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foundationsofvnm t1_j9shciv wrote

Gotta get something by Kazuo Ishiguro on there! I suggest Never Let Me Go or The Remains of the Day

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sm7de wrote

I'm adding both! Never Let Me Go appeals to me more from first impressions, but The Remains of the Day is seemingly more significant based on my searches(?). So, both have been added

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FoxTofu t1_j9t1cve wrote

2005 seems a bit more recent than most "classic" novels.

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Toezap t1_j9sqhpo wrote

I've been really underwhelmed by the two Ishiguri books I've read, and I really wanted to like them. 🤷‍♀️

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sqn8z wrote

That's okay. I'm sure more than a handful of these will leave me the same way, but first I have to try them out to know

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serralinda73 t1_j9shf2f wrote

The Color Purple

The Three Musketeers

A Clockwork Orange

Slaugherhouse-Five

Dangerous Liasons

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sjm1g wrote

Oh, man, how did I forget Clockwork Orange? It's iconic

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NoxDWN t1_j9swcjm wrote

Glad to see The Three Musketeers and Dangerous Liaisons, they are so much fun!

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jimjackcoke t1_j9sljnh wrote

As I Lay Dying is a must

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ShaoKahnKillah t1_j9so55t wrote

The Yellow Wallpaper by CPG is a short story, in case you didn't realize. You really should add Lonesome Dove and probably move it to the top of your queue because it's the greatest novel ever and that is a fact lol.

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Toezap t1_j9sr3n5 wrote

I love classic short stories. I tutor community college and love talking about them with students that come in, although they don't do much literary analysis in their classes. Worked on a paper for The Yellow Wallpaper today, in fact!

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ShaoKahnKillah t1_j9srjwv wrote

Same. Short stories are one of my favorite mediums of lit. A community college professor got me into them actually, by recommending and reading a Raymond Carver story out loud in class.

Have you read Madeline Miller's little short story called Galatea? It's 20 pages and vaguely reminds me of The Yellow Wallpaper. It's a retelling of the Greek myth of Pygmalion.

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Toezap t1_j9ssb2u wrote

I haven't read that! Is it available anywhere online? A lot of short stories are.

I have read Circe, though!

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ShaoKahnKillah t1_j9swd1r wrote

I couldn't find a pdf anywhere unfortunately. And Kindle wants $10.99 for it. A 20 page story. That's insane. But check your DM here and I may be able to help you :)

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Langstarr t1_j9tcgjd wrote

I kind of chuckled at the 15 page story followed immediately by frank Heberts thicc tome

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[deleted] OP t1_j9skxkr wrote

[deleted]

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ShaoKahnKillah t1_j9snvlz wrote

🤣🤣🤣 If Stephen Hawking had written The Gunslinger, it might have actually been readable.

Not making fun, I'm sure it was just a typo or something. I'm just laughing at the idea of Hawking writing fantasy.

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kittens_in_mittens_ t1_j9si64d wrote

I would add The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I would also strongly advocate for removing The Alchemist. Seriously, that book is atrocious.

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Machiniac t1_j9sjjhk wrote

I would lose Alchemist, Hunger Games and The Help and Twelve Years a Slave. If you want a slave narrative, read Sojourner Truth.

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sk2rj wrote

What is the worst thing about The Alchemist?

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Acuzzam t1_j9slbnb wrote

As a brazilian, in my opinion, you should take The Alchemist out of the list and put The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas (also known in the US as Epitaph of a Small Winner) by Machado de Assis in its place. Paulo Coelho is very popular in the world but not really seen as this great author, Machado de Assis is considered by many the best and most important writer from our country.

Nothing against Paulo Coelho, you can read The Alchemist, but Brazil has lots of great authors and he is not even close to the top.

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Vogonvor t1_j9syzmp wrote

Honestly the Alchemist is short enough you might as well give it a go just don't expect it to be the life changing read that it's advertised as. It's a really simple book and some people love that though it didn't do much for me.

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coffeethenstyle t1_j9ska9v wrote

I’d keep it! The Alchemist isn’t for everyone but a lot of these books are divisive. I liked the book.

