Rain
 
The latest addition to my collection which I've just ordered should consist of the works of Shakespeare......
 

It's official everyone......Rain definitely has waaayyyyy too much time to kill ! ;)
 
Ya know we only ever looked at that stuff because we were locked in a room and forced to, right ?
 
 
 

Tastes vary, but I agree that P.G. Wodehouse was a genius. I could read his stuff all day (and I have). I also can't read enough Poe. On the other hand, Melville makes me want to use that DIY lobotomy kit. (Sorry, I'm not usually allowed in civilized company.) 
 
I would also include Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald, Jane Austen (yes, she's funny), Robert Louis Stevenson (What? I enjoy children's books, too), and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Mark Twain was  fantastic. H.G. Wells and Jules Verne had some great ideas. There are probably a lot more, but those are the ones that bubbled to the surface first.

+1 for anything by Mark Twain, especially "Letters from the Earth".
 
Quality hardbound editions of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings would deserve a place on the shelf.
 
"Watership Down" would make my "classics" list. So would "Alice in Wonderland".
 
Anything by Terry Pratchett, a true master of the English language with the kind of warped humor that should appeal to all CH denizens. Might as well add Douglas Adams to that category. Granted, these authors aren't dead yet so they might not qualify as "classics". But they will be someday. 
 
 
Classic science fiction ranks high on my list: 
 
Brave New World
The Foundation Trilogy
War of the Worlds
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Fahrenheit 451
Ringworld
Snowcrash
Journey to the Center of the Earth
I, Robot
Childhood's End
Ender's Game / Speaker for the Dead
The Time Machine
Stranger in a Strange Land
1984
The Martian Chronicles
The Lathe of Heaven
Dune
Neuromancer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Slaughterhouse 5
Flowers for Algernon
 
 
Admittedly, some of these barely qualify as "classics". More accurately, they could be described as being written in the classic tradition: big ideas brought down to human level.
 
BTW, "Idiocracy" was stolen from a Nebula-winning short story by CM Kornbluth called "Marching Morons". 
 

all of my books are electronic now.
save a tree.
 
most recent:
 
Stephen Hawkings' "A Briefer History of Time", which is the updated version which includes string theory, quantum mechanics and more on the big bang theory
 
 
before that, bram stoker's "Dracula".
 
 
i'm also a sucker for music stuff,
 
several good recent purchases:
KEN SCOTT'S "ABBEY ROAD TO ZIGGY STARDUST" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
"KICKING AND DREAMING", ANN AND NANCY WILSON (HEART)
"A WIZARD A TRUE STAR: TODD RUNDGREN IN THE STUDIO", PAUL MYERS

Huckleberry Finn is an excellent read, but I also enjoyed "Life On The Mississipi" very much.

I  love  sci fi and otherworldy books, that is , if they can take me somewhere or make me think I am somewhere else or I buy into the characters.
 
I like  books about things that people swear happened but science says it couldn't have happened. I have at least a dozen books in my reading area at home right now all started into a few chapters. I'll read some of one and then some of another.They all get read eventually unless they are really bad. When I go to the used bookstores I end up with books on just about anything,the Apollo missions, weird weather, ghosts,demons, scifi,electronic,recording and technical  books.
I have at least 10 copies of the good book lying around in different versions.I have already read it but I reference it a lot. Lately Ive been buying Kindle books because they are much less expensive than hardbacks. It seems odd the way you buy books for the ipad though.....the kindle app will only let you add a book to a wish list. I have an Amazon app on my ipad but it won't let me buy a Kindle book and the Kindle app won't let me buy a book...instead I have to go to the Amazon legacy site and buy books, then I have the option to decide which device I want the book sent to..... it would be nice just to buy a Kindle book from Kindle. Since the samples I read to decide on what I want to buy come from Kindle I do a lot of jumping around back and forth. Still a nice way to read a book IMO.

The Mote In God's Eye
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
 
Ringworld Series
Larry Niven
 
The Martian Chronicles
Ray Bradbury

I really enjoyed this one book called Reality Challenged, but the author apparently hasn't made any additional offerings since, so I've gone back to reading a phone book from 1982 (some of the later editions have words that are harder to pronounce so I stick with the Classics). 

bitflipper
+1 for anything by Mark Twain, especially "Letters from the Earth".
 
Quality hardbound editions of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings would deserve a place on the shelf.
 
"Watership Down" would make my "classics" list. So would "Alice in Wonderland".
 
Anything by Terry Pratchett, a true master of the English language with the kind of warped humor that should appeal to all CH denizens. Might as well add Douglas Adams to that category. Granted, these authors aren't dead yet so they might not qualify as "classics". But they will be someday. 
 
 
Classic science fiction ranks high on my list: 
 
Brave New World
The Foundation Trilogy
War of the Worlds
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Fahrenheit 451
Ringworld
Snowcrash
Journey to the Center of the Earth
I, Robot
Childhood's End
Ender's Game / Speaker for the Dead
The Time Machine
Stranger in a Strange Land
1984
The Martian Chronicles
The Lathe of Heaven
Dune
Neuromancer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Slaughterhouse 5
Flowers for Algernon
 
 
Admittedly, some of these barely qualify as "classics". More accurately, they could be described as being written in the classic tradition: big ideas brought down to human level.
 
BTW, "Idiocracy" was stolen from a Nebula-winning short story by CM Kornbluth called "Marching Morons". 
 

EXCELLENT list!  I have read most of those.

I can't stand that guy, Craigb...