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I'm looking for a few books to read. So I googled it. One of the popular things that come up are the "books to read" lists. There is a fair number of them out there on the interwebs. I was looking at a few of those "x books you should read before you die" type lists, and noticed there were some significant differences in the said lists, but a few common names were popping up.. I then spent the next hour or 5 compiling of list all the books on 7 or so of those lists, in order to see what the top picks of "books you should read" were. I put all the books into an excel (openoffice calc, really) spreadsheet by title and author, then sorted alphabetically then gave each book a number based on how many times it appeared. In the end, there was 831 books. Here's the top results:
With 7 hits...
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
1984, George Orwell
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
6...
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Grapes of Wrath, John Stienbeck
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Ulysses, James Joyce
5...
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
What do you think? I personally, in my uncultured glory, have only read The Great Gatsby of the books on this portion of the list. Are these books deserving of "being read before you die", and above other books for that matter? Are there books not on here that should be?
Now there may be errors in my work, but these should be pretty accurate. Not all the sources are quite the same, but since there's 7 of them, it should lessen the impact of any strange choices. I can upload the spreadsheet if you would like.
edit: The title is sort of strange, sorry about that. I'm pretty tired.
Full spreadsheet, by request: http://www.2shared.com/file/cXKPmi5c/book_list.html
If that's a bad upload site, let me know.
Lists used for compilation:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1951793,00.html
http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ (both)
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/boost-your-skills/23628.html
http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books-the-essential-mans-library/
http://bookstove.com/book-talk/100-books-to-read-before-you-die/
http://fallenmonk.blogspot.com/2010/11/100-books-to-read.html
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I don't think you should force yourself to read anything under the impression that it'll make you "smarter". Start with the things you may enjoy, and then move on to headier stuff if you feel up to it.
Millions have lived and died without reading any of these books and millions more will do so.
Personally though, I've read the four books that got seven hits and Brave New World, Catch-22, To Kill A Mockingbird and Lolita.
Reading should be something that you enjoy, not something that evokes feelings of it being a chore. I feel there's a lot of people that have never, and will never, experience the joy and wonder I get from reading because they've been drilled the wrong way about books in school.
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i read a whole bunch of those in english classes in high school and some in college seminar. i definitely recommend catcher, 1984, brave new world, mockingbird, sound+fury from that list in particular
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Lolita all the way. Great book.
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These lists are constantly skewed against anything relating to Sci-fi and fantasy usually, and as such, I just don't place much stock in them. There seems to be this horrible misconception in the literary community that such genre's are "lower" literature.
Any list that is willing to exclude Dune, LOTR, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Or copious amounts of Jules Verne I just can't get behind.
That being said, these books are all pretty good, I've read most of them and enjoyed almost all of them excluding To Kill a Mockingbird. Fucking hated that book to no end.
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Lots of these are in basic secondary school. Makes you question the level of people questioned.
Heart of Darkness? noice.
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Had to read 1984, Lord of the Flied, Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, and The Great Gatsby in high school and am glad I did.
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On January 19 2011 01:46 FishFuzz99 wrote:
With 7 hits...
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
1984, George Orwell
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
6...
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Grapes of Wrath, John Stienbeck
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Ulysses, James Joyce
5...
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
The one's I've bolded I have read and enjoyed. The top 4 are all really good. Animal Farm is a great read and so are the other 2 I've bolded. I haven't read the rest. As someone else said - Don't read something because tons of other people think it is good. Read it because you think it might be good. I'd suggest just starting with a recent book you read and looking on Amazon or some similar site for books that are similar to that one and go from there.
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On January 19 2011 01:56 Kimaker wrote:
These lists are constantly skewed against anything relating to Sci-fi and fantasy usually, and as such, I just don't place much stock in them. There seems to be this horrible misconception in the literary community that such genre's are "lower" literature.
Any list that is willing to exclude Dune, LOTR, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Or copious amounts of Jules Verne I just can't get behind.
That being said, these books are all pretty good, I've read most of them and enjoyed almost all of them excluding To Kill a Mockingbird. Fucking hated that book to no end.
Dune and LOTR (Hobbit, too) were on there, they just weren't in those top 3 categories. Not sure on the others.
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All the books with 5 hits are better than those with 7 hits imo. =>
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i wonder how many hits are skewed because 7hit books are included in the school curriculum and voters haven't bothered to branch out and explore un-assigned books after high school.
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I've read a few of those books but my god I tried so hard to enjoy The Great Gatsby but I could not find any of the characters enjoyable to read about.
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On January 19 2011 02:07 Railxp wrote:
i wonder how many hits are skewed because 7hit books are included in the school curriculum and voters haven't bothered to branch out and explore un-assigned books after high school.
Probably alot since, while those are all pretty good books, I don't think anyone is going to really have all of them so prevalently in their favorites of all time. At least for people who have read most of them.
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I recently just picked up brave new world at a book store to read. I've had the urge to read it again after going through it for a highschool english class. Also, someone mentioned The Hobbit. I've read that on my own years ago and remember it being absolutely amazing. I preferred it over the whole lotr series to be honest.
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I read and wrote a review for an english class on Crime and Punishment and i really liked that book, sometimes i think about reading it again.. Tho the only English copy of that book where i live was a bit old... and very smelly lol
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I've read Catcher in the Rye, and half-read To Kill a Mockingbird and Catch-22.
I was suppsoed to read them for english in highschool years ago, but my teachers had a magical way of making me hate any book they put in the curriculum, so I didn't like any of them. I used Coles Notes for To Kill a Mockingbird and Catch-22 because I couldn't be bothered to finish them in time for the test/assignment.
