Top 10 books

[MexicanTravels]

Hello everyone! I thought it might be useful for those of us who are up for it to come up with a list of 10 books that left an indelible mark on us during our time here on Earth. You can provide descriptions as to why you love these books, why they should be read, or you can just list them. I'll start.

10. The Once and Future King by T.H. White

A retelling of the Arthurian legend with queer undertones!

9. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

A mind-bending short story collection by the precursor to magical realism.

8. Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter

A really fun yet dense book on recursion and strange loops.

7. Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou

A graphic novel about the foundational quest in mathematics.

6. The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams

Feminist-vegetarian critical theory. Yummy!

5. Remarks on Color by Ludwig Wittgenstein

The bête noire of philosophy explores the relationship between color and language.

4. Perfect Rigor by Masha Gessen

A biography about Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman, who solved the Poincaré Conjecture.

3. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño

The author's final book before he croaked is a loose collection of stories revolving around Mexico.

2. A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

The title says it all, but wittier.

1. The Princeton Companion to Mathematics edited by Timothy Gowers

Yes, I'm a math nerd.

 

[Sinbad]

Wow, your well read. Respect.

1. And then there were none.

2. Harry Potter (first one)

3. Pour your heart into it (Starbucks story)

4. Long way gone (child soldier)

5. Salt, Sugar, Fat (about food corporation)

6. Rich Dad Poor Dad (personal finance)

7. 48 Law of Power (How to play the game of life)

8. The sun does Shine (recent book I read; about a black man wrongly imprisoned for 27 years)

9. Man's search for meaning

10. The way of a superior man

Not my top 10 rather my top 10 I remember..

 

[MexicanTravels]

8. The sun does Shine (recent book I read; about a black man wrongly imprisoned for 27 years)

Just looked up The Sun Does Shine. I love that the author started a book club in prison, even if it was short-lived. His will to live is also quite admirable. In relation to this forum, it's interesting that the death penalty is permissible in several states, but assisted suicide isn't. Hell, even non-assisted suicide is frowned upon.

 

[Sinbad]

Just looked up The Sun Does Shine. I love that the author started a book club in prison, even if it was short-lived. His will to live is also quite admirable. In relation to this forum, it's interesting that the death penalty is permissible in several states, but assisted suicide isn't. Hell, even non-assisted suicide is frowned upon.

Welcome to our wicked world!

 

[Threads]

I don't really have a top 10?

10 Books that should be read before CTB in no possible order.

I. Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon
Gravity's Rainbow is one of the greatest books of all time. It is a must read.

II. Confessions - Augustine
Augustine is the father of Western Philosophy. This is his masterwork.

III. Dao De Ching
If you want to understand mysticism and Chinese philosophy, this is a must read.

IV. The Gospel of Judas
This is another way to look at the account of Jesus Christ.

V.The Book of Enouch
This is another way to look at the book of Genesis.

The rest I will let you look up and decide. I could write for hours on these five, but rather than give you a shot description, I insist you give it a read.

VI. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
VII. War and Peace - Tolstoy
VIII - Metamorphisis - Kafka
IX - The Lady with the Dog - Chekhov
X - The Prince - Machiavelli

 

[MexicanTravels]

VIII - Metamorphisis - Kafka

"He remembered his family with deep feeling and love. In this business, his own thought that he had to disappear was, if possible, even more decisive than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three o'clock in the morning. From the window he witnessed the beginning of the general dawning outside. Then without willing it, his head sank all the way down, and from his nostrils flowed out weakly his last breath."

I love Kafka's The Metamorphosis. In my current state, I identify quite a bit with Gregor.

 

[Susannah]

I've read so many books, but I'll stick to fiction/ novels now.

1. Papillion- Henri Charrière
2. Blindness- José Saramago
3. 1984- George Orwell
4. Lord Of the Flies- William Golding
5. Lord Of the Rings- Tolkien
6. Perfume- Patrick Suskind
7. Most of the novels from John Irving
8. The Neverending Story (my first childhood book experience).
9. La pell freda- Albert Sánchez Piñol

10. The Noonday Demon. An Atlas of Depression- Andrew Solomon (non- fiction). I strongly recommend this brilliant book. Solomon is a journalist suffering with deep depression. It's his personal story, and at the same time, an atlas.

 

[Johnnythefox]

I've read so many books, but I'll stick to fiction/ novels now.

1. Papillion- Henri Charrière
2. Blindness- José Saramago
3. 1984- George Orwell
4. Lord Of the Flies- William Golding
5. Lord Of the Rings- Tolkien
6. Perfume- Patrick Suskind
7. Most of the novels from John Irving
8. The Neverending Story (my first childhood book experience).
9. La pell freda- Albert Sánchez Piñol

10. The Noonday Demon. An Atlas of Depression- Andrew Solomon (non- fiction). I strongly recommend this brilliant book. Solomon is a journalist suffering with deep depression. It's his personal story, and at the same time, an atlas.

