This is a list of books that I plan (and hope) to read in the future. Obviously this differs from the ‘Currently Reading’ section as I haven’t even picked these books up yet. These are not in any order, I’ll write them as I think of them.
Please feel free to make suggestions of books that you either would like to be reviewed or you think I should read.
- The Book: A History of the Bible – Christopher de Hamel
- Beowulf
- The Prince – Machiavelli
- Fanny Hill – John Cleland
- Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
- This Immortal – Roger Zelazny
- Arabian Sands – Thesiger Wilfred
- A Dog’s Heart – Bulgakov Mikhail
- The Kalevala
- Lucifer: Vol 1 to 11 – Mike Carey
- The Well of Loneliness – Radcliffe Hall
- Simulacra and Simulation – Jean Baudrillard
- How To Lose Friends And Alienate People – Toby Young
- Planetes – Makoto Yukimura
- Like a Velvet Glove Cast In Iron – Daniel Clowes
- Diary of a Teenage Girl – Phoebe Gloeckner
- Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
- Evolution: The Triumph Of An Idea – Carl Zimmer
- Cerebus The Aardvark – Dave Sim
- Society Without God – Phil Zuckerman
- A History of the English Speaking Peoples – Winston Churchill
- Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin
- The Descent of Man – Charles Darwin
- Three Stories And A Reflection – Patrick Süskind
- Junky – William S Burroughs
- Queer- William S Burroughs
- Naked Lunch – William S Burroughs
- Foundation Series – Isaac Asimov
- Robot Series – Isaac Asimov
- Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch: Tales from a Bad Neighborhood – Hollis Gillespie
- Confessions of a Recovering Slut: And Other Love Stories – Hollis Gillespie
- Heaven & Earth – Ian Plimer
- Indefensible Weapons: The Political And Psychological Case Against Nuclearism – Robert Jay Lifton
- History And Human Survival – Robert Jay Lifton
- Revolutionary Immortality: Mao Tse Tung and the Chinese Cultural Revolution – Robert Jay Lifton
- The Painted Bird – Jerzy Kosiński
- Kolyma Tales – Varlam Shalamov
- The Ice Beneath You – Christian Bauman
- The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke – Theodore Roethke
- Troilus and Cressida – Shakespeare
- Julius Caesar – Shakespeare
- Antony and Cleopatra – Shakespeare
- Hamlet – Shakespeare
- Macbeth – Shakespeare
- Ada Or Ardor: a Family Chronicle – Vladimir Nabokov
- The Gift – Vladimir Nabokov
- Invitation To A Beheading – Vladimir Nabokov
- King, Queen, Knave – Vladimir Nabokov
- Breaking The Spell – Daniel Dennett
- The Marriage of Heaven and Hell – William Blake
- The Histories – Herodotus
- The Oresteian Trilogy – Aesschylus
- Letters to a Young Poet – Rainer Maria Rilke
- Requiem for a Species – Clive Hamilton
- Damnation Alley – Roger Zelazny
- Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity – Akbar S. Ahmad
- The Greatest Show On Earth – Richard Dawkins
- Stranger In A Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
- Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
- The Beach – Alex Garland
- Heroes In The Wind: From Kull to Conan – Robert E Howard
- London Labour and The London Poor – Henry Mayhew
- The Fourth Dimension and How To Get There – Rudy Rucher
- Beyond Power: On Men, Women and Morals – Marilyn French
- The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine – Nancy Qualls-Corbett
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – William L Shirer
- A Russian Diary – Anna Politkovskaya
- Death of the Liberal Class – Chris Hedges
- The Bounty Mutiny – William Bligh & Edward Christian
- The Sceptical Environmentalist – Bjorn Lomborg
- The Journal of John Woolman – John Woolman
- Kill or Capture – Matthew Alexander
- Merchants of Doubt – Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway
- Green Bans. Red Union: Environmental Activism and the NSW Builders Labourers Federation – Meredith Burgmann & Verity Burgmann
- Necessary Illusions – Noam Chomsky
- Triptych – Krissy Kneen
- The Better Angels of Our Nature – Steven Pinker
- In Defense of Lost Causes – Slavoj Zizek
- Cold War And Counter Revolution – Richard J Walton
