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20 Books Everyone Should Read!


Nollaig

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Here are my top 5:

 

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

The Stand - Stephen King

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Hmmmmmm.......

 

1. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

2. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

3. Harry Potter books - JK Rowling

4. Porno - Irvine Welsh

5. Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk

 

I'll change my mind tomorrow :yes:

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I'll change my mind tomorrow :yes:

 

Haha! Which is exactly why i can't commit to this thread, i'm too loyal to far too many books :)

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My top 5 i would recommend....

 

1. The book thief- Markus Zusak

 

2. If nobody speaks of remarkable things- Jon Mcgregor

 

3. The pirates daughter- Margaret Cezair Thompson

 

4. A thousand splendid suns- Knaled Hosseini

 

5. Diary- Chuck Palahniuk

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Interesting idea. Might be a source for my to read list.

 

Here are mine:

 

1. The man in the maze/Robert Silverberg - This is just so fantasically fiction that you have to think (worry?) about it realistically.

2. 1984/George Orwell - Anyone from anywhere should read this before they reach adulthood with all it's duties.

3. Ender's game/Orson Scott Card - I won't say much, not to spoil things.

4. The hitchhiker's guide to the galexy series/Douglas Adams - Cause after all, life is way to serious to be taken seriously...

5. A thousand splendid suns- Knaled Hosseini - I think that this is one of the most important books that were written in years, and for so many reasons, not the least is the state of women around the globe.

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I'm delighted to see Ender's Game listed by so many of you. It is undoubtedly one of my favorite books. I've read it many many times. With that said, its not in my five. If I were able to compel you to read five books, I would choose the five that would change your perspective, and maybe change the world.

 

1. Replay by Ken Grimwood - It will change the way you look at your life, and what is truly important.

2. Watership Down by Richard Adams - Loyalty, Bravery, & Brotherhood in the face of Tyranny.

3. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond - Racism debunked. Civilization's true origin revealed.

4. On the Road by Jack Kerouac - Step outside your comfort zone and seize your dreams by the tail.

5. The Republic by Plato - Specifically The Parable of the Cave. Perception and reality while related are not synonymous.

 

Honorable mentions: 1984, Farenheit 451, The New Testament, Catch-22, The Diary of Anne Frank.

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1. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

2. The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly

3. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

4. The Road - Cormac McCarthy

5. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd

 

How funny, all the titles start with The :)

 

Carole

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1. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

 

I'm so disappointed in myself.. My husband read this and RAVED about it. I tried it, and totally couldn't get into it. I gave up on page 60 when they were still chasing the pig around... :)

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3. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond - Racism debunked. Civilization's true origin revealed.

 

I love this book! I am always trying to get others to read it!

 

I read this book while on holiday in New Mexico a few years ago, and it totally changed the way I see the world. I'm so glad to hear that you loved it. :blush: Between the two of us we should see if we can put together a half decent thread in non-fiction. :D

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I bought Guns, Germs & Steel recently and can't wait to read it. I also want to read Collapse, and it was a close thing between which one I ended up buying!

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I resubmit:

 

1. Ulysses, James Joyce

2. Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov

3. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

4. The Man Without Qualities, Robert Musil

5. Collected Fictions, Jorge Luis Borges

6. War and Peace, Tolstoy

7. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce

8. Time's Arrow, Martin Amis

9. Don Quixote, Cervantes

10. Moby Dick, Herman Melville

11. The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton

12. The Ticket that Exploded, William Burroughs

13. The Captive Mind, Czeslaw Milosz

14. Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais

15. Hamlet, Shakespeare

16. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Colonna

17. Islands in the Stream, Ernest Hemingway

18. Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino

19. Confessions of an English Opium Eater, De Quincey

20. Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann

Edited by Ben Mines
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Most official best lists make me cringe and really are not to be taken too seriously.

 

Fyodor Dostoyevski- The Brothers Karamazov (imo any official list without this on it is embarassing) one of the best books ever, possibly thee best.

 

Victor Hugo- The laughing man.

 

Franz Kafka- The trial.

 

Alain Fournier- Le Grand Meaulnes.

 

Moliere- Tartuffe.

 

Impossible really to conduct a top 5, you could go on and on.Ben Mines- Good list! just bought Hypnerotomachia Poliphili & Don Quixote. Monuments of literature.

Edited by Janet
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