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[deleted] OP t1_j9slndj wrote

Fair! I'm not gonna lie, I did exclude books that I personally have some issues with. So, it would make sense that others feel the same way about some on my list. A lot of these books were referenced multiple times on various sites, so surely, they mean something to someone

I'll keep the Alchemist, unless a convincing argument can be made otherwise

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earlyriser79 t1_j9sn2az wrote

I think the argument is that it's not "literature", it's more like a fable in the self-help section. I enjoyed it when I was young, but it's not at the same level of the other classics. And it's pretty short, so it doesn't feel like a good dive in a world.

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unqualified101 t1_j9t52pq wrote

Keep the Alchemist and judge for yourself. Good luck with 100 books!!

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Machiniac t1_j9sja9p wrote

The Marriage Plot by Eugenides

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michsel Chabon

Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Wolff

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Interview with the Vampire / The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

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coffeethenstyle t1_j9skl8d wrote

I love a lot of these books! But a few might not be old enough to be a classic. I feel like even modern classics probably need to have a decade or two to age into that position.

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Mehitabel9 t1_j9smehd wrote

Fiction:

  • Bleak House - Charles Dickens (I'd choose this over Great Expectations)
  • If on a Winter's Night a Traveler - Italo Calvino
  • The Shipping News - Annie Proulx
  • Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf (I'd choose this over A Room of One's Own)
  • The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte
  • The Golden Gate - Vikram Seth
  • I, Claudius - Robert Graves

Non-fiction:

  • The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe
  • Annals of the Former World - John McPhee

Plays:

  • Travesties - Tom Stoppard
  • Angels in America - Tony Kushner
  • Faith Healer - Brian Friel

Poetry:

  • Complete Poems of W. B. Yeats
  • Complete Poems of W. H. Auden

With all due respect to The Hunger Games and The Help - they aren't classics.

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[deleted] OP t1_j9snr19 wrote

Valid criticisms, has been updated with some changes

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AgentLockwood t1_j9sq7su wrote

The Left Hand of Darkness- Ursula K LeGuin. Incredible feminist scifi, truly ahead of its time.

Sunset Song- Lewis Grassic Gibbon. One you might not know at all. It's the story of a farm girl during WW1, written in a synthetic version of the Scots language. It's not hard to read at all though. A story of perseverance during difficult times, and our connections with the land. Chris Guthrie is one of literatures best heroines, up there with Lizzie Bennet and Jane Eyre!

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming, or Greenmantle by John Buchan. Or Our Man In Havana by Grahame Greene. I didn't see any spy fiction on your list!

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IUsedToBeGifted177 t1_j9szkk6 wrote

The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (my personal favorite. Some of the most beautiful writing and the way the story is told will be unlike anything else on the list)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The House Of Spirits by Isabel Allende (magic realism at its finest)

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. (If you want to do a religious book without doing a religious books but more for general spiritual philosophy.) .

For Christianity I'd recommend anything by C.S. Lewis. Like, literally anything.

Night by Elie Wissel. (Which, IMHO, should be required reading for life.)

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Grouchy-Bluejay-4092 t1_j9t11dn wrote

My favorite C. S. Lewis books are the first two in the Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra.

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unsuresignofnewname t1_j9sitbz wrote

No Toni Morrison or Willa Cather?

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amr0915 t1_j9t54f6 wrote

And My Antonia by Willa Cather!

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[deleted] OP t1_j9skd9t wrote

Which books of theirs do you recommend?

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McGilla_Gorilla t1_j9spbru wrote

For Morrison, Beloved is the most famous but Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon are also great

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Toezap t1_j9sqo07 wrote

I'd say you need some more female speculative fiction representation. Ursula K. LeGuin (novels most commonly suggested: The Left-Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, The Word for World is Forest. Short story: The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas) and Octavia Butler (my faves are Parable of the Sower and the Xenogenesis trilogy) are two kick-ass authors.

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El-Splendido t1_j9sj6ky wrote

A Confederacy of Dunces! So good

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East_Appointment_733 t1_j9sksj4 wrote

White Fang by Jack London

Edit: sorry, I thought you were just asking for classics. Ignore the idiot everyone!

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East_Appointment_733 t1_j9skteu wrote

and while you're at it, Call of the Wild

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[deleted] OP t1_j9slfqn wrote

I remember liking White Fang in school, and honestly it would be nice to reread it. I'm adding both to the list!