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier – Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Century 1910 – Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Century 1969 – Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
- Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
- I Wouldn’t Start From Here – Andrew Mueller
- The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ – Philip Pullman
- Biohazard – Ken Alibek and Stephen Handleman
- Sensitive Souls: Senses and Communications in Animals, Plants and Microbes – Brian J Ford
- Cash: I See A Darkness – Reinhard Kleist
- Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture – Masayuki Ishikawa
- For The Term of His Natural Life – Marcus Clarke
- Journey to the Past – David Attenborough
- The Jerilderie Letter – Ned Kelly
- Terra Australis – Matthew Flinders
- 1788 – Watkins Tench
- The Middle Parts of Nowhere – Frederik Manning
- Under the Sea Wind – Rachel Carson
- The Sea Around Us – Rachel Carson
- The Edge of the Sea – Rachel Carson
- Oranges – John McPhee
- Taking The Risk Out of Democracy: Propaganda in the US and Australia – Alexander Carey
- Public Opinion – Walter Lippman
- Manufacturing Consent – Edward S Herman & Noam Chomsky
- Time of Gifts – Patrick Leigh Fermor
- Between the Woods and the Water – Patrick Leigh Fermor
- A Time to keep Silence – Patrick Leigh Fermor
- Parade’s End – Ford Maddox Ford
- Natural Selection and Social Theory: Selected Papers By Robert Trivers – Robert Trivers
- The Fractal Nature of Geometry – Benoit Mandelbrot
- The Opium of the Intellectuals – Raymond Aron
Non Fiction/Art Books I’d Like To Purchase (title and publisher)
- Nobuyoshi Araki – Phaidon
- The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture – Phaidon
- Art and Illusion – Phaidon
- Atkinson Grimshaw – Phaidon
- Ai Weiwei – Phaidon
- Marina Abramovic – Phaidon
- David Malin, Ancient Light: A Portrait of the Universe – Phaidon
- Paradise Lost – Phaidon (aeriel photography of Persia)
- Heaven & Earth – Phaidon
- The Pepper Project – Imaginary Friends Studios
- Process Recess 1: Art of James Jean – James Jean
- Process Recess 2: Portfolio – James Jean
- Fables Covers: The Art of James Jean Vol 1 – James Jean
- Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl – Robert Polidori
- Dictionary of Symbols – Tom Chetaynd
- The Dictionary of Imaginary Places – Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi
I would also like to add that I’m interested in reading poetry, but have no idea whats good and where to start. Also, I’ve noticed that I tend to lean towards morbid/moral stuff. If anyone could offer some good light hearted/comedy genre works. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
The Written Word 
You have ‘The Holy Bible’ on your to read list, but I have a question: which one? There are numerous translations of the Bible. The King James version is probably the best literature, but among the least accurate. So depending upon your reasons for reading The Bible it is either the best or the worst choice. I won’t proffer a ‘best translation.’ I feel under-qualified to give such a title despite having read most of the New Testament in the original Greek.
If I had to recommend a single book for you to read, I would say ‘This Immortal’ by Roger Zelazny. It’s not classic sci-fi, but it should be. Very much one of those books I read and asked myself “why hasn’t everyone heard of this?” I’d be interested on your take.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll make sure I check it out next time I head to the book shop.
Its funny that you bring up the ‘which bible’ question, as I had put down ‘Holy Bible’ because I wasn’t really that sure which to choose. But since then my mum picked me up a copy of the Latter Day Saints King James version. I’ll have to do a bit of research into it as I’m not sure how ‘proper’ it is and how much editing from the original text to fit the Latter Day Saints message it has undergone. I will be reading this one though, because I can’t just throw away what my mum bought me.
