keep on my toes at work by reading these two periodically. They are not long but really have some great advice.

Hope that makes sense, I was up all night feeling sick and I am dead tired.

Originally Posted by Nightblade

...ofTolstoy,Checkov ...I'm fond of Tolstoys short stories...

... Thoreau's Walden Pond is always good...

I love Tolstoy's 'What Men Live By'; have you read that one? I found Walden Pond a bit tedious...

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

I love Tolstoy's 'What Men Live By'; have you read that one? I found Walden Pond a bit tedious...

I have a book called Master and Man and other Parables and Tales which is a collection of Tolstoys short stories. What Men Live By is included in the collection. Walden can be tedious true but so can Jules Vernes 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea which I also like. Verne really likes to show off his scientific knowledge and will devote 2 pages just to describe the sealife encountered (kinda funny really). But I guess Anna Karena can drag on so I've been told. The price for good Literature maybe?? When I got into Checkovs short stories I was thrilled till I got to the last story "In The Ravine" which went on and on...I got bored heh heh ! But Ward Six" is really good .

Originally Posted by Nightblade

...Verne really likes to show off his scientific knowledge and will devote 2 pages just to describe the sealife encountered (kinda funny really)...

I always liked Asimov's attention to detail with the science. I generally listen to books these days rather than read them, and I listen to my favourites over and over again. I've listened to a selection of James Conrad, Leo Tolstoy, Aldous Huxley, etc for years. I think I know Chrome Yellow pretty much inside out now. Same with Heart of Darkness...

Listening instead of reading would certainly take out some of the tediousness for sure .

Originally Posted by Nightblade

Listening instead of reading would certainly take out some of the tediousness for sure .

Very relaxing, it's my going to sleep ritual. Tonight it shall be The Legend of St Julian the Hospitaller, by Gustave Flaubert.

Just finished one of the best books I have ever read,Freedoms Forge by arthur Herman.
Is about how the great industrialists in the late 1930s geared up industry to build the tanks, ships, planes, guns for WW2
A must read.