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Please Help Me Add To The Greatest Book List Ever

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undone_33

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I am sure that many people would take out some of the titles I have chosen so far, but please only recommend! :)

I am really interested to find books that completely change my life, give me completely new perspective, expand my mind, and of course, if possible, entertain.

Think of this as my quest...

Thanks!!



The Books I Have

1984 by George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Choice Theory by Dr. William Glasser
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Books I Want

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Arcadia: A Play by Tom Stoppard
Be Here Now by Ram Dass (Dr. Richard Alpert)
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson by G.I. Gurdjeiff
Blink! by Malcolm Gladwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction by Luke Davies
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Critical Path by R. Buckminster Fuller
Cynic's Dictionary by Richard Bayan
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Diary: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk
Dogrun by Arthur Nersesian
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance by Irvine Welsh
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fake Liar Cheat by Tod Goldberg
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Jesus Saves by Darcey Steinke
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Libra by Don DeLillo
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
Neuromancer by William Gibson
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
Poker Without Cards: A Consciousness Thriller by Ben Mack
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
Sex, Drugs, and Cocopuffs by Chuck Klosterman
Siddartha by Hermann Hesse
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Survivor: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk
Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The BFG by Roald Dahl
The Celsestine Prophecy by James Redfield
The Complete Illustrated Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett
The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley
The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
The Etruscan by Mika Waltari
The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The ****-Up by Arthur Nersesian
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The God delusion by Richard Dawkins
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Human Effect by Akmal Shebl
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
The Invisibles Vol. 1: Say You Want a Revolution by Grant Morrison
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
The Lord of the Rings Series by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Politics of Ecstasy by Timothy Leary
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Rum Diary: A Novel
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Shadow of the Wind: A Novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kuzweil
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John LeCarre'
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Teaching of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowlede by Carlos Cataneda
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Neiffenegger
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Thundersqueak by Liz Angerford
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, & Art by Lewis Hyde
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susan
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Way of the Peacefull Warrior by Dan Millman
White Noise by Don DeLillo
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
 
Very diverse list. I'll have to use this when hunting for books at the bookstore and/or library. If you want more recommendations . . .

-Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

-Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

-Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

-Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

-The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin (also, check out his book Tales of the City)

-Dry by Augusten Burroughs

-Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Keysen
 
Don't leave out The Bible! Besides its history of changing lives, so much of western literature draws from it.
 
abecedarian said:
Don't leave out The Bible! Besides its history of changing lives, so much of western literature draws from it.
Click to expand...

Even Harry Potter - I had to chuckle when JKR quoted "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death". I wonder how many people who may find that so profound realise its source? :)
 
Hey!! Thanks for the suggestions so far! And I realize I didn't include the Bible, but thats because I am a Christian and read it all the time. I think of it as more than just literature, I guess. But I really appreciate the help so far, and once I decide I've added enough books for a while, I will post again with my entire list so everyone can use it. Thanks a lot! :)
 
PhilW said:
Even Harry Potter - I had to chuckle when JKR quoted "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death". I wonder how many people who may find that so profound realise its source? :)
Click to expand...


I know! The series is peppered with hints of Rowling's faith, but this last book is positively saturated. But I still have well-meaning friends who like to tell me about the book they read detailing her alignment with Satanism and Wiccan practices. I guess it sold a few books in that direction, so it must be true, eh?
 
abecedarian said:
...I still have well-meaning friends who like to tell me about the book they read detailing her alignment with Satanism and Wiccan practices...
Click to expand...

I bet they still play their old Pink Floyd albums backwards too! I remember years ago, I had the ELO vinyl album - 'Face the Music'. Side 1, track 1 (all you teenies out there will be thinking 'WHAT?') there was a passage where Jeff Lynne is speaking backwards. So I recorded it on my old reel-to-reel deck (try and keep up, teenies) and played it the other way to figure out what he was saying...oooo, very spooky. Or maybe not -

"The music is reversible, but time is not; turn back...turn back..."

was what he was saying. Profound? I don't think so :D
 
PhilW said:
I bet they still play their old Pink Floyd albums backwards too! I remember years ago, I had the ELO vinyl album - 'Face the Music'. Side 1, track 1 (all you teenies out there will be thinking 'WHAT?') there was a passage where Jeff Lynne is speaking backwards. So I recorded it on my old reel-to-reel deck (try and keep up, teenies) and played it the other way to figure out what he was saying...oooo, very spooky. Or maybe not -

"The music is reversible, but time is not; turn back...turn back..."

was what he was saying. Profound? I don't think so :D
Click to expand...


