Your top 5 books

[Herzog]

In no order:

The Hobbit - Tolkien
The Rosy Crucifixion* - Henry Miller
The Catcher in the Rye is - J. D. Salinger
1984 - George Orwell 
The BFG - Dahl. The greatest teacher in the world read it out to us. Just nice times back then.

Honurable mentions to -

The 120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur c. Clarke
The Bible

*Whole Trilogy

[Nive la France]

Mines change really often, but here's my best stab:

The Overstory (Richard Powers) - The lives of six or seven different characters before, during, and after they join up to perform an act of corporate vandalism that ends up in a death and the feds on their tail. It's also about trees, and you'll learn a huge amount about them, how important they are, and how under threat they are. Sounds shite, but it's really not.

Growth of the Soil (Knut Hamsun) - Hamsun's Nobel Prize-winner. A masterpiece about the life of a man who settles in the forest, builds his home and farm, and watches his kids grow. There's something so calming and warm about his writing; the worries he articulates through these bumpkin characters from the 1800s still resonate as so human and relatable.

Prestor John (John Buchan) - It's between this and Heart of Darkness for my most-read book. A really good yarn about a Scottish guy who moves to deepest, darkest South Africa and gets caught up in tribal warfare, treachery, and hunting/being hunted by this murderous warlord across the Transvaal. Always thought it would make a great movie.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail (Hunter S Thomson) - HST's Gonzo style meets the backhanders and backstabbing of Nixon's re-election. Doesn't hold back on what he sees. Illustration by Ralph Steadman is, as per, outstanding.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver) - A collection of short stories all about characters living through different stages of love (first, last, unrequited, broken, unfaithful etc), and pretty much the reason why I don't try to write creatively. The sparsity of his writing is just a complete masterclass on how to engage a reader.

Honourable mentions:
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)
The Day of the Locust (Nathanael West)
Raised from the Ground (Jose Saramago)

No doubt left out ones that'll have me revising it later.

[Mikey]

Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters - JD Salinger
The Wind Up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murakami
With the Old Breed - EB Sledge
Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough - Duncan Hamilton

[Kashinda]

A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Eleven Madison Park - Daniel Humm
The Shining - Stephen King
The Crucifix Killer - Chris Carter

Tbf my top five could easily give Chris Carter books, but I just chose one for the list

[Nive la France]

Never actually read Catcher in the Rye - is it one those must-reads aye?

[Kashinda]

I loved it like, read it in school and actually went and bought the book to read it again

[CritchSmile]

Mines change really often, but here's my best stab:

The Overstory (Richard Powers) - The lives of six or seven different characters before, during, and after they join up to perform an act of corporate vandalism that ends up in a death and the feds on their tail. It's also about trees, and you'll learn a huge amount about them, how important they are, and how under threat they are. Sounds shite, but it's really not.

Growth of the Soil (Knut Hamsun) - Hamsun's Nobel Prize-winner. A masterpiece about the life of a man who settles in the forest, builds his home and farm, and watches his kids grow. There's something so calming and warm about his writing; the worries he articulates through these bumpkin characters from the 1800s still resonate as so human and relatable.

Prestor John (John Buchan) - It's between this and Heart of Darkness for my most-read book. A really good yarn about a Scottish guy who moves to deepest, darkest South Africa and gets caught up in tribal warfare, treachery, and hunting/being hunted by this murderous warlord across the Transvaal. Always thought it would make a great movie.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail (Hunter S Thomson) - HST's Gonzo style meets the backhanders and backstabbing of Nixon's re-election. Doesn't hold back on what he sees. Illustration by Ralph Steadman is, as per, outstanding.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver) - A collection of short stories all about characters living through different stages of love (first, last, unrequited, broken, unfaithful etc), and pretty much the reason why I don't try to write creatively. The sparsity of his writing is just a complete masterclass on how to engage a reader.

Honourable mentions:
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)
The Day of the Locust (Nathanael West)
Raised from the Ground (Jose Saramago)

No doubt left out ones that'll have me revising it later.

