books you should read before you die?

[weekendwellies]

I used to love reading, but what with raising the kids, jobs, running the house, etc. I lost the habit.

I have recently rediscovered my local library, and am now thinking about which books I ought to read or re-read.

So far I have:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Brave New World
1984
Moby Dick
Bleak House
Great Gatsby
Pride & Prejudice
Canterbury Tales

I know there are tons of others and my brain has gone blank.
Any other suggestions please.

[lindyloo]

will have a think as i go about my day; i love reading, so will watch this thread with interest. i dont think you can go wrong with thomas hardy,or charles dickens, if both a bit longwinded. depends what type of read you are after. probably the first book that came to mind as a good read , is 'gypsy', by lesley pierce. not a classic, but very enjoyable.

[Newbie]

A Million Little Pieces & My Friend Leonard by James Frey - stunning books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Prosac Nation
Anything by Douglas Kennedy - esp. the Pursuit of Happiness or The Woman in the Fifth
or anything by Paulina Simmons - but esp. Eleven Hours

I could go on for hours but that will do for a start

[stupot]

Catch 22. It's a slow starter but still the best book I've ever read.

[maytreefrannie]

Most of your list, and

The Mayor of Casterbridge and several others by Thomas Hardy
Shakespeare (any or all)
Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park)
Damon Runyan
Wodehouse


Some others (modern authors) whose names escape me now - Weekend Wellies, you've started a great thread and I know this is going to be going around in my head for the day.

[tiachica]

Madrapur by Robert Merle
Ditte by Martin Andersen Nexoe
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Physician by Noah Gordon
Ramses I-V by Christian Jacq
The little prince by Antoine de St. Exupery
The Odyssey by Homer
The count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The house of spirits by Isabelle Allende

[pukka.tukka]

Adrian Mole books - Sue Townsend
Junky - William S Burroughs
Martyn Pig - Kevin Brooks
Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

[chris]

One book we read in school was 'Where the Red Fern Grows' - touched me then, still does today..

Admitidly a kids book, but it was great. - i'm gonna buy a copy for my daughter

[Alison]

Depends on what you like, I've always loved reading but hated being told at school what books I SHOULD be reading, hated most of my O'level English books as all the analysis sucked all the pleasure out of them. I usually have about 3 books on the go, probably an autobiography, something a bit technical, something funny or maybe a travel book or historic novel. I have very wide ranging taste but prefer books which make me think as opose to one of my friends who wants total escapism.

[Hilary B]

I just don't go with the whole 'books you should read' thing. I read for fun and relaxation, most of the 'ought to' books just don't fit that for me.
My tastes are wide ranging, but you can forget Dickens (barring Christmas Carol and Pickwick Papers) because after David Copperfield in school (we were expected to read it aloud, SO not going to do that) I never wanted to see anything else by the same person.
Nothing wrong with kid's books
How about the Green Knowe collection (Lucy M Boston)
Little White Horse (Elizabeth Goudge, who also wrote ones that were not aimed at children, but often had a child as an important character)
There are so many books out there to discover, why concentrate on ones that we are 'supposed' to read?

[hamsterqueen]

The Time Travellers Wife

Espedair Street by Ian Banks.

The Kitchen Gods Wife by Amy Tan.

Of Mice and Men

Brave New World

[DarkCrow]

Of Mice and men.
To Kill a Mocking Bird.
The Scottish Play.
Silas Marner.

[julesapple]

I'm with Hilary B on this; my sentiments exactly. I'm an avid reader but school destroyed any fledgeling interest I may have developed in the classics.

As I read late at night, I don't want anything unpleasant. I've just finished Andrea Camilleri's latest Inspector Montalbano. I've read all of them, but they take a bit of peserverance.

I love anything about France or Italy, so Peter Mayle (novels rather than biogs), Annie Hawes and Frances Mayes (a bit prosy) and others like that. I'd love to live abroad but until that day, then I'm doing it by proxy!

I've re-read lots of children's stories I read as a child. Arthur Ransome is always good - he doesn't patronise children. The Famous Five were sickeningly goody-goody as an adult.

When I go into a bookstore, or look on Amazon for a new book, I get 'author blindness' and immediately forget all my favourite authors - very annoying!

Jules

[DarkCrow]

Oh i forgot one!

The Hungry hungry catapillar!

Brilliant book! my Nices now have it! now if a book can stay in press for 30 years it must be good

[Brengirl]

Whoops I feel I am in the wrong place. I only read when on holiday, when there is nothing else to do. Even then I am releived when the tale is told. Am I lacking a 'must read gene'.