Having said that, all bibles are an edit of a re-edit of a translation of a translation of a translation. But if anyone can suggest the most relevant or ‘true’ copy to be reading I’d like to know.
The English Standard Version of the Bible is a very good translation and enjoyable to read. You can download it for free as an app.
hey sarah. its dave here. jess’ friend. had to check out ur site and thought id offer a book/author that i love to ur “To Read” list. The writer’s name is Kelley Armstrong and she has created an Other World series. the first book of which is entitled Bitten. She has many books, most of which i have read, and i am NOT a reader so she must be good, lol. if you want to check out her website it is http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com her books arent available in australia, they come from England or America, but if ur interested, i can lend u mine.
btw, love the website. maybe see u soon.
Thanks Dave, I’ll have to check Kelly Armstrong out. 🙂
and my boyfriend just gave me a site about the Stanford Prison Experiment which happened in 1971. Utterly fascinating. there is a book about it u may be interested in called The Lucifer Effect. It deals with what circumstances and turn a good person evil.
heres the link to the Standford Prison Experiment http://www.prisonexp.org/
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People is quite a good, light, entertaining read.
My passion is biographies/autobiographies; of which I would recommend Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis, Living History by Hilary Clinton, and America’s Queen by Sarah Bradford – Jackie Kennedy’s biography.
I’m currently reading The Bookseller of Kabul, it’s really good!
matildagretchen xxxxxxx
Thanks for the suggestions Matilda – biographies never even crossed my mind but now that I think about it, it seems like an untapped genre.
I’ll definately check out ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’, I need some laughter.
I would seriously recommend Jasper Fforde; I love everyone one of his books that I’ve read so far (I have only to read one more book in the Thursday Next series and I will have read all of them!)
Other Books I’ve read that I would recommend:
“Mrs Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf – I’ve only read this book once, but it has probably had the most profound influence on my writing than anything else before it. A beautiful book and proof of the brilliance of Woolf. It can be a challange; she has sentences that go for pages and then it gets to the end and you wonder where you are and get confused and lost (Well, I did…) but if you just let if wash over you, it’s beautiful. I would recommend reading it before “The Hours”.
“The Hours” by Michael Cunningham – The movie is probably one of my favourites, as is this book. It might take a while to get use the present-tense of the book, but I love it.
“The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy – It’s a bit slow it parts, but beautifully written.
“The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time” by Mark Haddon – Actually quite a confronting book in some ways; a new perspective, I suppose. Written from the point of view of a boy with autism.
“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera – Loved it. It’s a post-modern novel so it’s a bit… well, it might take getting used to, but I thought it was fascinating.
“A Thirsty Evil” by Gore Vidal – A collection of short stories that entertain and disturb.
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde – Witty and brilliantly written; also not what you’d expect knowing the “normal” version that everyone talks about.
Either of Khaled Hosseini’s books (“A Thousand Splendid Suns” and “The Kite Runner”) – not necessarily a good writer but a great storyteller.
AND The “Flowers in the Attic” Series by VC Andrews – My friend and I found that it is better to read the prequel (“Book 5” or “Garden of Shadows”) between book 3 (If There Be Thorns) and 4 (Seeds of Yesterday). They’re disturbing, not only in their content but also perhaps in the sympathy you feel for the characters. Fantastic series.
Sorry to write so many and add to your already-extensive list. But I hope you enjoy some of them. 🙂
I’m also going to print out you list and have a look at some of them myself. Thanks for a great blog!
Thanks for the suggestions, it always helps me (and you could say hinders at the same time, lol).
Out of all those books I’ve only read one; ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (which I immensely enjoyed and I’m currently drafting a review for). ‘A Thirsty Evil’ sounds really interesting and it would be good to read some short stories. Also, what is ‘The God of Small Things’ about?
