I need to know more!!!
I am somehow addicted to, well, learning. I am still a senior in HS, but the way the public school sys. works, I am going nowhere. So I need some good books. Anything new or old, like things that English majors/writers should have in their bookcases, like philosophy and what not. No limitations to books! Any genre, any amount of pages, anything!
Any suggestions?
Lolita. It's one of my favorite books ever.
Ah. Ok.
I have herd of that one a little.
Thank you!
Any more suggestions?
1984 by George Orwell.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Also, the Martian Chronicles by said author.
Any book by Isaac Asimov - real good sci-fi with socio-politico-philosophical thoughts behind it. The Foundation cycle is really interesting.
Also the two madmen: Poe and Lovecraft. Read their books.
Gee, I just realized that a list of some of my favorite books is actually a list of dark, pessimistic and/or dystopian stories.
Les Misérables - Victor Hugo: read the unabridged edition because you can
Anna Karenina.
Wow. These are amazing suggestions. I am looking on line about them and like every one of these is a buy.
Balzac's "comedie humane" series
If you want to branch out:
"Dona Barbara", THE Venezuelan classic. (The author was actually elected president for a short time)
"Noli me Tagere", THE Filipino classic.
No One Writes to the Colonel and other stories, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez...it's not a super classic (though he is Colombia's most popular writer), I really loved this collection of more realist stuff.
Transhumanist SF, one of my favorites:
Metaplanetary
Evolution's Darling
There are lots of books that may not be "super popular classics" out there, but you'll like anyways.
I just started Elephant and Castle by R.C. Hutchinson, and am really enjoying it. If you're looking for a style that plays on the format of memories and relationships among many different people, you should try reading this.
If you wish, I can also give you directions towards some good french books (not saying you should read them in french huh, although if you're able you definitely should).
On the classical side, I'd recommend Les Misérables from Hugo as >>5 said, La Nausée from Jean-Paul Sartre, Candide by Voltaire. Also some Zola books, but I don't really know which one to suggest. Plays by Molière, Racine and Corneille are a must-read (or a must-see, I'd say) around here, too. I'd tell you to try some Boris Vian, but it might be too language-linked (see his wikipedia article for explanation - this dude was awesome, a real genius) to be read in english, I don't know; maybe the books he wrote under the Vernon Sullivan pseudonym. Et on tuera tous les affreux would be my favorite, it has something of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (which I highly recommend while I'm at it) only more lighthearted and... ah well, you'll see. Hehe.
For the contemporary writers, one that is not to be missed in France is probably Bernard Werber, and his Ants trilogy (these have been translated, I just checked), and the Thanatonauths (it's also a 'trilogy' but I only read the first one for now so I can't really give you advice on that one). This is philosophical sci-fi, really interesting.
Gravity's Rainbow, one of the funniest books I've ever read. There's also Dune if you're a fan of space muslims. (Avoid the ones by Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert like the plague)
And seconding the Foundation series by Asimov.
Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths will open up more vistas of knowledge for you to explore. You might also like Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Philosophy. Saul Bellow's short novel Seize the Day is essential, particularly if you're an American. If you like medieval philosophy and want to be introduced to semiotics and some (legitimate) "postmodernism" from a structuralist, then get a copy of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose with the Postscript included.
Albert Camus
Ishmael, if you're looking for some allegories on civilization.
Ovid's Metamorphosis.
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It really depends on what type of books that you like to read.
Dune by Frank Herbert, The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jorden, The Color of Distance and Through Alien Eyes by Amy Thomson, and Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein are some really good Science Fiction books and authors
And Then There Where None by Agatha Christie is a good mystery novel.
Some really good classics are: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Candid by Voltair, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the list could go one forever.
1984 by Jame Orwell and A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are also pretty good.
James Patterson, Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and John Grisham are some good authors as well.
I'm like you. I'm known to devour books so some of these books I have read others have been recommended to me that are on my list to read. Good luck in you search!
Just go pick up the Norton Anthologies of English and American Literature and read them cover to cover. If you can't manage that, pick and choose. Read a couple from every period. You will be very well read by college.
And contemporary literature is great, but no one focuses on the classics any more. Go read Candid, Leviathan, Paradise Lost, and The Inferno. If you only read those four, you will be better read than anyone in your freshman English classes.
>> 22
American Gods, fuck yeah!
A few books that aren't mentioned enough:
Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer
Ian Banks - The Crow Road
Goethe - Faust
Aldisair Gray - Lanark
James Weldon Johnson - Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man
Asimov is the best sci-fi author whose works I have read.
If you are more into fantasy, try A song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Very political and psychological, with thoroughly developed characters. (By the way, I just can't wait for the fifth book!)
Also, I like Terry Pratchett's novels very much. They are as hilarious as the Hitchhiker Guide's to the Galaxy!
Harry Potter, cool book about a little kid who knows magic. Fucking awesome!