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[George Oscar Bluth II]

The Shahnameh

 

[Wensih]

I'll throw a few classics up that haven't been mentioned (and two of the best sci-fi works which I'm also counting as literary classics because they're as brilliant as anything else):

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me by Richard Farina

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

Independent People by Halldor Laxness

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany

 

[Any Questions]

I bought the entirety of Sherlock Holmes for 99p via Amazon. Fascinating to read the original version of a character so thoroughly adapted in pop culture.

Great shout. Also check out Conan the barbarian, the language is phenomenal. As for classic classics, Frankenstein and Dracula are worth reading.

 

[30yearsofhurt]

1984

If you're going to read 1984 I would also read Grapes of Wrath.

 

[blanchot]

echoing kafka, i recommend the metamorphosis and the trial.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Shogun

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Moby Dick is one of my favorite books, so that one. I will say, you can skip some of the longer cetelogy chapters though.

 

[_Ryo_]

I will limit this post to eight authors and post more later. Without further ado, three pieces from each Author in no particular order of quality.

By Jane Austen

1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Northanger Abbey
3. Persuasion

By Albert Camus

1. The Plague
2. The Stranger
3. The Fall (Play)

By Fyodor Dostoevsky

1. The Brothers Karamazov
2. Crime and Punishment
3. The idiot

By George Orwell

1. 1984
2. Animal Farm
3. Keep the Aspidistra Flying

By Kurt Vonnegut

1. Slaughterhouse Five
2. Cat's Cradle
3. Player Piano

By Joseph Heller

1. Good as Gold
2. Catch 22
3. Something Happened

By William Shakespeare

1. The Tragedy of Hamlet (Play)
2. Romeo and Juliet (Play)
3. Macbeth (Play)

By Edgar Allan Poe

1. The Raven (Poem)
2. The Tell-Tale Heart
3. The Fall of the House of Usher

 

[War Peaceman]

Loads of great suggestions in here.

Lolita is the best written book of all time. Any single page is written sweeter and with more malice than all else. Funnier and sadder too

Something I haven't seen mentioned is Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It is a really lovely reflection by a character on his life, musing on the passage of time and missed opportunities. It is understated and melancholic like few others.

 

[mid83]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going to put these recommendations into a spreadsheet to keep track of which books I eventually start reading.

Also, thanks for the comments specific to The Scarlet Letter. I hate not finishing books but it was just turning into a painful experience. Life is too short for that.