The Ultimate List Of Books You Should Read Before You Die

Filed under Improve your book.

I am always a bit too obsessed by these ’20 books you should read before you die’ type of blog posts. However, I often wonder if they have any real value. The list below has been constructed using a number of other lists from other blogs. I have tried to keep my personal preferences out of the equation and simply the pose the question:

Is it possible to really produce a list of value?

  • The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
  • Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
  • To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
  • The Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
  • The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
  • The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
  • The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
  • Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
  • Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
  • Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
  • Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
  • The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
  • Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
  • The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
  • The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
  • Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
  • Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
  • War And Peace – Leo Tolstoy
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
  • The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  • Dune – Frank Herbert
  • Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
  • Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
  • Lord of the Flies – William Golding
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
  • Crime and Punishment – Feodor Dostoyevsky
  • The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
  • East of Eden – John Steinbeck
  • The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
  • Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
  • Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
  • Animal Farm – George Orwell
  • Watership Down – Richard Adams
  • Magician – Raymond E Feist
  • Middlemarch – George Eliot
  • The Magus – John Fowles
  • The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
  • The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
  • The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
  • Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
  • The World according to Garp – John Irving
  • Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

I positively encourage you to criticise, agree and suggest additions and subtractions to this list. I will add and remove as you suggest and post a revised list in the near future

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  • Katie Fforde

    hate the thought of ones last weeks/months on earth having to read books you never read before. Would rather read books I like.

    • garysmailes

      Argghh – you can’t open the read/re-read debate already – its too soon :-)

      • http://www.maryhoffman.co.uk Mary Hoffman

        Score: Read 36; Would quite like to read 3 (Birdsong, Crime and Punishment, The Color Purple) ; Wouldn’t touch with a bargepole 1 (can you guess?); Would read again 12 (-ish) ; Haven’t heard of 3 (Atlas Shrugged, Magician, Middlesex); ones I regretted reading 4 (Catcher in the Rye, The English Patient, The Little Prince,Remains of the Day); over-rated (all in previous category, plus Gone with the Wind, the Shadow of the Wind and The Kite Runner)

        I don’t think there’s any list of books that everyone should read, unless you want to say that anyone who counts themselves as “educated” should read certain texts (of which I would say Hamlet is the one “must read”). But such lists should be fun – as this one was. Thank you!

        Before I went to read Eng Lit at Cambridge I received a reading list which began “The Bible, Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid …” and went on like that for a couple of pages. It was totally daunting and I don’t think we need to add to the many things that daunt people, especially writers, who are very easily daunted!

  • Sue Moorcroft

    Why ‘should’ these be the books we read before we die? What’s the criterion? That half have been on school curriculums and put students off reading for life? And the rest are what are currently deemed ‘literary’ and so you can read it on the tube, safe that nobody will think you’re a lightweight?

    If I had to read this lot I’d be hoping to die before the end. In fact, I’d probably die of boredom.

    I like to read books that entertain!

    • garysmailes

      You make a very interesting point. However, I would suggest that writers need to know and understand the canon of work that has proceeded them in order to write in the most effective manner. I would also suggest that books do more than one job. You may read to be entertained, another reader may read to be educated, whilst a third reader may read to gain some deeper emotion connection and understanding.

  • http://www.bernardinekennedy.com Bernardine Kennedy

    Nope.I don’t think there’s a book in the world that ‘should’ be read once you’ve left school. and as for reading before you die, I reckon many of those would hurry along the process :)

    • garysmailes

      Do you feel that there is no such thing as a book we should all read? Personally I would remove at least five of these titles and replace them with other books. What books would you suggest?

  • http://Www.morethanjustamother.blogspot.com MTJAM

    Oh God. I am a literary disaster zone. The tiny fraction I have actually read are in the loft, annotated with the pseudo-intellectual notes of an A-level student. I loathe being made to feel inadequate based on what I read. How does that define me? I may choose to read a tabloid but I’m still capable of broadsheet debate. Where is the humour in this list? I am off to buy some chick-lit in sheer defiance.

    • garysmailes

      The concept of this post is to address the idea that a list of ‘must read’ books exist. That is, a list that is commonly agreed to represent titles we should all read. However, it may be that such a list doesn’t exist. May be our tastes are so diverse that a list can never be compiled. Which books would you remove and which would you add?