I think that because there was a deadline on the books (Read 2 chapters tonight or fail the class), I read them out of necessity instead of enjoyment. I'm a little dyslexic so I read pretty slow and absolutely hate having deadlines put on my reading. I read to retain information I thought would be on the tests, rather than reading for the sake of reading. I really should try and read those again now that I'm out of school, see if I like them any different.
I really want to read 1984, Animal House, and On The Road.
Most of what I read is for enjoyment. I love Sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, WWII memoirs, and graphic novels. Must-read books to me are books that I will enjoy most. The books that I've enjoyed reading the most are the ones that have had the most impact on me. Redwall, Generation Kill, A Game of Thrones, Flashforward, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Enders Game, and Rendezvous with Rama are just a few of the books on my ultimate "To Read" list.
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The Great Gatsby is my favorite book of all time, so good.
Some really great books on this list, just a few I would disagree with:
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen - this has to be one of the most over rated books of all time. Just a bunch of rich white women sitting around dribbling about nonsense. (imo)
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov - brilliant piece of literature, brilliantly written, very difficult to read. It's all from the point of view of a child molester and how he reasons his molestation. Very subtle, very long, sort of boring.'
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower...... I suggest this to any teen, as it absolutely warmed my heart when I was younger. Any book by Chuck Palahniuck is pretty dang good.
George Orwell 1984 is also outstanding.
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I don't think these books are a "must-read before you die". In the end, you should read to enjoy and/or educate yourself, not because books are popular and praised. Because you never know why they're popular or what they're praised for.
Some of them are hailed because they express revolutionary ideas for the times they were written in, which nowadays are commonplace. Some books may stay timeless, some may not age so well. Others may just be well known for stylistic devices nobody but literature professors will appreciate. Et cetera, et cetera.
Also, as mentioned before, you'll rarely find any science fiction or fantasy on these lists, for whatever reason. Yet some of the best books I've ever read belong to those genres, while some of the books regarded as the greatest of all time were either boring, predictable or unreadable (Kafka comes to mind).
From that list, I'd recommend 1984 and most of the other dystopian novels. They're a good read even today, especially regarding the world wide political development. Aside from that, explore books and genres on your own and read what you enjoy. As a hint, try Amazon. I've bought a lot of books on Amazon and the recommendations there give me new books I enjoy in 90% of the cases.
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I read 8 of them, the ones I think are actually worth reading if you don't read that much:
1984
Lord of the Flies
Catch 22
I wonder why one fly over the cuckoo's nest isn't on there, I always thought that was a very popular book and a fun one too.
On January 19 2011 02:04 HAUER wrote:
All the books with 5 hits are better than those with 7 hits imo. =>
I wonder if you read pride and prejudice because I couldn't get through it.
On January 19 2011 01:56 Kimaker wrote:
These lists are constantly skewed against anything relating to Sci-fi and fantasy usually, and as such, I just don't place much stock in them. There seems to be this horrible misconception in the literary community that such genre's are "lower" literature..
I think fantasy is a more "hate it or love it" genre, which is why it doesn't score that high on these kinds of lists. Personally I love fantasy though.
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Orwell's books are just outstanding, try 1984 and Animal Farm from that list. Crime and punishment from that list is great as well, worth reading. These are tougher from "popular" books, make people think a lot.
I would also recommend to try Master and Margaret, it's so far one of the best books I have ever read. Intresting plot with many metaphores makes it a book which you are almost certain to read twice or even more times. I'm quite shocked it isn't listed in here.
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Since a lot of themes have been butchered and recycled in popular culture (like Brave New World, 1984, Moby Dick, Lord of the Flies) and some of them have a rather "simple" subject (1984 in particular, but also animal farm (there is a reason why people read those in highschool)) chances are you will be utterly bored by at least half of the books on that list.
Read something where the title/plot interestes you. Lists/recommendations work only so far (lots of people recommended "Enders Game" to me, and I was really disappointed).
The only book on that list I tried to read is Heart of Darkness. I found the topic very interesting and it has influenced many people/things (for example Apocalypse Now), but the language/vocabulary is very old yet advanced. Maybe in a couple of years I try again (though I am not sure my english will ever advance much further).
On January 19 2011 02:29 Shockk wrote:
(Kafka comes to mind).
ZOMG! /o\
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I read all of 7-hits and half of 6-hits
The Great Gatsby was truly average in my opinion, maybe because we are so accustomed to the "American Dream" concept that it has lost some of its appeal?
I really enjoyed Lord of the Flies, 1984, Animal Farm and Brave New World, the others, not nearly as much. I think it's a good idea to familiarize ourselves with these classics, as there are a lot of allusions made to these books that occur frequently in our daily lives.
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you should probably avoid jane austen. Read oscar wilde instead.
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I've read 13 of them. I'd say they're all worth reading.
Personally I'd skip anything by Faulkner(the sound and the fury on list), and don't waste your time on Ulysses.
If you're interested in literature, these types of lists are a good place to start.
If you want my top picks out of those listed:
on the road
Slaughter-house five
catch-22
catcher in the rye
read some Hemingway while you're at it. The Sun Also Rises / Farewell to Arms.
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With the exception of: To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf, I've read all the listed books. While the list provides some great books to build your foundation, I wouldn't advise you to invest the time to read some of them, such as Ulysses, in which you can spend many months trying to understand James Joyce's intent.
It would help to know some of the books you've read that really impressed you, then I'd bet we could offer some great suggestions that would broaden your horizons in a relatively comfortable way!
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Catch-22 gets my vote. very good black-comedy, funny as hell!
