Books you should read before you die, if only because I've read them! After seeing Claudia's list for the plebeians (and I've actually read some books from it), I decided to compile an even more plebeian list! Doubt it'll actually be plebeian really, but here goes:

The list is in alphabetical order by author. Bold means I've read it. Italics means I'm reading it. Underlined means I own it (and will lend it to you if I trust you enough, I guess).

1. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
I'm done with the first two books in the trilogy-turned-quintet, and it's funny stuff. Plus Adams is dead, and we all know the best books are by dead people. (Think Silas Marner, The Return Of The Native, etc.)

2. Little Men (Louisa M. Alcott)
Read this a long time ago, and no, I've never read Little Women. I did chance upon a copy of Jo's Boys once though, which is the book that follows the lives of the boys in adulthood. Read this if you like happy endings, and you want to believe, just for a moment, that there are good people out there.

3. The Flowers Of Evil (Charles Baudelaire)
One word: Lesbos. I haven't reached that poem yet, but after reading the introduction (and seeing my French teacher's expression when he saw me with the book), I'm sold. This is a twisted and bizarre portrayal of sex, which just happens to be good poetry. T.S. Eliot thought it was good, if that's worth anything to you.

4. The River Of Time (David Brin)
An anthology of science fiction short stories, which I normally wouldn't recommend, but some of the ideas in this collection are genuinely intriguing. In particular, the story that lends its title to the collection, and the one that has the Fates in it.

5. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)
I read it ages ago, and I thought it was boring. Tried to read her sister's book, Wuthering Heights, but that bored me too. Doesn't mean they're not good though. I'll re-read it one of these days. For those of you aspiring to be governesses (aka tuition teachers).

6. Time's Eye (Stephen Baxter & Arthur C. Clarke)
First book in a new series. This one's for those who like alternate history, with a science fiction bent. This one leaves you hanging at the end though, so you have been warned. Without giving too much away, suffice to say that Alexander the Great is one of the characters who makes an appearance, gay lover in tow of course.

7. A Home At The End Of The World (Michael Cunningham)
Now a major motion picture starring Colin Farrell. You won't ever see the movie in Singapore though, because not only does Farrell's character teeter on the edge of bisexuality (meaning he screws a man and a woman, but the gender of the person doesn't really matter to him), there's a child born out of wedlock and the single mother runs away at the end. All the values that the PAP does not want to promote. Nonetheless, read it, and maybe you'll value your family a bit more at the end.

8. Middlemarch (George Eliot)
Forget Silas Marner, this is about four times thicker. I've only gotten through Book I, if that's any consolation to all of you who haven't read it. A good story, more believable in my opinion than the multitude of coincidences that is Silas Marner. For sleepless nights and masochists.

9. The Surgeon (Tess Gerritsen)
I read this in one day. It's just plain old fiction, no serious literary merit whatsoever, but who cares? Sometimes you just want to be entertained, which this book does rather well. The sequel's not as good (as usual). Read on the MRT during peak hour, because you don't want to be alone reading about women being carved up, especially if you're a woman. (That doesn't constitute a sexist remark, right?)

10. We Are The New Romantics (Niven Govinden)
Sex, sex, sex and more sex. Oh yeah, there's drugs too. This is an example of hedonism, the Idiot's Guide To Loafing. Fag and fag hag gallivant around Europe, spending hard cash and getting laid. My inspiration for how to live, post-JC and post-NS. Anyone care to join me? Preferably someone with lots of money.

11. Chocolat (Joanne Harris)
This is a gorgeous book! Someone should make a box of chocolates based on this book. I'd buy it without a second thought. That aside, this is another of those feel-good stories that has you cheering for all the right people, at all the right moments. Good with a cup of coffee and chocolate biscuits. Enough said.

12. The French Executioner (C. C. Humphreys)
I suppose this is what Mr Rollason would call a historical novel. I liked it, and I've been trying to find the sequel ever since. Don't read unless you like the mediaeval equivalent of a car chase around the country. If you do, however, this is a rollicking good adventure.

