books every home library should have

[crystalmoonshin]

No home library should be without comics: Maus, Watchmen, Persepolis, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Understanding Comics, A Contract With God, Starman Omibus. . . just to name a few.

Why not throw in a couple of Japanese manga, too? There are decent ones out there like "Angel Sanctuary" or "Full Metal Alchemist".

Or how about The Redwall series by Brian Jacques if you happen to live with kids?

[Apocrypha75]

Not sure if these are mentioned, but here's a few anyway:

The Count Of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
The Diary Of Anne Frank
The Day Of The Triffids - John Wyndham
Call Of The Wild - Jack London
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K Le Guin
Crime & Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
Watchmen - Alan Moore
Dune - Frank Herbert

Sorry if the above are a little eclectic but I think the books above offer a mixture of longevity and interest, which means you (and others) are always guaranteed a good read. There's a few classics and some more contemporary fair; something for the oldies and the youngsters and some flights of imagination and some brain fodder too.

[juhuulian]

most essential books
Letters to a christian nation-sam hitchins (atheist book but should be read by anyone)
The god dellusion-richard dawkins (same as above)
The picture of dorian grey and other short storie-oscar wilde
The third policeman-Flann O'brien

And anything else that you like

[WICKES]

Richard Dawkins: The Blind Watchmaker (covers evolution by natural selection- how it works etc. No one has the right to call themselves a thoughtful Christian until they have carefully read this. If your faith survives it then it will survive anything)

Stephen Hawking: A Brief History Of Time (opened the minds of a whole generation to black holes, space-time and event horizons)

Bertrand Russell: History Of Western Philosophy (not only covers the flow of western thought from the Greeks to Bergson but sets it in its historical context)

Aldous Huxley: Brave New World and George Orwell: 1984- books to be lived with, meditated upon and discussed.

Shakespeare's plays, or at least Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, The Tempest

E H Gombrich: The Story Of Art

[Scheherazade]

was just wondering what fiction and non-fiction is essential for my library, thanks

Those ones you really, really, really like or would consider reading again and again!

[ShoutGrace]

Hey, we just brought a new house and I have been given the spare room to start my own library. I have quite a few books but was just wondering what fiction and non-fiction is essential for my library, thanks

I started to collect books just after joining LitNet, when I was compelled by interest (and something more) to obtain two books which were receiving scrutiny on the boards at the time. Another relatively thorough forum discussion of a Robert Frost poem had me getting a small used edition of his collected works so that, not only could I read that specific poem when I had the urge, but I could also see whether anything else he penned was as rich.

Since then I've purchased or collected more than 3,000 books. Searching for specific books and idly browsing used book stores has been a large part of my life for years now. I live in a relatively small town which is blessed with 3 used books stores and 4 thrift stores. The former tend to overprice books (and I don't hold this against them), whereas the latter typically sell paperbacks for $.50 and hardbacks for $1. Out of even this small environment I've found ample variety. What I am deprived of locally can be obtained via the Internet and travel.

The 1200 or so books which comprise my 8 floor to ceiling bookcases would be able participants in a decent liberal education, to my mind. I have bookcases devoted to American history and literature, Shakespeare and poetry, Science and autodidaction, Philosophy and anthologies, etc.

I did not begin my activities with any particular objective, unless it were to discover what was most pleasurable and profitable in the world of letters and ideas. Which act, I think, is a moving personal experience.

I should add that my views on what constitutes "great" literature largely coincide with those of stlukesguild (inasmuch as I've seen). I imagine that some would identify my views as "elitist." I think this description, in its best sense, is a just one.

[sixsmith]

I started to collect books just after joining LitNet, when I was compelled by interest (and something more) to obtain two books which were receiving scrutiny on the boards at the time. Another relatively thorough forum discussion of a Robert Frost poem had me getting a small used edition of his collected works so that, not only could I read that specific poem when I had the urge, but I could also see whether anything else he penned was as rich.

