ULYSSES–Joyce
FICCIONES–Borges
MOLLOY, MALONE DIES, THE UNNAMEABLE (A TRILOGY)–Beckett
GRAVITY’S RAINBOW–Pynchon
V–Pynchon
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA–Gabriel Garcia Marquez
IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME–Proust
THE THIRD POLICEMAN–Flann O’Brien
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY–Roald Dahl
PALE FIRE–Nabakov
IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELLER…–Italo Calvino
1984–Orwell
THE RECOGNITIONS–William Gaddis
COLLECTED WORKS–Raymond Roussel
Die.
Nice way to introduce yourself Frankovich.
And wasn’t Godot a play, not a book?
Gone with the Wind
Huk huk huk don’t be so uptight? Heres some links to help you out:
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=jesting
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=sarcasm
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=cynicism
I don’t plan on sticking around anyway. A contact informed me of the gross misuse of the word influenctial and important, so I felt the need to rectify the situation immediately.
I’ll second/third/whatever these:
Animal Farm
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
To Kill a Mockingbird
New nominations:
Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Would The Wizard of Oz squeak in, having been published in 1900?
Forgot one:
WHITE NOISE–Don Delillo
Flim Flam!-James Randi
And another vote for * The Demon Haunted World*.
Oh, yeah, and Frankovich? Ya might wanna use your dictionary link on the word “influential”. :wally
See Muad, humor is good.
gives Buck a cookie
I can’t edit my posts anyway, it always says I don’t have enough access or something.
I should post something on topic though.
Lord of the Rings and 1984 would be my nominations.
If what people tell me is true, the book 1984 stirred up a lot of different reactions and the such in the first few decades after it was written.
After reading the thread I see both books have been mentioned several times. Since I can’t edit my post, I am forced to post again. Pardon the multiple postings in a row.
The Mismeasure of Man, Stephen J. Gould
The Schroedinger’s Cat Trilogy, Robert Anton Wilson
And a very strong seconding to the nominated titles by Nabakov, Borges and Calvino.
The Maltese Falcon Hammett
1984 Orwell
Animal Farm Orwell
The Sun Also Rises Hemingway
The Right Stuff Wolfe
In Cold Blood Capote
Portnoy’s Complaint Roth
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Kennedy
Lolita, Nabokov
Watership Down. Adams
The Cancer Pavilion, Solzhenytsin
Ten Days that Shook the World, Reed
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Shirer
Now, the next three titles are definitely controversial, not to say repugnant for most people, but they sure were influential in the 20[sup]th[/sup] century :
Mein Kampf, Hitler
Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book (or whatever its real title is)
Dianetics, Hubbard.
Strictly adhering to the OP, these are my choices, although I reserve the right to put more in, since I’ve been nutsing with this post for almost ten minutes:
Ulysses Joyce
Youth (Conrad’s book which included “Heart of Darkness,” 1904
KimKipling
Winesberg, Ohio Anderson
Lady Chatterly’s Lover
**The Great Gatsby ** Fitzgerald
The Sun Also RisesHemingway
**The Grapes of Wrath **Steinbeck
Catcher in the RyeSalinger
Power and the GloryGraham Greene
The Floating OperaBarth
On the RoadKerouac
The Housebreaker of Shady HillCheever
The CounterlifeRoth
Democracy and EducationDewey
New Viewpoints in American HistorySchlesinger
Eminent VictoriansStrachey
Civilization and its DiscontentsFreud
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Shirer
**The Grapes of Wrath **Steinbeck
1984 Orwell
**Animal Farm **Orwell
**The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy **Douglas Adams
The Stand Stephen King
**Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance **Pirsig
**Lord of the Flies **Golding
**Of Mice and Men **Steinbeck
The single most important book of the 20th century is definitely Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.
Slaughterhouse Five and Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut are right up there. As are Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Can you add negative votes to have books removed from the growing list?
I submit that [ul]* “Catcher in the Rye”
“Lord of the Flies”
“The Stand”
[/ul]* should not be on any classics list anywhere.
But I would add votes for:
non-fiction:
Architecture: A Critical History by Frampton
The Selfish Gene by Dawkins
also
The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
Orwell’s 1984, of course, but HOW can anyone ignore…
Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD!!!
I also vote for
(* denotes, I have not read but either know enough about it
or concede to its popular acclaim or that it’s influenced
people who have influenced me)
Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM
Tolkien’s LOTR & THE HOBBIT
CS Lewis’s CHRONICLES OF NARNIA+
SPACE TRILOGY (Out of the Silent Planet,
Perelandra, & best of all That Hideous Strength+)
TILL WE HAVE FACES
A GRIEF OBSERVED+
(and maybe MERE C’NITY & SCREWTAPE LETTERS… maybe)
Ayn Rand’s THE FOUNTAINHEAD
ATLAS SHRUGGED+
Vonnegut’s SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE
Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE WIND*
Walker Percy’s LOVE IN THE RUINS+
THE SECOND COMING+
LANCELOT
Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Stephen King’s CARRIE
THE STAND+
Ray Bradbury Collected Works (yeah, I’m cheating there L
but if nothing else- read the story I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC+)
Flannery O’Connor WISE BLOOD
Elie Wiesel’s NIGHT+
David Chilton’s THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE (Commentary on The Book of Revelation from a Preterist Postmillenial perspective)+
Frederich Von Hayek’s THE ROAD TO SERFDOM*
Rousas John Rushdoony’s INSTITUTES OF BIBLICAL LAW*
M Scott Peck’s THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED+
Milton Friedman’s FREE TO CHOOSE
Not particularly the best books on their subjects
but these are books which really influenced me at
certain times in life-
Taylor Caldwell’s CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS
DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN
Erich Von Daniken’s CHARIOTS OF THE GODS+
Brad Steiger’s MYSTERIES OF TIME AND SPACE+
Hal Lindsey’s THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH+
John Stormer’s NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON+
Gary North’s NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY+
That’s all I can think of at this time.
Just adding a few that I’m surprised no one mentioned:
How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, John Gray
1984 - Orwell
Brave New World - Huxley
Mein Kampf - Hitler (indeed influential)
Illuminatus - Wilson & Shea