13. Emily Of Emerald Hill (Stella Kon)
I'd like to see this someday. I know Wild Rice has done it before, with Ivan Heng cross-dressing as usual. I don't have much to say about this, except that I don't like the ending. Personally think it's too clichéd, the whole thing about tradition being eroded by progress. Still, anyone who doesn't pity Emily by the end of the play is heartless.

14. Into Thin Air (John Krakauer)
In a nutshell, it's about people climbing and dying on Everest. This is a true account by a man who was with the expedition featured in the book. What is it about Everest that induces so many people to climb it, and sometimes, die on it? Maybe this'll help you understand.

15. The Chronicles Of Narnia (7 books) (C.S. Lewis)
I read this when I was lying in a bed at Alexandra Hospital, with my left arm strung up like some marionette. (Fractured arm at the tender age of nine.) Can't remember who brought the whole set over, think it was either my godparents or my former pastor. If Pullman's universe reflects an anti-religion stance, then Lewis's universe is the exact reverse. Read both for comparison.

16. The Giver (Lois Lowry)
I've never seen euthanasia described in such innocuous terms before. I wrote a Commonwealth Essay about this book, claiming that it changed my life. Couldn't fool the people judging though, because it only earned itself a commendation. I always wondered about the ending though, and I'm bitterly disappointed that the author refuses to make up my mind for me on the subject.

17. The Crucible (Arthur Miller)
Whenever I feel like a dose of mass hysteria, the witchhunt in this play is what I turn to. A chilling portrayal of the power of theocracy, and more accessible than Pinter. Yet another play I'd like to see acted out one day.

18. Harold Pinter: Plays (4 books) (Harold Pinter)
Reading Pinter is an entirely different (and less painful) experience from watching Pinter. Considering him for 'S' Paper, but interpretating his work is beyond me at the present moment. Anyone care to enlighten me, because I'm really interested in this? I'm on the second volume out of four, which are all available from library@Esplanade. Tell me if you see it in a bookstore.

19. The Hot Zone (Richard Preston)
This freaked me out immensely when I read it. It's not exactly normal for a primary school kid to wonder what are his odds of dying from a haemorrhagic fever. I suppose the scariest thing about this book is that everything which happened in it is true.

20. His Dark Materials (3 books) (Philip Pullman)
A not-so-subtle attack on Christianity, but fascinating fiction nonetheless. I'm on the third book, The Amber Spyglass, right now. If you ask me, I think the middle book, The Subtle Knife, isn't as gripping as the first, Northern Lights. In any case, the cover artwork is nice, for a book from Popular. I disagree with the repeated comparisons made to Tolkien though, I don't believe Pullman's universe is as fully fleshed out in comparison.

21. Idlewild (Nick Sagan)
The sequel, Edenborn, is already out in the USA. The protagonist, Halloween, is one of my favourite characters out of all the stuff I've read. The premise is plausible: A plague has worked its way into the human genome, and the whole world's dead. Except for 10 genetically-modified "humans", created in a last-bid attempt to save humanity's future. They are supposed to work out a way to resurrect humanity, plague-free, but what happens when they start disappearing one by one? The denouement of the plot is realistic, and it'll be interesting to see what the sequel offers. Oh yeah, Nick Sagan is the son of Carl Sagan, in case you were wondering.

22. The Lord Of The Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
I can't remember why I bought this. For whatever reason, I bought it, read it, loved it. (I even read the appendices!) I now own almost every other published work by Tolkien. If you've seen the movie, but never read the book, what's wrong with you?

23. The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
Once you get the hang of the black English in this book, you'll be fine. The family relationships in the book are really messed up though. I think there's incest somewhere, but it's so complicated I can't be sure anymore. Read if you want a thought-provoking book with a (reasonably) happy ending.

24. No Other City (poetry anthology)
Ethos's anthology of urban poetry, which has very unique binding. That said, the poetry's all local, so this is a convenient way of getting acquainted with local poets and their writing. This naturally assumes you want to be acquainted with local writing. Believe you me, no cheesy stuff here à la Goh Sin Tub.

25. Sudden Fiction (Continued) (prose anthology)
This is an interesting anthology of a very specific type of fiction. The "sudden" is inspired by the Latin word "subire", and is essentially a short story of not longer than 2000 words. Haven't seen this in bookstores before, so if you're interested, be nice to me and I'll lend it to you.