Books you should read before you die and are dead.

[Psycho Nulltard]

Yes, most of the stories worth telling were told in the form of RPGs, but a few of them were expressed in the form of books (words printed on paper pages, bound together at obnoxiously great lengths exceeding even the hardiest game manual).

Recently I've been confronted with mortality and it occured to me that there are certain "books" that nobody should die without reading. Beyond that, it occurred to me that some of these "books" may not be known to me. How tragic to think that there are worthy stories out there yet to be consumed that may go unnoticed by any of us before we become soylent green!

Tell me... tell me NOW!  What "book" should I read before my time here expires?

In return, I shall tell you of some "books" that you should read.

For starters, nobody should complete their corporeal existence without reading at leastone of Kurt Vonnegut's books. I'd recommend Cat's Cradle for starters, and if you like it then you should proceed to read Breakfast of Champions and all of his other books. Seriously. All of them.  Cat's Cradle could be classified as a sci-fi non-satirical satire of life, love, and religion woven together in a tale that takes the reader to the very end of human history.  If it tickles your fancy, then you will not find a Vonnegut book that you do not like.

There are many others that I would have you read, but this thread is all about give and take. You have the first of the recommendations I've given, so I'm goingt to take one of yours before tendering another.

What should everyone read, and why should they read it?

GO!

[BlueBMW]

Ill be honest... I hated Slaughterhouse 5...

As far as recommendations...  I thought Enders Game was pretty slick, though I couldnt get into any of the later books.

[SuperDeadite]

While it seems to have created quite a few hate filled anti-fanboys over the years.  I still love the Wheel of Time.  Started reading it back in elementary school, and finally finished it a few months ago.  There is a point in the series where the plot moves at a snails pace as certain characters play catch-up with each other.  But the last 2 books were fucking incredible.  And I adore the enormous cast of the series.  Once snowboard season is over, I think I'm gonna read through the entire series again.

[Psycho Punch]

50 shades of gray
juliette society

have fun.

[Psycho Punch]

One should not die without reading at least one of Stephen King's books. I particularly like the Bachman books, like RAGE, Roadwork, The Long Walk... The Dark Tower series is a good recommendation too. His books are more "commercial" than art? Maybe but who cares really, they're entertaining and well written, so they're worth your time.

[pulstar]

Anything by Haruki Murakami. Most people say to start with Norwegian Wood because it is his straightest book. I would say jump in the deep end and red Wind-up Bird Chronicles or Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. But really, anything by Murakami is worth reading more than once.

His books could really be described as sci-fi, detective story and comedy all rolled into one.

[esteban]

The Adobe Flash Bible

The Webmaster's Guide to a Successful Career

Everything You Wanted to Know About Amway But Were Afraid to Ask

[Tatsujin]

books? is that something to eat?

[SamIAm]

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey.

As the author himself said, I wouldn't personally blow up the Glen Canyon Dam. But if someone else wanted to, I'd hold the flashlight for them while they rigged the explosives.

[Paddyfitz18]

Nice.  I just had a recent brush with death myself.  30 days in the hospital.  About 1/2 that time in the ICU.  Just got out two weeks ago.  Had time to contemplate all sorts of existential problems.  Good stuff.  Anyway, here goes:

Complete short stories of Ernest Hemingway.
Jude the Obscure (T. Hardy).
Underground History of American Education (Gatto).
You Can't Win (Black).
Into the Wild (Krakauer).
Walden (Thoreau).

Why?  Just because they are some good ones.

[jtucci31]

This is awesome i need new book recommendations!

I recently read a book called 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It was fantastic. It's about a guy who can time travel so he tries to stop the JFK assassination. But along the way finds love. It's got sci-fi, murder mystery, detective, action, and love. It is such a good book. 

[Nando]

Prometheus Rising. By Robert Anton Wilson.
A manual for your brain basically.

Matter by Ian M Banks.

+100000 on the Wheel of time series.

The invisibles by Grant Morrison

We 3 by Grant Morrison.

[ToyMachine78]

The original Dragon Lance trilogy, and any book involving Drizzt

[glazball]

Catcher in the Rye / Salinger
1984 / Orwell

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid / Douglas Hofstadter
In Search of Schrödinger's Cat / John Gribbin
Cosmos / Carl Sagan
The New Inquisition / Robert Anton Wilson <-possibly the best author I've ever read

Rule By Secrecy / Jim Marrs
The Biggest Secret / David Icke
The Matrix / Valdamar Valerian

[OldRover]

50 shades of gray

Why anyone would actually want to read this book is beyond me... unless you're reading it because you want to see how poorly a book can be written about the subject matter.

