Originally posted by WulebgrI love these authors.
William Faulkner, Go Down, Moses (novel)
Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions (short stories)
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (poetry)
Paul Bowles, A Distant Episode (short stories)
Donald Barthelme, Sadness (short stories)
Georges Bataille, The Impossible (philosophy)
Where have you been, scholar?
Originally posted by Bosse de NageI had a Victorian children's book called 'A cupful of Tears' It was a collection of tales for children and each and every one of them was about death, disfigurement, sorrow, unsurmountable life issues, rejection or unrequited love. I can honestly say that I have never read a bleaker set of stories. If other children's books of the time were similar I can totally understand Potter's outlook.
I'd like to know how her dark side was shaped. Anne Rice is feeble by comparison...
Sometimes A Great Notion - Kesey
The Histories - Herodotus
The Iliad - Homer
Beowulf - Seamus Heaney version
A Movable Feast - Hemingway
Angel In The Whirlwind - ? ugh can't remember
Musashi - Yoshikawa
Aubrey / Maturin Series (Master & Commander) - O'Brien
Utopia - More
The Collected Poems of Robert Service - Service
Catch 22: Joseph Heller
The ragged trousered philanthropists: Robert Tressel
Lord of the rings: Tolkien
The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy: Douglas Adams
Setting free the bears: John Irving
The cider house rules: John Irving
Bad Omens: Terry Pratchett
Foucault's pendulum: Umberto Eco
Trinity: Leon Uris
All and every Asterix and Obelix comic ever written, but especially
Asterix in Britain, the Roman agent, Cleopatra and Obelix and co.: Goscinny
Originally posted by shavixmirDAMMNIT I forgot Catch 22!
Catch 22: Joseph Heller
The ragged trousered philanthropists: Robert Tressel
Lord of the rings: Tolkien
The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy: Douglas Adams
Setting free the bears: John Irving
The cider house rules: John Irving
Bad Omens: Terry Pratchett
Foucault's pendulum: Umberto Eco
Trinity: Leon Uris
All and every [b]Asterix and Obelix com ...[text shortened]... ten, but especially
Asterix in Britain, the Roman agent, Cleopatra and Obelix and co.: Goscinny[/b]
Candide: by Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire
The funniest book ever written IMHO. I never travel without it. It never gets old.
Walden: Henry David Thoreau
also by HD Thoreau .. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
The Art of War: by Sun Tzu
Jesus the Son of Man: by Kahlil Gibran
The Lessons of History: by Will and Ariel Durant
Collected Poems of Robert W. Service
The Chess Legacy of Jose Raoul Capablanca: Last Lectures
War all the Time: by Charles Bukowski
Actually, anything he wrote. He was a friend and neighbor of mine.
The Bible:
don't leave home without it.
Excession - Iain M. Banks
Complicity - ditto (without the M. though)
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
Hitch-hikers guide etc. - Douglas Adams (sadly missed)
The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
'e' - Matt Beaumont
The Idiot - Dostoevsky
The Trial - Franz Kafka
Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy(a bit girly, but I loved it)
The Hungry Caterpillar - Don't know but it was my first book!
Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre
I know this is more than 10 but I couldn't help myself. I still keep thinking of more but I've got to draw a line somewhere!
I also rate the Alan Moore stuff listed here already. Frank Miller writes a good story too! Preacher by Garth Ennis is as darkly comic and inventive as it is biting social commentary. Dammit! I've started again!
cheers, Gary
In no particular order and no particular reason....
"Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" - JRR Tolkein
"Utopia" - Thomas More
"Plausible Denial" - Mark Lane
"Catch a Fire" - Timothy White
"Day of the Jackal" Frederick Forsythe
"The Sicilian" and "The Godfather" - Mario Puzo
"Rum Rebellion" - HV Evatt
"Bushido: THe Warrior's Code" Inazo Nitobe
Whoa, everyone's list is so heavy! Here's mine, in no particular order:
The Grapes of Wrath--John Steinbeck
East of Eden--John Steinbeck
Catch-22--Joseph Heller
On Liberty--John Stuart Mill
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn--Mark Twain
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich--Alexander Solzhenitsyn
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn--Betty Smith
A Confederacy of Dunces--John Kennedy Toole
A Tale of Two Cities--Charles Dickens
Autobiography--Mohandas Gandhi
And, as a bonus, the very worst book I've finished reading in the past decade:
Peace Like a River--Leif Enger
Originally posted by DhangoI particularly liked "a tale of two cities" as well.
Whoa, everyone's list is so heavy! Here's mine, in no particular order:
The Grapes of Wrath--John Steinbeck
East of Eden--John Steinbeck
Catch-22--Joseph Heller
On Liberty--John Stuart Mill
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn--Mark Twain
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich--Alexander Solzhenitsyn
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn--Betty Smith
A Confeder ...[text shortened]... , the very worst book I've finished reading in the past decade:
Peace Like a River--Leif Enger
Best opening sentence and best final sentence I've ever read in a book!