Books that are must reads before you die ?

When I was about 13 I saw the film Lawrence Of Arabia with Peter O'Toole. I loved the movie and soon found out that Lawrence had written a book called The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. I cannot remember how old I was when I got my first copy but probably in the neighborhood of 14.

I was a reader and had read most of what John Steinbeck and James Jones had written. Some of Hemingway, Dumas and Conan Doyle. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy came later. I couldn't read Lawrence in spite of trying time after time. Other books that I wanted badly to read and couldn't get into were Moby Dick by Melville and Don Quixote by Cervantes.

I have had a number of copies of these books over the past forty some years and repeatedly tried and failed to complete them. When I turned 60 the realization that I had a lot more life behind me than ahead of me kicked in. I made a resolution to read the Lawrence, Cervantes and Melville books.

I bought the 1922 reprint edition of Seven Pillars and read the 813 pages. It was a slog at times requiring discipline to persevere but worth it. Winston Churchill was quoted as saying it was one of the greatest books in the English language. I don't know about that but some of it was terrific.

Next came the Samuel Putnam two volume translation of Don Quixote and it too was a slog at over 1,000 pages. I had read one volume 25 years ago but bogged down and never picked up volume two. I had read somewhere that vol 2 was better and so it was. Not that one wasn't good. It was a rewarding read.

Now I am starting out on Moby Dick and I will finish it. Next up is Marcel Proust Remembrance Of Things Past. Another one I tried and failed to read 25 or 30 years ago. Keeps life interesting. Anyone else have books that are must reads before they die ?

I would say that your choice of Moby Dick is excellent. One of the best books i've ever read (done this at least 3 times if i remember it right).

I would get to my list most books from these authors:

Herman Melville
John Steinbeck
Jose Saramago
Joseph Conrad
Antoine De Saint Exupery
Antti Tuuri
Mika Waltari
Jari Tervo
(last 3 are Finnish and i believe their books have never been translated).

Then there are hundreds of writers who had made few glorious books while the rest are not so unforgettable, IMHO. I would name such writers like:

Umberto Eco: Foucaults Pendulum, the name of the Rose
Ray Bradbury: Something wicked this way comes
Peter Hoeg: Sense of snow
Niko Kazanzakis: Zorbas
Jim Harrison: True north, Returning to earth
Richard Ford: Multitude of sins
Carlos Ruiz Zafon: the shadow of the wind
Roald Dahl: Uncle Oswald
Jerome K Jerome: 3 men in a boat

To mention a few. I think i could go on with this list without knowing when to stop. I think i'm a reader too.

Great selection Jimmy! Like you I have worked on the classics for many years. Two books come to mind for me, Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" and Proust's epic tome that is on your list. I have read all of Pynchon's other books. I have started "Gravity's Rainbow" over ten times, but can't seem to get very far. The book is about 750 pages and the companion book (or guide) is another 350 pages. One book I will read for the third time before I die (all things willing) is Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain". There is so much good stuff to read out there, now all I need to do is to pull myself away from the computer and my little hone zone and get to reading!

Nice list Sailor! For Saramago "The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reyes" is an absolute must.

Two other books I need to add are Joyce's Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake. I tried and failed with both of those....especially the latter. For that a guide book is definitely necessary. I read Dubliners and found it to be very good. Thanks to you gents for the lists of books and authors, some of which I know of and some that I didn't. I look forward to the contributions of others and I hope I live long enough to read them all. :).

I'm a firm believer that everyone needs to read:

Ulysses by James Joyce
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

They're big and intimidating, but by far the most rewarding books I have ever read. and they are both HILARIOUS and BEAUTIFUL. I think Joseph Campbell is an excellent companion to anything Joyce, his books and his lectures. If you can't find them, PM me. They're worth it.

I also think Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan is an important read for anyone who uses or is involved with technology (read: everyone)

After that, the one book I must read before I die is the one I haven't written yet.

edit: ya'll beat me to it! Finnegans Wake is a category unto itself, but everyone should do the first page at least.

The Twilight series, I am a sucker for romance novels :)

Hey Bassguy, I love your Pynchon avitar! And a big thumbs up for Joyce's romp around Dublin with dear Mr. Bloom.

