Thread: Books that are must reads before you die ?

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Everyone should read "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr Seuss before they die.

James.

Any Suess is Good Suess IMHO.

For kids books...Babbar the Elephent,Robinson Caruso and Treasure Island,The Original Grimms Fairy Tales(Uncut,un PC),Peter and the wolf although that should be heard to get the full musical appreciation of it and Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe.

Originally Posted by Sirshavesalot

The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer ( In the original Middle english "Wan that April, in the droucht of March") no other classic made me realize the amazing interplay of vocabulary, colloquialisms, and politics can play in literature.

David

I had a college English Comp teacher back in the early '70s who had a PhD in English and a real passion for the language. He could read the Canterbury Tales aloud, as it was pronounced when it was written. Amazing stuff. I learned more about English in a semester with him than in the previous 12 years of grade, middle, and high schools.

May I humbly submit: Shogun, by James Clavell, and Captain from Castile, by Samuel Shellabarger. Both are historical fiction, but are well-researched and based on actual events. Captain may be hard to find, since the last printing I know of was in 2004, and it was originally published in the 1930s, but it's worth the search.

Please add Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. Dark but very touching and very funny at times.

Originally Posted by Tuxedo7

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!

William L. Shirer wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. He also wrote The Nightmare Years, about what it was like as an outsider in Hitler's Germany before US involvement in WWII. Scary stuff.

The book(s) I have read the most times and still read rather often is Kipling's "The Jungle Book". Such remarkable language and life lessons.

Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Another good one, that I just finished reading again, is Lysistrata by Aristophanes. A quick easy read and one of the finest examples of Greek comedy. It's about a group of women who decide to force their men back from war by holding a sex strike.

After participating in this thread I went to my bookshelf to pick out a classic that I haven't read, and there are many!

I ran across this one and though it may not be a "classic" it has proved a fun read.

The Engineer In War With Special Reference To The Training Of The Engineer To Meet The Military Obligations Of Citizenship, By P. S. Bond. Copyright 1916.

I can't remember where it came from but I thought it was interesting at one time and picked it up. I haven't been in the military and it gave me a different point

of view. If you happen to have it in your library I recommend it!

I know that this thread has wandered from it's original intent but it is fun!

Tim

Does that mean if I don't read any of these I will live forever?

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Does that mean if I don't read any of these I will live forever?

Yes, but what would be the point? Living forever and never reading Dr. Seuss????

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Does that mean if I don't read any of these I will live forever?

No, that just means that you don't understand the meaning of "The Finer Things In Life".