I finished the last 100 pages of Heart of Darkness in the bath one night. Ended up catching a chill.

[Mikey]

Never actually read Catcher in the Rye - is it one those must-reads aye?

I love just about anything JD Salinger's written.

Catcher in the Rye is one of those books you can read 100 times and notice new things each time.

[Nive la France]

The books I remember reading in school were Merchant of Venice, Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and The Night of the Twelth of July or some shit ( ) - all really shit books on the face of it.

Our teacher didn't give us any context about the Troubles before we read the Irish one - we were all under 10 when the GFA was signed and about 13 at the time - so it was just this totally baffling book about how a guy and a girl couldn't see each other in case they pissed their parents off. Garbage

Shakespeare was taught in its usual impenetrable way, where if you come out of a lesson knowing what's going on you're doing ok. Have read four of Shakespeare's plays and MOV is the most boring by far. Think the only reason we read POMJB was because we were in Edinburgh.

Dunno what they're reading nowadays but I hope it's better than that shit  

[Floyd]

Never actually read Catcher in the Rye - is it one those must-reads aye?

I've not read it either!

Is it something I should look to read then?

[Nive la France]

I finished the last 100 pages of Heart of Darkness in the bath one night. Ended up catching a chill.

Was fucked out my nut on Morning Glory and read the last 100 pages of Prestor John after my mate went to bed once  

[Herzog]

Never actually read Catcher in the Rye - is it one those must-reads aye?

Absolutely, yes. Ifs the story of my NY Odyssey. Thing i love about it is that Sallinger said that the rights to his book will never be sold to made into a movie.

[Kashinda]

It'd make a cracking movie

[CritchSmile]

Franz Kafka - the trial
Leo Tolstoy - what men live by
Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis
Halldor Laxness - independent people
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

Cliche choices I know.


Honourable mentions go to:

Kazou Ishiguro: never let me go
Can Xue - The Last Lover
Alex Garland - the Beach (Inspired me to read more novels when I was younger - didn't even know what lord of the flies when I read it)

Im going to chuck in a screenplay, fuck it:

Eugene Ionesco - Rhinoceros

[2MatoFish]

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is an exceptional novel. Gives a better understanding of the dualities that exist in Scottish and Edinburgh's culture than anything else.

[Jeff Resnick]

The books I remember reading in school were Merchant of Venice, Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and The Night of the Twelth of July or some shit ( ) - all really shit books on the face of it.

Our teacher didn't give us any context about the Troubles before we read the Irish one - we were all under 10 when the GFA was signed and about 13 at the time - so it was just this totally baffling book about how a guy and a girl couldn't see each other in case they pissed their parents off. Garbage

Shakespeare was taught in its usual impenetrable way, where if you come out of a lesson knowing what's going on you're doing ok. Have read four of Shakespeare's plays and MOV is the most boring by far. Think the only reason we read POMJB was because we were in Edinburgh.

Dunno what they're reading nowadays but I hope it's better than that shit  

We got Sunset Song for Higher.

Nearly put me off reading for life.

Its still on the curriculum.

[Jeff Resnick]

Franz Kafka - the trial

In my to-read pile.

Saw the opera a year or two ago. Loved it.

[CritchSmile]

I included Mary Shelley as it's a book that stuck with me after we had to critique it for school.

Mind blowing the layers and themes of this book of what essentially is depicted as some square heed green man bolt necked bozo in our popular culture

[Nive la France]

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is an exceptional novel. Gives a better understanding of the dualities that exist in Scottish and Edinburgh's culture than anything else.

I may well read it again and see if I pick up on that. Was our text for Higher English, so we could only cover what would help us pass the exam, and the duality of Scottish identity was not that

I remember I did my personal study on Brighton Rock by Graham Greene and loved it, then read 1984 and Brave New World on mates' recommendations from their studies. Why we couldn't have studied things that were even remotely exciting from a plot perspective has always confused me.

[Nive la France]

In my to-read pile.

Saw the opera a year or two ago. Loved it.

It's the only Kafka book I've enjoyed. Absolutely would not recommend The Castle