70 Books Everyone Should Read At Least Once, As Shared By People In This Online Thread

#51 How To Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting To Kill You Bymatthew Inman

Ray_Catty said:
“‘How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You.’

Yes it’s a real book.”

dr4gonr1der replied:
“That reminds me of another book: how to live with the neurotic cat.

Again, that’s it’s real name, and if you like how to tell if your cart is plotting to kill you, you’ll probably like that one also.”

#52 Siddhartha By Hermann Hesse

Ok-Bullfrog-3010 said:
“Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse.”

Paddle14 replied:
“I feel it takes you on a very relatable journey from young to old. We are all the heroes of our own stories but really just in the search of what is the point of all this.”

#53 The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress By Robert A. Heinlein

“I learned English at the age of 22. I love reading books that most English speaking people have read during their school days. It helps me understand the western culture, people’s thinking and most importantly all the references in art. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress would be my suggestion.”

#54 Faust By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

BBPP20 said:
“Faust by Goethe.”

morosophi replied:
“Goethe’s Faust is ok, but it’s too positive for my taste. For a more classic dark tale, I recommended Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus.”

docvs replied:
“Yes, this is an absolute MUST for everyone at some point in their lives!”

#55 Germinal By Émile Zola

charmingtaintman51 said:
“Germinal by Emile Zola.”

TofuBurgerGoodFood replied:
“Absolutely beautiful book, really changed my mind on the power of literature to tell a powerful, human message.”

#56 A Clockwork Orange By Anthony Burgess

Lurtle7 said:
“A Clockwork Orange.”

Commenter replied:
“I am reading A Clockwork Orange right now for a book report. Literally need urban dictionary open all the time to decipher all the British slang.

But don’t get me wrong its a f*cken great book so far.”

#57 We Need To Talk About Kevin By Lionel Shriver

Waffle2121 said:
“We Need To Talk About Kevin. An amazing (and disturbing) look at one mother’s relationship (negative and positive) with her son.”

cats4lyfbanana replied:
“I got like 4 chapters in and then felt so sad and useless about life I gave up.. I did watch the film a while later, but I’m very impressed with anyone who makes it through the whole book! Did you feel okay about life afterwards? If anything it really made me worry about having children in the future!”

#58 Tropic Of Cancer By Henry Miller

bunchedupwalrus said:
“Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.

Has to be on that list, there’s nothing else like it.”

mumfywest replied:
“I can remember so much about my life at the point that I read Cancer. Like the book cemented every insanity happening irl in the same way the book slaps it all out there, open. I’d love to have that sort of convergence with a book and a point in my life again.”

#59 Infinite Jest By David Foster Wallace

Tehgnarr said: “Missing “Infinite Jest”. I was born in Russia, I read Tolstoi, Dostojewski and such in school, I love literature… and I am pretty sure that “Infinite Jest” is the modern masterpiece.” Commenter replied: “I think Infinite Jest suffers from having a sort of literary hipster culture surrounding it. It may be a wonderful book, but sometimes the ways in which people go on about it make them seem like the worst kind of book snobs, and it can turn people of reading it before they’ve even given it a chance. People I talk to about it seem split 50/50. They either herald it as a monument of 20th century literature and stress how you have to read it omg, or they go the complete opposite direction and say it’s a piece of long-winded trash that isn’t worth the effort.”

#60 The Brothers Karamazov By Fyodor Dostoevsky

ghostofcrilly said:
“The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. In Slaughterhouse 5 Vonnegut said it could teach everything that we needed to know about life, except that wasn’t enough anymore…”

Reneeisme replied:
“If the only thing that book did was make you marvel at how people centuries and oceans removed from you in time and place, could experience the exact same emotions about life as you did, it would be worth the read. There’s so much more to it, but Dostoyevsky had such a knack for digging deep into universal human experience. And it’s just a hell of a good story too.”