Books to read before you die

[Dastardly]

what are your favourite novels you would suggest I read?, i'm not picky about genre.
my personal favourites include Captain Corelli's Mandolin and 1984

My List of Books to Read Before You Die

1. How to Not Die
2. Cheating Death for Dummies
3. So You've Died: A guide to reanimation, resurrection, and reincarnation

 

[Quicksilver_Phoenix]

Battle royale.

It actually surprised me how much I enjoyed reading that book...

 

[iHaile]

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Not a difficult read, but memorable and thought provoking

 

[WinterOrbit]

Just one?

I'd offer up Labyrinths [http://www.amazon.com/Labyrinths-Selected-Writings-Directions-Paperbook/dp/0811200124] by Jorge Luis Borges. I'd suggest the complete short fiction collection, but I like the translations in this one better. Labyrinths not only gets most of his best stories but also some excellent essays. He's one of those writers who slowly but surely unscrews your brain.

 

[Quaxar]

Anything written by H.P.Lovecraft

I recommend 'The Dunwhich Horror'.

Shadow over Innsmouth, man. Pure psychic horror!

Can't really add much to this thread other than a lot of "this", but I may want to add all 5 Artemis Fowl and works by Russian sci-fi author Sergej Lukianenko (Night Watch is really good for example).
Oh, not to forget Don Rosa's epic biography The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. This comic made me shed tears more than once, absolutely brilliant.

Haven´t read anything by Lukianenko, but apart from that, I fully agree with your list.

Artemis Fowls rocks. Although I think it was slightly better when he was still the evil genius instead of the good genius.

Really? Go get the Nightwatch books! Or Knights of 40 islands.
I think it's really good written literature although with a lot of Russian lifestyle in it that might be confusing at first. And most of his other books do tend to be a bit similar to each other concerning the plot solution....

Yeah, Fowl's bad genius image really kicks centaur ass!

Plus I'd like to add the Bartimaeus-trilogy to my list. Most great humor ever combined into one single three books since Douglas Adams.

 

[Jake the Snake]

You simply MUST read The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. Seriously it's possibly one of the best fantasy series written of all time, save for LOTR and a few others.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I just bought that yesterday I'm really excited to get it started. I bought The Fountainhead a few months ago, but my brother took it with him to college. He wanted to read it really bad because it appearently inspired Neil Peart to write 2112.

The Fountainhead is a very interesting read, a long one but it sticks. I've been told that it's a better read than Atlas Shrugged.

Dune, easily my most favourite work of literature ever. It's oh-so very atmospheric and it's a true linguistical delight.

Dune's great, but Herbert can get pretty wordy. God Emperor was my favorite of the series.

That's what I like actually. It's almost poetic sometimes, it all flows so beautifully.

Books?
What is this, the dark ages?

I'll take mine in audio form, thanks.
Or better yet, in film-adaption form.

Ugh, especially with films so much often goes lost. As for audio-books, I like imagining how the characters sound. Books awaken my imagination.

Dune, easily my most favourite work of literature ever. It's oh-so very atmospheric and it's a true linguistical delight.

Seconded. The some of the best sci-fi you'll read, and the sequels are pretty amazing too.

But you MUST READ William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, & Mona Lisa Overdrive). What started cyberpunk right there. What started cyber space actually. Neo didn't know shit. (I'm a fan, in case my name didn't make it readily apparent). it rivals Dune

Sounds good! I always wanted to read some more cyberpunk, I had a little list including 'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?' but I forgot about most of them.

Is it also written so poetically? I already said it, but the way the text flows in Dune, I couldn't get enough of it.

 

[-BloodRush-]

I have seven books. The Dark Tower.

 

[Turbo_Destructor]

Goosebumps

 

[SaturdayS]

Party Monster by James St James

Because it's easy!

