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.