Papillon and Orwell are two of mine also, I think I read every Orwell book but it's such a long time ago.

 

[Susannah]

I don't really have a top 10?

10 Books that should be read before CTB in no possible order.

I. Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon
Gravity's Rainbow is one of the greatest books of all time. It is a must read.

II. Confessions - Augustine
Augustine is the father of Western Philosophy. This is his masterwork.

III. Dao De Ching
If you want to understand mysticism and Chinese philosophy, this is a must read.

IV. The Gospel of Judas
This is another way to look at the account of Jesus Christ.

V.The Book of Enouch
This is another way to look at the book of Genesis.

The rest I will let you look up and decide. I could write for hours on these five, but rather than give you a shot description, I insist you give it a read.

VI. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
VII. War and Peace - Tolstoy
VIII - Metamorphisis - Kafka
IX - The Lady with the Dog - Chekhov
X - The Prince - Machiavelli

You've really done some heavy reading;). I find Russian litterature (fiction) kind of difficult because of all the names, nicknames and "shortnames".

 

[Johnnythefox]

I did most of my reading when younger but these ones stick out.

1. Papillon - I read for the first time when I was about 15 or 16, it gave me hope many times as he never gave up.

2. George Orwell - anything by Orwell, the two that stick in my mind are Animal Farm and 1984.

3. Midnight Express - similar to papillon in many ways.

4. Of mice and men - A tragic tale of both friendship and hardship.

5. Charles Dickens - anything by Dickens but Great Expectations sticks out.

6. Catch 22 - About the absurdity of war.

7. The old man and the sea - Hemingway, a tale of struggle.

8. The ragman's son - Kirk Douglas autobiography, Douglas never gave up and stood up to oppression and injustice.

9. Brave New World - Huxleys dystopian vision.

10. Fahrenheit 451 - dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, anything Bradbury is good.

 

[therhydler]

(no particular order)

1. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
nothing can beat Dickens' sense of humor

2. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Mr Micawber is a character who gets stuck in your mind forever

3. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
wonderfully gruesome

4. Economics of Good and Evil by Tomas Sedlacek
a history of money beginning from ancient times that you read almost like a thriller

5. The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russel
especially the part on ancient philosophy

6. Phaedrus by Plato
beautiful and witty

7. The Sane Society by Erich Fromm
Fromm suggests that people with mental illnesses might actually be more sane than "normal" people since they cannot adapt to a society that is already insane anyway. Spot on.

8. The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm
better than it sounds. Ironically something I failed at most

9. The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
I remember it blew me away

10. 1984 by George Orwell

(oh and Brave New World by Huxley as well. and The Doors of Perception - less known but fascinating)

 

[MexicanTravels]

5. The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russel
especially the part on ancient philosophy
6. Phaedrus by Plato

You've got good taste in books! A History of Western Philosophy's section on ancient philosophy is one of my favorite parts of the book as well. I let a friend borrow my copy and he never gave it back even after I asked for it. I guess it's that good.

Phaedrus is also a good pick. I love the sexual innuendos. I took my copy from a friend who was moving out of our apartment and gave it a read a few years ago because of its importance to Jacques Derrida's philosophy. I will admit though that I'm more fond of Plato's Republic, with its Allegory of the Cave and its connections to simulated reality.

 

[therhydler]

You've got good taste in books! A History of Western Philosophy's section on ancient philosophy is one of my favorite parts of the book as well. I let a friend borrow my copy and he never gave it back even after I asked for it. I guess it's that good.

Phaedrus is also a good pick. I love the sexual innuendos. I took my copy from a friend who was moving out of our apartment and gave it a read a few years ago because of its importance to Jaques Derrida's philosophy. I will admit though that I'm more fond of Plato's Republic, with its Allegory of the Cave and its connections to simulated reality.

:)

 

[wxtyubidi7y]

Hmmm

William Burroughs - Junkie
William Burroughs - Naked Lunch
Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Joseph Heller - Catch 22
Schopenhauer - The World as Will and Representation
Schopenhauer - Pererga and Paralipomena
Rene Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy
Seneca - Letters from a Stoic
The Bhagavad Gita
The Upanishads

 

[therhydler]

You've got good taste in books! A History of Western Philosophy's section on ancient philosophy is one of my favorite parts of the book as well. I let a friend borrow my copy and he never gave it back even after I asked for it. I guess it's that good.

Phaedrus is also a good pick. I love the sexual innuendos. I took my copy from a friend who was moving out of our apartment and gave it a read a few years ago because of its importance to Jacques Derrida's philosophy. I will admit though that I'm more fond of Plato's Republic, with its Allegory of the Cave and its connections to simulated reality.

Republic is also great

 

[MexicanTravels]

Schopenhauer - The World as Will and Representation
Schopenhauer - Pererga and Paralipomena

Schopenhauer is always a good pick. "Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment--a question which man puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question and awaits the answer." -On Suicide

 

[wxtyubidi7y]

I forgot to mention 'The Little Prince' :) Truly classic children's ctb-themed novel.

