Books to read?

[Mock Turtle]

Apart from Brave New World, which most might have read, are there any on this list that you have read and/or could recommend?

Books to broaden your horizons, by Hilary Mantel, Simon Schama, Lisa Taddeo and more

I'm quite attracted to this one - The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500-1800 by Lawrence Stone.

 

[SomeRandom]

The Silk Roads is good. I just picked up the New Silk Roads.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is haunting.

Not on the list but Lolita. It is deeply disturbing but if you’re into the English language, then it’s basically like an all you can eat banquet lol
But it definitely changed my world. For the better or worse though I still can’t decide

 

[Samael_Khan]

Apart from Brave New World, which most might have read, are there any on this list that you have read and/or could recommend?

Books to broaden your horizons, by Hilary Mantel, Simon Schama, Lisa Taddeo and more

I'm quite attracted to this one - The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500-1800 by Lawrence Stone.

I have only started reading a Brave New World but never finished it because I could download it free as open source and I dislike reading novels digitally.

My list:

1984 by George Orwell. It explains the ins and outs of indoctrination through narrative, thus it is a forever relevent. A book I think should be compulsory in all English Classes.

Paradise Lost by John Milton. His take on the fall of man as recorded in the Bible in poetic prose. It is considered a literary masterpiece and written in a KJV wrath of God manner which is entertaining.

The King James Bible. Another english masterpiece because the word choice is entertaining. The origin of the Wrath of God style of writing.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover. A brilliant take on Episode 3 with extra insight into the story.

HP Lovecraft fiction Collection. The father of cosmic horror who has influenced Stephen King and many others.

Frankenstein, the modern day Prometheus by Mary Shelley. This is the original book which is so thought provoking and was also influence by Paradise Lost and is a commentary on the relationship between the creator and Satan and man in the Bible.

War of the Worlds by HG Wells.

Hellblazer series by DC Comics. Follows the adventures of Constantine and is a very scary comicbook series. The main character is very nuanced and it deals with religion in the extreme.

 

[Mock Turtle]

The Silk Roads is good. I just picked up the New Silk Roads.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is haunting.

Not on the list but Lolita. It is deeply disturbing but if you’re into the English language, then it’s basically like an all you can eat banquet lol
But it definitely changed my world. For the better or worse though I still can’t decide

I read Lolita as a youth - which young lad didn't - and not so far back I bought the annotated version but, like so many others, it didn't get read to the end or even that much. Looked interesting though - since the book itself is apparently a lot deeper than a casual look might imply and the notes might explain much writing in the book, given also that it is often seen as Nabokov's finest work.

Edit: I hardly started it I've just found out - according to the bookmark.

 

[Sunstone]

@Mock Turtle, It seems to me you might be interested in Stephanie Coontz's excellent book, Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage. It's well researched, easy to read, and contains some original thinking.

 

[Augustus]

are there any on this list that you have read and/or could recommend?

I agree with @SomeRandom that The Silk Road is good.

Actually, it is fantastic as it is well written, entertaining, interesting and insightful and is a basic history the world that isn't built around the primacy of the West (from either a triumphalist or critical perspective).

If you are interested in world history, you'll like it.

 

[Mock Turtle]

@Mock Turtle, It seems to me you might be interested in Stephanie Coontz's excellent book, Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage. It's well researched, easy to read, and contains some original thinking.

Thanks, I am into such. I recently read an account of a Captain's wife travelling on his sailing ship - she was very young, in her early 20s - and she kept an account from her perspective. Quite revealing, but not too surprising, and with plenty of incidents to bulk up the account - Captain's Wife by Abby Jane Morrell - and quite a short book. I use Postscript quite a bit, which sells off copies quite cheap, so I often just plump for ones that take my fancy - like that one.

 

[bobhikes]

Apart from Brave New World, which most might have read, are there any on this list that you have read and/or could recommend?

Books to broaden your horizons, by Hilary Mantel, Simon Schama, Lisa Taddeo and more

I'm quite attracted to this one - The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500-1800 by Lawrence Stone.

To understand how this political partisanship could destroy democracy. It couldn't happen here Lewis Sinclair.

 

[Good-Ole-Rebel]

"How Should We Then Live" by Francis Schaeffer

Good-Ole-Rebel

 

[Mock Turtle]

Thanks, I am into such. I recently read an account of a Captain's wife travelling on his sailing ship - she was very young, in her early 20s - and she kept an account from her perspective. Quite revealing, but not too surprising, and with plenty of incidents to bulk up the account - Captain's Wife by Abby Jane Morrell - and quite a short book. I use Postscript quite a bit, which sells off copies quite cheap, so I often just plump for ones that take my fancy - like that one.

PS I don't know why I mentioned that book - perhaps because it was the last one I actually managed to read through to the end. The book that has some similarity to the one I mentioned is the one currently being read - Maladies and Medicines: Exploring Health and Healing - 1540-1740.