A sister thread to the nonfiction one.
I'm looking for anything that would improve the individual reading it, give new perspectives etc.
Also, for this thread please explain WHY you think the book is worth reading, what you got out of it etc.
What are some FICTION books you think everyone should read?
A sister thread to the nonfiction one.
I'm looking for anything that would improve the individual reading it, give new perspectives etc.
Also, for this thread please explain WHY you think the book is worth reading, what you got out of it etc.
"The Luzhin Defense" by Vladimir Nabokov... or any Nabokov, really.
Luzhin is a difficult main character to root for. He is a withdrawn and oafish dependent with an obsession for chess that compromises everything in his life, including his sanity. But Nabokov tells his story with prose that is characteristically compelling. The care he takes in choosing words that add the perfect shade of meaning, and his ability to control the narrative with seamless POV shifts and transitions between place and time are nothing less than masterful.
Mansfield Park: excellent study of the consequences of personalities in the wrong places.
The Complete Works of O. Henry: there is no more delightful way to increase your vocabulary.
Yes, I smell like a horse. No, I don't consider that a problem.
Lord of The Ring may well have influenced more literature than any story since the Bible. I can't think of any other genre that owes nearly as much homage to a single story as fantasy does to Lord of the Ring.
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. While plodding at times, it will blow your mind. It portrays a universe that's more alive than you could imagine.
Nineteen Eighty-Four. People reference it constantly but most of them haven't read it. The way the Party basically has a mind of its own is terrifying.
Shadow over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft. If you want to call yourself well read you need to get at least a few Lovecraft stories under your belt. Shadow Over Innsmouth is, in my opinion, his best page turner, although my favorite story overall is Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (which many people hate).
The Chronicles of Amber. This is a selfish choice, my favorite book series of all time. It is the most creative thing I've ever read and its concept of the nature of reality is fascinating.
The Iliad. The best of the ancient world with a great story, characters and things to say about the human condition. Hector and Priam are unforgettable. Spring for a good/modern translation.Originally Posted by mercurial
Moby Dick. What does the great white whale and Ahab's obsession represent? Something epic.
Vanity Fair. Relationships, human weakness and all that. English novels of the 1800s often deal with ordinary (well, upper class) people's ordinary lives, probably a lot of other good ones to recommend as well.
The Lensmen Series by E E Doc Smith - In sci fi Asimov's Foundation series usually gets the nod as best series, but I think the older, cornier, more stereotyped Lensmen series much more epic in concept and execution. What Lord of the Rings did for Fantasy, the Lensmen series did for sci fi.
Totally. I was shocked to discover people hated it so. I loved its imagery, description, and feelmy favorite story overall is Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
The dispossessed: Ursula K Leguin.
The Stand: Stephen King.
Flowers for Algernon: Daniel Keyes.
We: Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Complete Sherlock Holmes: Arthur Conan Doyle.
Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem.
If you suffer from compartmentalization this book will either cure you or drive you mad.
His short stories are excellent too.
Last edited by gps; 01-13-2014 at 09:24 AM.
For the INTP, particularly: The works of Lois McMaster Bujold. Pure, concentrated IFJ goodness.
Last edited by Mr Write; 01-19-2017 at 07:23 PM.
Orwell: Animal farm, and 1984.
You should read them to understand human nature better.
This list is pre-WWII which began on Dec. 7, 1941, everything before was just foreplay.
Start with Shakes - "Hamlet", "Romeo and Juliet", "MacBeth"
That French Guy (I have not gotten to Flaubert and the others yet)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Russians
Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
War and Peace, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The People on those Islands
Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibilty by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontė
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontė
The Adventures of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Dubliners by James Joyce
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Odd Viking
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
Murica!
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls by that Hemingway guy everyone hates now.
The Great Gatsby by poor, broken F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by 23 year old Carson McCullers... who does she think she is?
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