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Books you think everyone should read before they die...

AmorRoark

AmorRoark

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I think we all have those moments while reading in which we think "wow, everyone should really read this book...". Well, what are they? :)

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

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I think everyone should read this book because it speaks to the disturbingly lonely nature of humankind. The need for people of all walks of life to feel connected to each other. I think this book, which happens to be written beautifully, gave me a deeper understanding of the universality of the human experience.

Joan Didion - Slouching Towards Bethlehem

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Though this collection of essays was written several decades ago I think Didion's criticism of modern life still holds true. In this she talks about everything from her problems with convenience to suburbs from shotgun weddings to drug-addled San Franciscans during the 1960s. Classic American work.

Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

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This book might be my favorite dystopian-themed novel. It does what 1984 and Brave New World do but I think leaves more for the reader to decide for themselves. Beautifully written with an extremely interesting perspective.
 
Thomas Pynchon - V

This book is maybe the most gripping thing I have read in recent years. It spans generations and incarnations of characters to follow the search for the elusive "v" and each sketch is set at a time of significance in recent history.

Pynchon is a great writer
 
auto238367 said:
If you seriously like Neuromancer I will come to Chicago and live in your closet.
Click to expand...

Of course I do! I love good Sci-Fi. We should meet and talk over some whiskey and Sci-Fi books. :) If I didn't feel the need to cut down my list Snow Crash would have been next on my personal list.

Also, unfortunately I no longer live in Chicago. I live in Kansas. It's kind of awful. :\
 
Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man.

Ngugi, A Grain of Wheat (this tremendously influenced my own writing style).

Ken Grimwood, Replay (the best fantasy I've read).
 
Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies. i choose these books because they have value as literature that you can read once every decade and still learn new things from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Also_Rises
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deptford_Trilogy

their narrative styles are captivating and each oddball character is brilliantly defined and placed in scenery that conjures up incredible images in the mind's eye. these texts truly establish their writers as more than mere authors. they've transcended that to rank amongst the great storytellers that history will actually remember, providing humanity doesn't extinguish itself within the next 500 years or turn into a dystopian shitheap as posited by gibson.

ps. it would be nice to know why these books were relevant to you and why you think they're important for others to read... cuz you know... maybe i (and others) actually want to give them a shot
 
Oh and Amy....I'm getting Slouching very SOON thanks to you sweetie! :D I think her essays will be enthralling to say the least.
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+1 to East of Eden, Siddhartha, and an Omnivore's Dilemma. -1 to Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse-Five. I think Breakfast of Champions is much better.

As for my own:

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