 

[ReadyasEver]

To Kill a Mockingbird
Portraits of Courage
American Pastoral
Atonement
Native Son
Catcher in the Rye
Of Mice and Men
A Tale of Two Cities
The Collections of Plato
The Odyssey

 

[MexicanTravels]

I forgot to mention 'The Little Prince' :) Truly classic children's ctb-themed novel.

"It was wrong of you to come. You will suffer. I shall look as if I were dead; and that will not be true..."

I have been on both sides, both the narrator's position and the little prince's. What a lovely book. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Rose Mirren]

1 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
2 Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
3 The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
4 If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon
5 The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
6 The Alchemist by Paulo Cuelho
7 Firebirds Rising (anthology compiled by Sharon Shinn)
8 The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
9 The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (not a book but a really f*cking good short story)
10 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Bonus: Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus

Not exactly my Top 10 but childhood books that influenced me into reading more :) I have a fascination with children's books now because when I reread them as an adult, I understood them more and I appreciate how they tackle sensitive issues in a very subtle way.

 

[MexicanTravels]

9 The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (not a book but a really f*cking good short story)

I remember reading The Lottery way back in high school! Good pick! Another great short story is The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's a very similar concept with a scapegoat at the crux of the story.

 

[ChickenAndPotatoes]

1. The Dark Tower series by Steven King. Follows Roland, a Western gunslinger (shooter) and his compadres on a grand quest.

2. The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. Very detailed, scrumptiously written--follows a young woman who becomes a maid in a large household. The man of the household is a painter.

3. Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. Follows a male artist (painter) as he seduces women and is commissioned to help create an important tapestry.

4. Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski is of female human-fishlike aliens who are pacifist lesbians and have their unique planet encroached upon.

5. The Conquerors Child by Suzy McKee Charnas. Women are skilled warriors who rule their world; men are slaves.

These are my most recent reads.

 

[sólstafir]

I wouldn't kill myself if i could read again... there is no brain for that activity anymore, only apathy.

10 memorable books are

Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Steppenwolf - Herman Hesse
Tao Te Ching
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche
Pararerga and Paralipomena - Arthur Schopenhauer
The Brothers Lionheart - Astrid Lindgren
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Heaven Has No Favourites - Erich Maria Remarque
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Little Prince - Anthony de Saint-Exupéry

My absolute favourite books however, are written by authors from my country which I don't want to reveal in forum :)

 

[Idorus]

8. Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadt

A really fun yet dense book on recursion and strange loops.

I have this book thanks to a math freak I was in love with once. It must have been his favorite. He often mentioned it. I bought it to understand him better, to get his passion and hopefully to give some intelligent reply but well... what do you expect from someone leaving school at age 15 ;)

 

[MexicanTravels]

I have this book thanks to a math freak I was in love with once. It must have been his favorite. He often mentioned it. I bought it to understand him better, to get his passion and hopefully to give some intelligent reply but well... what do you expect from someone leaving school at age 15 ;)

You haven't loved until you've loved a math freak! I fell in love with one too in college. He left his copy of GEB when our time together ended. Curiously, he never got around to reading it, but I did.

 

[End.of.the.line]

I don't really have a top tens but some of my favorites are Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

 

[Jodes]

Man I feel like a freak...

- The Art of Electronics - Horowitz & Hill
- Growing Object Oriented Software, guided by tests - Freeman & Pryce

I was quite a lonely child!

 

[therhydler]

Man I feel like a freak...

- The Art of Electronics - Horrowitz & Hill
- Growing Object Oriented Software, guided by tests.

I was quite a lonely child!

cool

 

[Rose Mirren]

I remember reading The Lottery way back in high school! Good pick! Another great short story is The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's a very similar concept with a scapegoat at the crux of the story.

I read that already! Liked it a lot, it's reminiscent of the final act in the movie Snowpiercer.

I really like short stories. Some of my favorites off the top of my head: Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar AlIan Poe), In the Night (Jamaica Kincaid), Good Country People (Flannery O'Connor),
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (Joyce Carol Oates), Young Goodman Brown (Nathaniel Hawthorne), Bartleby (Herman Melville), A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O'Connor)

Woops I ended up listing a lot hahaha but these are really good ones! (at least for me) :)

 

[Rose Mirren]

I wouldn't kill myself if i could read again... there is no brain for that activity anymore, only apathy.

10 memorable books are

Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Steppenwolf - Herman Hesse
Tao Te Ching
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche
Pararerga and Paralipomena - Arthur Schopenhauer
The Brothers Lionheart - Astrid Lindgren
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Heaven Has No Favourites - Erich Maria Remarque
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Little Prince - Anthony de Saint-Exupéry

My absolute favourite books however, are written by authors from my country which I don't want to reveal in forum :)

I read Hamlet in my Shakespeare class and I was able to answer my professor's questions that my classmates didn't understand haha I guess it's because I understood Hamlet's mindset in a way. Funny how a lot of people don't really understand "to be or not to be"