I could recommend many books I think are "great books" but there is one in particular that tops the list: Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. See Le Morte d'Arthur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

There are many editions of this and it is important to get a good one. What you want:

1. You want a version based on the Winchester manuscript, not the Caxton. That narrows the field as most seem to be based on the inferior Caxton manuscript. Probably due to copyright issues in mid 20th century.
2. "Regularized" (or modernized) spelling, but NOT "Translation/paraphrase into contemporary English". This actually reduces the field considerably. You could try an "original" version but I think that would be overly difficult with no added benefit except if you are a medieval scholar.
3. You do NOT want a condensed version, especially one where the "naughty parts" are taken out. They are often quite humorous. (Intentionally so, I believe. EDIT: Here is an example: Lancelot jumping out of Guinevere's window and landing in a bed of thorns when Arthur approaches! Well, I think it was them -- there is more than one love triangle.)

I tried to find a good edition online but was not able to find my favorite. This might be the best available, but I have not seen it: Amazon.com: Le Morte Darthur (Norton Critical Editions) (9780393974645): Sir Thomas Malory, Stephen H. A. Shepherd: Books. I think this may fall a little short in the "regularized spelling" category. You may actually prefer that.

Of all the books I have read, this one took me to another place and time better than any. This is on an emotional level. I was truly sad to get to the end. I have gone through it more than once. Don't give up on some of the seemingly tedious parts -- they will eventually draw you in.

Excellent choices all! Some favorites that I have repeatedly recommended to friends are:
Wind, Sand and Stars by Saint Exupery
With The Old Breed at Pelilieu and Okinawa by Sledge
Catch-22 by Heller
The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
Atlas Shrugged by Rand

'Germinal" Emile Zola, this book will blow your mind about mankind, and the animal/atavistic behavior we tend to display in dire situations, the indifference of fellow man, our own natures, the conflicts that all of these things create which makes the human condition so precarious.

"Neuromancer" by William Gibson. So you thought "The Matrix" was original, try he wrote this in the late 70's 80's about neural networks, and such, and the loss fo god through technology, take that Carl Sagan.

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.

The Odyssey Homer Who's more wily the Odysseus? The cunning, the crafty, a true man's man. Great story of the ancient world, did I mention its the oldest Epic, outside of Virgil's Anneid or Jason and the Argonauts.

The Iliad Homer Well it's a battle, and Troy looses...hehe and it doesn't contain Brad Pitt showing off his body yay!

Complete Works of Oscar Wilde To me the most prolific writer of his time, "The Soul of man Under Socialism" or Dorian Grey, or De Profundis? Such works cannot be duplicated, a true genius.

Before Night Falls Arnaldo Arenas, ok so he's gay and living in post communistic Cuba and dies of Aids, but whoever though such amazingly beautiful views of humanity could be had by such a colorful and tragic life?


Ulysses James Joyce, Leopold Bloom the modern hero, well he sure is, life is hard folks, truly outstanding writing, stream of consciousness, and epic format, amazing, Joyce the most brilliant writer of all time. Heck if you dont get the Annotated Notes your F'd trying to decipher the text.


The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pychon, he was a Simpsons character folks, and a true recluse, the work is profound, about the loss of god, conspiracy theories, and all things that replace god, and loss of faith.

I could on for days.... but I wont bore you I have plenty of books Ilove

David

Aargh.

From my list i forgot Jaroslav Hasek: Svejk.
How could i ?

Quote:

---

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.

---

I have an edition with the original printed on the left and a modern English version on the right. I would read the original, switch to the modern and then re-read the original. Eventually I could stumble along in the original for some time before needing to peek at the translation. "Amazing interplay" is a good observation. Some of the tales are side-splittingly funny.

Quote:

---

The Odyssey Homer Who's more wily the Odysseus? The cunning, the crafty, a true man's man. Great story of the ancient world, did I mention its the oldest Epic, outside of Virgil's Anneid or Jason and the Argonauts.

---

I have read several translations but was surprised that my favorite is a prose translation by T.E. Lawrence ("of Arabia" fame). In his introduction he claims to be uniquely qualified to translate this as he has actually killed people with weapons identical to the ones in the poem! His translation, although prose, was quite "poetic" in a way.

And I believe it is several centuries (maybe a millennium) older than Virgil!

