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1800iareyay 
Prog Reviewer
Joined: November 18 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2492
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 Topic: Essential Books
Posted: November 29 2006 at 20:40 |
Which pieces of literature are classics? Books, graphic novels and plays accepted
Shakespeare:
Othello
King Lear
Hamlet
Macbeth
Much Ado About Nothing
Taming of the Shrew
Oscar Wilde:
Importance of Being Earnest
Picture of Dorian Gray
Harry Potter series
Lord of the Rings
Tale of Two Cities
The Hobbit
Heart of Darkness
Paradise Lost
War and Peace
Crime and Punishment
1984
Beowulf
Faust
Grapes of Wrath
Animal Farm
The Iliad
The Odyssey
The Divine Comedy
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Edited by 1800iareyay - November 30 2006 at 18:09
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The T
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 16 2006
Location: FL, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
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Posted: November 29 2006 at 20:49 |
The best novels ever written are not in english language (Hamlet, one of the peaks of human mind's art, is Theater):
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (after this, really, there isn't anything)
Lev Tolstoy - War and Peace
(also theater): Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust
and contemporary non-english works:
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 100 anos de Soledad
and also:
The Olsen Twins - growing up in the eyes of America
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video vertigo
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 17 2004
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 1930
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Posted: November 29 2006 at 20:53 |
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I like fantasy stuff such as:
Dune
The Eye of the World
George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books (all of them are essential)
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"The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse." - Zappa
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The T
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 16 2006
Location: FL, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
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Posted: November 29 2006 at 22:07 |
I forgot, not in the same level as those, but two personal favorites for very different reasons...
Bram Stoker's Dracula.... I'm a darkness weirdo infatuated with the Count, Lord of the Manor of Corpathia (If somebody knows that...)
1984... THE BOOK. It defines me by defining everything i HATE: thought control, police state, police power, lack of freedom.
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Barla
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 13 2006
Location: Argentina
Status: Offline
Points: 4309
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:14 |
Also:
Jorge Luis Borges - El Aleph and Ficciones
Gabriel García Márquez - El Amor En Los Tiempos Del Cólera
Gastón Leroux - El Misterio Del Cuarto Amarillo
Marcos Denevi - Rosaura A Las Diez
.... and the "Goosebumps" collection by R.L. Stine  (just joking about that one  ) .... and some more I can't remember right now
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KoS
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 17 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Status: Offline
Points: 16310
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:16 |
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Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
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Apsalar
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 06 2006
Location: gansu
Status: Offline
Points: 2888
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:21 |
 king of Siam wrote:
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
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Fantastic book, I read it while I was in St Petersburg (where it was set) and it added a whole other dimension to the story line. It was kind of scary wandering down some of the same street and parks (even some of the same pubs, different name these days though) as discussed in the book. His works; The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot are two more worthwhile books in his catalog.
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:32 |
The Kama Sutra (otherwise known as The Book of Bern) 
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Bern
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: September 22 2005
Location: Québec
Status: Offline
Points: 11746
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:33 |
Geck0 wrote:
The Kama Sutra (otherwise known as The Book of Bern)
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RIP in bossa nova heaven.
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Zac M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 03 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 3577
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:36 |
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Beowulf
A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man
Crime and Punishment
Death of a Salesman
1984
The Canterbury Tales
and a lot of other stuff
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"Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression."
-Merleau-Ponty
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Logos
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 08 2005
Location: Finland
Status: Offline
Points: 2383
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:38 |
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John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath
Philip K. Dick - Lies Inc. and many others
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:44 |
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Homer's Illiad and Odyssey
The works of Plato
Basically most of the Roman works.
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Witchwoodhermit
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 23 2006
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 871
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:25 |
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The complete works of T.S ELIOT will set you straight.
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Here I'm shadowed by a dragon fig tree's fan
ringed by ants and musing over man.
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
Status: Offline
Points: 65599
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:40 |
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Oh enough of this high-brow sophistry...you want a great read; 'Kitchen Confidential' by Anthony Bourdain, or Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime'. Essential modern writing.
Edited by Atavachron - November 30 2006 at 01:41
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:51 |
The latter is set in my home town too.
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
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Joined: April 27 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 19557
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:53 |
I'll go with Latin American or Spanish books but of course Shakespeare is on my list as well as Dante Allighieri, Franza Kafka, Homer  ...but J.K. Rowlings as somebody mentioned????  :
- Miguel de Cervantes: El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha.
- Gabriel García Marquez: Cien Años de Soledad. (100 Years of Solitud)
- Julio Cortazar: Rayuela
- Jorge Luis Borges: El Aleph, Ficciones.
- Mario Vargas Llosa. La Guerra del Fin del Mundo (The War of te End of the World)
Iván
BTW: Just found a prove that the world is getting more and more stupid.
Searched for Homer to see how The Iliad was written in English and the first 4 or more references were to Homer Simpson, then three for Hummer (That is not even written like the great author) sand only Wikipedia mentioned the Greek genius.
What a shame, people care more about The Simpsons that about The Iliad and The Odyssey, we are doomed.
Iván
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
Status: Offline
Points: 65599
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:54 |
The Works of Plato was set in rural England?
That's right James, I'd forgotten Haddon had placed the story in your neck of the woods. Cool.
Edited by Atavachron - November 30 2006 at 01:55
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mystic fred
Special Collaborator
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Joined: March 13 2006
Location: Londinium
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Points: 4252
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:55 |
some easy essential reading..
George Orwell - Animal Farm and 1984
Tolkein - The Hobbit
Thos. Hardy - Far from the Madding Crowd
The rise and fall of the Roman Empire
Wm. Shakespeare - Richard III
..just a few tomes, but everything you need to learn about life is here - greed, lust, murder, jealousy, repentance, good over evil, is in these books!!! (and NOT Harry Potter!!) 
Edited by mystic fred - November 30 2006 at 02:03
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 02:09 |
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I'm glad you mentioned The Hobbit instead of the overrated Lord of the Rings. It's a much better book.
I'll also go with Franz Kafka and Jorge Luis Borges.
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oliverstoned
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 26 2004
Location: France
Status: Offline
Points: 6308
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Posted: November 30 2006 at 02:19 |
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The whole Castaneda collection.
Psychedelic books in english: "Acid test" by Tom Woolfe.
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Essential Books
