I'll start with mine. Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky The Stranger by Albert Camus 1984 by George Orwell The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas The Trial by Franz Kafka A Song of Ice and Fire by George Martin (I count this as one) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Collected works of Jorge Luis Borges
I've only read two of those: "1984" and "The Lord of the Rings." My ex-wife is an English major who loves the "Magic Realism" movement represented by Borges, Paulo Coelho, Gabriel García Márquez and host of others. I tried to read some of it but it just made my head hurt. I read primarily science fiction. I've read Martin but not that particular work; same for Vonnegut. Heinlein, Foster, Niven, Herbert... so many great writers in the genre. My favorite is James P. Hogan. It's been suggested that I never really grew up since I've read all of Brian Jacques and Diana Pharaoh Francis. But I can attribute that to my ex also. She took a class in children's literature and came away wondering if it might actually be better than what people write for adults.
I have Slaughterhouse 5, Catch 22, The Stranger, 1984 and two editions of The Lord of the Rings. The only ones I would actually recommend are 1984 and The Lord of the Rings. Another recommendation that comes to mind is Watership Down by Richard Adams.
I'd include Bleak House, Greene's Quiet American and something by Conrad - probably Heart of Darkness or Lord Jim. I would not include any Tolkein or the Catcher in the [sodding] Rye. But agree l'Etranger and 1984 would have to be contenders. For a bit of fun I might actually include Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I'd say that anything that people enjoy reading should be in their own libraries. Just because you enjoy those books, which are very good, you can't tell others what they should do or read. Suggesting those books is fine but making those books necessary to buy isn't the way to go. Just reading anything, to me, is the best thing for all people to do no matter what they are into.
Meh, I'm only really into sci-fi & fantasy stuff... so my "must haves" are rather limited in genre... Dune (the first book if not the whole series) - Frank Herbert Ender's Game - Scott Card Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein The Player of Games (or Use of Weapons... or both) - Iain M Banks When the Wind Blows - Raymond Briggs Narnia series - C. S. Lewis A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter Miller Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein Legend - David Gemmell Hitchhiker's Guide series - Douglas Adams Any fan of both sci-fi and fantasy should surely have read all of these, imo. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The Odyssey The Tao Te Ching Aesop's Fables Beowulf Le Morte d' Arthur The Complete Works of Shakespeare Huckleberry Finn Ulysses 1984 Brave New World Bonus book: Walden
There are too many good reads for only a top ten. But i would exclude most biographies, autobiographies, religion and romance novels. Some considered classics are not all that great, imo and just some had the say-so to label it such. For instance, i was not that impressed with'the great gatsby'. It was meh. Strangely, in many considered classics, the characters can be rather undeveloped, uninteresting, one-dimensional or shallow too. I tried to read les miserables but i fell asleep each and every time just as with bram stokers dracula trying to get through the endless letters but i think its a great work of social commentary etc. I loved the martian chronicles by ray bradbury though but honestly i think some of these are classics because it was groundbreaking, daring or had ideas social, political etc that were not expressed at the time or ahead of its time but there are many books much better than these after ive noticed that arent as touted as being so great.
