Required reading?

Tek7

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
I'm logged into my area's public library web site and trying to think of books to reserve for pickup during my next trip to the library.

What would you all recommend as "required reading"?
 
Wow thats a huge question. What area do you want to read? I assume fiction to start with.

Whats your previous reading? or are you just asking what kind of books do we like best?
 
rizz said:
Wow thats a huge question. What area do you want to read? I assume fiction to start with.

Whats your previous reading? or are you just asking what kind of books do we like best?
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Fiction or non-fiction, though I personally prefer fiction.

I gravitate toward science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. To give you an idea of my tastes, here's a short list of books I've recently read or am currently reading:
  • Brave New World Revisited
  • Maus: A Survivor's Tale
  • The Illustrated Guide to Celtic Mythology
  • The Way to Eternity: Egyptian Myth
  • The Eternal Cycle: Indian Myth
 
If you've never read Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow, those are two of my absolute favorites. In truth, anything by Orson Scott Card is bound to be great, especially the Shadow series (Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hedgemon, Shadow of the Giant). I'd also recommend Terry Goodkind's books, staring with Wizard's First Rule.
 
What about some of the classics. My favs are the Russians such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Tolstoy (note that both were Christians - with differing degrees of sucecss- and it is interesting to note their different views of faith that come through their writting.

Oh and a little know book but one that is an absolute must is "The man that was Thrusday" By GK Chesterton. The first 3/4 of the book is excellent fiction then it devolves into a theology book which is good but with a fiction twist that makes it quite bizzar.

Finally, anything and everything by Oscar Wilde is a must in my opinion (how good is the importance of being earnest)
 
tjguitarz said:
If you've never read Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow, those are two of my absolute favorites. In truth, anything by Orson Scott Card is bound to be great, especially the Shadow series (Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hedgemon, Shadow of the Giant). I'd also recommend Terry Goodkind's books, staring with Wizard's First Rule.
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I went ahead and reserved Ender's Game and Wizard's First Rule.

ppar3566 said:
What about some of the classics. My favs are the Russians such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Tolstoy (note that both were Christians - with differing degrees of sucecss- and it is interesting to note their different views of faith that come through their writting.
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I had to read Crime and Punishment in high school. While I enjoyed what Dostoevsky accomplished in the work, I remember it being very difficult to read through as it seemed very dry and depressing. Of course, having studied an overview of Russian history, I can see why works from any Russian author would be depressing.

Still, I'll make a note to check out The Best Short Stories of Dostoevsky in the future.

ppar3566 said:
Oh and a little know book but one that is an absolute must is "The man that was Thrusday" By GK Chesterton. The first 3/4 of the book is excellent fiction then it devolves into a theology book which is good but with a fiction twist that makes it quite bizzar.
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Heh, sounds like the Dune series.

I'll check it out.

EDIT: Oh, this is cool: My local library has made The Man That Was Thursday e-book available online.
ppar3566 said:
Finally, anything and everything by Oscar Wilde is a must in my opinion (how good is the importance of being earnest)
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Anything in particular? I'm hoping to get the "best of" or "most important work of" any author I check out.
 
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Hey Tek,

All the books discussed above you can generally get for free as an e-book. I have everything that Oscar Wilde wrote on my hard drive all for free. I also got classics like call of the wild. My wife also downloads lots of free short stories. I will post the website when she gets home and tells me what it is.

For Oscar Wilde I would get The portrait of Dorian Gray and THe important of being Earnest. While your on it get the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe for the brief moments when you need something quick to read.

Edit: I got my free e-books from http://www.blackmask.com
 
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The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan
Redwall Series by Brian Jaques (for slightly younger kids, but I still really like them.)
 
