Sorry, very few of the above are "must reads". Very good books, most of them, a few turkeys in there. But ask yourselves..must read? Really? These threads always turn into "my favourite book(s) that you might not have heard of".

Hmmm, must reads…IMO, only

Everyone should read a Shakespearean tragedy…my choice being Hamlet, but take your pick.

I'm not big on classics, but a Steinbeck should sort you out…Heart of Darkness, perhaps.

I believe everyone should read To Kill A Mockingbird.

+1 on Riddley Walker. Also, Eric Shipton's Six Mountain Travel Books – what an amazing read – hard going occasionally, but that just suits the subject matter.

I need the first book in the first chronicles of thomas covenant, lord fouls bane, if anyone has it to lend/sell?

i read it years ago when i was a nipper, have every other book, just need the first one again, emails in me profile.

Fiction
Microserfs – Douglas Coupland
Life After God – Douglas Coupland
The Latin American Trilogy by Louis de Bernières (starts with The War of Don Emmanuele's Nether Parts)

Funny Non-Fiction
Yes Man – Danny Wallace

Non-Funny Non-Fiction
How to be Free – Tom Hodgkinson

Moments of reprieve – Primo Levi
The Journey Home, Abbeys Road, Down the River – Edward Abbey
Into the Wild – Jon Krakaeur
Feeding the rat – Al Alvarez

I'd put the following as Must Reads

Catch 22
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Watchmen (yeah ok so its not a typical book)
Its not about the bike
Touching the Void
Three men in a boat (not in the same league as the others but a personal favourite)

Albert Camus–The Outsider.Existentialism at its best

The Outsider – last book I read which was very good

My must read is almost certainly "If This Is A Man/The Truce" by Primo Levi. Read only once, but the most powerful book I've ever read, and one that you really should read before your last breath.

for an oz flavor.

Hell West and crooked – tom Cole

a fortunate life – a b facey

The goldfields journal by cannibal jack 1851-1853

I recently read "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens.
It wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be.
That's my coat by the door thanks-

Maybe not must read, but a favourite of mine – Shogun by James Clavells.

KT1973, I wouldn't worry about it, I find Dickens interminably boring. Willing to accept it's me though, not him…

Stalingrad by anthony beevor, incredible true story of the battle that turned the course of WWII.
Dickens! Boring, What?

It's a very long list of books that made a lasting impression / I can read repeatedly but off the top of my head they'd include:

"If not now, when?" Primo Levi.
"Crime & Punishment" Dostoevsky.
"Love in the Time of Cholera" Gabriel García Márquez
"Catch 22" Joseph Heller
"The Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka
"Germinal" Zola
"Midnight's Children" Salman Rushdie

And then maybe I'd say that the Rabbit books by Updike are worth a read, The Stone Book Quartet by Alan Garner was also memorable. As others have mentioned though, it's very difficult to argue that any book is a 'must read'; interpretations are so subjective – where, when and why you're reading a book I reckon is important, I still can't get on with Austin and Elliot having being forced to trawl through them during college for example.

I guess the Koran and the Bible might fall into the category of 'must read' though not necessarily for literary reasons…

Favourite book of all time? Either the Iliad or The Decameron.

totally out there, i would suggest trying Sophocles or Euripidies, maybe Plato, they aren't always the easiest read but what you learn is that in 2,500 years nothing has really changed. Our lives for all our progress are as petty as they have always been. You also learn how few stories there are. If you are willing to read something a little odder try Gilgamesh. It is where stories began.

God Remained Outside….by Genevieve de Gaulle Anthonioz (De Gaulle's niece). An inspirational book on her survival from Ravensbruck concentration camp.Only 40 pages long and small enough to fit in your pocket you will not want to put it down once you start….I defy you not to read it at least twice (IMO).

Earth Abides by Gearge Stewart

Swine flu ?

Earth Abides, a 1949 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Berkeley English professor George R. Stewart, tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease and its rebirth. Beginning in the United States in the 1940s, it deals with Isherwood (Ish) Williams, Emma, and the community they founded. The survivors live off the remains of the old world, while learning to adapt to the new. Along the way they are forced to make tough decisions and choose what kind of civilization they will rebuild.

Everyone should read a Shakespearean tragedy…

Why? I can see that for his time he's peerless and his work has had immeasurable influence on those who've followed, but personally I'd struggle to sit and read one.

Surprised anyone would choose Stephen King as an 'only book'. Good writing but do you re-read them finding something new??

Just finished 'First Light' by Geoffrey Wellum, his experiences of being a 19 year old Spitfire pilot in WW2.
Inspiring stuff and makes me realise how feckless I was aged 19 in comparison!

THe other must reads in our house at the moment are 'The Happy Waving Game', 'See The Pretty Flowers' and all the other In The Night Garden books. And 'That's not my fairy' is fairly popular too. 🙂

Bill Tilman's sailing/mountaineering books are very good. make you want to get out there in a small boat.

