# What are your must-read book recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527 "2001-08-28T15:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lucifer12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b38774/32.png) [@Lucifer12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucifer12)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/41 "2001-08-29T18:44:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\*First ones that popped into my head: > > John Gardner’s _Nickel Mountain_ (this is _not_ the spy-story John Gardner, this is the other one - the one who persuaded me that “American literature” wasn’t an oxymoron after all.) > /i]. \*\* Good call! I’m a big John Gardner fan - _Freddy’s Book_ should have gone into my OP. I’ve been meaning to re-read _Nickel Mountain_ for some time now, but I still want to read someone I haven’t read before… A friend recomended _Carter Beats The Devil_ by Glen David Gold. Anyone read it? ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/42 "2001-08-29T18:55:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maeglin \* > Besides Tartt’s wasted erudition, I just didn’t find the _people_ compelling. Or even remotely real. To me the SH seemed like a pretentious comic book. Then again, I would know all about stuff like that. 😉 Well, I think I may have liked the people because they were so unreal. I mean, they became more and more insane and twisted as the book went on,( you quitter 🙂 ) and the surreality was what grabbed me. Pillars of the Earth, though. Man. You’ve got to really really dig learning how to build a church to enjoy that book. And not enough sex for my tastes 😃 jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Pippi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Miss\_Pippi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Pippi)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/43 "2001-08-30T00:45:32Z")
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell Anthem by Ayn Rand I read those two once a year and am glad for where I live and for what I have. ---
**Author:** ![Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/44 "2001-08-30T01:04:35Z")
_Summer of '49_ David Halberstam _Into Thin Air_ Jon Krakauer _Lonesome Dove_ Larry McMurtry _The Godfather_ Mario Puzo _A Princess of Mars_ Edgar Rice Burroughs ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/45 "2001-08-30T01:15:35Z")
How can you people not like **Pillars of the Earth**? Great book! What sort of things rally go into the building of a medieval cahedral. Note that hey don’t even _start_ building until more than halfway into the book. Heck, I recommend it. In the same vein, I recommend **The Bronze God of Rhodes** by L. Sprague deCamp. If you can find it, that is. All the good books seem to go out of print. It’s about the building of the Colossus of Rhodes, told in detail by an engineer and classcist and historical novelist (not to mention science fiction and fantasy author of the highest order). as in PotE, the first half of the book sets up the historical situation. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/46 "2001-08-30T01:30:39Z")
The best story I ever read is Bridge Of Birds by Barry Hughart. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/47 "2001-08-30T01:46:03Z")
Anything by **Cecil Adams** all of the stories by **Rue De Day, story guy** All the **James Herriot** books. If you love animals this is required reading **Confederacy of Dunces** All **David Sedaris** **An Incomplete Education** -everything you should have learned in school and didn’t or proptly forgot immediatly after taking the test. Written by two Esquire editors, very funny and written so that you WANT to read it. **To Kill a Mockingbird** by Harper Lee **Gone With The Wind** Margret Mitchell-I love this book I think I took it out of the library at least 13 times in jr. high alone. I agree with none of it, but it was like a big window opening and I could see what the other side was thinking. I hope that makes sense. I’m sure tons more to follow ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/48 "2001-08-30T01:53:00Z")
and for those of you thinking about either **Moby Dick** or **David Sedaris** [here](http://www.esquire.com/humor/sedaris/articles/000301_mds_moby01.html) is a nice combination of the two ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/49 "2001-08-30T02:02:40Z")
I don’t know why, but the first book to pop into my head when I saw the OP was “The Cuckoo’s Egg” by Clifford Stoll. A very interesting read. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/50 "2001-08-30T02:05:20Z")
**Emily of New Moon** and the sequels **Emily Climbs** , and (I just forgot the name of the third one) by L. M. Montgomery. Just as good, if not better, than the **Anne of Green Gables** series. **White Noise** by Don Delillo. Intriguing look at modern society. **Linden Hills** by Gloria Naylor. **Dante’s Inferno** in an affluent black community. **Tarzan of the Apes** by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Much, much better than any of the movies. A brief query: Am I the only one in the world who absolutely loathed **The Catcher in the Rye**? I just can’t stand that whiney Holden Caulfield, yet everyone I’ve ever talked to loves him. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/51 "2001-08-30T06:45:39Z")
Although this series is fantasy, really they are books of incredible self sacrifice. Truly unbelievable. **Thomas Covenent Series** by Stephen R. Donaldson This one is by Dean Koontz, normally known for his horror novels, but this one is quite a bit different than the rest. **Strangers** A classic in the truest sense, **Sidhartha** by Hermann Hesse **Ringworld** by Larry Niven (actually there are plenty of must reads by him, and **Ender’s Game** by Orson Scott Card have been mention a few times… Take these serious, I nominate them again. Carl Sagan’s **Demon Haunted World** should be made required reading to graduate from anything greater than the fourth grade. And two toughies… I am sure to get flamed for this phrasing, however, it gets the point across. On the next two books, people I have aquainted with them either didn’t have the mind or the background to follow them, or they were among the most amazing books they had been exposed to. There seemed to be nothing in between. Really though, if the person didn’t report LOVING them, they reported not understanding them. Robert M Persig’s **Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance** to start. And second would be **Einstein’s Bridge** by John Cramer. This book truly requires a STRONG science background to get the most from it. This is the science fiction that science fiction authors should be reading. Astounding is not a strong enough word. Actually, if you have read this book, I would love to hear from you… Can’t be that many of us. ---