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On January 19 2011 01:56 Kimaker wrote:
These lists are constantly skewed against anything relating to Sci-fi and fantasy usually, and as such, I just don't place much stock in them. There seems to be this horrible misconception in the literary community that such genre's are "lower" literature.
Well in that small list, you have 1984, Brave New World, and Slaughterhouse 5, all of which make copious use of science fiction devices, even if they don't appear in the sciffy section of your bookshop. A lot of the sciffy that qualifies as 'higher' literature tends to get promoted out of the Science Fiction ghetto...
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Well...They're all classics. I didn't like Grapes of Wrath, and I don't like Charles Dickens who I am kind of surprised isn't there.
Lolita and Ulysses are my favourites off there.
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On January 19 2011 01:52 Croaker wrote:
I don't think you should force yourself to read anything under the impression that it'll make you "smarter". Start with the things you may enjoy, and then move on to headier stuff if you feel up to it.
Millions have lived and died without reading any of these books and millions more will do so.
Personally though, I've read the four books that got seven hits and Brave New World, Catch-22, To Kill A Mockingbird and Lolita.
Reading should be something that you enjoy, not something that evokes feelings of it being a chore. I feel there's a lot of people that have never, and will never, experience the joy and wonder I get from reading because they've been drilled the wrong way about books in school.
I agree so much with this statement Firstly I tried it the way described above and after several books I hardly enjoyed I am fine with the fact that I just dont like fiction (altough I may find it compelling when people read fiction and get some morals or social commentaries out of it).
with popular-science books it was the exact opposite - I started to read them because of my curiosity about a subject and I enjoy reading them since then.
However 1984 by Orwell, All quiete on Western front by Remarque or The Road by McCarthy were the better ones.
The biggest let-down was Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude. It totally missed me.
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I read everything in the top 7-6 in high school (Actually I read Slaughterhouse 5 last month :X). Guess I had good education? I read a lot of them on my own time actually.
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On January 19 2011 02:41 Rflcrx wrote:
Read something where the title/plot interestes you. Lists/recommendations work only so far (lots of people recommended "Enders Game" to me, and I was really disappointed).
BLASPHEMY! 
Nah, I can imagine not liking it, I just loved it
On January 19 2011 03:38 Lexpar wrote:
I read everything in the top 7-6 in high school (Actually I read Slaughterhouse 5 last month :X). Guess I had good education? I read a lot of them on my own time actually.
I think most countries teach literature primarily in their own language, so many people probably haven't read these books in high school
I have read too much fantasy, now I expect cheap entertainment from my books 
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Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf*
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
I found all of the above enjoyable (Woolf only because I have strange tastes* for British people), and the bolded ones are the ones I particularly liked. While I read more sci-fi/fantasy, I don't understand epic/high fantasy at all (R. Scott what's his name, The Darkness that Comes Before, Game of Thrones, things like that).
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On January 19 2011 03:26 Aim Here wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2011 01:56 Kimaker wrote:
These lists are constantly skewed against anything relating to Sci-fi and fantasy usually, and as such, I just don't place much stock in them. There seems to be this horrible misconception in the literary community that such genre's are "lower" literature.
Well in that small list, you have 1984, Brave New World, and Slaughterhouse 5, all of which make copious use of science fiction devices, even if they don't appear in the sciffy section of your bookshop. A lot of the sciffy that qualifies as 'higher' literature tends to get promoted out of the Science Fiction ghetto...
My point exactly. They clearly have to admit there's good sci-fi and fantasy, but they just pick and choose what they HAVE to admit is good in order to retain their genre superiority. Yeah, I'm bitter.
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A Brave New World was probably the book I most enjoyed of those I was made to read in school, followed by the Giver. Also had to read To Kill A Mockingbird and Speak, but not huge fans of those. The first two were significantly more thought provoking.
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I think Huckleberry Finn should be added, as it is an outstanding book, and a classic too!
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I have read most of the books on the list. I have not read Brave New World, On the Road, Pride and Pedejuce(read 1/2 of it got bored. It like a comedy soap opera in book form. Parts are kinda funny but meh its a chick book) or To the Lighthouse.
I would recommend reading them all except Ulysses and Crime and Punishment. As both these books are written in an odd manner. Both are good books in there own way. Ulysses is just kinda hard to read especially if you know nothing about mythology. Also, Dostoevsky is the most long winded writer ever Crime and Punishment is tame compared to some of his other work. Never EVER read the book The Idiot.
Oh, and to all you Sci Fi fans out there Isaac Amimov is the best hard sci fi writer. The Foundation series is rivaled by no other sci fi series out there.
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Neuromancer by William gibson!
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Go through your basic public school English class and you'll read like half of these, so meh. Also fuck Heart of Darkness, I hate that book so much.
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Read most of them but Heart of Darkness is hands down my favorite book of all time. No need to expand but I also am a big Dante Alighieri fan!
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Catch-22 is an amazingly great book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
1984 is also great though I enjoyed Catch-22 more, it's still a great read.
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For some reason I hate the older books. I love the writing itself but I just can't get attached to it like a sci-fi or well written fantasy book can. That's why LoTR is still my favorite series of books including The Hobbit. It was extremely well written AND fantasy. It's all I could hope for...!
OH YEAH And Tales of the Earthsea! And Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind!
Both extremely well written stories
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Some of the books are great (Anything Orwell really) and the rest are amazing in the fact that they manage to capture more culture than a history book can teach you, and still be somewhat enjoyable to read. Which is one hell of an accomplishment.
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The Great Gatsby fuck yeah!
(see my name, yes i know its misspelled, gatsby was taken when i first wanted to use it)
Such a great book, I love stuff about that time period. Probably why I love Boardwalk Empire (tv show) so much too.
