Your Mandatory Bookshelf

[DanteShepherd]

It's obvious there's more than a few books that we prefer just from the comics -

So You Wanna Be A Rock and Roll Star by Jake Slichter

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman

Watchmen by Alan Moore

And there's plenty of other books we highly recommend as well -

A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

World War Z by Max Brooks

From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz

So the question is, what books are on your shelf that you highly recommend / can't do without / can't stop yourself from re-reading?

[PatTheSarcastic]

100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I usually don't reach for literature in translation because I think it loses something in the process, but this one is just fantastic in any language).

The Aeneid, Virgil- a hallmark of Western literature can't go wrong. (Either in Latin or in Robert Fagles' excellent translation).

The Silmarillion, it's like reading Genesis, it's fake- but at least this is interesting!

The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules, both by John Irving and really, really great reads.

[Unkilted Scotsman]

excellent list so far, read most, the others are in a pile to be read soon
at the moment I`m reading a few, of them I suggest
Paradise Lost - John Milton,
rereading Watchmen... nuff said
The Bolivian Diary - Che Guevara - its a translation as my Spanish is sub-par
& The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

[Caimekaze]

The Redemption of Althalus - David Eddings (R.I.P.) Long and not everyone's cup of tea, but it was one of my first long fantasy novels so it has a place in my heart.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon. It focuses around the life of an autistic child who tries to solve a murder mystery. As it's written in first person, it is a rather interesting experience.
The Fencer Trilogy - K.J. Parker. Mostly realistic fantasy, very down to earth. In the words of the author, "Happy endings do exist; just not in my world."

I have a lot more, but I'll need time to collate a full list.

[Aodan]

]Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams. Everyone should read this. Also, the guide itself is, in a way, similar to Surviving the World. Coincidence?

[DanteShepherd]

Hitchhiker's Guide is indeed fantastic, and we'd probably recommend the next three books in the series as well (but not necessarily Mostly Harmless).

And we can kind of see what you're saying with the similarities, but it really didn't play a role in the inspiration of STW.

On a side note . . . The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time? That book is awful. Sorry, but we hated it.

[Caimekaze]

Well, I was rather young when I read it. It may be a tad rose-tinted now.

I also recommend Orwell's 1984.
I do not recommend The Catcher in the Rhye(sp?) though. I hated that book, the protagonist annoyed the hell out of me.

[Madcol]

1984 is good.

I reccomend The Time Travellers Wife, I only found it because it's being made into a film.
Other reccomendations are:
Enders Game - Orson Scott Card
The Discworld series - Terry Prattchet
The Princess Bride - William Goldman (I warn you though it can be tedious at times)

One point I'd like to make about the sillmarillion, it is quite like genesis and by this I mean difficult to read. It could just be me but I think it went above and beyond the neccessary complexity for what it is.

[BeyondTheFail]

Books I Recommend

The entire series A Song of Ice and Fire (by George R.R. Martin) for sheer awesomeness.
Titles currently released from the above include: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows, with A Dance with Dragons coming out in December

The entire series The Chronicles of Narnia (by C.S. Lewis) for religious symbolism.
Not putting a list of titles with this because almost everyone has heard of them by now.

The entire series Harry Potter (by J.K. Rowling) for religious symbolism and saying that "Hey, I've read it".
If the title has Harry Potter as the first two words of it, it's a book in the series.

Dune (by Frank Herbert) for epic fantasy that George Lucas ripped off a bunch.

Ender's Shadow (by Orson Scott Card) for reading right after you read Ender's Game, to give you a bit more perspective.

The Artemis Fowl series (by Eoin Colfer) before the 5th book for overwhelming genius.
If the title has Artemis Fowl as the first two words, it's a book in the series.

The Taming of the Shrew (by Shakespeare) for reading aloud. It's very funny.

A good portion of Dr. Seuss' books so you can pass them down to your children. I grew up on having them read to me, so has my 9 year old brother. They're even funnier if you read them in silly accents.

