What book should everyone read in their lifetime?
I recently asked this question of my facebook friends. I didn’t expect the responses I received. Check this out and see what books you have read and which ones you still need to read. Feel free to add your own recommendations. I took out the names of the posters to protect their identity and just left their initials. If you are one of the posters feel free to claim your comment.
I’m making a list of authors or books every person should read at least once in their lifetime. Give me your ideas please!
K.C. The Neverending Story. Least, I think so.
A.A. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
L. C. Needful Things by Stephen King and Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
K. C. Arshad, The Alchemist? Really? I am in the minority of people who really disliked that book. I couldn’t finish it. It just struck me as being so preachy and pretentious. Maybe I should try again.
M.F. The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.
K. C. Authors: William Shakespeare, Louis de Bernieres, Mary Shelley, Mary Renault, Tim Winton, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Anne Sexton, Maurice Gee, Phillip Pullman, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Frank Herbert, Ruth Park, David Malouf, Darcy Niland, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kurt Vonnegut, Ethel
Turner, Louisa May Alcott, Thomas Hardy, Elizabeth Kostova, Cormac MacCarthy, Raymond E. Feist, GRR Martin, Monica Ali, Khaled Hosseini, Kahlil Gibran, Thea Astley, Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally, John Boyne, Roddy Doyle, Anne Frank, Sylvia Plath, Dr. Seuss, Lynley Dodd, Betty Brock, Rohinton Ministry (if you like tales of woe), Aldous Huxley, John Wyndham, George Orwell, Harper Lee, DBC Pierre, Iris Murdoch, Ray Bradbury … I could go on.
M.W. S. ”Grendel” by John Gardner
M.F. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series (not sure which specific book to recommend out of that).
A. W. T. ”One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez. “Galápagos” by Kurt Vonnegut if you have never read anything else by the man, “Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said” by Philip K. Dick, “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf.
K. C. I forgot John Marsden, Marcus Zusak, Geraldine Brooks, and Margaret Atwood.
A. W. The Bible. If religious people actually read what it says, there would be a lot less religious people lol!
S. B. L. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
A.W. T. To ad to what K. said — A Handsmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood is a must read.
A. W.T. And to Alex Weise — many athiests exist because they have actually studied biblical text. [image error]
K. C. The Old Testament is a ripping yarn though.
A. W. T. Yeah — that whole: God deciding randomly to destroy the entire project about 5 times (that we know of), then being all remorseful after the fact — more Alanon than spiritual. IMO.
K. C. Yes, but it’s the incest, baby killing, and attempted human sacrifice (nice one, Abraham), as well as Jonah surviving inside a whale’s stomach for that long, that really make it worthwhile. And you thought GRR Martin was bad. [image error]
A. W. T. Yeah, old testament has God ( in our own image) more bumbling agressive alcoholic father, than deity. Sorry to the devout, but if you read it, I don’t know how anyone can fail to make that connection.
A.W. T. IMO
M. W. S. And there goes this thread…
A. W. T. The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett changed my life and is one of my favorites. (Even have a 9 inch tattoo across my back that relates to said story)
A. W. T. That bring it back, Matthew? [image error]
K. C. Yes, The Secret Garden is awesome. Let’s not forget Judy Blume, Paul Jennings, Susan Coolidge, SE Hinton. LM Montomery, EB White, Astrid Lindgren, Robert C O’Brien and Mary O’Hara.
L. M. Holy cow! This is the most active thread I have ever posted on Facebook! Keep the awesome titles coming!
L. M. As for the bible bashing thread, I recommend reading all religious texts, they give us insight into the hearts of men in all its evil, gory detail. I believe in God, it’s mans’ interpretation and manipulation that makes it so messed up.
B. W. W.L. ”It is only with the heart that one sees clearly. That which is essential is invisible to the eye.”
-The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A. W. That was my point exactly lol!
M. F. Frankenstien. The Maltese Falcon.
H. B. The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch.
G. A. I’m glad we can stay on topic…Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.
C. B. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie. The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler.
A. S. Most of the ones I thought of have already been listed, with the addition of The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer, and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
P. F. I’m late to the party with Pride and Prejudice, and The Great Gatsby… I’d add Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein), Great Expectations (Dickens), The Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood), and don’t forget 1984, Animal Farm, and Brave New World. Invisible Man, Black Like Me. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn… Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Gone With The Wind.
P. F. I was just thinking this morning of three short story collections that have stayed with me: Alice Munro’s “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage,” Elmore Leonard’s “When the Women Come Out to Dance,” and Nathan Englander’s “For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.” Good short stories can be FABULOUS.
S.W. H. I have read the majority of those ‘classic’ books and I appreciate understanding the cultural touchstones involved, but can’t say I liked more than a few of them. I think everyone should read the Harry Potters and it’s even better if you have or can borrow a child to read it to.
S. W.H. Though now that I read the list again, I realize I liked more than I thought–all the Vonneguts, Tolkien, Mark Twain, a bunch of others; I even managed to finish all of Elizabeth Kostova’s vampire book.
C.D.-R. I still think of “The Grapes of Wrath”
C. D-R. But the BEST writing I’ve found is just about ANYTHING by David Foster Wallace. Start with “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.” It’s a bonbon for the mind.
C. D-R. God that makes me want to go read it
M.F. Has anyone suggested Neil Gaiman yet? He’s my favourite author, I’d suggest starting with either Neverwhere, or Good Omens which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett.
L. C. ooh,ooh! ::raises hand:: 1984! Like Patrice Fitzgerald said! And don’t forget Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
M. C. Neuromancer by William Gibson
Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Lord Of Light by Roger Zelazny
The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
L. M. You guys are all amazing! I’m going to send you all friend requests. I’ve read most of these books and have some of them on my kindle. I’m going to see if I can get the ones I haven’t read downloaded. Thank you, and keep them coming. 1984 is one of my favorites.
D. J B. Terry Goodkind – Sword of Truth series; Kim Harrison – The Hollows Series; Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor – Dark Hunters, Dream Hunters, Werehunters (the three share a storyline with characters from the others), Lords of Avalon, Brotherh…ood of the Sword, Chronicles of Nick, The League series, BAD series; anything by Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy and the Jason Bourne books by Robert Ludlum and continued by Eric Van Lustbader as well as Eric van Lustbader’s Peral series.See More
D. J B. That’s for starters.
C. B. Eric Jerome Dickey, Beverly Jenkins and J.R. Ward
D.J B. Patricia Briggs, Christina Dodd, Charlaine Harris, Tara K Harper, W.E.B. Griffin, James Patterson.
