Essential Books
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Topic: Essential Books
Posted By: 1800iareyay
Subject: Essential Books
Date Posted: November 29 2006 at 20:40
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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
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Replies:
Posted By: The T
Date Posted: November 29 2006 at 20:49
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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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Posted By: video vertigo
Date 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) ------------- "The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse." - Zappa |
Posted By: The T
Date Posted: November 29 2006 at 22:07
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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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Posted By: Barla
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:14
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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 ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Barla/?chartstyle=LastfmMyspace">  
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Posted By: KoS
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:16
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Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky |
Posted By: Apsalar
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:21
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. |
king of Siam wrote:Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:32
The Kama Sutra (otherwise known as The Book of Bern) 
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Posted By: Bern
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:33
 -------------  
RIP in bossa nova heaven. |
Posted By: Zac M
Date 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 ------------- "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 |
Posted By: Logos
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 00:38
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John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath Philip K. Dick - Lies Inc. and many others |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date 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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Posted By: Witchwoodhermit
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:25
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The complete works of T.S ELIOT will set you straight. ------------- Here I'm shadowed by a dragon fig tree's fan ringed by ants and musing over man. |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date 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.
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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:51
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The latter is set in my home town too.
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Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:53
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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
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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...but J.K. Rowlings as somebody mentioned???? Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:54
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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. |
Posted By: mystic fred
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 01:55
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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!!)
 -------------  Prog Archives Tour Van 
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Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date 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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Posted By: oliverstoned
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 02:19
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The whole Castaneda collection. Psychedelic books in english: "Acid test" by Tom Woolfe. |
Posted By: Logos
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 06:44
Nothing against Homer, but the Simpsons are way more entertaining |
Posted By: progadicto
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 06:55
by Frank Herbert ------------- ... E N E L B U N K E R... |
Posted By: progadicto
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 07:08
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I agree with almost any writer you've mentioned specially: DOSTOIEVSKI, ORWELL, HOMER, PLATO, SHAKESPEARE, KAFKA, TOLSTOI, BORGES, PHILIP K. DICK, GARCIA MARQUEZ, STEINBECK... and many other. I want to add to that list some authors that I consider relevant specially in the las 50 years... -KURT VONNEGUT: specially Slaugther House 5, Cat's Cradle, Breakfast for Champions, Galapagos... -Almost every thing by JOHN CHEEVER -Almost everything by PEDRO JUAN GUTIERREZ, brilliant cuban writer!!! -Chilean poets PABLO NERUDA, GABRIELA MISTRAL, GONZALO ROJAS and CLAUDIO BERTONI -CESAR VALLEJO: awsome peruvian poet... you have to read Trilce and Los Heraldos Negros... -JOAQUIM MACHADO DE ASSIS: another great and inffluential brazilian writer... -ADOLFO BIOY CASARES: argentinian writer, Borges' contemporary and for some moments, better than him... -FREDERIC BROWN: specially Lost Paradox -WILLIAM BURROUGHS: Noca Express and The Naked Lunch -GEORG TRAKL (awsome poet from Austria, very dark and melancholic...) -and any screenwrite made by the brilliant BEN HECHT who works with Alfred Hitchcock, amongst others... Best regards... ------------- ... E N E L B U N K E R... |
Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 08:39
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Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment Franz Kafka: The Trial George Orwell: 1984 |
Posted By: daz2112
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 14:36
Love the Harry Potter series!  ------------- In the constellation of cygnus,There lurks a mysterious force...The black hole |
Posted By: JrKASperov
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 15:48
Hmm, can't agree with that. Though the Simpsons come in an otherwise 'easy accesible' media form, it is indeed a work of art, with unique humour and always a reference to society. Soft critique, if you will. To not look upon that as a work of art I find saddening. Homer isn't just great because he's old and well known, being a 'classic' is overrated. ------------- Epic. |
Posted By: Zepology101
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 16:37
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and Wind in the Willows. ------------- 
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Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 17:13
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The phone book is pretty essential, IMO. ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 17:22
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How about some plays? (This post does of course have a MASSIVE bias towards Absurdist theatre) Beckett - Waiting For Godot, Endgame, Not I, Come and Go, Breath Ionesco - The Rhinocerous, The Chairs Jarry - The Ubu Plays (his novel The Exploits and Opinions of Dr Faustroll, Pataphysician is also essential reading in my opinion) Pinter - The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter Also, never trust anyone who's never read a Discworld novel. |
Posted By: 1800iareyay
Date Posted: November 30 2006 at 18:06
| THnks of rhte suggestions. I forgot a few key books. |
Posted By: The Wizard
Date Posted: December 02 2006 at 21:19
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Naked Lunch
Howl and other poems
On the Road
three beat essentials -------------  
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Posted By: progismylife
Date Posted: December 02 2006 at 21:25
Amen, brother. I also liked Burmese Days by George Orwell. |
Posted By: The T
Date Posted: December 02 2006 at 22:31
HAven't read it, only 1984 and Animal farm (genius, genius).... what is it about? More of Orwell never hurts if it's in the same level as 1984 or "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others" -------------
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Posted By: progismylife
Date Posted: December 02 2006 at 22:33
It's talking about some corrupt society in Burma, I think when the english had it as a colony. It was pretty interesting and I am crap and describing so go find a library. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: December 03 2006 at 11:41
Oh please man, The Simpsons are an intelligent and sarcastic parody of the USA society but in no way you can compare them with two masterpieces of the Universal literature that have survived since 800 BC to the date and still are theme for countless TV and Movie pictures for a society who is only able to receive literature through the big screen..
The Iliad and the Oddissey are essential books for any collection, each time I wnt to really have fun shut the TV off, put good music and read The Illiad.
Iván -------------
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Posted By: Gyllir
Date Posted: December 03 2006 at 14:38
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Harry Potter is neither essential or classic nor will it ever be, though they can be fun.
You can't go wrong with my favorite novel The Trial by Kafka. Also Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Frankenstein, Affliction by Russell Banks, any graphic novel by Alan Moore, Hamlet, Deliverance by James Dickey, The Sound and the Fury... |
Posted By: Melomaniac
Date Posted: December 03 2006 at 14:47
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The whole Dune Cycle
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The first four books of The Vampire Chronicles
The Foundation cycle by Isaac Asimov
Les Fourmis Trilogy by french author Bernard Werber (The Ants)
The Darkover Cycle by Marion Zimmer Bradley
ANYTHING BY CONTEMPORARY GENIUS NEIL GAIMAN (Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Good Omens co-written with Terry Pratchett, the Sandman comic books...) ------------- "One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: December 03 2006 at 17:04
Agree 100%.
Iván -------------
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Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: December 03 2006 at 17:06
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Perhaps not essential, but I don't think you can deny that Harry Potter one of the most important series in literature. ------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want! |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: December 03 2006 at 17:15
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All of Tolkiens work is essential IMO, from the Ainulindale to The Lord of the Rings including Unfinished Tales. Pratchets discworld series is pretty essential IMO as well. ------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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Posted By: progadicto
Date Posted: December 03 2006 at 18:04
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And I have to add brilliant HUNTER S. THOMPSON: The Rum Diaries, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hell's Angels... And of course Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury... ------------- ... E N E L B U N K E R... |