**Author:** ![G.Nome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/52 "2001-08-30T10:46:24Z")
How Proust Can Change Your Life - Alain De Botton The Consolations of Philosophy - Alain De Botton The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake The Doubters Companion - John Ralston Saul ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/53 "2001-08-30T14:04:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > How can you people not like **Pillars of the Earth**? Great book! What sort of things rally go into the building of a medieval cahedral. Note that hey don’t even _start_ building until more than halfway into the book. No kidding. first we have to read about how to find true north to position the cathedral, how and where we get the stone from, where everyone lives in relation to the stone, how churches are designed, how tools are used, how to get money for the church… 🙂 Don’t worry, I’ll finish it someday. But it feels more like a history lesson than an entertaining lay-in-the-bathtub-and-read book. For a quick, plane-trip book, I’d like offer **Mall** by Eric Bogosian. Super short, quick moving. It’s like reading an action movie. jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![Spoonbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spoonbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoonbender)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/54 "2001-08-30T14:19:07Z")
Some of these have already been mentioned: J.D. Salinger, _The Catcher in the Rye_ Jay McInerney, _Bright Lights, Big City_ Chuck Palahniuk, _Fight Club_ Carl Sagan, _The Demon-Haunted World_ ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/55 "2001-08-30T14:31:06Z")
History of Western Philosophy Bertram Russell I’m certainly not an athiest but I did feel like I was following the development of religion as man’s philosophical complexity was evolving. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/56 "2001-08-30T19:08:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \*\*\* > **A Prayer For Owen Meany** by John Irving should be read by everyone alive. > \*\* You and I are in complete agreement on this. Definitely one of my top 5 of all time, might be #1. Others that spring to mind: Lonesome Dove The Power of One (The description was totally uninteresting, but friend demanded I read it. LOVED it, cried like a baby) Stranger in a Strange Land Cold Mountain (hard to get into, but once I did I was in love) Memoirs of a Geisha ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/57 "2001-08-31T03:03:40Z")
Unintended Consequences by John Ross This is the book the government doesn’t want you to read. People told Ross that he should publish it under a pseudonym, but he didn’t. Sure enough, the feds are harassing him and his ex-wife (who is on good terms with him, fortunately!) They also threatened small businesses who sold it, to the point where they stopped doing so. However, the large bookstores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble still carry it. At one point Ross was saying he was working on a sequel, but now he says he’s not, “for health reasons”. Hmmm. It is a long book that goes into a lot of detail about the characters’ backgrounds before the exciting part starts. If you get bored during some of the earlier parts, stick with it. Believe me, the second half is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![schplebordnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@schplebordnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schplebordnik)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/58 "2001-08-31T04:20:26Z")
The Master & Margarita: Mikhail Bulgakov The Life & Opinions of Tritram Shandy, Gentleman: Laurence Sterne Gargantua & Pantagruel: Francois Rabelais Moby Dick: Herman Melville These are mostly great, but have some flat/not so great parts: Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain Fathers & Sons: Ivan Turgenev The Decameron: Bocaccio Oh, and props to the poster who referenced The Manuscript Found at Saragossa: Jan Potocki. You keep peeling the onion, and get more and more oddball connections… ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/59 "2001-08-31T05:02:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Nome \* > \*\*How Proust Can Change Your Life - Alain De Botton > The Consolations of Philosophy - Alain De Botton > \*\* I’ll second these. Both very rewarding, and not at all written in the elitist academic style that characterizes most philosophical treatments. My picks: **We wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda** , by Philip Gourevitch. He takes you there while managing to be neither sanctimonious nor dry and still moving and readable. No matter what you think, you won’t be able to put it down. **Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American indie underground 1981-1991** by Michael Azerrad. Even if the music isn’t your cup of tea, it’s fascinating to see how these marginalized bands with no major financial backing created a subculture thats effects are still being felt today. Then you can watch their inevitable implosions. **Lipstick Traces: A secret history of the 20th century** by Greil Marcus. Starts with the Sex Pistols, then goes on to cover underground art and philosophical movements throughout the past century (and beyond). Will change the way you think about the world. Warning: kinda pedantic. **The Elegant Universe** by Brian Greene. An excellent introduction to physics and the latest thoughts in superstring theory written for the layman. For fiction, I’d recommend **Geek Love** by Katherine Dunn. About a family of circus sideshow freaks. Haven’t read it in about ten years, but it was pretty dark and made an impression. Last but not least: **Pop. 1280** by Jim Thompson. So dark it goes beyond noir fiction. Like Camus’s “The Stranger” without the angst and rationalizations. Read it. ---
**Author:** ![Spooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Spooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spooky)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527/60 "2001-08-31T05:32:07Z")
Please don’t flame me!!! Desert island reading material: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-must-read-book-recommendations/78527.md?page=4)