xkcd

by **Microscopic cog** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:49 am UTC

Updated, more books omnomnom.

We're huge Douglas Adams fanboys.

Spoiler:

by **Jumble** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 8:22 pm UTC

We're even more fanboys & girls than that. There's another vote for h2g2 buried in the singles at number 15. Can I just say thanks to Microscopic cog for compiling all this - it's fascinating reading.

(It also restores my faith in humanity to see Dan Brown still at the bottom of the table)

by **TopHat** » Mon May 02, 2011 5:06 am UTC

Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Also, can I cast a negative vote? I'd like to take some books down a few notches. :wink:

by **Microscopic cog** » Mon May 02, 2011 10:38 am UTC

Thanks Jumble, it's not a big deal though, I like doing it and it keeps me from having to make my own reading list.

Negative votes don't seem like a great idea haha.

Updated:

Spoiler:

by **Aiwendil** » Mon May 02, 2011 3:49 pm UTC

There's another vote for h2g2 buried in the singles at number 15.

I think that was a vote for just the first book as opposed to the whole series, hence its being counted separately.

by **Microscopic cog** » Mon May 02, 2011 3:54 pm UTC

Yea about that...I read Jumble post, checked, saw he was right. Then I had the same thought as you and looked for a post that only voted for the book and not the series. Aaaaand.. I couldn't find it. So unless we find the origin of that vote, I'm going to put it up as a vote for the series.

by **GabrielF** » Thu May 12, 2011 2:32 pm UTC

No particular order. Cutting this to 20 was painful.

1. The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass
2. The Periodic Table - Primo Levi
3. The Futurological Congress - Stanislaw Lem
4. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
5. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin
6. The Shipping News - E. Annie Proulx
7. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
8. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
9. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
10. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
11. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
12. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
13. The Trial - Franz Kafka
14. Empire Falls - Richard Russo
15. The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
16. Waiting for the Barbarians - JM Coetzee
17. American Pastoral - Philip Roth
18. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
19. The Magicians - Lev Grossman
20. Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges

by **Aiwendil** » Thu May 12, 2011 3:53 pm UTC

Updated.

Spoiler:

by **ilokoipi** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:56 pm UTC

A Song of Ice and Fire (series) ( George R.R. Martin )
American Gods ( Neil Gaiman )
Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi/Not Before Sundown ( Johanna Sinisalo )
Farseer (series) ( Robin Hobb )
Harry Potter (series) ( J.K. Rowling )
How I Live Now ( Meg Rosoff )
Jonathan Livingston Seagull ( Russell Munson )
Sinuhe egyptiläinen/The Egyptian ( Mika Waltari )
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time ( Mark Haddon )
The Five People You Meet in Heaven ( Mitch Albom )
The Handmaid's Tale ( Margaret Atwood )
The Hobbit ( J.R.R. Tolkien )
The Little Friend ( Donna Tartt )
The Lord of the Rings ( J.R.R. Tolkien )
The Secret History ( Donna Tartt )
Watership Down ( Richard Adams )

That was more difficult than I thought.

by **jawdisorder** » Mon May 23, 2011 8:49 pm UTC

Song of Ice and Fire (series)
Prince of Nothing (series)
Dune (series)
Foundation (series)
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
Ender's Game
Catch 22
Necronomicon

by **frogman** » Tue May 24, 2011 5:18 am UTC

The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
Robot series - Isaac Asimov
Empire novels - Isaac Asimov
Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Alice Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
Harry Potter series - J. K. Rowling
The Once and Future King - T. H. White
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Bone series - Jeff Smith

by **Aiwendil** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:30 pm UTC

Updated.

Spoiler:

by **Chuff** » Sun May 29, 2011 2:11 am UTC

1984-George Orwell
Waverley-Sir Walter Scott
Discworld Series-Terry Pratchett
Death of a Salesman-Arthur Miller
Harry Potter Series-JK Rowling
Dirk Gently Series-Douglas Adams
Ender's Shadow-Orson Scott Card (I read it first, and thus have always liked it more)
Catcher in the Rye-JD Salinger
Macbeth-William Shakespeare
Pygmalion-George Bernard Shaw
Antigone-Sophocles
Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron-Jasper Fforde
Mimus-Lilli Thai
Looking for Alaska-John Green
That's it for now.