Books and series I DON'T recommend

The Twilight saga if you are loyal to vampire lore. Or hate mushy romance. Or think Edward Cullen is creepy. I don't recommend it because I fall in all three categories.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series if you are aware of real life and how it works. Male or female, I don't recommend it. Life doesn't work that way!

Any romance novel. Ever. Even as a female, I say NO to romance novels.

[asaharyev]

And here is where I throw out a lot of non-fiction...ah well

Sexuality and Socialism by Sherry Wolf, a book about fighting for LGBT equality
Exile and Pride by Eli Clare, a book about surviving when you're transgendered and disabled
Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino, a book all about societal oppression

and now for some fiction...or at least non-fiction that reads like a novel

10 Days That Shook the World by John Reed, all about the October Revolution
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, a drug binge in the desert
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott, a fiction book about some shapes
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, really anything by him is fantastic...
Soulsmith by Tom Deitz
The Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King, one of his non-horror books
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, so good, can't believe it hasn't already been put out there

I also second Taming the Shrew, as it is probably my favorite Shakespeare comedy, and I also recommend A Comedy of Errors and Macbeth by The Bard.

[Mikko]

Since english isn't my number one language, I had to check the original names instead of the translations.

First, from Dan Simmons: Hyperion', 'The Fall of Hyperion', 'Endymion', 'The Rise of Endymion' all the same serie. Brilliant.

Secondly, almost anything written by Neil Gaiman (American gods; The dream hunters; Stardust, Neverwhere...). The Sandman series changed my entire view about comics as a form of storytelling.

Thirdly, and I have no idea whatso ever has it ever been translated and marketed in the states, but a norwegian comic called "Nemi" by Lise Myhre is worth reading if one is into comics (and I guess that most people are who read webcomics). Atleast some strips can be found http://www.metro.co.uk/nemi, but I recommend book form.

There are probably a lot more, but those are the first that pop into my mind.

[radicalmom]

oohh.. i love this (and i want to say i'm happy to be a part of these forums)
okay!
1.patrick white; aussie writer whose specialty is creating characters whom you initially hate or dislike by the nature of their creepy or odd behavior.
http://arts.abc.net.au/white/
the first book i read by him was "voss" based on the story of a german traveler to the outback and interior of australia, his journey and the lives of people surrounding him. anothe rof his that is my favorite is "tree of man" which is a very simple story of a farmer, his life on his farm, his wife, their family and his death.. i love patrick white.

2. paul bowles!! he wrote the novel "sheltering sky" and many other books taking place in stark and dangerous regions. his specialty is creating a sense of tension almost from the first page. his narratives are meticulous and clear.

3. carol shields: anything she wrote is excellent, her skills at creating personalities and telling stories of them in a few short pages is astounding. my favorite of hers is "unless".

4. if you can find a book called "genius of the world"by alice lichtenstein. it's written by a friend of mine; telling a story of a young man who is dying of cancer and the reactions of his jewish family as he turns to embrace buddhism. very touching book..

random others: doris lessing, mark twain, william faulkner, and frank herbert..

have fun! a.

[hutcho_123]

Just to add to the already comprehensive list:

God of small things: Arundhati Roy

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Tool

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley.

I am about to finish exams so I will be able to read more over the holidays, thank goodness!

Does anybody use Library Thing?

[molegoddess]

Ok, I'm only going to list fiction books I re-read since I mostly read nonfiction and like way too many of them to start listing.

The Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin series. Simply brilliant, shouldn't even need an introduction. Also, on a related note, check out the movie (Master and Commander: Far Side of the World) if you haven't already. It's a beautiful piece of work.

The Sound and the Fury -- William Faulkner. Had to read this for a class. This may be a hit-and-miss suggestion; I was the only person in my class who liked it at all, but I absolutely adored it more than any other book I had to read all throughout school. Probably the difference was that I had a copy with plenty of supplemental material (I got the Norton Critical Edition, second edition) that helped me understand the context and themes and background, and had interviews with the writer, critical essays, etc etc. Definitely one of those books you read over and over and find something new each time.