 

[Zyphonee]

Dante Alighieri - The Divine Comedy
Victor Hugo - Les Miserables
Goethe - Faust
Virgil - Aeneid
H.P. Lovecraft - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Edgard Allan Poe - Any short story compilation
Moliere - The Bourgeois Gentlehomme
Arthur Miller - Tropic of Cancer
Hesse - The Last Summer of Klingsor
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange
Homer - The Odyssey
Isaac Asimov - The Naked Sun
Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man
J. D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye
J.R.R. Tolkien - There and Back Again

Note I restrained myself of posting two writers of styles too different or two books by the same author; that's because I wanted to make a list of the most necessary of literary knowledge, not personal favorites.

 

[krugerrand123]

The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and the Da Vinchi code.

 

[Wintermute_]

Dune, easily my most favourite work of literature ever. It's oh-so very atmospheric and it's a true linguistical delight.

Seconded. The some of the best sci-fi you'll read, and the sequels are pretty amazing too.

But you MUST READ William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, & Mona Lisa Overdrive). What started cyberpunk right there. What started cyber space actually. Neo didn't know shit. (I'm a fan, in case my name didn't make it readily apparent). it rivals Dune

Sounds good! I always wanted to read some more cyberpunk, I had a little list including 'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?' but I forgot about most of them.

Is it also written so poetically? I already said it, but the way the text flows in Dune, I couldn't get enough of it.

Not nearly as poetic as Herberts stuff, but it does have a very distinct feel to it, and in general it is just the coolest sounding future society. Its well written, action packed, and covered head to toe in the most imaginative sci-fi there is. This is where the matrix came from, and a lot of other sci tropes.

Also, I hope you've read all of Herberts Dune sequels? I'm still trying to work my way through 'em. Its gooood stuff.

 

[Extasii]

Wow, not one mention of my favorite collection on the first page >_<

Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - By far my favorite collection.
Divine Comedy Dante - A very good, dark read.

 

[Rogue 9]

...
Do Robots dream of electric sheep?
...
Damn, I think I misread something. These are books I still want to read before I die, not my favourites, because I obviously haven't read them yet.
...

Clearly you haven't read them yet. It's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? =P Just to help you find it when you do get around to reading it. Also, I do highly recommend you and everyone else read it.

And rather than reiterating all the books I'd choose that others have already mentioned, I'll just add a few recommendations of my own to the list - Magician by Raymond E Feist and The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin are both classics of fantasy writing that should be read by anyone that enjoys the genre. The 13 and 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers is far and away one of the most incredibly imaginative and enjoyable books I've ever read.

And straying into the graphic story telling medium for a moment, Pluto, Naoki Urasawa's 8 volume adaptation of the classic Astro Boy story arc "The Greatest Robot on Earth" is one of the finest works I have ever read in any medium, and one I have no hesitation recommending to anyone, whether they read manga/graphic novels or not.

 

[Monshroud]

Here are a couple I would recommend:

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Earth - David Brin
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

 

[EBonhawk09]

If you like sci-fi, I'd recommend reading Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. I'm about halfway through my copy and I really like it.

 

[Jon Shannow]

The Illiad - Homer
Tai Pan - James Clavell
Legend - David Gemmell
Ghost - Robert Harris

 

[Sneaklemming]

"How to live forever and profit" written in 2012, published by Apocalypse Media, it's by Malach HaMavet, but actually penned by a ghost writer.

 

[TheLiham]

The Cirque du Freaks series by Darren Shan is also really good. I've never liked vampire stories much (just not my thing), but this one is amazing because it creates a real culture and the story, in the end, isn't ABOUT vampires. Vampires are necessary to tell the tale, but it's not about vampires. It's a series that gets more in depth as it goes by.

The Demonata series by Darren Shan is also great. Very grotesque, very dark. Shan does many things that you would never ever expect in the series. It's extremely well-written.

:O I love Darren Shan

I even has a signed copy of blood beast and a picture of him strangling me

OT: Of Mice and Men if freakin awesome!

OMIGOD YOU ARE SO LUCKY
SUPER JEALOUS

I know right! XD

Also Darren Shan is a short fat irish bloke with incredibly soft hands xD

still doesn't stop me shuddering with glee at the thought of having met him