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earlyriser79 t1_j9smgpf wrote

As much as they are classic, having 2 books of the same author seems too much (of course is your list). I'd drop one of them and add something by E.A. Poe

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[deleted] OP t1_j9snkjm wrote

Mr. Dumas, Dickens, Ishiguro, and Tolkien are up there multiple times too lol

But, I am adding and removing as the thread continues, and duplicates will be the first thing to go as I sort through suggestions

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coffeethenstyle t1_j9slvqf wrote

Depending on how modern of classic you are looking for, I’d add

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (late 70s) The Fellowship of the Ring (50s) Brideshead revisited (1945) And Then There Were None (1939) Phantom of the Opera (1910)

I also second The Picture of Dorian Gray, Virginia Woolf and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (it’s a 2000s book)

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earlyriser79 t1_j9sls6t wrote

Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar.
The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges.

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cheerfulstoic11 t1_j9snxha wrote

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. It’s not my favorite of his, but definitely the most culturally significant.

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Kate1124 t1_j9sp3il wrote

Madam Bovary?

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NBNewcomer t1_j9sqhm9 wrote

I might be biased cause i'm German but i'm quite surprised that you don't have Faust on your list. Can also recommend Nietzsches thus spoke Zarathustra, if you enjoy philosophy.

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sqve0 wrote

I did see Faust on some of the lists, but had never heard of it before. Surely this is a sign I'll be missing out without it. Added!

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Rob_Reason t1_j9sr9kv wrote

Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin

The Shining - Stephen King

Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison

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IllithidWithAMonocle t1_j9syubd wrote

If you're reading them in order, swap the positions of "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" so that you read them in the right order (both chronologically and in the order they were written)

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mslsvt t1_j9sqrpt wrote

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Pedro Paramo by Huan Rulfo

Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino

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x_lincoln_x t1_j9suz6f wrote

The Handmaids Tale was published in 1985.

Personally I hated Catcher in the Rye.

I, Robot is a great read but it's a collection of related short stories. Follow it up with the Robot series as well as Foundation. All in the same universe.

Hemingway has a fantastic collection and I would say at least include For Whom The Bell Tolls.

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EmperorJediWoW t1_j9svp2y wrote

OP, have you perchance read The Count of Monte Cristo already? Since I can see the three musketeers, but not that one.

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Costal_Signals t1_j9shwb8 wrote

Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan

Remains of the Day by Kazuou Ishiguro

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Would be my suggestions to add to the list

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sn0if wrote

Remains of the Day has been added.

Garlic Ballads seems interesting. I mean, who doesn't love a banned book?

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Downtown_Customer_77 t1_j9sodzk wrote

I think Oliver Twist deserves to be on this list too! Also, you should share your Good Reads if you use it. To keep track of your progress and reviews of each book!

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sp2vi wrote

Honestly you're probably right. I love things like that, so might as well

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literattina t1_j9spm8d wrote

I would add:

Perfume by Patrick Süskind Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

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Fractalize1 t1_j9sv5sa wrote

Perfume, and The Master and Margherita are novels that I also recommend

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MeteorCity t1_j9spxwt wrote

Ulysses, The Sound And The Fury, Frenkenstein, Dracula

Edited: formatting

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MagentaHairedGirl t1_j9sucpw wrote

Do not read the Lord of the Rings before you read the Hobbit.

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Fractalize1 t1_j9suzz5 wrote

I would add Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy.

I see you have Anna Karenina. Resurrection is much shorter and I would recommend reading it first.

I would also add The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

I just re-read The Lord of The Rings series and Dune, so I’m glad to see them on the list. Great reads.

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steampunkunicorn01 t1_j9sva5v wrote

I'd suggest Middlemarch by George Eliot and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (honestly, I'd recommend all of their works, both are brilliant authors, but these are the books that most often get recommended and put onto these types of lists)

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berlpett t1_j9t01c2 wrote

‘The Stranger’ by Albert Camus

‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad

’Three Men in a Boat’ by Jerome K. Jerome

’The Löwensköld Ring’ by Selma Lagerlöf

’Candide’ by François Voltaire

‘The Crying of lot 49’ by Thomas Pynchon

‘Silas Marner’ by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

‘The Pearl’ by John Steinbeck

‘The Grass is Singing’ by Doris Lessing

‘Stoner’ by John Williams

‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath

’The Process’ by Franz Kafka

‘The Devil and the Good Lord’ by Jean-Paul Sartre

’A Burnt Child’ by Stig Dagerman

I noted that you’re up for some light reading with ‘The Second Sex’ by Beauvoir; I’d suggest you make a day of it and add ’Phenomenology of Spirit’ by G. W. F. Hegel and ‘Process and Reality’ by A. N. Whitehead - you know - to keep yourself occupied.