Anything by Bruce Chatwin especially In Patagonia.

Fair point deadlydarcy.

Must reads then:

still most fo the Steinbeck cannon
lord of the flies
catch 22
cathcer in the rye
to kill a mockingbird
1984

I notice when listing them that these are all 20th century classics and I've read alot of others but if I could only read these books again I think I could cope.

you can keep shakespeare.

Lister, lol.

Don't forget the very hungry caterpillar and the tiger who came to tea. These are literally MUST reads in our house at the moment.

Most often read book would be Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

Best as opossed to most enjoyed was Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T E Lawrence. The paralels between then and now is amazing.

Catcher in the Rye and As I walked out one morning my favourites.

Glue by Irvine Welsh was a good one.
Couldn't put it down in fact

Dickens boring? Dickens was the daddy. Later stuff is gripping: Great Expectations, Bleak House, David Copperfield. They were serialised weekly or monthly so he had to include regular cliffhangers: doof doof moments.

Must-read books for me would include On Liberty and Utilitarianism by JS Mill. And Leviathan by Hobbes.

Irvine Welsh – Marabou Stork Nightmares

I'm not big on classics, but a Steinbeck should sort you out…Heart of Darkness, perhaps.

Obviously not big on Steinbeck either, that's by Joseph Conrad 🙂 Have you read The Secret Agent?

I'm encouraged to see so much mention of Steinbeck here, as he's my favourite author. Here are the first lines of Cannery Row:

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, "whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches," by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, "Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men" and he would have meant the same thing.

Who wouldn't want to read about that?

The must read Steinbeck is East of Eden in my opinion. It seems to combine the technical brilliance of The Grapes of Wrath and the humanity and characters of Cannery Row. The character of Sam Hamilton, Steinbecks grandfather, is simply marvellous.

I would also recommend One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It describes a single day spent in the Gulag system of Stalinist Russia. The author was imprisoned for many years by Stalin, giving a special credence to the writing. Far from being depressing, I found the book to be a truly uplifting story about man's innovative skills and will to survive

I also think Brave New World is well worth a read, horribly prophetic, I prefer it to 1984.

Steinbeck is just brilliant in every way it's great to know he is so popular.

If this is a man, I can't see how it couldn't be top of the list of "must reads" a truly remarkable book and essential reading.

steinbecktrackworld?

The God Delusion- Richard Dawkins

I've read a few of his books. It's impossible to argue with the guy.

+1 for The Road, McCarthy is a brilliant writer!

Some of my other favourites:

1984
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Dice Man

+1 for Its Not About The Bike

Stephen King – IT, blew me away when I was a kid

Bernard Hare – Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, superb and it shouldn't be happening on our door step

As stated all depends on your mood… Don't even know if I could narrow it to a must read book

I love Tom Clancy books for a no thinking read.
I'm also enjoying some biographies/life stories. Clearly "It's not about the bike" is up there. Ellen MacArthur's "Taking on the World" is another great read. Fiennes "Living Dangerously", "Eastern Approaches" by Fitzroy Maclean etc.
Berlin and Stalingrad by Antony Beevor are frightening for the death and destruction described.
Randomnly I enjoyed Marley and Me and Life of Pi too.
Fatal Storm by Rob Mundle is another good book.

Just so many out there. Maybe "Touching the Void" is my must read book; such raw emotions.

Tunes of Glory by James Kennaway aswell

In short no single answer but lots of thoughts after other peoples posts here

Wow I love reading people's opinions on books! I read loads, library is great as if it's pants you aren't so bothered about not finishing it!
Steinbec k – Of Mice and Men
John Boyne – Boy in the striped pyjamas
Iain Pears – An instance at the fingerpost.
Jon Krakow – Into thin Air (about everest disaster in 80's).

I read The Road and wasn't that impressed found it a bit dull to be honest! Some good suggestions though that I'm going to get out of the library. The above is jus a snippet I could list loads more!!!

Great Apes by Will Self deserves a mention.

And personally I can't relate to anyone that doesn't love Douglas Adams.

Graham Greene also highly recommended.

I love reading too.

Must read? The Highway Code.

Books/authors I love? Terry Pratchett's Disclworld series.

Orson Scott Card: Enders Game, Speaker for the Dead ( Enders Saga)

All of the Shadow Saga

All of the Home coming saga

Must read. 8)

Best book ever. The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

Best series of books. The Patrick O'Brian novels. But they have to be read in the right order.

Oh, and to add to the Steinbeck stuff above, The Grapes Of Wrath is the most powerful novel I think I've ever read. Cannery Row is excellent. I've tried East of Eden a couple of times though, but just can't get into it. Is it worth perservering with?

The Warhound and the World's Pain by Michael Moorcock. Probably not as "intellectual" as many of the above but it works for me.