A few weeks ago, Penelope Trunk had a blog post, The Five Books That Wasted the Most Time For Me. I’ve been coming up with similar lists. Here’s my collection of mostly must read books.
Literary Works That Shocked Me When I Read Them
1) Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
2) A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
3) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4) My Antonia by Willa Cather
Books That Made the Biggest Difference
1) Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman
2) Mere Morality by Lewis B. Smedes
3) The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancy
4) When Bad Things Happen To Good People by Rabbi Harold Kushner
5) Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala
6) If You Want To Write by Brenda Ueland
Books That Carried Me the Farthest From Home
1) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
2) The Master and Margurita by Bernard Malamud
3) Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
4) Out of the Whirlwind (Holocaust Literature) Edited by Albert Friedlander
5) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6) 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Books That Made Me Cry in Class
1) Call of the Wild by Jack London
2) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
3) To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
4) Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Must Read Books I Should Have Read by Now
1) Walden By Henry David Thoreau
2) Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
3) Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Books that Failed to Live Up to the Hype
1) The Shack by William P. Young
2) The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
I’d love to hear about your favorite reads. What’s on your must read books list? Anything surprise you or carry you far from home?
No Hunter S. Thompson on any of the lists? For shame! 🙂
I laughed at Animal Farm too. 🙂
@muffinman – yes, i liked 1984, too. Beowulf – I wish I had those two weeks back. Ehhh on the Canterbury Tales. zzzzzzzzzzz.
And, yes, I do recall the Jungle now. I had to read excerpts of it for my APR exam – b/c Ida Tarbell – her influence on public relations. I need to read the whole work. Probably further galvanize my liberal perspective.
I am surprised you haven’t heard of “The Jungle”. It was required reading for me in school.
Along with (see what I can remember reading…)
The Scarlet Letter
The Illyad & The Odyssey
The Crucible
Romeo and Juliet
The Jungle
Lord of the Flies
Beowulf
Great Expectations
Cantebury Tales
Animal Farm
Antigone
The Tempest
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Separate Peace
The Great Gatsby
Of Mice and Men
Flowers for Algernon
To Kill a Mockingbird
1984 (one of my favs)
The Time Machine (another one of my alltime favs)
From wikipedia…
“The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by author and socialist journalist Upton Sinclair. It was written about the corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. The novel depicts in harsh tones the poverty, absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness prevalent among the “have-nots”, which is contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption on the part of the “haves”. The sad state of turn-of-the-century labor is placed front and center for the American public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American “wage slavery”.[1] The novel is also an important example of the “muckraking” tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. Sinclair wanted to persuade his readers that the mainstream American political parties offered little means for progressive change.”
@BKN – The Jungle – what is that about???
@Le – when I started this list I couldn’t think of more than five books I’d actually read – then when I categorized it was easy. Given the fact I’m 41, I haven’t read nearly enough. I also hate Dr. Seuss book. Except Horton and the Lorax. The rest drive me nuts.
@Daddy Forever – not laughing. Now I want to go check it out. But, I am laughing, b/c u r so darn funny.
@junkdrawer – OK -you’ve probably got us all beat in the book department, so your list ranks high with credibility. How is Infinite Jest coming along? I will add All the Pretty Horses to my list b/c I keep hearing about it – even now.
One book that always carries me far from home and back again, East of Eden. Favorite book of all time.
Would also add to the “Books That Made a Difference List”: Still Loved by the Sun by Migael Scherer.
Great lists!
Some books that made a big impression on me:
1)Catcher in the Rye
2)A Farewell To Arms
3)Bright Lights, Big City
4)Less Than Zero
5)The Road by Cormac McCarthy
6)All the Pretty Horses, By Cormac McCarthy
I’ll stop there.
I’m a sci-fi fan and one of my favoites is Imzadi by Peter David. It’s a love story in a Star Trek setting. I think on the planet Betazed, Imzadi means true love or soul mate. Please, no laughing at the geek.
wow – what a great reader you are … my only observation is a little out of left field …
When MIC and I met not only did we have matching antique wardrobes we had four books the same – and not ones you would find anywhere …. it was destiny 🙂
You can tell a bit about a person by the books they keep – hugs le
I would add “The Jungle” to the 1st list. 🙂
I would also put Shawshank Redemption and Shindler’s List to the lists somewhere.
I also agree with “Purpose Driven Life”… did not live up to the hype.