Thread: Books that are must reads before you die ?

Can an uncultured redneck throw a bone into the pile?

Not read most of the books in this thread, like most have started a few and never finished....

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan I think would hold it's own against any book IF an older non-modernized version is read. (They don't dare "translate" Shakespeare...but they'll mutilate Bunyan, who is easier to read anyway.) I think Bunyan's Pilgrim deserves more admiration that Shakespeare...I think he is really really really overrated...and I love the Merchant of Venice.

Now, you may laugh...but I've not read anything by C.S. Lewis that I wasn't thoroughly impressed with and very glad that I had. (This may be the easiest reading of any mentioned so far.) I've read Chronicles of Narnia and The Great Divorce multiple times. The work is great, don't snub your nose at the C.O.N because it is "kid" stuff. I really don't consider "kid" stuff at all. It's simply "kid safe" and moves fast enough that it will never be compared to War and Peace. Instead of laboring over a single thought for pages he brings one forward, tucks it away neatly, and brings it back to light several chapters, or several books, latter. The symbolism/allegory/allusion is as deep and tightly knit as you dare go. (Same goes for Pilgrim's Progress...Even more so.) Don't start with Lewis' Screwtape letters, as I don't think that'll "hook ya" quite like C.O.N. or The Great Divorce (a single afternoon's read, btw).

I've read very little of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. I particularly enjoyed Dostoevsky.

Most my reading is non-fictional. If you guys want to talk Puritans I'm game. (Again, don't laugh. They get a pretty shoddy representation in History classes nowadays.) Owens, Flavel, Edwards, Manton...and the lesser known Hugh Binning are Favorites. With the first three you'd better be prepared!lol Often, they are "tenacious" when pursuing a line of thought. They've each kicked my literary butt more than once.

Two more that just came to mind that I don't really hold up for others to marvel at, but thoroughly THOROUGHLY enjoyed are:
Tale of Two Cities
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (another afternoon read.)

And I LOVE the movie The Count of Monte Cristo....always wanted to read Dumas' book...never gotten around to it.

Well, you've just reminded me of more books on my list ...

Originally Posted by Soilarch

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan I think would hold it's own against any book IF an older non-modernized version is read. ... I think Bunyan's Pilgrim deserves more admiration that Shakespeare...I think he is really really really overrated...and I love the Merchant of Venice.

I remember reading Pilgrim's Progress years ago in an older version; can't imagine why anyone would feel the need to modernize it. You're the second person I've read who compared Bunyan favorably to Shakespeare; the first was George Bernard Shaw I think, in an essay titled "Better than Shakespeare."

...but I've not read anything by C.S. Lewis that I wasn't thoroughly impressed with and very glad that I had. (This may be the easiest reading of any mentioned so far.) I've read Chronicles of Narnia and The Great Divorce multiple times. The work is great, don't snub your nose at the C.O.N because it is "kid" stuff. ...

Yep, I've enjoyed what I've read of Lewis--including The Screwtape Letters in high school, which I should go back and reread. One of the pleasures of fatherhood is that you get to read works like The Chronicles of Narnia to your kids at night.

... If you guys want to talk Puritans I'm game. (Again, don't laugh. They get a pretty shoddy representation in History classes nowadays.) ... Often, they are "tenacious" when pursuing a line of thought. They've each kicked my literary butt more than once.

Have you read Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates by any chance? I haven't, myself, but I believe she writes about the underestimated literary and intellectual interests of the Puritans.

And I LOVE the movie The Count of Monte Cristo....always wanted to read Dumas' book...never gotten around to it.

Another one on my list ... The Man in the Iron Mask as well. One hundred twenty years, I tell ya, 120 years ...

~Rich

Thomas Sowell - Race and Culture: A World View

Originally Posted by rastewart

Another one on my list ... The Man in the Iron Mask as well. One hundred twenty years, I tell ya, 120 years ...

~Rich

You're ahead of me. I hate you.

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