LOL yeah, I know what you mean. I have so many books I need to read…
“The God of Small Things” is basically about Indian twins who were separated when their parents split up. It switches between the “present” and memories of their past. Really interesting but it can be a little slow at times.
I don’t usually comment on blogs but had to on yours. You have a very distinctive writing style. I really enjoy sites about religion, they give me a lot to consider. I don’t have time to read all the information you have right now, I found this site when looking for something else on beliefnet.com, but I’ve bookmarked your homepage and will check back soon to see the latest articles. I have a site with scripture and related art on it. Please bookmark it – it as at http://www.GotTB.com. I just redesigned the site with a new look and feel, please let me know what you think of the new layout. Thanks again and God’s Peace!
Although I’m current reading the Bible, and have read The Satanic Bible, along with reviewing books about religion, I wouldn’t really say that this blog is about religion really. However, thanks for the comment and I’ll check out your website.
Well…
When we, non-Anglo people, search for the “best books ever list” to read, we always find the “funny” thing that most of them are written by English language writers.
That is a poor point of view about the Universe and Mankind.
By the other way, some books in your list are not comparable among them. For instance, “Persepolis”: although the situation of women in Iran is so so so deplorable, it has no literary value. It is like being pushed by the neocon anglolobby to demonize Iran in order to get your support for another criminal invasion and plunder.
Beautiful thoughts have been spread by French, Spanish, Chinese, Greek, Italian, etc. writers and philosophers in their books. Believe me: English language and English thoughts are not the only truth and are not the centre of Universe.
When we, non-Anglo people, search for the “best books ever list” to read, we always find the “funny” thing that most of them are written by English language writers.
That is a poor point of view about the Universe and Mankind.
I really agree with you.
In that ‘1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die’ I reviewed there was a smattering of non-white writers, but it appeared that it was mainly for good measure. The world is very western-centric and it is reflected in literary bias towards anything that’s written by an old white crusty dude.
Beautiful thoughts have been spread by French, Spanish, Chinese, Greek, Italian, etc. writers and philosophers in their books. Believe me: English language and English thoughts are not the only truth and are not the centre of Universe.
If you could suggest some books I’d really appreciate it 🙂
My only worry about reading books from other cultures is the translation – I worry that it won’t be very well transferred into English and that it won’t do the original justice.
By the other way, some books in your list are not comparable among them. For instance, “Persepolis”: although the situation of women in Iran is so so so deplorable, it has no literary value. It is like being pushed by the neocon anglolobby to demonize Iran in order to get your support for another criminal invasion and plunder.
I haven’t read it yet, so I can’t really comment on whether I agree with your opinion or not.
I am aware of westerners liking books that demonize or present the Middle East in a negative manner. They also tend to like media that presents China in a bad light as well. It’s about re-affirming a preconceived opinion.
There have been a few cases of authors who have even faked their stories (I vaguely remember one case about a woman who wrote a memoir about life and honour killings in the Muslim world, which all ended up being fake. Of course fraud happens in a lot of situations – however, it was interesting how easily and happily the western media lapped up her story).
However, I’m Australian, not American and there is an important distinction there. I don’t feel the need to paint a caricature of Islam or Iran or the Middle East, due to the need to justify invasion. There is as much difference between an American and Australian as there is between an Iranian and an Afghanistani.
When I do read Persepolis I’ll keep your viewpoint in mind.
If you’re going to read Zelazny, I’d go with Damnation Alley- book was awesome, and the movie is apparently epic in an “Oh my god my leg fell off” kind of way.
Thanks, I’ll add that to the list, sounds powerful if it can make your leg spontaneously fall off.
By the way, I love you blog. I read it to balance out when I’m getting far too sympathetic to everyone.
My boyfriend showed it to me and I got him one of your shirts to work out in (he loves strength training – his mum was an Australasian body building champion six months after he was born – though unlike his mother he is into strength rather than physique). Now I just have to get the mofo to read more like you!