Made me think of some other classics that just never seem to end.

‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ by Thomas Pynchon

‘A Critique of Pure Reason’ by Immanuel Kant

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maelmare t1_j9t3245 wrote

Maus by Art Speigelman

Pulitzer prize winning graphic novel.

Follows the story of the authors father who was an aushwitz survivor.

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Head-Advantage2461 t1_j9sjm0d wrote

Remembrance of Things Past is overlooked a lot. Complex, delicious sentences that need to be savored more than once. A storyline that is stunning and contemporary. It’s a real shame that this beauty has fallen away.

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sl0nu wrote

I'm not going to lie.. I struggled with Les Miserables thousand pages, and online resources say that in total Remembrance of Things Past is over four thousand pages long. If I were to read it, It might only be the first volume of the set

Did you read all 7 volumes, and how long did it take if you did?

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PitcherTrap t1_j9sqm2q wrote

Are you reading the english translation or the original French of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex? This is quite a heavy philosophical read.

Also, which edition/translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh are you planning to read?

I would also suggest Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory, there should be plenty of english editions around

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alexatd t1_j9t0mmt wrote

Highly recommend adding a Christie novel and imo And Then There Were None is the best one.

If you're doing non-fiction, Into Thin Air.

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EtnaXII t1_j9sqdkg wrote

You should put 1Q84 tbh

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[deleted] OP t1_j9sr0rp wrote

Is it based off the Orwellian 1984 or is that just coincidence?

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dr_strangelove42 t1_j9stjrh wrote

check out this site: https://www.thegreatestbooks.org/

It's already done what you've done in taking every significant list out there and compiling a master list. Might help you fill yours out. I used it to find recommendations from specific centuries. It's also nice to see your percentage read.

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angry_jotaro t1_j9sudv4 wrote

I remember seeing this same exact list on Facebook a couple years back I saved it and am trying to finish it, seems like you made a couple of changes to the original... Here's the original list if anyone's interested

📚 I found this list of 100 books everyone should read before they die. I put a ✅ by the ones I’ve read. Clearly I have a lot of reading to do.

📚Help me make this list better. What’s missing from it and what should be removed?

  1. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
    1. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
    1. "The Diary of Anne Frank" by Anne Frank✅
    1. "1984" by George Orwell✅
    1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling✅
    1. "The Lord of the Rings" (1-3) by J.R.R. Tolkien✅
    1. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    1. "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White✅
    1. "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien✅
    1. "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott ✅
    1. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
    1. "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte
    1. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell✅✔️
    1. "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
    1. "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger
    1. "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak✅
    1. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
    1. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins ✔️
    1. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett ✅
    1. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wadrobe" by C.S. Lewis ✅
    1. "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck
    1. "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
    1. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
    1. "Night" by Elie Wiesel
    1. "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare
    1. "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle✅
    1. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
    1. "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens
    1. "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare
    1. "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams
    1. "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
    1. "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens✅
    1. "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    1. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
    1. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling ✅
    1. "The Giver" by Lois Lowry
    1. "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
    1. "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein
    1. "Wuthering Heights" Emily Bronte
    1. "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
    1. "Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery✅
    1. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain
    1. "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare
    1. "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larrson
    1. "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
    1. "The Holy Bible: King James Version" ✔️
    1. "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker✅
    1. "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas
    1. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
    1. "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
    1. "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll✅
    1. "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
    1. "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
    1. "The Stand" by Stephen King
    1. "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon✅
    1. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling✅
  57. "Enders Game" by Orson Scott Card ✔️
    1. "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy
    1. "Watership Down" by Richard Adams
    1. "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden
    1. "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
    1. "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
    1. "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
    1. "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
    1. "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (#3) by Arthur Conan Doyle
    1. "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo
    1. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling✅
    1. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
    1. "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne✅
    1. "Celebrating Silence: Excerpts from Five Years of Weekly Knowledge" by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
    1. "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis
    1. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett
  73. "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins ✔️
    1. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
    1. "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
    1. "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
    1. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
    1. "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
    1. "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
    1. "The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel" by Barbara Kingsolver
    1. "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
    1. "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger✅
    1. "The Odyssey" by Homer
    1. "The Good Earth (House of Earth #1)" by Pearl S. Buck
    1. "Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3)" by Suzanne Collins
    1. "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie
    1. "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough
    1. "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving
    1. "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
    1. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
    1. "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    1. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
    1. "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
    1. "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
    1. "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
    1. "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
    1. "Cutting For Stone" by Abraham Verghese
    1. "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster
    1. "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    1. "The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller
1

