'Must-read' books

[Renard]

What books do you consider to be an essential read? If you were compiling a list, what titles would you include?

 

[PaulB]

1984, Catch 22, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Just three that spring immediately to mind.

 

[Aperitif]

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell and Germinal by Emile Zola (which I found hard going...what a description of life in the mines.)

 

[papercorn2000]

I would add Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. Strangely enough, I picked up quite a bit on bicycle maintenance from said tome!

 

[Night Train]

'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' by Richard Bach.

 

[Globalti]

Seconded Zen and The Art - it claims on the cover that "this book will change the way you think about life" and it did mine.

 

[asterix]

In the George Orwell vein: 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell.

 

[ronmac]

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. Haunting, emotional, thought-provoking. I'm hoping to read it again soon.

 

[rich p]

Cannery Row, Tortilla Flats, Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Hemingway

 

[cisamcgu]

The Quiet American - Graham Greene

 

[vernon]

The Indian Restaurant Cookbook - Pat Chapman


Godel; Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas Ofstadter


Ogri Cartoons Vols 1-4 - Paul Sample


Engineering Mathematics - K.A. Stroud

 

[dragon72]

Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, because it's a mindblowing fantastical work
French Revolutions by Tim Moore, first inspired me into cycle touring
and, dare I say it, It's not about the bike by Lance Armstrong, in which, although he comes across as a real a$$hole, you have to admire his determination (whether or not he was a drugs cheat).

 

[Cubist]

To Kill a Mocking Bird
Catch 22
Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Flies
Viz Profanisaurus

 

[beancounter]

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera

bc

 

[oxbob]

Janet/John, ladybird books and animal farm the only education you require