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The only books anyone ought to read...
![[image loading]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/4100886174_d81158f2a9.jpg)
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Of the books on that list I have read: Catcher in the Rye, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, To Kill A Mockingbird. All of the aforementioned were required for school. Anyone have any recommendations?
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I've read most of these books (English Lit major in Uni) and if you enjoy reading, or wish to read more books (really any books) in the future, I think you should read all of them. I don't know what you will like or hate, that isn't really the point, but regardless of your personal feelings on these particular books, they are by far the most influential modern novels of all time.
It doesn't really matter if you liked the dream like diction, ominous tone, or overbearing sense of doom and insanity in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," because once you read it, you can trace the evolution of his theories on race and racism through Ghandi, Chinua Achebe, Martin Luther King, Malcolm-X and even to Spike Lee and his films.
Fitzgerald's plucky and heavily ironic tale of Jay Gatzby may not pull on your hearts strings or make you want to pull your hair in frustration, but it does lay the groundwork for many modern stories of the American Dream, and particularly New York. Martin Scorsese owes a a lot to Gatzby, as does Francis Ford Coppola, (hell even Sofia Coppola's newest flick "somewhere" leans heavily on themes developed in Gatzby), and Ben Affleck's movie "Gone Baby Gone" plays on a lot of similar themes about morality and acceptance.
Orwell's 1984 is a central log that fuels the fire of much american discourse when it comes to Socialism, Communism, Individuality, and political power. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage have all read 1984 and had it resound with them deeply.
I could go on with basically every book on this list, but I think you get my point. I would be disappointed to hear that you didn't read a book because you thought you wouldn't like it, or didn't finish a book because you weren't enjoying it. You are probably not going to like all these books, but reading them will make you like other books more, and appreciate them more deeply. Reading an influential book that you didn't enjoy isn't a waste at all, it still gives you a framework to approach new novels, plays, cinema, and I'm told, even music (I don't really listen to much music, but I've heard my friends say so). I say if you like reading, read them all. It might now pay off in enjoyment right away, but it will, over time, increase the joy get from other books.
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On January 19 2011 04:32 RiB wrote:
Of the books on that list I have read: Catcher in the Rye, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, To Kill A Mockingbird. All of the aforementioned were required for school. Anyone have any recommendations?
Is it intended that the list contains mostly books from English-spekaing writers? I kinda miss some classics there such as Goethe's Faust (which is a must-read, if you ask me).
With regards to the list, I only read a few of them, mainly the Dystopias but they are great reads. So I suggest Brave New World and 1984 and if you have read both of them, try Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death.
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As a follow up to my earlier post, I've broken the books into what I think are easy, medium, and hard reads.
And as a side note, my personal Favourites on this list Gatzby, Heart of Darkness, and On the Road.
Easy Reads
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
1984, George Orwell
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Medium Reads
The Grapes of Wrath, John Stienbeck
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Hard Reads
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Ulysses, James Joyce
Books I haven’t read
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
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If you read for pleasure, avoid Ulysses and The Sound and the Fury.
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Of the ones I have read:
Personal Favorites (Both of these are part of a 4-way tie for my favorite book):
Catcher in the Rye (AKA the teenager's bible)
Pride and Prejudice (I know this gets a lot of hate, and I honestly feel like people don't give it a legitimate chance by just setting out thinking "Chick book". It's funny, there are a lot of subtle jokes and some great one-liners. Take it for what it is.)
Pleasant reads:
1984
The Great Gatsby
Animal Farm
Didn't really like:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Heart of Darkness (very dense read, kind of difficult to understand)
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On January 19 2011 04:40 Mactavian wrote:+ Show Spoiler +As a follow up to my earlier post, I've broken the books into what I think are easy, medium, and hard reads.
And as a side note, my personal Favourites on this list Gatzby, Heart of Darkness, and On the Road.
Easy Reads
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
1984, George Orwell
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Medium Reads
The Grapes of Wrath, John Stienbeck
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Hard Reads
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Ulysses, James Joyce
Books I haven’t read
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
You really think Gatsby is an easy read? Personally I think you should switch it's place with Slaughterhouse. Maybe since Gatsby is your favorite it makes sense to you, but upon the initial reading it can be very difficult to wrap your head around everything happening in that book. For one thing, almost nothing happens in the first 3 chapters. It's worth it by the end, but it certainly dosent make the read any easier. Sorta book you want to read 2-3 times at least.
Slaughterhouse? That "stream of consciousness" non linear story telling has been so totally digested by TV and Movies now that it's not really difficult for anyone to grasp.
My opinion.
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Some recommendations from a lit nerd:
2666 - Roberto Bolano
House of Leaves - Mark J. Danielewski
The Castle - Franz Kafka (actually, read everything he wrote)
Little, Big - John Crowley
To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Sabbath's Theater - Phillip Roth
Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy O'Toole
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Under The Volcano - Malcolm Lowry
Malloy / Malone Dies - Samuel Beckett
Just a personal favorites list, nothing more. If you enjoy reading at all, you will find much to like about any one of these books.
Cheers and happy reading.
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Netherlands45349 Posts
Dante's Divine Comedy.
Its incredibly disturbing and interesting
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Sorry but this list is exactly why kids nowadays don't read books. Dry intellectual canon that supposedly should not be questioned but is highly dubious at best. While some of these books are certainly outstanding, quite a few of them are incredibly boring and highly depressive.