  • http://shar13.wordpress.com Sharon

    Where’s ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ and ”Cloud Atlas’? I’m going to have to start reading now, thought I have read quite a lot of that list – some for English at school, which wasn’t always a good thing!!

  • Maryomayfield

    Thank goodness that having read some of these, I can die quietly and NOT have to re-read them. Ploughed through Harry Potter when daughter was small and wouldn’t want to do that again! Wouldn’t encourage anybody to read Dr Zhivago – as a teenager I thought it was wonderful, as an adult I thought Yuri just whined the whole way through about how unfair his life was!

    • garysmailes

      Are you glad you read them? Would you suggest others read them?

  • http://twitter.com/DanKelley44 Dan Kelley

    How about ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac? In order to make space, I’d drop Great Expectations. Can’t stand Dickens…

    • garysmailes

      Will be interesting to see if anyone else agrees.

  • Annie

    IMO, the only point of ‘must-read’ lists is to show everybody else how woefully inadequate they are. The books that educate and entertain us are varied (think of variation by country, time, and the latest fashion) and cannot be contained in a single blog post

    • garysmailes

      So you feel that a list of books we should all read is impossible to produce?

      • Annie

        Yes, because I resent the notion that I ‘should’ read something anyway. Such a list would be heavily coloured by the nationality, gender, race and religion of its makers, and I can guess what small section of humanity it would best represent. But today’s society, the younger people who ‘need’ to read this list, are much more varied than that.They should be encouraged to read… just about anything that inspires them to develop a love for reading.
        What are the criteria for books to be placed on such a list? I bet that people would be having kittens if someone suggested that it should be the best-selling books (I can hear it already: why isn’t Twilight on the list?). I am a reader of Science Fiction. Where is Heinlein? Where is Asimov? Where is Ursula LeGuin? I am Australian. Where is Tim Winton? I could go on and on. Then again, the fact that I, personally, hated a book isn’t a reason to exclude it, not even if I were a literary academic. No one has the right to impose their taste, or as some would have it, lack thereof, on others. It’s impossible to make such a list, because no one would agree on the contents, it would be way, way too long and would discourage people with how much they haven’t read, and would remind people horribly of high school.
        I hated the compulsory reading list so much, I never touched a work of fiction for twenty years after leaving high school.

        • garysmailes

          I think the point you make is very interesting indeed. This list of books, in essence, reflects a mix of white, British, imperialism and a US nation struggling to find its way in the literary world. It makes no nod for any real multi-cultural books. I would LOVE to see a list that represented a world-wide list of titles!

          For the record I nearly put on Philip K Dick and Tim Winton would not be out of place.

  • Taz

    Greetings
    How about an A-Z of must read authors: I will suggest an M with Marx, Harpo and his book Harpo Speaks. As well as an insight to the anarchic world of the Marx Brothers there is also an insight on how the world is one big playground. Regards Pete.

    • garysmailes

      Nice idea…might wait until the dust settles though.

  • LizUK

    Interesting list. I do have an issue with prescriptive lists though – where’s the fun in discovering things for yourself? Also, The Da Vinci Code? Seriously?!?! I thought these were meant to encourage people to read, not give them numb brains.

    • garysmailes

      I kept the Da Vinci Code on the list simply because, in the eyes of many publishers, it is the perfect book. Controversial, internationally appealing, a film maker’s dream and most importantly, hugely profitable. I feel that as writers we need to be aware such books since they represent the blueprint many publishers are working to emulate.

  • Diandra Linnemann

    Hmm. Read 15 of them already. Not too bad, I would say. And there are some books on that list I wouldn’t touch with pliers. (^v^)

    However, I miss wuite an array of books. Where are all the Chinese, Japanese and Arab authors? What about Haruki Murakami, Rafik Schami or Xingjian Gao? Kenzaburo Oe? Nagib Machfus? And why did you forget Salman Rushdie?

    So many great stories we Westerners miss…

    • garysmailes

      agree – I actually removed Rushdie’s Midnight Children from the list but maybe it should be included. So you feel these list have value?

  • Sue Moorcroft

    I have to add … I’ve read 20 of them (counting LOTR as one book rather than three), only six of which I’d read again: Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Rebecca, The Hobbit, LOTR and Watership Down (if I were really short of books).

