Some books that the casual reader can enjoy?
also, Candide
Oscar Wilde
Mark Twain
A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court; This was an interesting read, had plenty of humor, too.
What would you consider classics? There are some contemporary books that I would consider classical as in their reputation and overall acceptance is generally widespread. I would recommend Memoirs of a Geisha, Lord of the Flies and Brave New World. As for some true classics, you'd just have to find one that fits your tastes. I personally like Crime and Punishment, but others don't really enjoy it as much as I do. shrug
I kind of dig Hemingway. The Sun Also Rises?
jane austen
I would have to say Swift's Gulliver's Travels. It's very short, and extremely entertaining overall. For all classics, though, a good idea is to go to the Project Gutenberg and take a look at the most popular downloads:
Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
The trial - Kafka
The Castle - Kafka
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Idiot - Dostoyovsky
Robbery under Arms - Rolf Boldrewood
Lolita - Nabokov
Journey into the night, by Celine and On the edge of reason by Miroslav Krleza.
The Club of Queer Trades - Chesterton
3 men on a boat - Jerome K. Jerome
Both are amusing humoristic books, with a nice style.
big black men are the best lovers - chaquita
-the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy-
Steinbeck.
eragon
>>13
three men in a boat is a very good read! thanks for the recommendation~
While I think your format sucks, I have to admire your ability to condense my intended reply into so few characters.
While I appreciate your agreement, I dislike your use of this unnecessarily wordy and complex grammatical construct.
On topic:
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. Great somewhat obscure classic.
You've probably read this but "The Stranger" by Albert Camus is a really good, quick read.
"Journey to the End of the Night" by Celine is awesome, and if you read that I would also recommend "Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller.
"Satan Burger" by Carlton Mellick III is also fucking hillarious.
Also, "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut and "Lolita" by Nabokov.
Anything by Tolstoy.
Anything by Kafka (particularly The Castle)
Anything by Camus (particularly The Stranger, but I liked The Fall too)
Anything by Poe
Nikolai Gogol's "St. Peterburg Tales"
R.L. Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde"
Raymond Queneau's "Exercises in Style" and "Zazie in the Metro"
J.G. Ballard's "The Atrocity Exhibition"
Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" and "Heart of a Dog"
cough*Haruki Murakami's*cough "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" and "A Wild Sheep Chase"
André Breton's "Nadja"
Boris Vian's "Foam of the Daze" (particularly recommended)
George Orwell's "1984"
J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye"
Charles Baudelaire's "Paris Spleen"
Oh, and Don Delillo's "White Noise"
And Knut Hamsun's "Hunger", but please avoid his other work.
It depends on what you already like to read.
If you like mystery, read sherlock holmes. If you like adventrue, Moby Dick, Time Machine, and War of the Worlds.
Like Science Fiction? 1984, Time Machine, Anything by Heinlein or Asimov, and some of Ray Bradbury (esp. Fahrenheit 451).
For romance, I guess Jane Austin.
But whatever you read, read it 'cause you like it, not 'cause you "should" read it.
Anais Nin "Spy in the house of love" FTW!
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was really good.
I'm a Jane Austen person myself. Pride and Prejudice is the best.
I would go to a Barnes and Noble and check out their "new discoveries" section in fiction. It's usually at the front. They have a lot of new stuff from a bunch of new good writers. =]
What, nobody suggested Fanny Hill yet? Egads!
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by GK Chesterson.
I know this sounds odd, but that is an especially good book to read if you are depressed at all.
Just saying...haha
Read shit that you should read, not just shit that you like. Don't end up an ignorant close minded fuck.
I'm afraid I don't like shit. Mine or anyone else's.
>>34 I recommend that you read Everybody Poops!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyone_Poops
That way, you will possibly get over your close mindedness about shit and learn to accept it as an inevitable end-product of living.
>>35
Actually, Everyone Poops is rather cool for children's literature...
>>36 Isn't it though? You should check out the sequel "The Gas We Pass" which I suppose could be called 'Everybody Farts.'
I reckon everyone should read 1984. Or at least one of George Orwell's books.
"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. Very readable, very relevant precyberpunk writing. Set in a quasi-utopian future where books are burned, not read, war and death are rampant and nobody gives a shit about intelligence, just a false happiness that's maybe better described as numbness. Go pick it up at a bookstore - it's like ten bucks, and it's worth owning a physical copy to share with people.
You mean he was describing the United States with very little exaggeration? Other than the book burning, that's us. Not that we read books anyway...
Bradbury is golden.
>>39
Agreed. Probably the only book I've ever had to read for school that I enjoyed, and I fucking loved it.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Miles Gloriosus by Plautus.
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway.
Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury.
A Midnight Summer's Dream by William Shakespeare.
Jane Eyre by Bronte.
Lolita by Nabakov.
Never ending story-Michael Ende.
Momo-Michael Ende.
Mirror in the mirror-Michael Ende.
Pretty much anything by Michael Ende is good. Also, try some Ray Bradbury. He was a genius.
>>44
Do you seriously have a copy of Mirror in the Mirror, in English? I have one too. Let's get married.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, unabridged Penguin Classics version. By far one of the best books ever written.