Can anyone keep a straight face and say they enjoyed reading Ulysses? As a linguist I was forced to write about it in university and outside of being a genius work with regard to complicated linguistic concepts that bore everyone except PhDs to death it's just terrible. And Catcher in the Rye? Please... it may have been controversial 100 years ago when it was considered outrageous to fart in public but in the day and age of kids smoking crack at 11 it's washed up and silly.
Where is Hitchhiker's guide on that list? Where are the works of Murakami or E.A.Poe? Where is Dune and LOTR and all the genius of fantasy writing... I guess those are all too interesting for your standard stuck up professor ^_^
Maybe instead of shoving Tolstoy down their throats the powers that be should make lists of books kids will actually enjoy reading before children become illiterate.
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Netherlands45349 Posts
On January 19 2011 04:54 Kickboxer wrote:Sorry but this list is exactly why kids nowadays don't read books. Dry intellectual canon that supposedly should not be questioned but is highly dubious at best. While some of these books are certainly outstanding, quite a few of them are incredibly boring and highly depressive. Can anyone keep a straight face and say they enjoyed reading Ulysses? As a linguist I was forced to write about it in university and outside of being a genius work with regard to complicated linguistic concepts that bore everyone except PhDs to death it's just terrible. And Catcher in the Rye? Please... it may have been controversial 100 years ago when it was considered outrageous to fart in public but in the day and age of kids smoking crack at 11 it's washed up and silly. Where is Hitchhiker's guide on that list? Where are the works of Murakami or E.A.Poe? Where is Dune and LOTR and all the genius of fantasy writing... I guess those are all too interesting for your standard stuck up professor ^_^ Maybe instead of shoving Tolstoy down their throats the powers that be should make lists of books kids will actually enjoy reading before children become illiterate.
Children enjoy reading Twilight, does that make it a need to read?
(Also i agree on hitchhikers :<)
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On January 19 2011 01:46 FishFuzz99 wrote:
With 7 hits...
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
1984, George Orwell
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
6...
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Grapes of Wrath, John Stienbeck
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Ulysses, James Joyce
5...
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
I bolded the ones that I have read, and I absolutely recommend every single one of them. Catch-22 is easily one of my favorite books. Read Heart of Darkness (another of my favorites) then watch Apocalypse Now, and you will only love it so much more. I don't even know what to say, except that you absolutely have to read these books.
As an aside, thanks for compiling this list, as now I know that I have a fairly reliable reading list for the next few months (after I finish George RR Martin's series haha)
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I couldn't finish Pride and Prejudice. I just couldn't feel it.
Brave new world and 1984 were great reads. Try the Island by Huxley if you enjoyed those.
I will give Crime and Punishment a try i guess.
If you want to understand Ulysses you will have to read Odyssey first.
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Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil is well worth the time, especially if you have any interest in philosophy. At the very least you should question many of the assumptions underlying our thoughts and actions throughout daily life. Plus, his writing is extraordinary. I recommend the R.J. Hollingdale translation, as he tends to capture Nietzsche's writing style well.
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On January 19 2011 04:54 Kickboxer wrote:
While some of these books are certainly outstanding, quite a few of them are incredibly boring and highly depressive.
Can anyone keep a straight face and say they enjoyed reading Ulysses?
Reading isn't always about enjoyment and satisfaction. It's also about challenge, personal growth, the ability to commune with minds long dead, etc. I read Ulysses and certainly didn't "enjoy it" like I enjoyed Dune; but Dune does not haunt me like passages from Joyce do.
Basically I'm saying being a good reader means extrapolating more worth from true works of art other than (or in addition to) entertainment.
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+ Show Spoiler +You really think Gatsby is an easy read? Personally I think you should switch it's place with Slaughterhouse. Maybe since Gatsby is your favorite it makes sense to you, but upon the initial reading it can be very difficult to wrap your head around everything happening in that book. For one thing, almost nothing happens in the first 3 chapters. It's worth it by the end, but it certainly dosent make the read any easier. Sorta book you want to read 2-3 times at least.
Slaughterhouse? That "stream of consciousness" non linear story telling has been so totally digested by TV and Movies now that it's not really difficult for anyone to grasp.
My opinion.
You might be right about Gatzby. I read that book when I was 20 and had been in school for a couple of years. Plus I'm in love with that decade and knew a lot about the era and what not. I very well could be skewed on my rankings her, but the book while it might be slow, is still written from a fairly approachable place. It uses fairly simple language (no need to keep a dictionary next to me while I read it) and is concise with understandable characters. Relative to the other books on the list, I still think it falls in the easy category, not as easy as 1984 or catcher in the rye, but still easier than anything by Wolfe or Conrad
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I've read many of those books, and some were pleasant to read and others were a chore. 1984 is probably the highest rated one that I've read and enjoyed. Animal Farm was pretty fantastic. I hated To Kill a Mocking Bird. Brave New World was alright, and Ulysses was fun.
If you want to pick up fantasy books I can't suggest anyone other than R.A. Salvatore's works. He writes with such visual clarity that you can see each sword swipe and I fight myself mimicking them while laying on my back at times in attempt to understand the full motion. He also is renown for his fantastic character depth, in particular Drizzt who makes many cameo appearances in video games and D&D books. (Suggested starting book: Icewind Dale trilogy -- here is a link to his website -- http://www.rasalvatore.com/bookstore/#RASBooks?selection=6)
If you're wanting more Sci-Fi or wanting more of a "classic" book go for Enders Game. It is about the world police abducting genius 8 year olds and training them to become the best combat generals ever in attempt to save the world from the return of some nasty aliens. The book was a blast and has far more depth than the shallow sounding plot gives it credit for!
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On January 19 2011 05:01 IPA wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2011 04:54 Kickboxer wrote:
While some of these books are certainly outstanding, quite a few of them are incredibly boring and highly depressive.