    • garysmailes

      Do you think that a list of ‘must read’ books has any value at all for writers?

      • Sue Moorcroft

        I don’t see much value in such a list, to be truthful. Unless, of course, it goes like this:

        All That Mullarkey by Sue Moorcroft
        Starting Over by Sue Moorcroft

        etc. :-) Sorry, couldn’t resist.

        No, I don’t see a huge value in reading the classics unless a) you happen to like them b) you’re trying to get published a couple of centuries ago. Neither do I much value in a list that entirely ignores popular fiction. Maybe because I write popular fiction. If your list had included bestsellers across the board I would probably have given it more credence. I think too many people fall into the trap of dismissing popular fiction because they’re frightened that it will make them look dim to admit to reading it.

        • Sue Moorcroft

          Sorry. Stray ‘in’ in the post above! Oops, me.

        • garysmailes

          I didn’t compile the list and would agree with what you say. However, I would also suggest that to truly understand the structure of the novel as a format is it essential to have read a number of the classics. If only to know where and how to innovate.

          What about the idea that it takes about 25 years to see the real value in modern writing…

          • Sue Moorcroft

            Hmm. I see your point. Not quite convinced but don’t see a way of proving the point.

          • garysmailes

            I would have liked to include some graphic novels also, but felt that was too controversial :-) I am not trying to tell people what to read, I am just really interested in the idea of IF a group of books exist that we all consider to be ‘must reads’. The obvious missing book from the list if, of course, the Bible (and other religious texts).

          • Sue Moorcroft

            Hmm. I see your point. Not quite convinced but don’t see a way of proving the point.

            I don’t think we’d get a group of books we consider ‘must reads’ until we all have one opinion. I don’t see that happening …

  • Anonymous

    What I find fascinating about this sort of list is that anyone reading it will almost always find at least one book that they consider terrible.

    I don’t criticize the inclusion of Da Vinci Code as it was a huge seller, and arguably ought to be there as an example of how to write this kind of book. But I can’t for the life of me see why Catch-22 is there. It hasn’t dated well, it’s one of the most tedious books I’ve ever read, pompously self-aware and entirely impossible to feel anything for the ‘characters.’

    • garysmailes

      But is it possible to produce a list of books that the majority of people would feel are ‘must read’?

  • Sarah Callejo

    Why do we have to read these books before we die? You haven’t explained your/blog reasons to prescribe these books. Is it contents, style, pretty covers…? I think it’s impossible to set a list for everyone, we’ve got such different tastes. Anyway, where is Like Bees to Honey? ;-)

    • garysmailes

      I simply collated about 10 lists I found on other blogs and took titles that were mentioned at least twice. I then pruned out a few titles I personally didn’t feel fit. No criteria just interested in what people think.

    • Bogdan

      right! we know to read book because our parents told us: to try this book or the other; trying to teach us about different human feelings in different situation, or simply of something new ( sorry, I can’t stop mentioning Asimov and the 1st rule: “robot shall not harm people”), or that plaster can be done in such a way that there is no visible difference from today till tomorrow ( or that many statues were done ‘from imagination”) (Irving Stone), or the nice conversational way of Frederick Forsyth, or the interesting ideas of Rainbow six…

  • Katie Fforde

    hate the thought of ones last weeks/months on earth having to read books you never read before. Would rather read books I like.

  • garysmailes

    Do you feel that reading the accepted classics makes a writer a better writer?

  • garysmailes

    Argghh – you can't open the read/re-read debate already – its too soon :-)

  • Sue Moorcroft

    Why 'should' these be the books we read before we die? What's the criterion? That half have been on school curriculums and put students off reading for life? And the rest are what are currently deemed 'literary' and so you can read it on the tube, safe that nobody will think you're a lightweight?

    If I had to read this lot I'd be hoping to die before the end. In fact, I'd probably die of boredom.

    I like to read books that entertain!