TexasBob

Chaucer is absolutely funny especially the summoner's tale ( with Allison) and the full moon ( literally and figuratively as well as the fart...hehe) the best part to note is who is telling their story to whom, and who's story they've followed, meaning the had an axe to grind with certain members of the traveling party and their actions, etc...

Yes, Virgil is in Latin, meaning it definitely came after Homer, I just meant to say, people sometimes reference Virgil as being an old text and Homer is even older then that. Virgil is Italy's Homer Ulysses is Odysseus in Latin, basically.

Some other works I love:

Theodore Dreiser's 'Sister Carrie" this story almost makes A Requiem for a Dream seem pleasant, and Angela's Ashes like a romantic comedy. Hell I think "The Jungle" seems nice to what happens in this story, but absolutely stark in its reality of the time and human nature under certain circumstances.

Very utilitarian book

"Book of Coral Propagation" by Anthony Calfo, and 'Corals" by Eric Bourneman, as I keep a coral reef, these books are invaluable.

cheers
David

Everything by Dostoevsky, in this order.

The Idiot
Insulted and Humiliated
Brothers Kar
Crime and Punish
The Possessed
The rest

I really like a good fantasy book now and then, and I think The Wizarrd of Earthsea is a classic. I also really enjoyed Wizard's First Rule.

The only book of reasonable length that I sacrificed an evening of sleep to read was The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. I am aware of the criticisms surrounding the book, but it's a flat-out good read. period.

I thoroughly enjoy this version! I'd hate to die not having read it, or have it read to me ;)

http://plainfieldyouthblog.files.wor...log-cover1.jpg

this is going to be a link to another site, but it is an amazingly wonderful site that if no one here has discovered it, you are missing out. visit the link for the books, and peruse around for yourself :-)


Link to list of books :-)


Bigger list


let me know if y'all agree :-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I thoroughly enjoy this version! I'd hate to die not having read it, or have it read to me ;)

http://plainfieldyouthblog.files.wor...log-cover1.jpg

---

I try to avoid books that exploit women and poor defenseless animals. Too much sex and violence in it too. :gaah:


........before you start the flames guys.... I'm kidding..... it's my favorite book... really. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I thoroughly enjoy this version! I'd hate to die not having read it, or have it read to me ;)

http://plainfieldyouthblog.files.wor...log-cover1.jpg

---

Yeah, that book really gets your lips moving. :)

stranger in a strange land

I have just ordered the following books:

Ulysses and Finnegans Wake - Joyce
Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon
Painted Bird - Kosinski

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

When I was about 13 I saw the film Lawrence Of Arabia with Peter O'Toole. I loved the movie and soon found out that Lawrence had written a book called The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
........

---

Aha books.... I am so lucky to live within walking distance of a good little library.

We should not forget to list the "Books we must read to
our children and grandchildren before they grow up."

My hat is off to anyone that makes it through Moby Dick. I've got a rather nice copy that graces my bookshelves. I have attempted to read it on three occasions and failed miserably each time. I have trudged through my share of similar books (I even made it halfway through War and Peace), but for some reason I can't make it through. Maybe that will be one of my goals for the year.

With the exception of perhaps Moby Dick, I'm fairly pleased with my reading experiences. I feel I could certainly squeeze in more classics, but not just for the sake of reading them. I did that for a while and it's not the most satisfying of experiences.

Since we're all talking about classic books, let me ask this. When you read these or any other books, what approach do you take? Do you take it at face value or do you try to analyze it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

Since we're all talking about classic books, let me ask this. When you read these or any other books, what approach do you take? Do you take it at face value or do you try to analyze it?

---

I've read my share of classics and modern novels, and I do not claim to be a literature scholar. In fact, growing up I hated literature. Shakespeare and stuff like that are not for me.

On my own terms, reading is fun.

I read a book for entertainment and/or education. If it sparks an analytical line of thinking, then that's part of what's entertaining!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

Since we're all talking about classic books, let me ask this. When you read these or any other books, what approach do you take? Do you take it at face value or do you try to analyze it?

---

For me that depends of the book. There are authors who just tell a good story and then there are authors who have this magic of making everything they write look good, even if the story wouldn't be worth much anything. And lastly there are authors who make the good story look bad and childish.
With Moby Dick it takes lot of analyzing for me, and in that book there's more to analyze than i could ever do.
One example, imho, of the author that makes interesting story look childish is Dan Brown, but as i said, it is just my opinion.

