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great books we need to read

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perfume - patrick suskind (sheer linguistic beauty)
anything by albert camus or franz kafka
john pilger - heroes (will open your eyes to the world)
a simple path - the dalai lama (excellent introduction to the theological & spiritual basis of buddhism)
 
Life of Pie - Yann Martel
This book is a story of a boy whose family drowns while sailing over to Canada. He is the only one that survives the storm only to find himself on a life boat with a chimp, a hyena, a zebra and a bengal tiger. Two days after the sinking of the boat only him and the tiger are left.
It's a truly awe inspiring tale.
*~Sugar~*
 
A Bridge Across Forever - Richard Bach .... really good... if you ever thought about there being someone out there just for you...then u got to read this book
 
"The Mists of Avalon" - Marion Zimmer Bradley
-One of my all time favorites. It captures a time period and spirituality that has always interested me.
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - Douglas Adams
-This one is just too fun not to read.
"Brave New World" - Aldous Huxley
-Very thought provoking, especially after noting the extreme similarity between soma and ecstasy.
"Shogun" - James Clavell
-Still working my way through this one (it's a long read!). It gives great insight into ancient Japanese culture along with illustrating some life lessons about always thinking 10 steps ahead.
"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and "1984" by George Orwell are 2 of my favorite classics that I've read and re-read.
 
Isolde
I thought in "Brave New World" soma stood for anti-depressants in today's world. Mostly, cause it was accepted by all of society, as opposed to E.
[ 14 March 2003: Message edited by: Rush ]
 
i have to re-mention Dune. this is the most ludicrously in depth fictional world ever created. you thought lord of the rings was cool, hah! dune is so much more enormous! i have to mention the harry potter books too cause they make me smile :)
 
anything by albert camus or franz kafka
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Werd.

Also:

Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace

This book is so good at describing what human beings do for pleasure - and perhaps questioning what is so pleasurable about it. And it contains some of the most searingly funny anecdotes about addiction that I have ever read.

White Noise - Dom DeLillo

Do you fear death as intensely as the characters in this book? Is it contagious?

The Glass Bead Game - Hermann Hesse

I like my Siddhartha - but this lesser known book is, IMO, a better read and throws out even more thought provoking material. Perhaps since it is longer it is not invoked in curriculums as much as the more famous earlier novel.
 
Rush said:
A Bridge Across Forever - Richard Bach .... really good... if you ever thought about there being someone out there just for you...then u got to read this book
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excellend suggestion! Illusions by Richard Bach is another great one.
 
I thought in "Brave New World" soma stood for anti-depressants in today's world.
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I am in the middle of reading this right now, but I agree. Could you imagine if people took as much ecstasy as the people in the novel take soma?
 
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy... a bit long, but definitely definitely worth it.

A Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger... usually on high school reading lists (except mine... damn half-ass education)

has anyone read Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie? if you have, let me know what you think. never read it, but i've heard it's an excellent read
 
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

This novel really made me think about faith and how we as human have so much and yet so little faith at the same time - faith in each other, but not necessarily faith in the proverbial big picture. Or for others, it's vice versa. Excellent book! Challenged my thoughts on so many levels. I love books that do that.

:)
 
I'm a huge reader, so I figured I'd toss my $0.02 into the thread.

On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Dune - Frank Herbert (scifi, but give it a chance, it's amazing)
1984 - George Orwell
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevski
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Native Son - Richard Wright
The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield

All of these books have affected my life in big ways. Hopefully some of you will enjoy them as much as I.
 
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance-Robert Pirsig: this book made me reevaluate my entire way of thinking. I've read it dozens of times over the years, and always learn something new. The autobiography of a man who went insane from questioning the world.

The Book-Alan Watts: one of the best books on eastern ways of thought written for western readers (was written in '60s, so language is a little out of date to us).

The Lucifer Principle-Howard Bloom: very interesting look at the forces of history on our society.

all three of these are not only deep, thought provoking books, but fun to read with great writing.
 
Focaults Pendulum by Umberto Ecco

The mind of God Paul Davies

Collected Poems by Jorge Luis Borges (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)

100 Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Collection of short stories by Valdamir Nabokov

ANY CALVIN AND HOBBES by Bill Watterson

Dettering Democracy by Noam Chomsky
(not for those who wish to live an illusion)

Collected Poems by Pablo Neruda

ANY WORLD ATLAS, I looooooooooove maps :D
 
i know it's been mentioned before, but the Perks of Being a Wallflower is a wonderful book. ..whenever 'life gets me down', i read that book and it makes me feel like everythings going to be okay. Sounds corny, i know....but it's true....for me, anyway.
 
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