Top 3 Must Read Books

[Gmart]

Indeed the first two thirds it seems to be rubbish, but actually it's brilliant. It takes ages to work out what he's on about but it IS wonderful.

Try reading it again in a couple of years, it'll keep

 

[Cheesypoof]

Let it blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs

Charlie and the chocolate factory - roald dahl

A Christmas carol - charles dickens

 

[ice-is-forming]

the third policeman ..flann o'brien

necroville ..ian mc donalld.

cats cradle...kurt vongurt jnr

damm keep thinking of more...(the wasp factory..ian banks)

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

naked lunch - william s burroughs
fear and loathing in las vegas - hunter s thompson
geek love - katherine dunne

cats cradle is very good too imo.

 

[myname]

don't think so. I think he's from nottingham or something. I've never met him though. I'll ask lemontop.

isn't he from Northampton?

 

[myname]

Why does everyone fawn over "Catch 22" does something amazing happen at the end? I couldn't finish, spent half the fuckin book repeating itself.

it's very funny and very cynical

 

[Fledgling]

Well, other posters have suggested some books I'd initially thought of. I suppose as regards importance mixed with personal interest I'd recommend the following highly:

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
The Castle
The Good Soldier Sweik

 

[Cloo]

Master and Margerita - Mikhail Bulgakov
100 Years of Solitude - Marquez
Great Expectations - Dickens

Or something like that.

 

[DotCommunist]

isn't he from Northampton?

He most definetly is, he's not far from me, and does his ultra-rare signing at our local comic shop

 

[purves grundy]

The Brothers Karamazov - F Dostoevsky

1984 - wotsisname

Tess of the D'Urbevilles - Tommo Hardy

 

[DotCommunist]

The Brothers Karamazov - F Dostoevsky

1984 - wotsisname

Tess of the D'Urbevilles - Tommo Hardy

Eric Blair AKA George Orwell

 

[Andy the Don]

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn

England Away - John King

 

[Final]

Brave New World - Huxley
The Hobbit - Tolkien
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

 

[DotCommunist]

Brave New World - Huxley
The Hobbit - Tolkien
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

I'd agree with the first two, but Bryson? he's funny but he's hardly booker material

 

[Final]

I'd agree with the first two, but Bryson? he's funny but he's hardly booker material

I'm not a fan of his overall - but that particular book was the most interesting non-fiction book I've ever read.

edit: one section in the intro just blew my mind and made me *need* to read the rest of the book.

 

[machine cat]

Top 3 eh? Pretty difficult to choose, but any of the following will do for me:

Animal Farm, 1984, Farenheit 451, Brave New World, Swashstika Nights, White Teeth, The Quiet American, On the Road, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Outsider, The Plague, The Age of Reason, Catch 22, Naked Lunch, The Tourcher Garden, The Bell Jar, Unspeak, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Fortress Beseiged, A Clockwork Orange, The Wasp Factory, Utopia, Othello, Brighton Rock, Junkie, Metamorphosis, Lord of the Flies, Crime and Punishment.

 

[ViolentPanda]

"A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.
"All Families are Psychotic" by Douglas Coupland
"Slapstick" by Kurt Vonnegut