Tek7 said:
I had to read Crime and Punishment in high school. While I enjoyed what Dostoevsky accomplished in the work, I remember it being very difficult to read through as it seemed very dry and depressing. Of course, having studied an overview of Russian history, I can see why works from any Russian author would be depressing.
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I like Crime and Punishment a lot (and I'm not just saying that because it makes me look smart because it's the most "heady" book I've ever read, except the Bible). At first it was very depressing but it was so necessary to caring about and understanding the main character and ultimately his redemption. I'd like to finish Uncle Tom's Cabin but I've gotten away from it. While the writing style is just ok it shows such a strong Christian viewpoint and had such a impact on abolishing slavery the book is a worthwhile read. What is sad is people may know of the books' existences and that they where popular once but don't know how Christian they are. Of course what people do know is Uncle Tom's Cabin has "that word" in it. I've also heard Black people on TV say "I ain't no Uncle Tom" while in reality the man had such honor I'd be proud to be called after him.

I very much like Charles Dickens's writing style as well.

I'd just thought I'd mention open source book places do exist online http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page . It's harder to read on a computer but you could download and peruse some old classics to see what you like then check them out later at your library.

Admit it Tek this whole thread is only because of what was said here http://www.cgalliance.org/forums/showthread.php?p=295321#post295321 . Icthus you shamed him into it... err... shame on you. Don't feel bad Tek we love you even if you aren't as smart as you once were (hehe I twist the knife) :p .
 
In terms of fiction. I recently enjoyed the night watch books by sergei luykenyenko (sp?) and the dexter series by jeff lindsay. Both wonderefully written.
 
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I now have 5 books on hold at the local library. I've also saved everyone's suggestions to OneNote.

Keep the suggestions coming! We can use this as a central thread to recommend important books to other avid readers.
 
Tek7 said:
I went ahead and reserved Ender's Game and Wizard's First Rule.
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I'm so jealous. You get to read these great books for the first time! Keep in mind that there are 12 books in Terry Goodkind's series and each are 200,000+ words. THEY WILL TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE!!!! I'm so jealous... you're going to have so much fun.
 
For scifi? I'll insert a shameless plug for Battletech here. I love the series, particularly early ones, the Warrior Trilogy is great
 
The Foundation books by Isaac Asimov are pretty interesting.

Also, as long as you're reading Orson Scott Card, I like The Worthing Chronicles a lot. I think it's put together of a book and couple short stories, but it was definitely kinda of out there.

By the way, Ender's Game is being turned into...a game....
 
I should mention Flannery O'Connor and Tobias Wolff, both of whom are some of the greatest Christian authors ever and you... have never... heard of them...

Well, maybe you have but you certainly don't find their works in Christian bookstores. At least I don't. /frusteration.

Flannery O'Connor writes dark, violent works that you read and shake your head and then re-read and realize that somewhere through it all grace and love triumphed even though you didn't notice where or how it happened. She's a wonderful author, just for that.

Tobias Wolff writes stories of grace that are so poignant that they get right up inside you.

Both authors are essential in a religious climate that has really forgotten what grace actually is.
 
BE CAREFUL

tjguitarz said:
I'd also recommend Terry Goodkind's books, staring with Wizard's First Rule.
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FYI. I started reading Wizard's First Rule and really loved the first book. The second book however was so graphic and satanic I had to put it down. There is a scene envolving a woman being raped by a demon.

I am not trying to pass judgment on the series as a whole I just know they were too much for me.

Blessings.
 
I second the nominations for Ender and Wheel of Time. The Wheel of Time can keep you busy for awhile.

If your library has it (ours does, but I dunno if everyones' would), then I would also suggest Chris Walley's Lamb Among the Stars trilogy. It's a Christian science fiction, but honestly one of the best sci fi series' I've ever read.
http://www.chriswalley.net/LAS_history.html
 
Starship Troopers and The Space Trilogy are great. Starship Troopers is military and philosophical sci-fi, and The Space Trilogy is a classic Christian sci-fi.
 
I am going to suggest something different. I just brought 100 classic books for my DS and read through "The Importance of being Earnest". I love this book and it is on of the few books I can read over and over again. It sounds like and uses the setting of a romance but it is by no means a romance.

Happy reading :)
 
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