Can anyone keep a straight face and say they enjoyed reading Ulysses?
Reading isn't always about enjoyment and satisfaction. It's also about challenge, personal growth, the ability to commune with minds long dead, etc. I read Ulysses and certainly didn't "enjoy it" like I enjoyed Dune; but Dune does not haunt me like passages from Joyce do. Basically I'm saying being a good reader means extrapolating more worth from true works of art other than (or in addition to) entertainment.
You raise a very good point by saying that reading can be also about personal growth. I find myself challenged, however, by being able to separate books that advance personal growth and are *not* entertaining to read from those that do none of those.
This is kind of a big dilemma for me in selecting books. They are a huge investment in time, and only afterwards or halfway through it you can judge whether it was actually worth it.
Do you have any advice on a smart selection process that minimizes the danger of spending too much time on stuff not worth reading?
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I started reading again since I need to take the subway to the university and to work. I've only read 1984 from your list, but that is definitely a "must read" for anyone that enjoys the occasional reading session.
Some of those are still on my "to do" list, but I started reading the dresden files some days ago and already dug though the first two books (in my spare/sc2 time... that didn't happen for... ever ).
for other fantasy/scifi-nuts out there I really recommend the "Tales of Earthsea" and "Starship Troopers" the movie is basically unrelated to the book (except the names, bugs and the fight with Ricos parents), even though I like both.
/edit oh and Bram Stokers "Dracula" ^^
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James joyce is fun if you have other people to discuss it with, like a book club or something, but man is it a dense book. By the time I was done with it, I had to duct tape the binding back together from going back and forth so many times while taking notes in the margin. I wouldn't bother tackling it alone unless you really want to - reading it is more like piecing together a puzzle than reading a novel.
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The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (become adult)
1984, George Orwell (how to establish a totalitarian society)
Lord of the Flies, William Golding (creating a society)
Animal Farm, George Orwell ("some animals are more equal than others...")
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (a society based on logic and math)
Ulysses, James Joyce (just read a part, very difficult to follow imo, more art than anything else)
Moby Dick, Herman Melville (looking for revenge by any costs)
I've read these books from your list.
All of those are recommendable, thus they are "world literature", well known also in non-english speaking countries for their timeless topics.
Especially 1984 turned around my point of view on many topics by 180 degress, the best distopia ever written imo.
Bram Stokers "Dracula" -- I have to point out, that I love that book. ^^
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I've read a whole bunch of them and I'd recommend the Dostoyevsky over the others.
My favourite book from him is Notes from the Underground though.
Lord of Flies is a great book. I really prefer heavily books that are philosophical in nature.
That's why I prefer fantasy/sci fi books over classics normally, they tend to hit the point more often & are not so tied to time and place.
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On January 19 2011 05:01 IPA wrote:
Reading isn't always about enjoyment and satisfaction. It's also about challenge, personal growth, the ability to commune with minds long dead, etc. I read Ulysses and certainly didn't "enjoy it" like I enjoyed Dune; but Dune does not haunt me like passages from Joyce do.
Basically I'm saying being a good reader means extrapolating more worth from true works of art other than (or in addition to) entertainment.
Ok very well put and you have a great point. But you do need a "diamond league" level of reading affinity to get where you're aiming at and I was always rather concerned (observing my peers and younger brother) that the lack of imagination-stirring and straight up enjoyable works in the school curricula is turning your average kid away from reading and thus making them incapable of experiencing what you speak of altogether.
Like, there are exactly two books on that entire list that are simply "fun" to read - Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse. Another regular read that comes to mind is Dorian Gray. Almost all the rest represent "heavy" reading reserved for people with highly particular dispositions. Not everyone considers social criticism to be the pinnacle of literature or even interesting at all. Personally, I really can't stomach the holy scholastic disdain for fiction as something second-rate.
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On January 19 2011 05:19 Thojorin wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2011 05:01 IPA wrote:On January 19 2011 04:54 Kickboxer wrote:
While some of these books are certainly outstanding, quite a few of them are incredibly boring and highly depressive.
Can anyone keep a straight face and say they enjoyed reading Ulysses?
Reading isn't always about enjoyment and satisfaction. It's also about challenge, personal growth, the ability to commune with minds long dead, etc. I read Ulysses and certainly didn't "enjoy it" like I enjoyed Dune; but Dune does not haunt me like passages from Joyce do. Basically I'm saying being a good reader means extrapolating more worth from true works of art other than (or in addition to) entertainment. You raise a very good point by saying that reading can be also about personal growth. I find myself challenged, however, by being able to separate books that advance personal growth and are *not* entertaining to read from those that do none of those. This is kind of a big dilemma for me in selecting books. They are a huge investment in time, and only afterwards or halfway through it you can judge whether it was actually worth it. Do you have any advice on a smart selection process that minimizes the danger of spending too much time on stuff not worth reading?
Hey Man -
I just do a little research before purchasing my next book to be honest. If you know what you like (coming of age stories; philosophical/metaphysical musings; existential tales; family drama; post-modern zaniness; etc) it becomes infinitely easier to narrow down a set of authors and works that you'll likely enjoy. I'm a depressive bastard so I tend to gravitate towards Kafka, Beckett, Lowry, and other authors of their ilk. Basically ask yourself -- how and in what areas of my character do I want to experience growth? Then find the authors that appeal to those characteristics.
Good luck brother.
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I've read most of these. Ironically I don't really consider myself much of a reader... And while these books are good, I wouldn't consider them my favourites neither for intellectual stimulation nor for entertainment.
