Books you know you ought to have read but haven't

[peachykeen]

tyme's 'good book' thread made me think of this. I read a heck of a lot, but there are tons of classics, books I know I should have read at some point, and even know the story to because they are part of the cultural fabric, and maybe I've seen the movie, but for whatever reason have never tackled. Books like:

Anna Karenina
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Wuthering Heights
A Tale of Two Cities
Hunchback of Notre Dame


I know there are about a billion more not coming to mind at the moment...

I'm currently reading Bram Stoker's "Dracula". Of course I know the story, but I think it's important to 'hear' the story in the actual words chosen by the author, know what I mean?

What's on your "I'll read that someday, eventually, maybe" list?

 

[MightyZor]

book that has your naked pictures is the book I've got to read

 

[Nora]

book that has your naked pictures is the book I've got to read

I think PatheticZor should read "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

 

[mbb308]

Anna Karenina
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Wuthering Heights
A Tale of Two Cities
Hunchback of Notre Dame

All of these, plus:

Dicken's stuff - all
The rest of Tolstoy, too
Any Bronte works



Hmmm. Oddly, I can really get into some Dostoevsky.

 

[mbb308]

I think PatheticZor should read "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

He just read half of it.

 

[peachykeen]

book that has your naked pictures is the book I've got to read

Yes I had a feeling you weren't quite up to books without pictures yet.

 

[Andreina]

catcher in the rye (salinger)
on war (von clausewitz)
steppenwolf (hesse)

 

[tyme]

Children are from Heaven, it is by the same guy that wrote, Men are from Mars Women are from Venus. To help with my parenting.

 

[modest mouse]

My list is vacant.

There are a wealth of amazing books out there, most of them are not classics. I've never subscribed to the should-have-read- line of thinking. It results in a too common series of references. It seems as if Lit majors have all read the same books.

I say go read something unknown. Or flawed. Or personal. Fuck the classics.

 

[Kitte]

The entire Sweet Valley High Series.

I ment to read them in jr high but didnt get around to it.

There are probably a million books I have said I "should" read but havent...Ill get around to them a little at a time...

 

[peachykeen]

Oh I dunno, mouse. I mean yes, of course, there are loads of great books that are not classics. Today. 20, 50, 100 years from now, maybe they will be, you know?

I don't feel like there are books I should have read because of some reason of external judgement - "what? you've never read book xyz?" - but because in order for them to have passed into popular consciousness, they likely possess some intrinsic or fundamental quality that appeals to something human in us. Granted some are going to appeal/apply to me, you or whoever personally more than others, but that doesn't mean the ones that don't thrill me aren't going to braoden my scope trough exposure just a bit.

So if we say, well, fuck the classics, what exactly would we be saying 'fuck you' to? The world could use a bit more Swiftian satire if you ask me, but should we just flush that down the toilet? Is 'The Odyssey' no longer relevant, suddenly? Do John Steibeck's and F Scot Fitzgerald's observations of American society really have no bearing on our oh-so-modern world?

 

[peachykeen]

fuck 'em?

Oh I dunno, mouse. I mean yes, of course, there are loads of great books that are not classics. Today. 20, 50, 100 years from now, maybe they will be, you know?

I don't feel like there are books I should have read because of some reason of external judgement - "what? you've never read book xyz?" - but because in order for them to have passed into popular consciousness, they likely possess some intrinsic or fundamental quality that appeals to something human in us. Granted some are going to appeal/apply to me, you or whoever personally more than others, but that doesn't mean the ones that don't thrill me aren't going to braoden my scope trough exposure just a bit.

So if we say, well, fuck the classics, what exactly would we be saying 'fuck you' to? The world could use a bit more Swiftian satire if you ask me, but should we just flush that down the toilet? Is 'The Odyssey' no longer relevant, suddenly? Do John Steibeck's and F Scot Fitzgerald's observations of American society really have no bearing on our oh-so-modern world?

 

[peachykeen]

sorry. apparently I am having some posting issues. or just repeating myself for the hell of it...

 

[Guest]

So many books -- so little time.

The Origin of the Species
Silent Spring
Anna Karenina


and so many more.

 

[SpiceCake]

Moby Dick
Of Mice and Men

And a bazillion others

 

[Diablogrl]

I've always wanted to read Tolstoy and Lav got me started on "Anna Karenina" this winter break. Its a great book - I'm about 1/2 through, unfortuantely with my psycho-schedule, it'll probably be next winter break before I can read the rest.

Here's my short list...

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (one I own, just don't have the time to read)

Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Rocks of Ages by Stephen Jay Gould

Comet by Carl Sagan

 

[MissTaken]

Moby Dick!

Oh, the shame of it!

 

[Todd-'o'-Vision]

The 17 Days of Life I can't remember the author, but its like 200 years old

 

[Diablogrl]

So many books -- so little time.

The Origin of the Species
Silent Spring
Anna Karenina


and so many more.

Silent Spring has been exerpted in so many of my environmental law readings that its also on my list. Along those lines might I suggest The Riverkeepers by Cronin and Kennedy.

 

[doctor_insanus]

Some of my personal favorites from the classics:

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson
Paradise Lost by John Milton

I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a lot of the classics during grade school. I haven't read some of these books for a long time, but something in them has always "stuck" with me. They're like old friends I know I can look up at any time.

 

[Guest]

Silent Spring has been exerpted in so many of my environmental law readings that its also on my list. Along those lines might I suggest The Riverkeepers by Cronin and Kennedy.

Thanks, I've made a note.

 

[peachykeen]

Some of my personal favorites from the classics:
...
They're like old friends I know I can look up at any time.

yes but the question is, what are the ones you haven't read, but feel (for whatever reason) you ought to?

 

[Guest]

yes but the question is, what are the ones you haven't read, but feel (for whatever reason) you ought to?

Yeah! Pay attention!

 

[Jimi]

yes but the question is, what are the ones you haven't read, but feel (for whatever reason) you ought to?

War & Peace - I want to get THROUGH it one day
The Brothers Karamazov - again, never finished it

Re-reads:

How Green was My Valley - Richard Llewelyn
Der Kreig (sp.?) - Clausewitz
The Republic
The Old Man & The Sea

This is a wonderful thread, Peach!

 

[modest mouse]

Re: fuck 'em?

Oh I dunno, mouse. I mean yes, of course, there are loads of great books that are not classics. Today. 20, 50, 100 years from now, maybe they will be, you know?

I do not care if they become classics.

I don't feel like there are books I should have read because of some reason of external judgement - "what? you've never read book xyz?" - but because in order for them to have passed into popular consciousness, they likely possess some intrinsic or fundamental quality that appeals to something human in us.

Universality and general appeal are not necessarily positives ina book. At least not to me. Some of the best books I have read have little general appeal but deleve into the reader with a different, more specific set of tools.

Granted some are going to appeal/apply to me, you or whoever personally more than others, but that doesn't mean the ones that don't thrill me aren't going to braoden my scope trough exposure just a bit.

Are you trying to prove my point?

Yes, individual taste influences enjoyment and value.

Yes, they can broaden your perspective. But remember that the 'classics' offer the same to many, over and over.

So if we say, well, fuck the classics, what exactly would we be saying 'fuck you' to? The world could use a bit more Swiftian satire if you ask me, but should we just flush that down the toilet? Is 'The Odyssey' no longer relevant, suddenly? Do John Steibeck's and F Scot Fitzgerald's observations of American society really have no bearing on our oh-so-modern world?

I didnt suggest books be destroyed. You can put those authors in the pantheon of available reads but you are creating far too short a list it seems.