# What's a book that everyone ought to read, at least once?



## Grizzly (Feb 22, 2014)

I'm close to finishing the current book I've been reading, and I'm looking for a new book or play or screenplay or what have you that I should read next. What other books should I read? i.e. What other books would you 10/10 read again?

I think everyone ought to read _Transparent Things _by Nabokov, and _Breakfast of Champions _by Vonnegut at least once. Back to back, if possible.
Also Childish Gambino's screenplay for Because the Internet.

What say you?


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## InstituteMan (Feb 22, 2014)

Here's my 10/10 would read agains, sorted by seriousness from heavy reads to light reads.

Heavy read: Lolita by Nabokov

Medium read: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

Light read: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams


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## thepancreas11 (Feb 23, 2014)

Good Omens by Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman is a good read.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson really cooked me.

The Tao Te Ching, especially if you're a poet or a military commander.


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## PiP (Feb 23, 2014)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. A politically charged novel set in Afghanistan.


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## Pidgeon84 (Feb 23, 2014)

H.P. Lovecraft: A Great Tale of Horrors.

Its his entire collection in one book (Short stories obviously). But he sets the scene, and the mood, and the amosphere better than anyone I've ever read. Even if you don't like the horror genre, that lone fact makes it worth it.


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## Pidgeon84 (Feb 23, 2014)

H.P. Lovecraft: A Great Tale of Horrors.

Its his entire collection in one book (Short stories obviously). But he sets the scene, and the mood, and the amosphere better than anyone I've ever read. Even if you don't like the horror genre, that lone fact makes it worth it.


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## InstituteMan (Feb 23, 2014)

thepancreas11 said:


> A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson really cooked me.



I certainly second this suggestion. Bryson writes excellent prose and has a knack for explaining difficult concepts.


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## Bloggsworth (Feb 23, 2014)

The Highway Code...


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## ppsage (Feb 23, 2014)

Bloggsworth said:


> The Highway Code...


My thoughts exactly.


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## Skodt (Feb 23, 2014)

I cannot get over the way Kurt writes in a Breakfast of Champions. The satire and the off hand comedy just does not work for this particular reader. 

To re-voice a few already posted. The hitchhikers guide is a very good read in humor. Anything by Lovecraft gets a thumbs up. Although the lines of Horror I would like to throw in the word of Poe, because why not. To add my own I really think everyone should read A Farwell to Arms by E.H.


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## cdawgxc (Mar 1, 2014)

Mitch Albom:
Tuesdays With Morrie & The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
Both really quick reads- either one can be saved for a "rainy day." :star:


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## escorial (Mar 1, 2014)

pigletinportugal said:


> The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. A politically charged novel set in Afghanistan.


...I'm sure this was made into a film and it was subtitled..it was very good.


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## cdawgxc (Mar 1, 2014)

Yeah, even though I admittedly never finished it, I can't praise it enough. Brilliant book.
It evoked a lot of emotion in me, and that might explain why I haven't been able to make myself pick it back up. Really powerful.


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## PiP (Mar 1, 2014)

It was. I saw the film, but preferred the book


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## dale (Mar 1, 2014)

"The Abomination of Norma" by Dale Hollin. i need beer money.


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## W. Dallas (Mar 7, 2014)

One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel García Márquez

American Gods - Neil Gaiman


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## Morkonan (Mar 8, 2014)

The Wind in the Willows

(A good annotated collection of The Brother's Grimm tales is good, too.)


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## Pluralized (Mar 8, 2014)

Flowers for Algernon.


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## Riptide (Mar 9, 2014)

It's an older book. Older as in from the 50's. It's: Murder Goes to Press by Cicely Cairns. The pages are yellowed, they do the whole to-morrow, to-day, and it's written in columns. Oh, and it's broken up by roman numerals inside each chapter 

It's a great book. You can't even tell it's so old.


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## W. Dallas (Mar 9, 2014)

House of Leaves- Mark Danielewski


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## Carlos Danger (Mar 10, 2014)

Catch-22. Funniest book I've ever read.


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## Grizzly (Mar 23, 2014)

W. Dallas said:


> House of Leaves- Mark Danielewski



Couldn't agree more.


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## qwertyman (Mar 23, 2014)

Money, by Martin Amis

All The Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy

A Farewell To Arms*, by Ernest Hemingway




*...and when you've read it, perhaps you could tell me how he could possibly have been awarded A Nobel Prize for Literature?


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## Ixarku (Mar 27, 2014)

Carlos Danger said:


> Catch-22. Funniest book I've ever read.




I read that one in high school, around age 16.  I remember that it started out as crazy absurd, then got really heavy towards the end.  It was a weird experience for me but worth reading.


I'm not sure that I could pick a single book that would be universally relevant for everyone.  If I had to pick a book or two that profoundly influenced me that I'd want to share with everyone, I'd pick "The Hobbit" and "Dune".  I think every young child should read "The Hobbit" -- there are few books I've read that can inspire the kind of wonder and awe that book can bring.

And "Dune" is such a pivotal masterpiece because it addresses so many themes on so many levels.  It's so complex it's hard not to get wrapped up in the ideas.  It's one of those books that _felt_ important to me as I was reading it.


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## 1109 (Mar 27, 2014)

As far as humor goes, I was always partial to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Twain's cynicism towards the romanticism of the day made me smile. More importantly, it taught me the value of not taking your own story too seriously.


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## riven_hands (Mar 27, 2014)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy -- Disregarding Tolstoy's heavy-handed philosophy of historical inevitability, this is how historical fiction should be written.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo -- The book is so much more than the musical and movie ever aspired to.


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## Caragula (Mar 28, 2014)

Atonement - Ian McEwan


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## Rip Van Twinkle (Apr 8, 2014)

_The Long Walk _by Stephen King.  I really think everyone should give this one a once-over.


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## JimJanuary (Apr 10, 2014)

'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' -  Haruki Murakami

'A Visit From the Goon Squad' - Jennifer Egan 

'White Noise' - Don Delillo


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## Gyarachu (Apr 10, 2014)

The Hobbit - Tolkien

So. Much. Classic. It's my desert island book, no doubt about it.


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## Skodt (Apr 10, 2014)

Brandon Sanderson has an epic fantasy out that he is planning ten books for. The series is called Stormlight Archives and I recommend both books. The world building in these two books is amazing, and probably the best world building I have ever read.


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## A_Jones (Apr 10, 2014)

Literary wise?  I would agree with many of what the teachers decided we should read in school, but others too.   Like, The Giver, is a real good one!  But I also think that the manga PLUTO based on Astro Boy is a must read.  However many will disagree.  

Tezuka is an amazing writer in my head and I automatically think people should read his work.  But the graphic novel is not looked upon seriously in the literary world just yet. 

There is a couple short stories I think everyone should read.  Contents of a Dead Man's Pocket by Jack Finney is one as well as The Yellow Wallpaper by Charolette Perkins Gilman is another.  That one I definitely suggest women read. 

anyway.....


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## Bard_Daniel (Apr 11, 2014)

Flowers for Algernon.


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## Clove (Apr 17, 2014)

_One Hundred Years of Solitude, _​RIP Gabo.


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## Bard_Daniel (Apr 18, 2014)

Clove said:


> _One Hundred Years of Solitude, _​RIP Gabo.



So good.


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