by **ThreeColours** » Mon May 30, 2011 5:00 pm UTC

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - Milan Kundera
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks :oops:

Jaques Le Fataliste - Denis Diderot
Focault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller - Italo Calvino
Immortality - Milan Kundera
The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks - Christopher Brookmyre
The Accidental - Ali Smith
The Crucible - Arthur Miller
The Royal Hunt of the Sun - Peter Schaffer

by **Nat** » Mon May 30, 2011 10:50 pm UTC

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell. (also a lot of others, but I went for one I haven't seen here).

by **Aiwendil** » Tue May 31, 2011 12:50 am UTC

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell. (also a lot of others, but I went for one I haven't seen here).

It does actually have one vote already (from me, I think), but yeah, it definitely deserves more.

Updated list:

Spoiler:

by **Hofstadter'sLaw** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:10 am UTC

It – Stephen King
Odd Thomas series – Dean Koontz
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Stand - Stephen King
The Dark Tower series - Stephen King
Johnny Got His Gun – Dalton Trumbo
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
1984 - George Orwell
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Stevenson
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
Red Badge of Courage – Steven Crane
From the Corner of His Eye –Dean Koontz
Sherlock Holmes stories - Conan Doyle

by **Sweeney_Todd** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 7:16 pm UTC

My vote:

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - (series) - Douglas Adams
Harry Potter-(series)-J.K. Rowling
A Separate Peace- John Knowles
The Book Thief- Markus Zusak
The Interpretation of Dreams- Sigmund Freud
The Phantom Tollbooth- Norton Juster

by **Pella86** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:48 pm UTC

Terry Pratchett _ The fantastic light (La luce fantastica)
Terry Pratchett _ The science of disc world
Adam Douglas _ The Hitchecker guide to the galaxy
Philipp Pullman _ The golden compass
Micheal Ende _ The Neverending Story
C.S. Lewis _ The chronicles of Narnia
J.R.R. Tolkien _ The lord of the Rings

by **Kewangji** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:55 am UTC

Pella86 wrote:Terry Pratchett _ The science of disc world

Oh, come on. Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen get no credit?

by **sasDC** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:14 am UTC

Alright, in no particular order:

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - (series) - Douglas Adams
Harry Potter-(series)-J.K. Rowling
The Phantom Tollbooth- Norton Juster
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
1984 - George Orwell
Robot series - Isaac Asimov
A Wrinkle in Time (series)
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Stevenson
The Catcher in the Rye -Salinger

by **Obby** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:52 pm UTC

I know I posted at the beginning of this thread, but at that point I hadn't read any of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin.

Now that I have read most of it, I would like to add that to my list, as it's damnably brilliant.

by **Pandorly** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:08 pm UTC

I picked 20 (with immense difficulty) and they're in alphabetical order according to the author's surname.

1. Kingdom Come - J.G. Ballard
2. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
3. Arthur and George - Julian Barnes
4. Staying Alive - Matt Beaumont
5. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
6. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
7. Discourse on Method - Rene Descartes
8. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
9. The Informers - Bret Eason Ellis
10. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
11. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
12. Ulysses - James Joyce
13. The Trial - Franz Kafka
14. The Call of C'thulu and other Weird Tales - H.P. Lovecraft
15. On Liberty - J.S. Mill
16. 1984 - George Orwell
17. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
18. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
19. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
20. A Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

I have omitted some absolutely incredible authors. Dostoyovsky, de Beauvoir, Nabakov, Tolstoy, Twain, Dickens, Hawthorne, Fielding, Updike, Faulkner and many others; I am truly sorry...

by **Fedechiar** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:53 pm UTC

1. Hyperion (D. Simmons)
2. The end of Eternity (I. Asimov)
3. The Foundation cycle (I. Asimov)
4. The Hitchhiker "trilogy" (D. Adams)
5. Snowcrash (N. Stephenson)
6. The world of Null-A (A. Van Vogt)
7. The moon is a harsh mistress (R. Heinlein)
8. Portnoy's complaint (P. Roth)

by **Adacore** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:45 am UTC

Updated the list, and standardised the formatting a little:

Spoiler:

by **adho** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 9:55 am UTC

H2G2 - Douglas Adams (because all the cool kids are doing it :wink:

)
Uncle Tungsten - Oliver Sacks
The Last Days of Socrates - Plato (Am I allowed to put that? Alternatively, just Crito.)
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie - May Gibbs
The Muddleheaded Wombat - Ruth Park
The Permit - Donald Horne
The Odyssey - Homer
Robot series - Asimov
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Cannery Row - Steinbeck
His Dark Materials trilogy - Philip Pullman
Peter and Wendy - J. M. Barrie
Tales of the Otori trilogy - Lian Hearn
The BFG - Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
On The Beach - Nevil Shute
Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Tarantuala - Bob Dylan (not for it as a whole, but the tiny bits that I fell in love with)

I am assuming no plays, only novels and short story collections?

by **Pandorly** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:50 am UTC

I forgot completely about Steinbeck, one of the best authors ever. This time last year, I had almost finished reading his bibliography in two months. He's the definition of "unputdownable"!

This is a great thread for reading suggestions, incidentally. Forgot I've been meaning to read Nabakov's dystopian stuff until I saw him mentioned here.

by **adho** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:18 am UTC

Pandorly wrote:I forgot completely about Steinbeck, one of the best authors ever. This time last year, I had almost finished reading his bibliography in two months. He's the definition of "unputdownable"!

Oh I know. I did a critical analysis of modernism for high school last year. Faulkner, Hemmingway, Frost, Eliot, etc were alright, but Steinbeck blew me away.

by **Bételgeuse** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:32 am UTC

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Adams)
L'homme qui plantait des arbres (Giono)
The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
Riftwar Cycle (Feist)
Foundation (Asimov)
The Neverending Story (Ende)
A clockwork orange (Burgess)
Lolita (Nabokov)
Ulysse (Joyce)
Utopia (More)
The Portrait of Dorian Gray (Wilde)
Extraordinary Stories (Edgar alan Poe, trad. Beaudelaire)
Dune (Herbert)
Northern Lights (Pullman)
1984 (Orwell)
Salammbô (Flaubert)
L'assommoir (Zola)
Le Lys dans la Vallée (Balzac)
Belle du Seigneur (Cohen)
Lady Chatterley's Lover (Lawrence)
Les liaisons dangereuses Laclos)
Das Parfum (Süskind)
A song of ice and fire (Martin)

by **mosc** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:23 pm UTC

Sweeney_Todd wrote:My vote:
A Separate Peace- John Knowles

I just choked on my own vomit...

by **Aiwendil** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:56 am UTC

Updated.

Spoiler:

by **forbz1** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:32 pm UTC

Joined just to post this. Okay, I lied a bit. I joined so I can partake in discussion with all of you awesome people!

Spoiler:

by **djkjr** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:15 am UTC

"Into The Wild" - Jon Krakauer
Seriously, I can't believe this book isn't on the list (well, I suppose I can)
This was a fantastic non-fiction that stirred my adventurous spirit with wonder and worry all at once.
If you haven't do, please, check it out.
Also, I read "Ender's Game" because of this thread, and I must say, I was very pleased with the book!
And since there is only one other person who is showing Xanth love, my tally's will go for him too ^_^

(+1)'s
"Into The Wild" - Jon Krakauer
"Xanth Series" - Piers Anthony (suck it Pratchett)

by **Kewangji** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 12:42 pm UTC

djkjr:

ian wrote:FICTION ONLY!

by **Charlie!** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:52 pm UTC

Intentionally ones not yet on the list:

Kingdoms of the Wall - Robert Silverberg
The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Earthsea trilogy - Ursula Le Guin
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

by **djkjr** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 7:34 pm UTC

Kewangji wrote:djkjr:
ian wrote:FICTION ONLY!

Awhh damn, well. The book waaaaaaaaaaas good! Just sayin' :lol:

by **folkhero** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:16 pm UTC

There have been some other nonfiction that have slipped onto the list. Someone ought to clean those up.

by **djkjr** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:14 pm UTC

folkhero wrote:There have been some other nonfiction that have slipped onto the list. Someone ought to clean those up.

HAH! Take that!! (I'm just bein' snarky)

(+1)
"Waiting for Godot" - Samuel Beckett
"The Old Man and The Sea" - Hemingway

by **Superisis** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 9:30 pm UTC

Personal top 5 plus two late contenders:

The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
The Ink Drum by Günter Grass
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

by **forbz1** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:34 pm UTC

+1
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

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