Another school book, The Stranger by Albert Camus (I can't read French so I had the Matthew Ward translation). It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this book changed my life.

Pretty sure someone already mentioned Paradise Lost by John Milton, so I second. As someone who dislikes both poetry and religion, I really loved this one.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. On the lengthy side but so, so, so worth it. Beautifully rendered, intelligently written, character-driven story of dry-witted, stiff-upper-lipped English Regency-era magicians! C'mon, what's not to love?

Finally, The Mists of Avalon by one Marion Zimmer Bradley. Another doorstopper but such an awesome read. Helped inspire my tattoo so I have what you may call a bit of a soft spot for this one I saw the miniseries; it was ok but it only touched upon like 10% of the book so... yeah.

[Kiltman(TJ)]

I will of course also recommend Dune by Frank Herbert.. and even recommend the entire series. some purests seem to not like the latter books as they seem to focus more on the bene gesserit.. but the point of the books is that anyone can be made into a messiah, into a god, and then into the greatest evil ever.. until a greater evil comes .. and then you find out that they're not that much different then you...

his son brian herbert wrote some books in the "Duniverse" .. which .. was extracted from notes he found of his fathers..

and theyre' entertaining enough.. however.. not nearly as sophisticated as his fathers writing. Frank wrote under the assumption that you the reader KNEW of "things" and didn't spend a ton of time explaining them (many people complain about Dune because of the necessity of the glossary in the back with new words) Brian on the other hand, OVER EXPLAINS every stupid thing repeatedly. (eg "robbie the robot plugged in to recharge his power, as he was a series 9 robot that needed power to be plugged into him" ) seriously.. i think the reader can extract that on his own.


other sci-fi authors:

Peter F Hamilton.. he writes these EPIC sagas with huge casts that literally span 1000's of pages (and sometimes 1000's of years) about the potential future of mankind. he (mostly) uses current science theory to creat his 'verse.. reallly like his work.. currently waiting for book three of a saga to complete a story that is already over 2000 pages.. due to be released this year.


alsothere is a scot writer named Iain Banks who createdan entire history of the 'verse in which humans on earth are merely a footnote.. a society called "the culture" with fantastically advanced machinery and biotechnology.. to the point that they have fully sencient ships that are massive in size.. a quarter of a billion people at any given time live on these ships... some/ many never even leave the ship .. really well written stuff

and of course.. stephen king. i just got done reading the dome (i think Dante did as well) and although i thought hte ending a bit.. WTF? the book itself kept you involved and wanting to read more. . my favorite book of Mr Kings is written under the name richard bachman and it is called "the long walk" .. and they REALLY neeeeeed to make it a movie. .. and make it a movie WITHOUT ahhnold

at this point i would like to apoogize for any misstypes as i can't see what i'm typing .. i believe it is messign up because my post is too long.. heh.

[Crunchy Hexagons]

1. Wicked: The LIfe and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
2. Son of a Witch
3. A Lion Among Men

All three by Gregory Maguire.

I'm a hugely obsessive fan of anything Wizard of Oz, and as such, I've totally become enthralled with this series. I interviewed Mr. Maguire for a researched-argument paper I did on same-sex marriage, and it was pretty much the most amazing moment of my entire life. Of course, the interview was conducted via e-mail, since we're several states away, and he has a family to care for. I had to contact him through his publisher; since I was so pessimistic about getting a reply, I put my address in the e-mail I sent to the publisher, telling Mr. Maguire to send me an actual letter if he's available for interview, etc. He ended up doing that, and one thing led to another, yada yada...

I still haven't e-mailed him back to tell him that I got a 98 on that damn paper. My AP Composition teacher was a hard ass when it came to grading, too. She received her Masters in English Education from UPenn, which pretty much guarantees that she knows her crap.