  • http://www.bernardinekennedy.com Bernardine Kennedy

    Nope.I don't think there's a book in the world that 'should' be read once you've left school. and as for reading before you die, I reckon many of those would hurry along the process :)

  • garysmailes

    You make a very interesting point. However, I would suggest that writers need to know and understand the canon of work that has proceeded them in order to write in the most effective manner. I would also suggest that books do more than one job. You may read to be entertained, another reader may read to be educated, whilst a third reader may read to gain some deeper emotion connection and understanding.

  • http://Www.morethanjustamother.blogspot.com MTJAM

    Oh God. I am a literary disaster zone. The tiny fraction I have actually read are in the loft, annotated with the pseudo-intellectual notes of an A-level student. I loathe being made to feel inadequate based on what I read. How does that define me? I may choose to read a tabloid but I'm still capable of broadsheet debate. Where is the humour in this list? I am off to buy some chick-lit in sheer defiance.

  • garysmailes

    Do you feel that their is no such thing as a book we should all read? Personally I would remove at least five of these titles and replace them with other books. What books would you suggest?

  • http://shar13.wordpress.com Sharon

    Where's 'The Diary of Anne Frank' and ''Cloud Atlas'? I'm going to have to start reading now, thought I have read quite a lot of that list – some for English at school, which wasn't always a good thing!!

  • garysmailes

    The concept of this post is to address the idea that a list of 'must read' books exist. That is, a list that is commonly agreed to represent titles we should all read. However, may be such a list doesn't exist. May be our tastes are so diverse that a list can never be complied. Which books would you remove and which would you add?

  • Maryomayfield

    Thank goodness that having read some of these, I can die quietly and NOT have to re-read them. Ploughed through Harry Potter when daughter was small and wouldn't want to do that again! Wouldn't encourage anybody to read Dr Zhivago – as a teenager I thought it was wonderful, as an adult I thought Yuri just whined the whole way through about how unfair his life was!

  • http://twitter.com/DanKelley44 Dan Kelley

    How about 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac? In order to make space, I'd drop Great Expectations. Can't stand Dickens…

  • Annie

    IMO, the only point of 'must-read' lists is to show everybody else how woefully inadequate they are. The books that educate and entertain us are varied (think of variation by country, time, and the latest fashion) and cannot be contained in a single blog post

  • Taz

    Greetings
    How about an A-Z of must read authors: I will suggest an M with Marx, Harpo and his book Harpo Speaks. As well as an insight to the anarchic world of the Marx Brothers there is also an insight on how the world is one big playground. Regards Pete.

  • LizUK

    Interesting list. I do have an issue with prescriptive lists though – where's the fun in discovering things for yourself? Also, The Da Vinci Code? Seriously?!?! I thought these were meant to encourage people to read, not give them numb brains.

  • garysmailes

    I kept the Da Vinci Code on the list simply because, in the eyes of many publishers, it is the perfect book. Controversial, internationally appealing, a film maker's dream and most importantly, hugely profitable. I feel that as writers we need to be aware such books since they represent the blueprint many publishers are working to emulate.

  • garysmailes

    Nice idea…might wait until the dust settles though.

  • garysmailes

    So you feel that a list of books we should all read is impossible to produce?

  • garysmailes

    Will be interesting to see if anyone else agrees.

  • Diandra Linnemann

    Hmm. Read 15 of them already. Not too bad, I would say. And there are some books on that list I wouldn't touch with pliers. (^v^)

    However, I miss wuite an array of books. Where are all the Chinese, Japanese and Arab authors? What about Haruki Murakami, Rafik Schami or Xingjian Gao? Kenzaburo Oe? Nagib Machfus? And why did you forget Salman Rushdie?

    So many great stories we Westerners miss…

  • garysmailes

    agree – I actually removed Rushdie's Midnight Children from the list but maybe it should be included. So you feel these list have value?

  • Sue Moorcroft

    I have to add … I've read 20 of them (counting LOTR as one book rather than three), only six of which I'd read again: Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Rebecca, The Hobbit, LOTR and Watership Down (if I were really short of books).

  • garysmailes

    Do you think that a list of 'must read' books has any value at all for writers?

  • brianclegg

    What I find fascinating about this sort of list is that anyone reading it will almost always find at least one book that they consider terrible.

    I don't criticize the inclusion of Da Vinci Code as it was a huge seller, and arguably ought to be there as an example of how to write this kind of book. But I can't for the life of me see why Catch-22 is there. It hasn't dated well, it's one of the most tedious books I've ever read, pompously self-aware and entirely impossible to feel anything for the 'characters.'