Still, I often get recommended piles and piles of books, and I resent the people who do that to me. It lowers the bar for what a 'great book' is when you can't name just one. You start including anything that was sort of decent (with the help of selective memory for good passages in heaps of mediocrity).
I'm surprised Hard Times isn't on that list as well, though. Really there seems to be quite a bias for American books there, with a few random foreign books. I mean, Heart of Darkness? How many people are still interested in Colonialism? This doesn't really reflect the modern intellectual, it's just kind of canon masturbation.
edit: to be fair, Heart of Darkness has some interesting points about the inefficacy of words, but I do think there are books more worth one's time.
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On January 19 2011 05:35 Chef wrote:
I've read most of these. Ironically I don't really consider myself much of a reader... And while these books are good, I wouldn't consider them my favourites neither for intellectual stimulation nor for entertainment.
Still, I often get recommended piles and piles of books, and I resent the people who do that to me. It lowers the bar for what a 'great book' is when you can't name just one. You start including anything that was sort of decent (with the help of selective memory for good passages in heaps of mediocrity).
I'm surprised Hard Times isn't on that list as well, though. Really there seems to be quite a bias for American books there, with a few random foreign books. I mean, Heart of Darkness? How many people are still interested in Colonialism? This doesn't really reflect the modern intellectual, it's just kind of canon masturbation.
I respect your idea of "canon masturbation"; however, I would argue Heart of Darkness is about a great deal more than colonialism and still very relevant today.
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It looks like 1984 , Animal Farm and Brave New World is pretty overrated to be honest. Listing any of these books above Crime and Punishment ? Nah can't agree that , not one bit.
Don't get me wrong I love 1984 and Brave New World but the thing is , they are not particularly awesome literature pieces. Of course they are good , and everyone should read them if they got time but if you ask me , as literature pieces , they aren't even close to books of Dostoevsky , Goethe , Kafka and many other German&Russian writers. (guess I'm not a fan of easy reads)
I'm kinda biased here I guess , as I hate hearing how awesome they are , from anarchist wannabe hipsters weirdos.
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If ur interested into Sci-Fi books,u can't start without reading the Dune series.Both the ones written by Frank Herbert and the sequels written by his son Brian Herbert.
Really awesome books.
If you're interested into fantasy,u can start with the Sillmarillion from Tolkien or the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
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On January 19 2011 05:39 Tiax;mous wrote:
I'm kinda biased here I guess , as I hate hearing how awesome they are , from anarchist wannabe hipsters weirdos.
Nothing's quite like hating them hipsters. I hate mines with a passion, more than mr.pink hated tipping. How do you hate them?
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news - I hate them more like Mr.Blonde hates ears
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I've read almost everything there, but I'm a high school English teacher. :D
I think the discussion has said what I'd say fairly nicely, which is that you should really just read what you might be interested in. Some of them are thoroughly hated by most people -- just because they fall under "English canon" doesn't mean you're supposed to like them, it's just that they all offer significant literary value in some way.
Chef, Heart of Darkness offers more than almost any other book in existence. If you think it's just canon masturbation...that's sad as hell, but it's your opinion. That and Grapes of Wrath are my two favorite "canon" novels.
On January 19 2011 04:52 IPA wrote:
Some recommendations from a lit nerd:
House of Leaves - Mark J. Danielewski
zomg <3
My favorite book of all time...but I have a hard time recommending it to anyone. I have one friend that loves it; every one else (all of my classmates in a Horror Theory class) absolutely hated it.
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I had Catcher in the Rye to read as an assignment, and I got bored out of my mind. Animal farm was quite enjoyable though.
I read Dune this holiday and enjoyed it greatly.
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You've never read til you've read The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot. That or the Bible kekekeke.
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The Great Gatsby and Brave New World are good reads, definitely recommend.
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To the lighthouse is my personal favourite. Read it when I was 14 and have reread it three or four times since.
"A sort of transaction went on between them, in which she was on one side, and life was on another, and she was always trying to get the better of it, as it was of her; and sometimes they parleyed (when she sat alone); there were, she remembered, great reconciliation scenes; but for the most part, oddly enough, she must admit that she felt this thing that she called life terrible, hostile, and quick to pounce on you if you gave it a chance. There were the eternal problems: suffering; death; the poor. There was always a woman dying of cancer even here. And yet she had said to all these children, You shall go through with it. To eight people she had said relentlessly that... For that reason, knowing what was before them — love and ambition and being wretched alone in dreary places — she had often the feeling, Why must they grow up and lose it all? And then she said to herself, brandishing her sword at life, Nonsense. They will be perfectly happy. "
Part I, Chapter 10
For our penitence deserves a glimpse only; our toil respite only.
Part II, Chapter 3
"Like a work of art," she repeated, looking from her canvas to the drawing-room steps and back again. She must rest for a moment. And, resting, looking from one to the other vaguely, the old question which transversed the sky of the soul perpetually, the vast, the general question which was apt to particularise itself at such moments as these, when she released faculties that had been on the strain, stood over her, paused over her, darkened over her. What is the meaning of life? That was all — a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one. This, that, and the other; herself and Charles Tansley and the breaking wave; Mrs. Ramsay bringing them together; Mrs. Ramsay saying, "Life stand still here"; Mrs. Ramsay making of the moment something permanent (as in another sphere Lily herself tried to make of the moment something permanent) — this was of the nature of a revelation. In the midst of chaos there was shape; this eternal passing and flowing (she looked at the cloud going and the leaves shaking) was struck into stability. Life stand still here, Mrs. Ramsay said. "Mrs. Ramsay! Mrs. Ramsay!" she repeated. She owed it all to her.
