Required reading

[Chuffy]

Lots of good books listed in this thread. Some I agree with, others I'm yet to read.
Here are some of my favourites so far.

To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee (is this the best book ever, maybe)
Cold Mountain-Charles Fraser (beautifully written)
Year of Wonders-Geraldine Brooks (great story)
The Forever War-Joe Haldeman (my favourite sci-fi single book)
Foundation Series-Issac Asimov (my favourite sci-fi series)
I Claudius & Claudius the God-Robert Graves (history at its best)
Lord of the Rings-you know who (it's a bit like "Dark side of the Moon" always making the all time favourite album list)
The Bourne Identity-Robert Ludlum (so hard to put down)
The Magus-John Fowles (wierd but compelling)

There's plenty more, these are just the tip of my literary ice berg.

[berry]

Can't believe I forgot 'The Chrysalids' by John Wyndam I think it was the first scinece fiction novel I ever read.

[aldan]

For me, I've read quite a few novels... but some of the better ones that I'd recommend are:

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
(also, his last juvenile, Starship Troopers)
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson
Sci Fi - Honor Harrington series, Fantasy - Bahzell Bahnakson series: both by David Weber
Drizzt Do'Urden books by R.A. Salvatore (the character is a fave of mine, well created and continues to interest me)
The first three (or 4, if you count Magician as 2 books) books of the Riftwar saga by Raymond Feist
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

I'm about to start reading my first Asimov novel (I finally found a copy of Foundation). It's considered a classic, but we'll see...

[Magus]

To my list I add Sophocles' Oedipus Rex.

[aldan]

I just hope you're not suggesting we read it in its original Greek language....

[Magus]

If you can, than I'd be for it. As a general rule all works of literature should be experienced in their original language, if possible. Translation is an artform in itself, and a poor one can ruin an otherwise masterful work of literature. I myself have read four seperate translations of Beowulf (I'm a literary nerd, I know), and without a doubt the best one was the Seamus Heany version, which gets as close to Olde English as our contemporary version will allow, and includes all of the styalistic devices present in the original text. And it shines greatly against all other version of the epic poem.

So, if you can, then yes, read, or view, Oedipus Rex in the original; the same goes for Antigone, The Stranger, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, Beowulf and everything else I mentioned.