What books should everyone read?

[ohiobbw]

So what books would you recommend everyone read? It doesn't have to be your favorite book, just something you think everyone should read. It can be from any genre (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Bio, History, Erotica, even Children and Young Adult). And they don't have to be "Classics." They can be new releases too! Maybe tell why we should read it.

I'm looking for book suggestions, because even though I have tons of books piled up to read, I'm always looking for good reads.

My recommendations (especially for college age and younger) is Go Ask Alice. It's about a teenage girl who starts using drugs and her downward spiral. It tells everything highs and lows. It's especially touching because it's a real diary. But when I read it the first time, I was in high school. At the time a lot of my friends were starting to experiment with drugs. I was getting curious myself. But after reading that book, I decided never to try drugs and I never have. I also don't smoke (tried it once when I was 12, gross) and don't drink (last time I had anything to drink was my graduation party and I've never been drunk). The book freaked me out so much.

 

[Topher]

[i]Cosmos[/i] by Carl Sagan

Despite any criticisms the highbrows might have for the man, Cosmos was a good survey of the history, and, more importantly, the raison d'être of Science.

Not to be contentious, but isn't Go Ask Alice a hoax?

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

The collected works of Shakespeare. Pretty much everything else you're ever going to read is already in there.

 

[Azwed]

Couple of good political theory books.

Hobbes, Locke J.S. Mills.

 

[sigh]

the collected works of Mark Twain...if Shakespeare missed anything, Twain surely picked up on it

and The Lord of the Rings...if you're looking for simple entertainment, look no further

Azwed? was that Calvin and Hobbes?

 

[KillerMuffin]

Strunk and White's Elements of Style. This should be required reading and no adult should be literate without a copy.

 

[Lost Cause]

The Federalist Papers, provides excellent insight into why the Constitution and Bill of Rights are what they are. They present the arguments pro/con for our amendments by the people who were there!

 

[Nigel]

The collected works of Shakespeare. Pretty much everything else you're ever going to read is already in there.

Bravo, DCL - I couldn't agree more. And the finest (in my opinion and the opinion of several professors of mine over the years) single-volume collection of Shakespeare is "The Riverside Shakespeare) - the notes and such are quite comprehensive. I also recommend "Shakespeare's Bawdy" by Eric Partridge, to understand the Elizabethan naughty bits and double entendre's.

As for other works, I recommend Orwell's "1984" for just the....sadness of the triumph over individual thought. Also, the complete version of Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" - the version previously released in the states expurgated the 21st chapter, which I think is vital (and a part of the story that was also ignored in Kubrick's film). For me, it's another "freedom of the individual" piece, and the 21st chapter is vital to the whole.

For fun, read anything written by PG Wodehouse (I am particularly fond of the "Jeeves and Wooster" stories). Wonderful use of language and great stories of a young, wealthy wastrel and his miracle of a "gentleman's personal gentleman" who gets his master out of the most impossible of situations. Elmore Leonard is almost always a fun ride of detective and caper fiction. And I also have a great fondness for Donald Westlake's "Dortmunder" series, mostly for the comic crime-caper fun, and also because something ALWAYS goes wrong.

I also love Steven King's "The Stand" - it's hard to say what I like best about this book. I think the thing that snags me is seeing people cope and rebuild after a not-so-natural disaster wipes out 90% of the population....and the story of good vs. evil. Great story, terrific characters, and it moves like a mad bastard. I always find it hard to put down.....

Nigel

 

[Algore]

Magistre Ludi - Hesse
The Tin Drum - Grasse
Crime and Punishment - Doestoyevski
The Trial - Kafke
Brave New World - Huxley
Farenheit 451 - Bradbury
Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut

 

[kiwiwolf]

The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell...

 

[patient1]

I used to say that the complete works of Shakespeare & the King James Bible pretty much covered English Quotations. I'll agree with the Federalist Papers as something everyone ought to read, even if you're not an American, it's thought-provoking. None of them are easy reading.


As for something a bit more readable, I reccomend "The Klondike Fever " by Pierre Burton. It's the most readable history I've ever encountered. It's also the best case study of human behavior I've ever read. If you're looking for entertainment, education, virtue in practice, or inspiration, you'll find it in there.

