Hey everyone! So this year, I really wanted to fall back in love with reading. I set a goal to read 12 books by the end of the year. It totally worked and I am currently at 17 completed books (will probably hit 20 by the end of Dec!). Im thinking about what goal to set next year and I would like to keep it around types of books… so what’s one book you’d tell someone they HAVE to read in their lifetime? Im currently reading a lot of fantasy but very open to lots of different genres. Help me put a few classics on the list!
The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown
Maneaters of Kumaon - Jim Corbett
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Might not fall in your radar but i’d highly suggest the books of Amin Maalouf. Especially the Samarkand.
Not everyone’s cup of tea but it is also never a a bad thing to get into philosophy rabbit hole. Thousands of classics there that’ll change your view on life.
And since you are an avid reader i should not be suggesting Dostoevsky i guess? (I don’t know what others think but after reading his books, everything changed for me. I guess i just wanted to say this and thats why i wrote it lol)
On another note, i salute your numbers. Impressive!!
If you like fantasy, Jules Verne and Arthur Conan-Doyle both wrote 19th-century fantasy that might interest you
Unpopular opinion: The Bible. Seriously. Actually reading it puts you a step ahead of most so-called religious people. You get to see how wide-spread the influences of the book are. All of sudden myriads of references and off-hand phrases, metaphors, and literary echoes become clear.
Something easier? Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: It walks you through a discussion of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and then a revolt against Aristotelian Subject/Object division, while on a cross-country motorcycle trip.
Just freaking good: Truman by David McCullough, Texas by James Michener.
To help you with adding some classics, as a bit of a classics gal myself:
I read the bell jar recently and loved it. My other favourite classics are: pride and prejudice, Emma, the catcher in the rye, the picture of Dorian grey, 1984, a clockwork orange, lord of the flies, letters to a young poet, to kill a mockingbird. I also like most of Shakespeare. I’ve just started Virginia Woolf ‘to the lighthouse’ and not sure if I’d recommend it as it’s not been the most engaging read so far. Next on my list are The Divine Comedy, The Iliad and Harper Lee’s sequel novel Go Set a Watchman, but I haven’t started these yet so can’t say if I’d recommend or not :)
Few randoms for you:
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Ken Kesey
- Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
- Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick
- Frankenstein - Mary Shelley