In no particular order:

1) The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich-William Shirer
2) Lord of the Rings trilogy-JRR Tolkien
3) all Chronicles of Narnia stories/books-CS Lewis
4) The Bible
5) Dracula-Bram Stoker
6) The Once and Future King-TH White
7) The Hobbit-JRR Tolkien
8) The Silmarillion-JRR Tolkien (yes, I am a big Tolkien nerd)
9) The Stand-Stephen King
10) The Book of Merlyn-TH White
11) the Harry Potter books-JK Rowling (yeah, I cheated--I listed 11)
[Edited 4/27/10 11:27am]

Empress said:

yeah we read this book back in my old high school Black History class but we never finished the entire thing i tried to check it out back in the library but i heard that some girl may have lost it somewhere

Poiple said:

These would probably all be on my list, too

beyond death
law of attraction
past lives many masters
childrens past lives

Crime and Punishment by F.M. Dostoyevsky -

Chocolat by Joanne Harris - delicious!

The secret dreamworld of a shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella - fun

A Song for Arbonne by G.G. Kay - amazing. Very interesting characters and storyline, beautiful descriptions and the structure of the sentences, hopefully translated well, is perfect. A beautiful book by all means.

The Reader by Bernard Schlink - left me speechless

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - exciting, mysterious... Loved it!

Heidi by Johanna Spyri - loved it when I was little

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - mind-opening

The Power of your subconscious mind by dr Joseph Murphy - mind-opening; first thing I read about the power of my thoughts

Poiple said:

Would that still make your list if it wasn't a Tolkien book? I only ask because I loved the Hobbit and LOTR but just couldn't get into The Silmarillion. Did you like it straight away or did it take you a while to get into as well?

If people are including comics and sacred books , then I guess I can include theatre and non-fiction books:

(random order)

The Cold War - John Lewis Gaddis

History of Rome - Indro Montanelli

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

The Great Gatsby - F. S. Fitzgerald

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

1984 - George Orwell

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Lord of the Rings - J.R. Tolkien

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

Le Petit Nicolas - René Goscinny

1. The Holy Qu'ran

2. Devil In The Blue Dress - Walter Mosley

3. Lady Sings The Blues - Billie Holiday(Even though many said that Lady didn't have anything to do with it).

4. The Autobiography Of Malcolm X - Alex Haley

5. Platitude - Trey Ellis

6. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison(I have both of the book and the audiobook read by fabulous actor Mr.Joe Morton).

7. Divided Souls: The Life Of Marvin Gaye - David Ritz(The MOST honest biography I ever read by a recording artist)

8. The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader - Edited by David Lewis

9. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

10. Soul On Ice - Eldridge Cleaver

mostbeautifulboy said:

One of the WITTIEST books I ever read in my life,,,,,its a shame its author didn't live to see the reaction it got.

Great list btw

FrenchGuy said:

With a name like "FrenchGuy" that should of been one of the first on your list

Harlepolis said:

There's an audio book of it? Wow, is it worth me checkin out?

Somewhere I have an essay I wrote about this book when I was at university

Harlepolis said:

I would quite like to cherry pick a few books off everyone elses lists too. So many good books, how to narrow it down to only 10??

1. The Bible - King James Version
2. Echoes of A Distant Summer - Guy Johnson (not home but I remembered.) Great writing. I was skeptical as to how much I would like it. I've been reading it annually since I bought it.
3. This Place of Men- Doug Cooper-Spencer As a gay man, the best book I've read with men I could relate to in so many, many ways and experiences. Beautiful. Ambitious and mostly succeeds.
4. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho So much wisdom and insight, if you see it. Some people get it, and some don't.
5. The Hobbit - I first read this in fifth grade and read the whole book in one day. I finished about 10 minutes before midnight. I've read it five or six times and thought about reading it today.
6. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Except to the Tom (whoever) and the Ents, incredibly entertaining. If I start with The Hobbit, I read all four.
7. The Collected Works of William Shakespeare Vol. 1 & 2 - Great writing. Wisdom, humor, insults, sarcasm and on it goes. The human condition.
8. The Prince - Machiavelli Controversial, but the man knew what he was talking about. He was being a stone realist. And over 500 years later, it holds up.
9. Chaos - James Gleick Eye opening fascination of everything I'd seen daily but never looked at. Left an incredible impression. Great science writing.
10. The Desire of Ages - Ellen G. White So beautifully and descriptively written. Hard to believe it's basically a Bible study.
[Edited 4/27/10 23:12pm]

NDRU said:

I considered and rejected Narnia, but the rest made my list before I read the thread.

TheVoid said:

i didnt like how the burnt down the burrow...

where is the wedding going to be

TheVoid said:

I read any book of his I can get my hands on, and his wife's books too.

They are compelling and all ultimately unsatisfying


1. Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
2. Handling the undead - John Ajvide Lindqvist
3. Tess of d'Ubervilles - Thomas Hardy
4. The Snow Queen - Joan D. Vinge
5. Millennium Trilogy - Stieg Larsson (3 books)
6. Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood (and it's sequel)
7. I know this much is true - Wally Lamb
8. Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow - Peter Hoeg
9. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
10. The World According to Garp - John Irving

possibly not the BEST books I have read, but ones that have stayed with me long after I finished them. I think of their characters and situations often still.

FrenchGuy said:

don't you find yourself angry at him nearly every book for promising and not delivering? Such build ups and intrigue and then… ptfff kill off the character or just stop that story and pick up another one

ZombieKitten said:

I'd like to add that to my list too. Now my top ten has 37 books

ZombieKitten said:

Do you read Don Delillo?
In some ways he is similiar.Similiar sort of atmosphere. I prefer Delillo to Auster, his stories feel closer to me.

mostbeautifulboy said:

I should try him!! I will write the name and put it in my wallet for my next library trip! which book would you recommend first?

mostbeautifulboy said:

give me your list, I'll work my way through it

ZombieKitten said:

White Noise.

It was the first one I read. His master piece is Underworld, but White noise is a good introduction
. If you do see Underworld, read the first 47 pages. Beautiful.

.missing words edit.
[Edited 4/28/10 4:20am]

mostbeautifulboy said:

done deal

ZombieKitten said:

let me know what you think.

mostbeautifulboy said:

absolutely!

IT - Stephen King
The Shining - Stephen King
Desperation - Stephen King
Bag Of Bones - Stephen King

(yeah, I LOVE his books.. )

L'Étranger - Albert Camus
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Neverending Story - Michael Ende
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D.Salinger
1984 - George Orwell
U2 by U2 (it's a great book full of rare pictures! )
[Edited 4/28/10 4:34am]

zaza said:

I liked Dolores Claiborne - did you read that one?

ZombieKitten said:

Not yet! I don't have much time for books right now (screw you, stupid uni ).
[Edited 4/28/10 4:36am]

zaza said:

how many contact hours do you have? (hours in classes)