Just finished "The road" and started yesterday "Blood Meridian", both by Cormac Mccarthy, the first one is already one of my favourites from all books I have read. And just yesterday I was able to find a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, which is, believe it or not, very difficult to get in Spain....

Some books I'll add a a "must":

- "Portrait of a Lady" by Henry James
- "The catcher in the rye" by JD Salinger
- "The grapes of wrath" by John Steinbeck

and this may be a very particular choice: "The rules of attraction" by Bret Easton Ellis...

And yes, one day I'll finish the Ulysses too...."Don Quijote", mmmm, not so sure about that one....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

Since we're all talking about classic books, let me ask this. When you read these or any other books, what approach do you take? Do you take it at face value or do you try to analyze it?

---

It depends on the book. For example there were philosophical parts of T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom that were fascinating and stimulated some analysis. OTOH, much of it consisted of his describing terrain and his experience in traveling by camel over Arabia.

Having recently finished Don Quixote I must say that I was disappointed with the ending. I spoke with a friend who is familiar with the book and he said that it couldn't have ended any other way. I won't give the ending away but if you read it you'll have your own feeling on it.

So I've started Moby Dick. I had a vague feeling of dread in beginning it. The last time I tried was a couple of decades ago but my memory of it was worse than the book is turning out to be. Matter of fact , having gone through the first couple of chapters I'm enjoying it. I'll finish it this time come hell or high water. :)

Dan Simmons - Cantos series (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion)
John Keats - Cantos series (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion)
Isaac Asimov - the complete Robot/Robot and Empire/Foundation cycle

Currently trying to work up the motivation for:
Kyokute Bakin - Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (all 106 volumes)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

Aha books.... I am so lucky to live within walking distance of a good little library.

---

I'm glad you reminded me of that. It's funny... I live about four blocks from the downtown library here in Kansas City and I can't remember the last time I went in there. :(

I'm sure several of these have already been mentioned, but I took a pass by my bookshelf and noted those volumes which I would have regretted not reading:

Brideshead Revisited - E. Waugh
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
The Old Curiosity Shop - Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby - Dickens
The Divine Comedy - Dante
Dubliners - J. Joyce
The Odyssey - Homer
Pride and Prejudice - J. Austen
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - C. De Laclos
Dracula - Stoker
Canterbury Tales - Chaucer
and The Works of Robert Frost

My goal for 2010 is to make it through Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", though it's a daunting read (and I keep getting sidetracked with Steve Berry novels :gaah: ).

oh i love fantasy

the wheel of time series

the black magician triology

the abhorsen trology

age of the five triology

the farseer triology(and the sequels)

First off, I'll second Doc on Stranger in a Strange Land.

A few others I'd make everyone read if I could:


The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
Black Like Me - John Howard Griffin
Flow - Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi
Letters From the Earth - Mark Twain
Rants and Incendiary Tracts: Voices of Desperate Illumination 1558-Present
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Aldous Huxley (the collection of essays)
Genome - Matt Ridley
My View of the World - Erwin Schrödinger

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

(I even made it halfway through War and Peace)
Since we're all talking about classic books, let me ask this. When you read these or any other books, what approach do you take? Do you take it at face value or do you try to analyze it?

---

I've been meaning to read war and peace. I had to read Anna Karenina for a class and I hated every single damn character and couldn't stop thinking, "Why couldn't they assign War and Peace instead?"

I think that if you try to analyze books you're taking the wrong approach. Just read them. Then if need be reread them. The meaning manifests itself. If you finish a book without having to stop and collect yourself because it starts to overwhelm you, then it is a bad book. Unless it's Go Dog Go... that book kicks ass.

Honestly, if someone ever read The Inferno and actually said to me, "So he took a trip through hell, eh?" I might have to slap them. Then slap them again. Then everything would go black for awhile and I'd wake up in a cell.

I agree. If it's worth analyzing, it's worth reading again. A book loses its meaning if you take it sentence by sentence from the get-go. That's why I have trouble with books like War and Peace. It's so damn much to keep tabs on, from the length to the sheer number of characters, that it gets disjointed.