  • Sarah Callejo

    Why do we have to read these books before we die? You haven't explained your/blog reasons to prescribe these books. Is it contents, style, pretty covers…? I think it's impossible to set a list for everyone, we've got such different tastes. Anyway, where is Like Bees to Honey? ;-)

    • Bogdan

      right! we know to read book because our parents told us: to try this book or the other; trying to teach us about different human feelings in different situation, or simply of something new ( sorry, I can’t stop mentioning Asimov and the 1st rule: “robot shall not harm people”), or that plaster can be done in such a way that there is no visible difference from today till tomorrow ( or that many statues were done ‘from imagination”) (Irving Stone), or the nice conversational way of Frederick Forsyth, or the interesting ideas of Rainbow six…

  • Sue Moorcroft

    I don't see much value in such a list, to be truthful. Unless, of course, it goes like this:

    All That Mullarkey by Sue Moorcroft
    Starting Over by Sue Moorcroft

    etc. :-) Sorry, couldn't resist.

    No, I don't see a huge value in reading the classics unless a) you happen to like them b) you're trying to get published a couple of centuries ago. Neither do I much value in a list that entirely ignores popular fiction. Maybe because I write popular fiction. If your list had included bestsellers across the board I would probably have given it more credence. I think too many people fall into the trap of dismissing popular fiction because they're frightened that it will make them look dim to admit to reading it.

  • Sue Moorcroft

    Sorry. Stray 'in' in the post above! Oops, me.

  • garysmailes

    But is it possible to produce a list of books that the majority of people would feel are 'must read'?

  • garysmailes

    I simply collated about 10 lists I found on other blogs and took titles that were mentioned at least twice. I then pruned out a few titles I personally didn't feel fit. No criteria just interested in what people think.

  • garysmailes

    I didn't compile the list and would agree with what you say. However, I would also suggest that to truly understand the structure of the novel as a format is it essential to have read a number of the classics. If only to know where and how to innovate.

    What about the idea that it takes about 25 years to see the real value in modern writing…

  • garysmailes

    Are you glad you read them? Would you suggest others read them?

  • Annie

    Yes, because I resent the notion that I 'should' read something anyway. Such a list would be heavily coloured by the nationality, gender, race and religion of its makers, and I can guess what small section of humanity it would best represent. But today's society, the younger people who 'need' to read this list, are much more varied than that.They should be encouraged to read… just about anything that inspires them to develop a love for reading.
    What are the criteria for books to be placed on such a list? I bet that people would be having kittens if someone suggested that it should be the best-selling books (I can hear it already: why isn't Twilight on the list?). I am a reader of Science Fiction. Where is Heinlein? Where is Asimov? Where is Ursula LeGuin? I am Australian. Where is Tim Winton? I could go on and on. Then again, the fact that I, personally, hated a book isn't a reason to exclude it, not even if I were a literary academic. No one has the right to impose their taste, or as some would have it, lack thereof, on others. It's impossible to make such a list, because no one would agree on the contents, it would be way, way too long and would discourage people with how much they haven't read, and would remind people horribly of high school.
    I hated the compulsory reading list so much, I never touched a work of fiction for twenty years after leaving high school.

  • Sue Moorcroft

    Hmm. I see your point. Not quite convinced but don't see a way of proving the point.

  • garysmailes

    I would have liked to include some graphic novels also, but felt that was too controversial :-) I am not trying to tell people what to read, I am just really interested in the idea of IF a group of books exist that we all consider to be 'must reads'. The obvious missing book from the list if, of course, the Bible (and other religious texts).

  • Sue Moorcroft

    Hmm. I see your point. Not quite convinced but don't see a way of proving the point.

    I don't think we'd get a group of books we consider 'must reads' until we all have one opinion. I don't see that happening …

  • garysmailes

    I think the point you make is very interesting indeed. This list of books, in essence, reflects a mix of white, British, imperialism and a US nation struggling to find its way in the literary world. It makes no nod for any real multi-cultural books. I would LOVE to see a list that represented a world-wide list of titles!

    For the record I nearly put on Philip K Dick and Tim Winton would not be out of place.

