Amphigorey, and or the complete Amphigorey collection - it's Edward Gorey. a lot about the creative process, a lot about murdering people in interesting ways
The Woman in White - gothic! switched identities! Italian murder cults! yay!
I Capture the Castle - the creative process and falling in love, not at the same time. has the opening line: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink." too awesome for words.
uh... dammit... the complete Peter Wimsey series - I can't choose one! if I could, it would be Gaudy Night, but for the full force of that one, you've got to have at least read Strong Poison and Have His Carcase, and if you're going to do that, you might as well read them all... READ THEM ALL
Ficciones - Borges Lord of the Rings trilogy (in single novel form) - JRR Tolkien Sandman graphic novels (or Stardust, if you only have time for one) - Neil Gaiman (or Alan Moore's Watchmen) Call of Cthulu - HP Lovecraft Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald Lord of the Flies - William Golding 1984 - George Orwell Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster (or Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle) Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut Iliad/Odyssey combined set - Homer, Fagles or Fitzgerald trans.
Fwiw, I'd second Guns, Germs and Steel, Grimm's Tales, Ender's Game, and I'm sure I've just given you a bunch of books you already thought of... and also, i sort of cheated. good luck. :)
Sorry in advance...phylhrmnixApril 25 2007, 20:59:22 UTC
So, somewhere between stuffy classics-for-classics-sake and Star Wars novels:
1. Kurt Vonnegut - Welcome To The Monkey House. I'm a sucker for short stories, and nobody's going to argue with Vonnegut being immediate, alive, and timeless.
2. Roald Dahl - The BFG. I mean, don't make me choose between his books for children. This could just as well be Matilda.
3. Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation. 'cause you just gotta know. This might go hand in hand with Lies My Teacher Told Me4. Chuck Klosterman - Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs. Accessibly hip, keen-eyed, and thought-provoking
( ... )
if he's got kids, you need all the Harry Potters, of course. if he's got a scrap of human decency he'll include a music section of his library, in which case a REQUIRED piece would be Mozart's Requiem. I'd add Paradise Lost, too. I second The Complete Calvin and Hobbes... but he can't have mine. :) I'd toss in The Giver, too, if his kids will be reading from this. Ishmael. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Lord of the Flies ....and if he's the nerd that he is, maybe even the ender series?
Comments 6
- contains some of the wierd ones who may not even be saints anymore
Amphigorey, and or the complete Amphigorey collection - it's Edward Gorey. a lot about the creative process, a lot about murdering people in interesting ways
The Woman in White - gothic! switched identities! Italian murder cults! yay!
I Capture the Castle - the creative process and falling in love, not at the same time. has the opening line: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink." too awesome for words.
uh... dammit... the complete Peter Wimsey series - I can't choose one! if I could, it would be Gaudy Night, but for the full force of that one, you've got to have at least read Strong Poison and Have His Carcase, and if you're going to do that, you might as well read them all... READ THEM ALL
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales - has the whole collection, and it's the hardcore stuff
The Best of the Best: 20 Years of The Year's Best Science Fiction - an excellent collection, and ( ... )
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Lord of the Rings trilogy (in single novel form) - JRR Tolkien
Sandman graphic novels (or Stardust, if you only have time for one) - Neil Gaiman (or Alan Moore's Watchmen)
Call of Cthulu - HP Lovecraft
Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
1984 - George Orwell
Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster (or Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle)
Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Iliad/Odyssey combined set - Homer, Fagles or Fitzgerald trans.
Fwiw, I'd second Guns, Germs and Steel, Grimm's Tales, Ender's Game, and I'm sure I've just given you a bunch of books you already thought of... and also, i sort of cheated. good luck. :)
Reply
1. Kurt Vonnegut - Welcome To The Monkey House. I'm a sucker for short stories, and nobody's going to argue with Vonnegut being immediate, alive, and timeless.
2. Roald Dahl - The BFG. I mean, don't make me choose between his books for children. This could just as well be Matilda.
3. Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation. 'cause you just gotta know. This might go hand in hand with Lies My Teacher Told Me4. Chuck Klosterman - Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs. Accessibly hip, keen-eyed, and thought-provoking ( ... )
Reply
Reply
if he's got a scrap of human decency he'll include a music section of his library, in which case a REQUIRED piece would be Mozart's Requiem.
I'd add Paradise Lost, too.
I second The Complete Calvin and Hobbes... but he can't have mine. :)
I'd toss in The Giver, too, if his kids will be reading from this.
Ishmael.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Lord of the Flies
....and if he's the nerd that he is, maybe even the ender series?
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