I like to read in as few sessions as possible so that I can get the full scope of it. It helps me to retain the information better so that in the end I have a more complete picture. In fact, my last semester at college, I had a quiz over a book that I hadn't been able to get hold of until about 3 hours before the quiz. It was what I would call a typical sized book. Reading absolutely as fast as I could, I had it read in 2.5-3 hours, skimmed some other material that was going to be quizzed, and ran my ass off to class. Those quizzes were certainly not easy, but I pulled an 85% on the book portion.

Contrast that with Dante's Inferno, which I had to read at my class's pace, and I hardly remember any of it:fim:

So much to read...So little time to do so.

Ladies and gentlemen, your suggestions are excellent--an appropriate mix of the classics, traditional and modern literature. I have perused most, but not all of them. Of those that I have read, Moby Dick is probably my favorite. William Gibson, who I became aware of this November, is on my must-read list.

As for me, I have found the following texts--some fiction, some non-fiction--to be most fulfilling, in no particular order of importance:

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

W. E. B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk

George Orwell, Coming Up for Air

Mark Twain, Pudd 'inhead Wison

Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan

Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence

William Faulkner, Intruder in the Dust

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Linda Brent, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Sinclair Lewis, Main Street

Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau, A Yankee in Canada

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Eugene Sledge, With the Old Breed

The list could go on and on, but I must cease and desist from my ramblings...

A happy and prosperous New Year to all!

I am not much for fiction and fantasy I like history, philosophy, and I like most of all to get my info right from the source ie autobigraphies.

So my list would be something like this.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelious
Benjiman Franklins autobiography
Calvin Coolidges autobiography
Thomas Jeffersons autobiography
The biography of Jefferson by Dumas Malone
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The rise and fall of the confederate government by Jefferson Davis
Thomas Paines writings
Beyond good and evil by Nietchze
And all the voltaire you can find.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TexasBob

I could recommend many books I think are "great books" but there is one in particular that tops the list: Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. See Le Morte d'Arthur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

There are many editions of this and it is important to get a good one. What you want:

[LIST=1][*]You want a version based on the Winchester manuscript ...

---

Thanks for the reminder, and a very useful one; I've encountered Le Morte d'Arthur in bits and pieces since childhood and periodically think I'd like to read it through. As for þe spelyng, þæt olde styl pleseth me wel, ywis.

~Rich

Has anyone tackled 'Les Misérables by Victor Hugo'? I have a very very old copy dated 18??, it's in English. I have some friends who are insane voracious speed readers, I think that one of them has read it.
The Dangerous Book For Boys - there's one for me.
How about The Holy Bible, or is that just a given, it has been printed and published far beyond any other book, you would think that the world's best seller would have to be on the list, maybe it's just a given. It can be rough though (Lord forgive me) in places (you know like when you hit the first 9 chapters of First Chronicles, that will try most people), it is for the most part a history book but has poetry, romance, action, military statistics.

:)

And Jimmy, thanks for starting this most fruitful and thought-provoking thread. At 59, I'm at a somewhat similar turning of the road. And there are so many books out there that I want to read ... just looking at one of our bookcases I can come up with a dozen easily. Let's see, just a few ...

Le Morte d'Arthur, obviously
Shakespeare, all the plays and poems (this will be a reread of some, but of too many a first reading)
Ulysses ... but hey, I've read the first ten or twelve pages a dozen times!
Don Quixote--I just cataloged for our library a nice two-volume Spanish edition, with Doré illustrations, and might try that
The Bible--I've read a lot of it, but never the whole thing through, start to finish--King James version that would be, unapologetically (I'm a poet, not a Biblical scholar! :D )
Darwin's Origin of Species
Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations
Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, plus some other books on U.S. and world history, and probably Sandburg's Lincoln biography and Grant's memoirs
The Declaration of Independence and Constitution (have read the former and parts of the latter, but want to read straight through now that I have a copy that I keep with me); also the Federalist Papers, Paine's Common Sense, Toqueville's Democracy in America, some of Jefferson's writings
Milton's Paradise Lost and Areopagitica
Updike's Rabbit books
Catch-22 of course!
Oliver Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield and She Stoops to Conquer, at least
David Copperfield, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, aaagh just a ton of Dickens I haven't read yet
Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh
Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and Rob Roy at least
that volume of Goethe that our exchange student's parents sent me ten years ago to practice my German!!
and while I'm thinking of it, the volume of Plato my daughter gave me ...

And that's just the start--if I really read all those before I die, then I guess I'll live to be 120 or so. :)

~Rich