Part III, Chapter 3
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The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
1984, George Orwell
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
^THESE book are AMAZING and YES should be read
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
The Grapes of Wrath, John Stienbeck
^These books were very good
Ulysses, James Joyce
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
^I still need to read these. They're on the top of my list.
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
^Heard this book sucks to read...
IMHO, These books should have been on the list as well:
Clockwork Orange
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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I agree everyone should read like one (if more okay) of these brave new world / 1984 / etc.
its basic knowledge and also helps to easier understand many movies of today (e.g. the island)
Also i ld like to throw in Faust, which I thought was a pretty cool book to read in school.
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May I suggest the following list of 10 books?
May not be considered "literary" stuff but something that I thoroughly enjoyed.
1. Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin)
2. Ring ( Koji Suzuki)
3. The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
4. Silent Witness (Richard North Patterson)
5. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
6. The Reality Dysfunction (Peter F. Hamilton)
7. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
8. Temeraire (Naomi Novik)
9. Hyperion (Dan Simmons)
10. Starship Troopers (Robert A. Heinlein)
Out of the list in the OP, I've only read the following
1984, George Orwell
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Animal Farm, George Orwell
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
And out of these I would say I enjoyed The Great Gatsby and 1984 the most.
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I'd say 95+% of the books/authors people bring up are on the list, they just didn't score as high.
Also, I went and bought 1984/animal farm (2 in 1) today.
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On January 19 2011 05:42 Akash wrote:
If ur interested into Sci-Fi books,u can't start without reading the Dune series.Both the ones written by Frank Herbert and the sequels written by his son Brian Herbert.
Really awesome books.
If you're interested into fantasy,u can start with the Sillmarillion from Tolkien or the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
I agree about the Dune books written by Frank Herbert. However, the new ones written by his son are juvenile (if not stupid) by comparison. I especially can't stand what Brian did with Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. I simply don't believe that those books encapsulate what Frank had in mind. Don't get me wrong, Brian's books are enjoyable in their own right as "plot mover" books, but they completely lack the depth of Frank's work.
I recently started rereading Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune because it had been more than fifteen years since I last read them. I'd forgotten how fascinating the philosophy in those books is -- especialy in God Emperor. Definitely good reads.
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I read all of these books and I must say it's a decent list of books you must read. I definitely think you should force yourself to read them, it'll evolve your mind exponentially. I would leave off Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen because it's a piece of shit book from a shitty author. It's funny that The Great Gatsby is the only one you've read because that's probably my least favorite on the list after anything by Jane Austshit.
Oh and upload the spreadsheet if you haven't already.
Side note: John Steinbeck is my favorite author read everything by him.
Double Side note: I just noticed there's nothing on there by Charles Dickens. Add something from him ASAP. Tale of Two Cities is a good start.
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read these ones
1984, George Orwell
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Grapes of Wrath, John Stienbeck
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (give it a chance mr. darcy is a boss lol)
BURN THE REST.
but seriously catcher in the rye is a waste of time and so is brave new world
Also if you are looking for the best sci fi book ever read Enders game by Orson scott card
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On January 19 2011 04:34 Mactavian wrote:
I've read most of these books (English Lit major in Uni) and if you enjoy reading, or wish to read more books (really any books) in the future, I think you should read all of them. I don't know what you will like or hate, that isn't really the point, but regardless of your personal feelings on these particular books, they are by far the most influential modern novels of all time.
It doesn't really matter if you liked the dream like diction, ominous tone, or overbearing sense of doom and insanity in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," because once you read it, you can trace the evolution of his theories on race and racism through Ghandi, Chinua Achebe, Martin Luther King, Malcolm-X and even to Spike Lee and his films.
Fitzgerald's plucky and heavily ironic tale of Jay Gatzby may not pull on your hearts strings or make you want to pull your hair in frustration, but it does lay the groundwork for many modern stories of the American Dream, and particularly New York. Martin Scorsese owes a a lot to Gatzby, as does Francis Ford Coppola, (hell even Sofia Coppola's newest flick "somewhere" leans heavily on themes developed in Gatzby), and Ben Affleck's movie "Gone Baby Gone" plays on a lot of similar themes about morality and acceptance.
Orwell's 1984 is a central log that fuels the fire of much american discourse when it comes to Socialism, Communism, Individuality, and political power. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage have all read 1984 and had it resound with them deeply.
I could go on with basically every book on this list, but I think you get my point. I would be disappointed to hear that you didn't read a book because you thought you wouldn't like it, or didn't finish a book because you weren't enjoying it. You are probably not going to like all these books, but reading them will make you like other books more, and appreciate them more deeply. Reading an influential book that you didn't enjoy isn't a waste at all, it still gives you a framework to approach new novels, plays, cinema, and I'm told, even music (I don't really listen to much music, but I've heard my friends say so). I say if you like reading, read them all. It might now pay off in enjoyment right away, but it will, over time, increase the joy get from other books.
This is so true, and can't be restated enough. Well said.
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On January 19 2011 09:48 Zim23 wrote:
I read all of these books and I must say it's a decent list of books you must read. I definitely think you should force yourself to read them, it'll evolve your mind exponentially. I would leave off Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen because it's a piece of shit book from a shitty author. It's funny that The Great Gatsby is the only one you've read because that's probably my least favorite on the list after anything by Jane Austshit.
Oh and upload the spreadsheet if you haven't already.
Side note: John Steinbeck is my favorite author read everything by him.
Double Side note: I just noticed there's nothing on there by Charles Dickens. Add something from him ASAP. Tale of Two Cities is a good start.
I think that had 4.
EDIT: full spreadsheet added to op.
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EPT