:D If one ingested the right meds, that might be profound(even the teenies can understand that!):D
 
Notes from Underground; Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Brothers Karamazov; Fyodor Dostoyeveksey

Fathers and Sons; Ivan Turgenev

Lolita; Vladimir Nabokov

The Art of War; Sun Yat-Sen

The Prince; Niccolo Machiavelli

Will add more later, just key ones off the top of my head.
 
Most Interesting Lists Indeed

Off the top of my head I'd have to to with:

McCullers
Fitzgerald
Hemingway
Steinbeck
Brautigan
Hammett
Chandler
Lessing
Didion
Oates
Morrison
Rand
Woolfe
Woolf
Christie
DeLillo
Nabakov
Buck

Can't think anymore ... but I will be back ;)

ENJOY
GERBAM
 
If you want to be amused, add Carl Hiaasen. His books won't change your life or make you smarter, but they will make you laugh.

abecedarian said:
:D If one ingested the right meds, that might be profound(even the teenies can understand that!):D
Click to expand...

I believe all things to do with Floyd tend to be more profound when the "right meds" are involved. Ever watched The Wizard of OZ with The Dark Side of the Moon playing (AKA Dark Side of OZ)? Boring. I wonder if I would have felt the same at seventeen? Doubtful. Perhaps we could have piggy backed it with The Wall, which we all considered the greatest film ever. :rolleyes:
 
Stewart,

Thank you for the criticism. But, The books on the "Books I Have" list are of course not the only books I have. They are just the only books I have from the list I have compiled in the last few weeks. And, I have purchased all of them in the last two weeks.

I have decided to create this list, b/c I know I will want to purchase a new book every time I step foot in a bookstore. Matter of fact, last time I left the store with five.

I understand that I already have a mountain of books to collect. But I also have a mountain of time left to collect and read them, considering I live to an average ripe, old age.

As I mentioned, this is to some extent... "a quest". In no novels have I read that King Arthur started by pulling knives out of rocks before pulling out a sword.

Anyways, I apologize for what seems to be a combative reply. I very much appreciate those who want to help with my list. I just do not appreciate those who simply want to begin arguments, steer the thread off topic, or sling their weight around, whether it is ego or wisdom. Thanks for all intended help.

And thanks to all who have made suggestions.
 
Oh, i forgot to mention! I do appreciate the link to the 1001 books you must read before you die. I have seen it before, but I really appreciate it. The list I have made hasnt been made by simply putting every book I hear about on it. I first look for lists and when I see a book that appears on several lists, I research it. If it seems interesting, or if it seems important for me to read, I add it.

So thanks!
 
The Lucifer Effect Philip Zimbardo

Eden's Atlantis Dawn Bergemann

Taming the Beast Emily Maguire

Gene Stel Pavlou


I will be back with more............................................
 
PhilW said:
I bet they still play their old Pink Floyd albums backwards too! I remember years ago, I had the ELO vinyl album - 'Face the Music'. Side 1, track 1 (all you teenies out there will be thinking 'WHAT?') there was a passage where Jeff Lynne is speaking backwards. So I recorded it on my old reel-to-reel deck (try and keep up, teenies) and played it the other way to figure out what he was saying...oooo, very spooky. Or maybe not -

"The music is reversible, but time is not; turn back...turn back..."

was what he was saying. Profound? I don't think so :D
Click to expand...

Funny funny guy......i'm not that old, but I did have ELO on Vinyl! that's awesome.

Thanks for the Chuckle
 
undone_33 said:
I first look for lists and when I see a book that appears on several lists, I research it. If it seems interesting, or if it seems important for me to read, I add it.
Click to expand...
I think you can get some worthwhile reads from books that don't always appear on several lists. In other words, you want to read books only that appeal to the masses.

For example, my favourite Vladimir Nabokov book is Pnin, but rarely would you see that book on a 'list', whose creators prefer, instead, to include the more well-known Lolita.

Asylum, Patrick McGrath
The Death of Ivan Ilych, Leo Tolstoy
Everyman, Philip Roth
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
The Cider House Rules, John Irving
 
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