 

[mysty74]

The Happy Hooker. I read it in Jr. High and my life has never been the same.
Learned alot of tricks before I lost my viginity.
Mysty

 

[LadyDarkFire]

This is just IMHO. . .

The complete works of William Shakespeare,
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
John Milton's Paradise Lost
J R R Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings
T S Eliot's The Wasteland
Go Ask Alice
Bradbury's Farenheit 451
Huxley's Brave New World

 

[Pechorin]

Try the comedy "The Government Inspector" by Nikolai Gogol. Written in the nineteenth century but oh so applicable to today!

Or anything by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dark but so well written.

Surprised no-one's mentionned the Literotica boards. I've discovered more about sex and politics round the globe in 3 months on here than in my previous 32 years. Or is that just a damning indictment on my first 32 years? You decide.

 

[T.H. Oughts]

Yes, "Go Ask Alice" is a good one for teenagers to read.

"Tuesdays with Morrie" is one for adults.

 

[horny_giraffe]

Everybody should read a few books of the Christian Bible--or at least the salient stories. I'm not saying that you have to believe it, but it's probably the single most influential collection of writings that has ever existed.

Freud's "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" are extremely influential, as well, but it's a bit to wade through. But at least read a primer on Freud.

Everyone should have some idea of the, err...stuff... that is influencing their zietgeist (although I can say Hegel is just too much even for me.) It seems to me that there is so much crap that people believe just reflexively because everyone else says it.

 

[Demian]

Re: This is just IMHO. . .

The complete works of William Shakespeare,
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
John Milton's Paradise Lost
J R R Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings
T S Eliot's The Wasteland
Go Ask Alice
Bradbury's Farenheit 451
Huxley's Brave New World

Anything by Snoop Dog

Okay, so I think he's overpaid by dumb people

But Frankenstein iz so great

Demian

 

[mistyc]

I would recommend the reading of In The Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen.

It is about the treatment of Native Americans on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during the l970s, and how the government and FBI got away with murder, intimidation, and illegal activities.

And about one man in particular Leonard Peltier, who has been imprisoned since 1975/76, but is innocent of the crimes he was charged and convicted of.

Mitakuye Oyasin

 

[missbehavin_badly]

Anything by Dean R. Koontz is great, but The Bad Place is a must.

Of course along the classic route
The fall of the house of usher by Poe, is a fantastic book!!

 

[cellis]

I think one should also read something by Dickens, my personal favorite is "A Tale of Two Cities" and something by Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas.

In addition, Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov, Adolus Huxley, and Arthur C. Clarke should be required reading, if for no other reason than just to broaden your horizons and look at the possibilities.

Oh and the Celestine Prophecy... again just to make you think..

 

[GuyJD]

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley & Malcolm X

"Live Your Dream" by Les Brown

"Body For Life" by Bill Phillips

 

[perks]

Ciderhouse Rules - John Irving
The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitgerald
Love's Distresses - Goethe

 

[Lady Violet]

For those who are into witches type magic, i recomend:

Night Calls and Kindred Rites by Katherine E. Kimbriel.

Its about Alfreda, who learns at 12 that she has talents as a practioner (like a witch). She learns first from her mother, then lives with her Aunt to learn the rest. I know it sounds boring when i describe it, but really! they are the BEST!! Its got werewolves, vampires and really bad ass ghosts in the first book and the second has Alfreda running for her life from a real evil sorceror and his clan!

ta da!

go read them, GO go now!!

 

[BigDawg69]

mmmmm book recommemdations . . .

well I have my list of top 100 of all time that I've read but that may be a bit much.

The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Walden Henry David Thereau

Those are a good start on American classics

Agree with the Shakespeare recommendation and also KillerMuffin's Strunk and White book. On that note there is a great book I read for writing: Writing with Power

For any dog lovers I highly recommend Dog's Never Lie about Love

 

[Black_Bird]

Oh and the Celestine Prophecy... again just to make you think..

*Shakes Head* No... sorry, but I have to disagree with you on that. That book has the depth of a puddle.

Tao Te Ching, on the other hand, is the one you want to get ahold of.

Everything that J.D. Salinger has written...
Lord of the Flies
The Clockwork Orange
Farenheit 451