Originally posted by rbmorrisCrash is probably the last place to start, but unfortunately due to x y & z it's the fist I mean the first for many.
Ballard wrote Crash, right? I wasn't crazy about that. Would you recommend I try one of his other books, or drop him altogether?
The Collected Short Stories would be an idea--contains all his styles.
Then, novels, depends on your taste--mainstream option is to go for anything from Empire of the Sun onward (my preference, The Kindness of Women, his "fictional autobiography" ). Otherwise, one of his funniest books, for me, is Hello America.
smiley edit
hey guys - a lot of good books posted already
how about
SF
Walter M Miller Jr : A Canticle for Liebowitz; all of IM Banks; AE van Vogt : Null A series; PK Dick: Man in the High Castle (5* book)
and...
Hess: Glass Bead Game (but a bit heavy); CP Snow : Corridors of Power; Laurence Durrell : Alexandria Quartet and most of J P Donleavy
Originally posted by abaloneI can vouch for all of these except for Van Vogt (haven't read any).
SF
Walter M Miller Jr : A Canticle for Liebowitz; all of IM Banks; AE van Vogt : Null A series; PK Dick: Man in the High Castle (5* book)
What kind of mood do you have to be in to read Lawrence Durrell?
Although some have been already posted, and in no particular order...
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -Dougas Adams
Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
1984 - George Orwell
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
How Many Miles to Babylon - Jennifer Johnston
I also like a few plays ...
The Misanthrope - Moliere
The Oresteian Trilogy - Aeschylus
The Theban Plays - Sophocles
Ghosts - Ibsen
Rabbit Run - John Updike
Shogun - James Clavell
Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
Dune - Frank Herbert
Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean Auel
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell
The Eight - Katherine Neville
Grapes of Wraith - John Steinbeck
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Tom Jones, Henry Fielding
Vanity Fair, Thackary
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
1984, George Orwell
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Wystarczy Byc (Being There) Jerzy Kosinski
i'll add a few more to the list:
One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Naked Lunch- William Burroughs
{edit} and shout out a concurrence to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Thus Spake Zaratuthstra- and for that matter several on Nietzche1844's list. (although I might argue against Ulysses... it's good, but over hyped)
Originally posted by Darth SpongeThumbs up for Naked Lunch. You like any others of his in particular? The Ticket That Exploded makes me feel the title refers to my brain (which I think it does).
Naked Lunch- William Burroughs
...(although I might argue against Ulysses... it's good, but over hyped)
Ulysses...speaking of inordinately demanding authors, anyone recommend reading The Remembrance of Things Past (Proust) from end to end?