Required reading for humans.

Off-topic
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List books that you think everyone should read and why, the longer your list (though quality over quantity is recommended) the more helpful it will be for everyone.
Post a description of the book if you like. (not the obvious joke- 'well, its got pages… and a cover. ha…ha…ha.)
I’ll start.

•‘Fight club’ - Chuck Palahniuk
an amazing read, my favorite piece of printed matter

•‘Fahrenheit 451’ - Ray Bradbury
For a novel that you can read in 1 or 2 nights, its a real eye opener. Apparently it cost the author $9.50 to write on a hire typewriter in a library basement, and was written in just 9 days.

•‘Catch - 22’ - Joseph Heller

•‘First Blood’ - David Morrell
Short and cool.

•‘The theory of nearly everything’ - Robert Derter
Elaborates the standard model, which is a theory encompassing most everything.

•The harry potter series
Good for getting younger readers interested…

•‘Animal Farm’ - George Orwell
Read this when i was ten, still think its a great book.

•‘1984’ - Orwell

•‘The Raven’ - Poe
I admit, this poem is amazing.

•‘Headcrusher’ - Garros Evdokimov
From Russia, with love. Simply the most gruesome novel ever written, graphically disgusting in its descriptions, and mind-blowingly fast paced. This novel is about a man struggling with the money goals of capitalist Russia, and what happens when you pass the point of no return. If you can find it, read it.
This novels tag-line is:
‘Q: Money-driven aliens are invading your world, what do you do?
A: Fight back.’

•‘Diary - A novel’ - Chuck Palahniuk

•‘Invisible monsters’ - Chuck Palahniuk (i love chuck)

•‘Brave new world’ - Orwell

•‘The adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ - Mark Twain

Thats all that come to mind right now, ill add some more later.

2

Brave New World is Aldous Huxley, not Orwell.

And I prefer Thomas Sawyer to Huckleberry Finn, personally.

Just off top of my head:

Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

For Whom The Bell Tolls - Hemingway…

Ehhmm… There are so many, It’d take ages listing them all. Besides, there is already this thread.

3

brave new world is an amazing book. i didn’t actually read the whole thing but sparknotes and what we talked about in class got me all the info. same with catch 22 and this one is funny, especially the ending. i also enjoyed the series by ted dekker: black, red, white. those three books are sweet. but the best book of all time is shade’s children. it’s utterly amazing. it’s about a future society where overlords bread humans to have create creatures that are used to battle for sport. it’s one of the few books i actually read and the only book i read twice and i want to read it again. utter perfection.

4

This is a U.S.A. centric book. So consider it required reading for humans residing in the U.S. of A.

Free Speech for Me–But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other by Nat Hentoff

5

shade’s children

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excuse me, i had a mindfart :o

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The only one I have seen here that I have read that I would strongly disagree with is the Harry Potter books. I hate them and I think they were better off as movies than books. I admit that I only read the first one in its entirety but I just found them way to simple to be classified as amazing reads. To me they are on the same playing field as goosebumps and RL. Stein books.

My favourite books, although I really don’t think that they should be required reading are:

Trainspotting
The Acid House, both by Irvine Welsh.

Trainspotting is a full novel and The Acid House is a compilation of short stories and a novelette at the end.

An interesting note that my brother told me (he has read more Welsh than I have and knows more about him) is that apparently Irvine writes himself into his books as the character Spud.

I think his books are by far some of the best written books I have ever read, and although quite often very depressing, they are usualy pretty great stories too.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (I forget the name of the translator but he did an amazing job)

This book is very much overshadowed by the movie, but it is way more in depth and quite interesting in comparison to the classic Japanese gore flick associated with it.

Not a whole lot else comes to mind, I can think of a few other books I have read that I really enjoyed but they were just fun reads and not quite as amazingly written as the previously mentioned stories.

8

Maybe you should stick to discussing maths?

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Two amazing books I think everyone should read that I was just exposed to this year are:

The Alchemist - by Paulo Coelho
A great (and short) novel about choosing your own destiny (more or less.)

Kaffir Boy - by Mark Mathabane
A book about growing up in SA apartheid. Mind blowing. An excellent book for highschoolers to read because it puts their life into persepective.

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Here’s my list of must-read books as well as those of several others. I would recommend the SEARCH FUNCTION as a must-read feature of these fora.

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Readings for sissies :stuck_out_tongue:

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Dante’s Equation by Jane Jensen
I’m surprised this book doesn’t have a more mainstream following. The characters really make the story in this one. I would say better than The Davinci Code.

Christ Clone Trilogy by James BeauSeigneur
Again, another underrated series. Crazy plot twists make this a great series.

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A few of my ‘must read’ books…

Bravo 2 Zero
Its about a british SAS team behind the lines of Iraq, and need to get to friendly territory. Really inspriating.

Black Hawk Down
The book is way better than the movie could ever be. Again, a real inspriation

1984
Sometimes, in order to stick it to the man, you have to be the man

Catch-22
Going insane is the right thing to do

Catcher in the Rye
Its a classic, enough said

14

The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I’ll admit that not everyone enjoys a good fantasy story, but I think that this one is just the definition of epic and really sets the standard for similar books.

Lord of the Flies.
A fascinating look at the baser instincts of man. I found it to be a really good read.

The Giver (along with Anthem and 1984)
My favorite post-apocolyptic novels. The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t bad either.

That’s just a few…there are more but these come to mind first…

15

HAHA after reading this I have realised I haven’t choosen to read a book in atleast a year! I do like the Alex Rider series, by Anthony Horowitz. Its like a 15 year old that is forced into being a spy. It’s cool! There was a film version of the first book out a little while ago .

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Greg, a couple of points. The list(s) to which you point are prefaced with a question mark clearly labeling the whole endeavor as possessing some uncertainty and indecision. This thread does not suffer from self doubt. Secondly that list is merely of must-read books. It could be for cows, fish, venus fly traps, whatever. This list is for humans only which distinguishes it from that one.

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Read To Kill a Mocking Bird!

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The Kamasutra.

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Mad magazine.:stuck_out_tongue:

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yes!
that book was great, even though its primary appeal was the idea behind it. I believe the book was much better than the movie