Since then I've purchased or collected more than 3,000 books. Searching for specific books and idly browsing used book stores has been a large part of my life for years now. I live in a relatively small town which is blessed with 3 used books stores and 4 thrift stores. The former tend to overprice books (and I don't hold this against them), whereas the latter typically sell paperbacks for $.50 and hardbacks for $1. Out of even this small environment I've found ample variety. What I am deprived of locally can be obtained via the Internet and travel.

The 1200 or so books which comprise my 8 floor to ceiling bookcases would be able participants in a decent liberal education, to my mind. I have bookcases devoted to American history and literature, Shakespeare and poetry, Science and autodidaction, Philosophy and anthologies, etc.

I did not begin my activities with any particular objective, unless it were to discover what was most pleasurable and profitable in the world of letters and ideas. Which act, I think, is a moving personal experience.

I should add that my views on what constitutes "great" literature largely coincide with those of stlukesguild (inasmuch as I've seen). I imagine that some would identify my views as "elitist." I think this description, in its best sense, is a just one.

Sounds like a great journey.

[WICKES]

Richard Dawkins: The Ancestor's Tale is an absolute must. Some people think 'The Blind Watchmaker' is the best introduction to evolution by natural selection and his best book, but I have a feeling this will be seen as his greatest work. It is the most complete and up to date account of, well, how we got here that I am aware of.

[Aluminum]

A nice variety of golden books. Even if you don't have children, it's nice to have a couple sitting on the lower shelf for little guests. Many of the stories are just so sweet, and I'll admit I'm a sucker for uniform books sitting on the shelf. I read them all the time.

For other books,

Anna Karenina
The Phantom of the Opera
Grapes of Wrath
Where the Red Fern Grows
No Promises in the Wind
The Princess Bride

[promtbr]

Sounds like a great journey.

I concur.

Stlukesguild's list got it ('bout time somebody mentioned Moliere)

But the previous holding up of Heller to Cervantes tho...*edits endless versions of satirical, cliched remarks, because they fail to convey*

[mortalterror]

Stlukesguild's list got it ('bout time somebody mentioned Moliere)

I don't think Moliere is funny. I just don't like his work. I'd put John Wilmot's The Farce of Sodom up against Tartuffe any day of the week and twice on Sunday. After Lysistrata, that's the funniest play I've ever read and it seems to go unnoticed in the canon, unjustly so I believe. There's probably a lot of really great comedy that has been suppressed and lost to the ages, which led to the preservation of second rate works by genteel hacks. I wouldn't put Moliere in that company. His comedy is simply not to my taste; but I think the true history of comedy has yet to be fully written, and untold treasures lie unmined in the distant, forgotten past.

But the previous holding up of Heller to Cervantes tho...*edits endless versions of satirical, cliched remarks, because they fail to convey*

What is it you think Cervantes does that Heller doesn't?

[promtbr]

I don't think Moliere is funny. I just don't like his work. I'd put John Wilmot's The Farce of Sodom up against Tartuffe any day of the week and twice on Sunday. After Lysistrata, that's the funniest play I've ever read and it seems to go unnoticed in the canon, unjustly so I believe. There's probably a lot of really great comedy that has been suppressed and lost to the ages, which led to the preservation of second rate works by genteel hacks. I wouldn't put Moliere in that company. His comedy is simply not to my taste; but I think the true history of comedy has yet to be fully written, and untold treasures lie unmined in the distant, forgotten past.



What is it you think Cervantes does that Heller doesn't?

Of Moliere's plays, Tartuffe is way behind The Miser and The Misanthrope. I wasn't aware how Moliere's humor translates to the twitter generation was the gauge for his place on current bookshelves. I personally don't read him for laughs...

Cervantes created the two most towering characters in Literature. Put the 'Don and Sancho in the ring with Yossarian and see what happens (insert emoticon). They have been bantering their way down a country road for 4 centuries and will be doing so for a few millenia yet..

(all my not always so humble opinion of course)

[mortalterror]

Of Moliere's plays, Tartuffe is way behind The Miser and The Misanthrope. I wasn't aware how Moliere's humor translates to the twitter generation was the gauge for his place on current bookshelves. I personally don't read him for laughs...