Yeah, sorry, there I go again... Rambling off on tangents as usual.
This is why nobody takes me anywhere.

[guyWalters]

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

I have noticed a certain loathing for J.D. Salinger. This has been prevalent in this forum a bit, in the general public, and there have been multiple rips on A Catcher in the Rye in the STW comics. My thought is that Salinger is one of the truest and most moving authors in modern history, and that Catcher is his worst published work, though still truly a wonderful and important novel. I understand why people do not like it, but I believe that this mainly comes from not reading it in the correct mindset.

Therefore, I urge people to give Salinger another chance by reading Nine Stories. This is my favorite work of literature and should be incredibly interesting for anybody to read. It is a collection of short stories and is not too long. So, if you choose to pick it up and start reading, go into it preparing yourself for thought-provoking tales that weave in and out of people's lives. Hopefully this could change your mind on Salinger, so give it a try.

[tagnostic]

The Gormenghast Trilogy, M. Peake
The Decameron, Boccacio
Lives of the Caesars, Plutarch
Shogun, J. Clavell
Hemingway, pick one
The Federalist Papers

[Kiltman(TJ)]

The Gormenghast Trilogy, M. Peake
The Decameron, Boccacio
Lives of the Caesars, Plutarch
Shogun, J. Clavell
Hemingway, pick one
The Federalist Papers

the Federalist and anti-Federalist papers should be REQUIRED school training.. if kids spent just 10% of the time learning Federalist verses like they do the bible or the torrah or whatever .. our country wouldn't be in its socialist funk now... we CERTAINLY wouldn't have ever signed over money printing to the FRB and the IMF .. holy crap. and probably wouldn't have been involved in any of the last 10 wars .. other than supplying goods and materials to the bastards who like to start shit.

*just sayin. .. Federalist papers.. read em.. learn em .. they weren't written by "domestic terrorists" .. thoough i suspect ole king george would have labeled them as such if had has as good spin doctors as our last few emperors.

[tagnostic]

totally concur
I also think there should be a test on them
before being allowed to hold federal office.

jmho

[Delts]

My three additions would be:
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman
An Evil Cradling - Brian Keenan

[devanitely]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (I'm 19 years old and these are still two of my favorite books)
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
It by Stephen King (or pretty much anything by Stephen King, but It is my favorite)
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (as well as the Hitchhiker series)
Following Foo: the Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man by B.D. Wong
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
There are probably quite a few more, but these are the first that spring to mind.

[tagnostic]

an excellent set

for those with a satiric political bent
i would also recommend
the "retief" series by Keith Laumer
not just hilarious but a unique perspective
on the cold war

[aprilzosia]

as a lifetime writing/literature major working on her dissertation, i read. so, i could list all my interests here, but my big love right now (where books are concerned) is http://www.bookcrossing.com/. Through, http://www.bookcrossing.com/, you can register your books. And, those you've grown tired of, you can release into the wild.

If you are a reader who is looking to minimize her (or his) collection, check out this site and be my (aprilzosia) friend. That way we can trade titles

[arbela47000]

Gardens of the Moon and the rest of the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson and Ian Esselmont. The books are astonishingly complex, and they don't tend to give the whole picture immediately. So, if you like knowing what will happen ahead of time in a book, don't read these. If, however, you enjoy being surprised and having puzzles slowly revealed, give them a shot. Also, there are almost no characters who are purely good or purely evil, and they recognize that mostly the world serves up feces. The characters who survive are able to make it into feces-ade. Rivals Ender's Game as the best book I ever read.

Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. Somewhat testosterone-driven, but fun pulp historical fiction.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. The benchmark of military historical fiction, focused around the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War. Shows the humanity of Lee, Longstreet, Buford, Chamberlain, and the other commanders who otherwise end up rather flat.

Treason by Orson Scott Card. Heck, just about anything by Card is fantastic. He's a deep thinker and a great writer.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Absolutely great up until the last chapter where he gets a touch chauvinistic. Along with that, I recommend The Postman by David Brin and Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.