Anything by Charles Bukowski

 

Lord of the Rings trilogy (J.R.R Tolkien)
1984 (George Orwell)
Fear and Loating in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson)
Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (Hunter S. Thompson)
On the Road (Jack Kerouac)
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
The Three-body Problem trilogy (Liu Cixin)
Kallocain (Karin Boye)


and also pretty much anything by Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, Tolkien, Isaac Asimov and many others that I'm forgetting.

Btw, some great musician autobiographies are Life (Keith Richards), White Line Fever (Lemmy), Scar Tissue (Anthony Kiedis), Acid for the Children (Flea), Heroin Diaries (Nikky Sixx), I am Ozzy, The Dirt (much better than the awful movie ), Dancing With Myself (Billy Idol), Ghost Rider (Neil Peart), and probably some others I'm forgetting....

 

Last edited: Aug 11, 2022

I just remembered a sci-fi novel. It takes place in the present (well, written in 1959) and also gives you lots to think.
Amazing and devastating at the same time. Left me messed up for weeks but worth it.
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes.

 

Last edited: Aug 11, 2022

Great book and a great film adaptation called "Charly" starring Cliff Robertson and Claire Danes in 1968. There was a remake but it wasn't nearly as good.

 

TC Boyle Stuff
*sigh*
Sometimes I feel that I am the only active member in this forum

 

I started working in NYC's Silicon Alley during the first .COM Boom (and Bust). I was still living in CT though, so I had a 1 hour train ride in. Something about believing we were outsiders changing the world and being on a train made for the perfect environment to read Atlas Strugged. Not normally a book you hear people say was a "page turner" but right place, right time... it was for me.

But the three that really stick out are 1984, Neuromancer, and Cryptonomicon. Books I definitely couldn't put down once started!

 

You may even not use this forum if you had not read „1984“!

 

Those are freaking amazing too.