I did not say that I thought Moliere was dated. I said that I did not find his jokes funny. Tartuffe was written and performed in 1664, The Farce of Sodom was written a scant eight years later. My favorite comic play, Lysistrata, was first performed in 411 B.C.. I see no reason for comedy to date any more than other works of literature.

Cervantes created the two most towering characters in Literature. Put the 'Don and Sancho in the ring with Yossarian and see what happens (insert emoticon). They have been bantering their way down a country road for 4 centuries and will be doing so for a few millenia yet..

(all my not always so humble opinion of course)

I'm aware that the book has stood the test of time, but I would not slight Catch-22 for not yet having the chance to do likewise. I like Yossarian more than I liked Don Quixote or Sancho Panza, but I didn't care for them all that much in the first place, and I don't know that characters are necessarily the strengths of either book.

I can think of a hundred places where I laughed out loud and was charmed by Catch-22, but only two where I even chuckled during my read of Don Quixote. I thought the best part of the book was when Don Quixote fought the Basque in a mock duel. I believe he was riding a donkey with a pillow strapped to his arm for a shield. After that, the book was less and less interesting to me. It annoyed me how Cervantes kept going back to that that lousy blanket tossing gag, like he thought it was the height of hilarity and would not let it go. I also liked the night at the haunted inn where everyone's fighting and mistaking identities and bed hopping. But it hasn't given me the same kind of mirth as Yossarian's "I see everything twice!" or his date with Luciana, or the time Milo bombed the airfield, or Hungry Joe fought the cat.

Don Quixote isn't even my favorite Spanish comic novel. I thought Lazarillo de Tormes was pretty good, if a little short, and what I've read of Quevedo's The Swindler really hit the spot. They were both more my type of humor and Don Quixote felt like an extended Punch and Judy show. Also, I think you are misrepresenting the conflict by weighing a duo verses a single protagonist. The comedy has to function differently with Yossarian not having a foil, but I think his supporting characters serve his turn well enough. There are about two dozen unique and enjoyable characters in Catch-22 but none of the minor characters in Don Quixote are even worth remembering. Part of the problem I had with Don Quixote was how lopsided the writing was. If you didn't like Don Quixote or Sancho Panza you had nowhere to go. They were amusing enough for about a hundred pages, but not for a thousand.

There just wasn't any variety to the story. It's like Cervantes set out to write another of his exemplary novels about this funny knight, ran out of material, and so he gave him a sidekick; which made the gags work a little longer. A long novel needs lots of characters to fill it out, like War and Peace. Don Quixote doesn't have that. It lives and dies on what you think of those two characters and whether you think they can sustain the narrative. In Catch-22, there's so much variety of situation and character. Heller doesn't spread himself thin. Don Quixote has a repetitious feeling to it. Two buffoons run into trouble and get beat up, then two buffoons run into trouble and get beat up.

I don't think it's fair to pit Yossarian alone against Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, but if you wanted to test them against Petronius' Encolpius and Ascyltus I'd have no qualms. They've stood the test of two millennia and by your reasoning would be worth five Quixotes, if that's how we're measuring things. They are likewise questers or pilgrims who run into frequent mishaps.

[JBI]

Moliere is hardly dated - I think he only gets funnier - certainly, something like Tartuffe may be a tad dated, but I think The Miser only got funnier with age.

[mortalterror]

Moliere is hardly dated - I think he only gets funnier - certainly, something like Tartuffe may be a tad dated, but I think The Miser only got funnier with age.

I don't recall if I've ever read The Miser, and it's been nearly ten years since I read The Misanthrope. But more recently, when I read The Imaginary Invalid and Don Juan I was underwhelmed once again. As you know, you and I don't exactly see eye to eye when it comes to humor. You find Jane Austen a stitch and I think The Taming of the Shrew is side slapping hilarious.

Maybe, there's a place we could both meet in the middle.