  • http://www.maryhoffman.co.uk Mary Hoffman

    Score: Read 36; Would quite like to read 3 (Birdsong, Crime and Punishment, The Color Purple) ; Wouldn't touch with a bargepole 1 (can you guess?); Would read again 12 (-ish) ; Haven't heard of 3 (Atlas Shrugged, Magician, Middlesex); ones I regretted reading 4 (Catcher in the Rye, The English Patient, The Little Prince,Remains of the Day); over-rated (all in previous category, plus Gone with the Wind, the Shadow of the Wind and The Kite Runner)

    I don't think there's any list of books that everyone should read, unless you want to say that anyone who counts themselves as “educated” should read certain texts (of which I would say Hamlet is the one “must read”). But such lists should be fun – as this one was. Thank you!

    Before I went to read Eng Lit at Cambridge I received a reading list which began “The Bible, Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid …” and went on like that for a couple of pages. It was totally daunting and I don't think we need to add to the many things that daunt people, especially writers, who are very easily daunted!

  • Anonymous

    I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve only read 7 on this list, but then I’m not a great reader. Interesting list too, I’m wondering if the lists you got them from were compiled by men?

    • garysmailes

      Ohh – that’s a great point…

  • http://www.kellyrailton.com Kelly

    I think the lists are not entirely useless as they remind you of books you meant to read but had forgotten! I too was put through the obligatory reading list many years ago when studying for a degree in English Literature. Many of those above were featured on the list. I absolutely loathed some of the books we were ‘required’ to read (Humphry Clinker was hellish!) but equally I loved some I probably would never have otherwise picked up (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings/Anna Karenina etc etc).

    That is why these lists are ‘sometimes’ helpful.

    It is really down to personal taste. I too abhor Catch 22 but know so many people who love it. I think ‘The Blind Assassin’ was one of my least favourite Atwood books (and I love her), and I will always dispute the ommission of Murakami, especially Norwegian Wood.

    So, there really is no pleasing everyone with these lists! But I for one like them, because, as I’ve said they both remind and encourage me to read books I might not have done otherwise.

    • garysmailes

      Do you feel that writers who read the books on these kinds of list would be better writers at the end of the process?

  • garysmailes

    Do you feel that reading the accepted classics makes a writer a better writer?

  • Whyifearclowns

    I love these lists and the vehement, borderline violent, discussions they provoke. That is the value of the lists, more so than the content. I’ve read 13 on the list because this list is a bit more contemporary than some I’ve seen.

    “Da Vinci Code”? How to take a conspiracy theory that has bubbled below the surface for decades, if not centuries, and package it for the public.

    “The Grapes of Wrath.” The essential American novel and one of the best of the best on my personal list.

    “Gone With The Wind.” A personal favorite because my sixth grade teacher handed it to me and told me that I had been skating by reading the ‘easy’ books. That is where my true love of reading began.

    I’ll have to ponder suggestions. This list is a pretty good fit for me as it is!

    Terri
    http://www.whyifearclowns.com

    Last summer I joined an online group with the goal of plowing through “Gravity’s Rainbow.” I couldn’t do it. Too pretentious and outright bizarre. A book can be “art” without being incomprehensible.

    • garysmailes

      Terri – thanks, glad to see the list offers some value…

  • notSupermum

    I'm embarrassed to say that I've only read 7 on this list, but then I'm not a great reader. Interesting list too, I'm wondering if the lists you got them from were compiled by men?

  • http://www.kellyrailton.com Kelly

    I think the lists are not entirely useless as they remind you of books you meant to read but had forgotten! I too was put through the obligatory reading list many years ago when studying for a degree in English Literature. Many of those above were featured on the list. I absolutely loathed some of the books we were 'required' to read (Humphry Clinker was hellish!) but equally I loved some I probably would never have otherwise picked up (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings/Anna Karenina etc etc).

    That is why these lists are 'sometimes' helpful.

    It is really down to personal taste. I too abhor Catch 22 but know so many people who love it. I think 'The Blind Assassin' was one of my least favourite Atwood books (and I love her), and I will always dispute the ommission of Murakami, especially Norwegian Wood.

    So, there really is no pleasing everyone with these lists! But I for one like them, because, as I've said they both remind and encourage me to read books I might not have done otherwise.

