100 Books. Book Riot posted a list they made of 100 books that, if you read them, would render you well-read. I went through the list and had a few little issues (including Harry Potter instead of
A Wizard of Eartsea, including
Atlas Shrugged and
Fifty Shades of Grey). If it is in red, I read it. If it is in blue, I saw the movie. If it is in green, I listened to the audiobook. I also invite you to see
my list of 42 books that are "meaning of life" kind of books to me.
1)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I believe I read this in middle
school. I love Twain.
2)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
I read these as a kid. All of
them. Love Holmes
3)
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
I saw the movie…
4)
All Quiet
on the Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque
I
really should read this.
5)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier
and Clay by Michael Chabon
I loved this book.
6)
American
Pastoral by Philip Roth
No
and I’ve heard enough about Roth to know I probably wouldn’t be interested.
7)
Anna
Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
I
really should read this
8)
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
I read this as a kid.
9)
Atlas
Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Not
only no but HELL no. This is one of very few books that I feel comfortable
disparaging without having read. I believe it is imperative NOT to read it.
10)
The Bell
Jar by Sylvia Plath
I
should read this.
11)
Beloved by Toni Morrison
I saw the movie…
12)
Beowulf
I read this in school.
13)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Amazing book!
14)
Brave New World by Alduos Huxley
I read it in school.
15)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Good
book. I listened to the unabridged audio.
16)
Call of the Wild
by Jack London
I read this when I was a kid.
17)
Candide
by Voltaire
I should read this.
18)
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
I read this in school and enjoyed it, except for the
rape-as-a-practical-joke story.
19)
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
I’ve seen several Bond movies. I don’t need to read
this.
20)
Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
I haven’t even heard of this book,
strangely.
21)
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
I read
this in school.
22)
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
I read this when I was a kid.
23)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Complex, beautiful, life-changing. I read the book
twice, then listening to the unabridged audio. I also saw the movie after my
first reading.
24)
The
Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
I read a few of these when I was in school.
25)
The
Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
I adore Poe. “The Cask of Amontillado” is my favorite.
26)
The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor
I really should read these.
27)
The
Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
I listened to the audiobook. It was alright.
28)
Crime and
Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I should probably read this.
29)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Are you serious, Book Riot? Yes, I read the book and
saw the movie but it does not belong on this list. If the subject matter interests
you, read Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
30)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
I read this in school.
31)
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
I love Don
Quixote.
32)
Dream of
Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin
Not one I’ve even heard of.
33)
Dune by Frank Herbert
I read this a long time ago and didn’t care enough to
seek out the sequels.
34)
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
I saw the movie.
35)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
I read it in school. Everyone should read it.
36)
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
It is on my to-read list.
37)
Faust
by Goethe
I should read this.
38)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I’ve read this several times.
39)
A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
Yes but this is one of the rare cases where the T.V. series is better.
40)
The Golden
Bowl by Henry James
I should probably read this.
41)
The Golden
Notebook by Doris Lessing
I have not heard of this one.
42)
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
It is on my to-read.
43)
The
Gospels
I’ve read the Old and New Testaments.
44)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
I read this in school. Good but bleak.
45)
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I read this in school. Not my favorite Dickens.
46)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I read this in school.
47)
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Love me some
Shakespeare.
48)
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Great book. Every person, certainly every female
person, should read it.
49)
Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s
Stone by J.K.
Rowling
Yep. I wish I had had those books as a kid. However,
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea books are superior literature by far.
50)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
I read this in school
and disliked it. At least it is short.
51)
The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Another one that doesn’t seem as
if it should be on this list. I might read it but probably not.
The
52)
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I know where my towel is!
53)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Oh, yes! Many times since earliest childhood!
54)
House Made
of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
Not heard of it.
55)
Howl by
Allen Ginsberg
I should read this before seeing “Kill
Your Darlings.”
56)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Yeah. I liked her Gregor the Overlander series better,
though.
57)
if on a
winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
It is on my to-read.
58)
The Iliad by Homer
Yes but I hated Achilles so much and wanted the Trojans
to win. I loved The Odyssey.
59)
Inferno by Dante
“In the middle of
the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight
way was lost.”
60)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Should probably to-read this.
61)
Invisible
Man by Ralph Ellison
I should probably read this.
62)
Leaves of
Grass by Walt Whitman
I can’t remember if I read this in
school or not.
63)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Loved it. I read it, then saw the movie.
64)
The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe by C.S.
Lewis
I read this and its sequels several times.
65)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exepury
I read this when I was a kid.
66)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
I read this awhile back.
67)
Love in
the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I should read this.
68)
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
I had to read this in school. Hated it.
69)
Midnight’s
Children by Salman Rushdie
I haven’t read this.
70)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
I read this in school.
71)
Mrs.
Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
I should probably read this.
72)
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
I saw the movie.
73)
The Odyssey by Homer
Better than the
Iliad.
74)
Oedipus the King by Sophocles
I read it in school.
75)
On the
Road by Jack Kerouac
I should read this.
76)
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
I read this a long time ago and saw the movie.
77)
The
Pentateuch
I haven’t heard of it.
78)
Pride
and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Read the book, saw the movie, got the t-shirt.
79)
Rabbit,
Run by John Updike
Nope and am not likely to.
80)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I love post-apocalyptic.
81)
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Love Shakespeare.
82)
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
I read this in school.
83)
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
I should read this.
84)
The Sound
and the Fury by William Faulkner
I don’t feel like slogging through
dialect.
85)
The Stand by Stephen King
Classic post-apocalyptic!
86)
The Sun
Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The only Hemingway I remember
reading is the short story “Hills
Like White Elephants.”
87)
Swann’s
Way by Marcel Proust
I should read this.
88)
Their Eyes
Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
I should read this.
89)
Things
Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
I’ve not heard of this one.
90)
The Things
They Carried by Tim O’Brien
On my to-read.
91)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I read this in school.
92)
Ulysses
by James Joyce
Yeah. No.
93)
The
Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
I should probably read this.
94)
A Visit
from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
I’ve not heard of this one.
95)
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
Nor that one.
96)
Watchmen by Alan Moore
It is a classic of its genre, granted but IF you’re
going to put a graphic novel on this list, it should be Sandman for pete’s sake!
97)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
I started the audiobook.
98)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Yes and it is a classic but Jane Eyre is my preferred Bronte.
99)
1984 by George Orwell
Everyone should read it.
100)
Fifty
Shades of Grey by E.L. James
No, I never will, and now I think I’ve been
“Punked.”
