The Neverending Story

A few that haven’t been mentioned: Red Plenty by Francis Spufford is a historical fiction story about the mathematicians and engineers who tried to optimize the Soviet economy. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is much deeper and more interesting than any of the theatrical versions. Reminiscent of the Matrix sequels, the Childlike Empress threatens to crash Fantastica with a stack overflow (via infinite recursion) to force Bastian to give her a name. American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin goes into much more detail than the film (Oppenheimer).

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. This is a book for children but I don’t think I fully appreciated the second half until I was an adult. Also, there’s a cute attempt at a stack overflow crash in the middle :)

* Anything by Cortázar. * Trainspotting, * Fight Club * Anything by Carl Sagan, specially Contact * Lord of the Rings * The Hobbit * And finally: Anything by Michael Ende: The Neverending Story, Momo (one of my faves).

Best overall: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and its less well-known sequel, Lila Best fantasy in terms of most imaginative and full of wonder: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. (I know, everyone saw the crappy movie; it simply does not do the book justice.) Best Scifi: The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

Most books by Hermann Hesse, really... Narziss&Goldmund changed my perspective on life. If you have anything artistic in you, it's a must-read. Steppenwolf, Siddharta and the Glass Bead Game are other must-reads. Gabriel Garcia Marques, One hundred years of solitude. Practically all of Jorge Luis Borges' short stories. Mind-bending. Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being. Michael Ende's Never Ending Story. Enjoy!

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson. Alice in Wonderland iff still young enough not to think girls are gross. Otherwise you must sneak up on him with the poetry, then introduce the book. (I've had success with reciting 'Jabberwocky' and 'The Walrus and the Carpenter.') Learn 'If,' by Kipling, by heart. Then teach it slowly and patiently. As an aside, quite a lot of Kipling is truly excellently boy friendly. The Proverbs of Solomon, et al. Found in any Bible or Talmud. Bears repeated reading, as most eastern 'wisdom' literature does (The Book of Five Rings, The Art of War, etc.). While we're at, why not the Narnia books? I loved them, and I'd no idea the Lion was apparently Jesus until I was nine or so. But by far do not DO NOT forget Michel Ende's marvelous 'The Neverending Story.' If you're only familiar with it from a movie, you've missed the best part, when the boy 'Bastian must take up arms and become the adventurer he has read about and loved.

I would Second ANYTHING by Hesse, not got round to a thorough read of Siddhartha yet, but Damien is most excellent and The Glass Bead Games is a revelation for anyone who feels there is something just a little bit ill with the mind and motion of our modern age. Oh, and something along the lines of The Neverending Story (The Silmarillion/LotR), because it's something to lose yourself in with kids and doesn't even have to be read.