  • Whyifearclowns

    I love these lists and the vehement, borderline violent, discussions they provoke. That is the value of the lists, more so than the content. I've read 13 on the list because this list is a bit more contemporary than some I've seen.

    “Da Vinci Code”? How to take a conspiracy theory that has bubbled below the surface for decades, if not centuries, and package it for the public.

    “The Grapes of Wrath.” The essential American novel and one of the best of the best on my personal list.

    “Gone With The Wind.” A personal favorite because my sixth grade teacher handed it to me and told me that I had been skating by reading the 'easy' books. That is where my true love of reading began.

    I'll have to ponder suggestions. This list is a pretty good fit for me as it is!

    Terri
    http://www.whyifearclowns.com

    Last summer I joined an online group with the goal of plowing through “Gravity's Rainbow.” I couldn't do it. Too pretentious and outright bizarre. A book can be “art” without being incomprehensible.

  • garysmailes

    Terri – thanks, glad to see the list offers some value…

  • garysmailes

    Ohh – that's a great point…

  • garysmailes

    Do you feel that writers who read the books on these kinds of list would be better writers at the end of the process?

  • http://nataliaventre.com nataliav

    The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are both good, but in a 20 books list, I won’t include more than 1 from the same author.

    The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe doesn’t add any value, it’s similar to LOTR, but not good enough.

    Having variety in author’s native languague is a good point, but instead of Gabriel García Márquez, I’ll go for The decapitated Chicken and Other Stories by Horacio Quiroga.

    If you include The Harry Potter series and The Da Vinci Code, why not the Twilight series? Or any other book with vampires, because right now there are very popular. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a must read.

    There are other great authors that I think should be there, Stephen King (The Shining) and something by Asimov.

    Making a list that appeals to everybody is very hard, usually these lists are a bunch of classics that sound like the right answer but truthfully few people enjoy reading.

  • http://nataliav.me nataliav

    The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are both good, but in a 20 books list, I won't include more than 1 from the same author.

    The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe doesn't add any value, it's similar to LOTR, but not good enough.

    Having variety in author's native languague is a good point, but instead of Gabriel García Márquez, I'll go for The decapitated Chicken and Other Stories by Horacio Quiroga.

    If you include The Harry Potter series and The Da Vinci Code, why not the Twilight series? Or any other book with vampires, because right now there are very popular. Bram Stoker's Dracula is a must read.

    There are other great authors that I think should be there, Stephen King (The Shining) and something by Asimov.

    Making a list that appeals to everybody is very hard, usually these lists are a bunch of classics that sound like the right answer but truthfully few people enjoy reading.

  • Bogdan

    it will be interesting to know your factors choosing this 50. I reckon “Going with the wind” it is still being translated in ‘other’ languages.

    but again I will suggest a 500 books you must read, and I will suggest some Asimov, just for the sake of that law : robots shall not harm people ( which is some more knowledge than “my precious”).
    Fiction is more like “what if?” so the more you read you can actually find what people can think, or do in different situations.
    My idea, of course, is towards people that “just understand the pleasure of reading”. 90% of all people on Earth will not buy a book after getting married. Again, will not buy that book for them to read, or for them to enjoy, they might, and surely they do , buy books for their children..
    waiting for (your) top 500.
    Bogdan

  • Bogdan

    it will be interesting to know your factors choosing this 50. I reckon “Going with the wind” it is still being translated in ‘other’ languages.

    but again I will suggest a 500 books you must read, and I will suggest some Asimov, just for the sake of that law : robots shall not harm people ( which is some more knowledge than “my precious”).
    Fiction is more like “what if?” so the more you read you can actually find what people can think, or do in different situations.
    My idea, of course, is towards people that “just understand the pleasure of reading”. 90% of all people on Earth will not buy a book after getting married. Again, will not buy that book for them to read, or for them to enjoy, they might, and surely they do , buy books for their children..
    waiting for (your) top 500.
    Bogdan

  • Anitaswaine

    Cant believe the Book Thief is not on this list, it is such a fantastic book would recomend to any one

  • Anitaswaine

    Cant believe the Book Thief is not on this list, it is such a fantastic book would recomend to any one