[roflmao]

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein. Most of what I've read of his has been pretty good, but this one is beyond stellar.

[HailingTheThings]

[xcrement5x]

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein. Most of what I've read of his has been pretty good, but this one is beyond stellar.

That's a great book, Starship Troopers is also a solid read. 

[Psycho Punch]

You guys reminded me of another great book, Forever War. Seriously go read it. Like, now.

[wildfruit]

Anything by garrison keillor or bill bryson

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Read the Dune hexology.

Why anyone would actually want to read this book is beyond me... unless you're reading it because you want to see how poorly a book can be written about the subject matter.

Sooooo..... you've read it?

[JoshTurboTrollX]

The Death Gate Cycle series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis.

Also, the books of Xanth by Pierce Anthony.

[Nando]

The Death Gate Cycle series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis.

+1 Dare I say this, I like them better than the DragonLance books.

[roflmao]

The Death Gate Cycle series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis.

+1 Dare I say this, I like them better than the DragonLance books.

Mighty compelling.  Their Dragonlance stuff was what got me into reading the Fantasy genre back in middle school. I won one of their books at a bingo tournament held at my local library.

[NightWolve]

The first two books I ever sat down to read, which was always something I was reluctant to do (just sitting there, turning page after page, is very boring/tedious for me and not something I could ever do much of), were 1) "1984" and 2) "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, so I guess those would have to be on my recommendation list. A guy called Stone on the TheNextLevel forums recommended them to me, that I would like the subject matter and so forth, so I finally bought both of them and committed to reading them all the way through.

Good thing about a well-written book is that it helps improve your English writing skills, for example, I didn't know how to use a semi-colon very well, but in "1984," Orwell uses it frequently so it kinda helped me get the hang of it. Several reasons, including these books, led me to make a very conscious decision to really try to improve my writing skills and I have, quite a bit from my early days on the Internet as a matter of fact when I used to think it was cool to type in compressed Internet lingo (e.g. "Hey, wat r u up to, dood ??")...

So yeah, it's true...reading books makes you smarter, if you're willing and not lazy like me... ;)

[JoshTurboTrollX]

An actual helpful book for learning moon runes:
http://www.tofugu.com/japanese-resources-old/hiragana42/

[wildfruit]

An actual helpful book for learning moon runes:
http://www.tofugu.com/japanese-resources-old/hiragana42/

Wow thanks for the tip
Got the vowel equivalents and "k" section down already 😊

[Nando]

The Death Gate Cycle series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis.

+1 Dare I say this, I like them better than the DragonLance books.

Mighty compelling.  Their Dragonlance stuff was what got me into reading the Fantasy genre back in middle school. I won one of their books at a bingo tournament held at my local library.

Don't get me wrong; I love the Dragonlance world. However, I think they weaved a WAY better story with Death Cycle.  Where as Dragonlace was straight up Tolkien like lore and quest. Which I may add, that's where The Wheel of Time seems to go at first, until it literally bitch slaps you into amazement. Battle scenes in those series are amazing!

+1 on the Dark Elf series as well.  I'd suggest the Icewind Dale trilogy, before reading the Dark Elf Trilogy. 

[kentuckycc]

I love the Martian Chronicles. I think the Sci-Fi genre is always appropriate after a brush with death, because it deals with things we're never going to experience.

It's one of his best works IMO. Lots of stories with lots of ideas to explore and think about. Or Dandelion Wine if you prefer to look in the other direction

[Nando]

My Life With The Spirits: The Adventures of a Modern Magician by Lon Milo Duquette. Fun book, don't let the title scare you off.

[esadajr]

The Monk who sold his ferrari by Robin Sharma

[Nando]

discworld thief of time

[esteban]

The Death Gate Cycle series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis.

+1 Dare I say this, I like them better than the DragonLance books.

Mighty compelling.  Their Dragonlance stuff was what got me into reading the Fantasy genre back in middle school. I won one of their books at a bingo tournament held at my local library.

Don't get me wrong; I love the Dragonlance world. However, I think they weaved a WAY better story with Death Cycle.  Where as Dragonlace was straight up Tolkien like lore and quest. Which I may add, that's where The Wheel of Time seems to go at first, until it literally bitch slaps you into amazement. Battle scenes in those series are amazing!

+1 on the Dark Elf series as well.  I'd suggest the Icewind Dale trilogy, before reading the Dark Elf Trilogy.

Damn, I read the Icewind Dale trilogy back when. I completely forgot about that—fun stuff.

[roflmao]

I second the Martian Chronicles.  Awesome read.

And the Icewind Dale trilogy.  Drizzt is a badass!