[xamuel]

The Bible (technically working on my 2nd cover-to-cover readthrough, but have read individual books in it many times, especially the Gospel of Matthew).

All of Kafka's novels, but especially "The Castle".

Several of PKD's novels: "The Man in the High Castle", "Through a Scanner Darkly", "Ubiq"

"The Silmarillion" (when I was a young adult)

Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency" (when I was a teenager)

[raztogt21]

Don't you feel The Man in the High Castle could be so much better? The premise was great and the context was great, but I could never relate to the main story.

[xamuel]

How would you improve Man in the High Castle? Like many PKD books it presents a premise which seems, naively, like a veritable paper mill that you could churn out endless books from--and then barely goes anywhere with it. That's part of PKD's style. Yes, the High Castle universe could be made to churn out whole series of formulaic literature, but it would be just that, formulaic. Go write it yourself--you don't need PKD to write it for you, once he's given you the premise.

It's like Kafka said. If you try to make a river too large, it will overflow and you'll end up with mud. There's a certain size at which a river is just right, and any more just detracts from it.

[raztogt21]

It's not about the river size. Do androids dream of electric sheep? has an amazing premise and a good "main" story.

I don't want a full universe explaining every point; just a compelling story to drive the Man in the High Castle.