Modesto96 t1_j9t0lg2 wrote

The Godfather by Mario Puzo needs to be on both OP’s list and this one, it’s excellent and one of my favorite books ever

1

Jumping_Jack28 t1_j9suo44 wrote

I would recommend the city of dreaming books and the 13 1/2 lives of captain Bluebear by Walter Moers. It’s just fantastic in its pure wording. And especially city of dreaming books is a big Hommage to literature itself!

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Jumping_Jack28 t1_j9suqor wrote

Although I have to admit that these are no typical classics. Anyways, some insanely good books!

1

robinaw t1_j9svpd4 wrote

The Prisoner of Zenda

The Four Feathers

Macbeth

King Lear (then watch the movie ‘Ran’ for Kurosawa’s take on it)

The 39 Steps

Also, pick up some myths and fairytales.

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LivesUnderARoc t1_j9swjgl wrote

A child called It-and the other two books

1

NoxDWN t1_j9swrvr wrote

Any 'Arsène Lupin' novel by Maurice LeBlanc, they're French classics of detective fiction. If anyone recommends 'Romance Of The Tree Kingdoms' by Luo Guanzhong please ignore them, reading the book by itself is difficult and tricky, instead I recommend the podcast by John.

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Shajrta t1_j9sxc1w wrote

Alamut by Bartol

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throwaway384938338 t1_j9sxn25 wrote

That’s a fine list. My only comment would be that I don’t think you need two Jack London

I’d consider adding, Paradise Lost, Lolita and In Cold Blood

1

LilLebowskiAchiever t1_j9sxyrt wrote

After you read “The Odyssey”, wait 6 months and then read Charles Frasier’s “Cold Mountain”.

Other books that stuck with me:

“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe

“Eat a Bowl of Tea” Louis Chu

“There Eyes We’re Watching God” Zora Neale Hurston

“A Suitable Boy” Vikram Seth (very long)

“Collected Poems” Langston Hughes

“Pillars of the Earth” Ken Follett

“The God of Small Things” Arundhari Roy

“Another Country” James Baldwin

“A Fine Balance” Mistry

1

winter_mute t1_j9syfab wrote

Could be a job to whittle things down to 100. Could add Kipling, Zola, Proust, Flaubert, Balzac, D.H.Lawrence, Chekov, Virgil, Camus, etc. etc.

Having no Middlemarch in there is a straight-up crime though.

Just to be forewarned, a couple of those texts are probably going to be pretty dry, heavy going. Reading The Bible cover-to-cover is no joke. The Second Sex isn't riveting, and it's long. A Room of One's Own (while an important text) is essay-writing Woolf, rather than language-loving, exhuberant Woolf. Still, fun to see how it goes. Probably worth keeping a log of what you've read and what you liked / disliked.

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ceneres t1_j9sz6vv wrote

Celine bro. Journey to the end of the night is a masterpiece. Also something from Camus as well.

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Modesto96 t1_j9szwk6 wrote

I, Robot is a great read, enjoy!

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Modesto96 t1_j9t0bmo wrote

You NEED to add The Godfather by Mario Puzo. It’s one of my favorite books of all time. It’s excellent!

1

purple_little_cloud t1_j9t0vse wrote

A Christmas Carol

Jonathan Livingston the Seagull

Zorbas

East Wind West wind

Jamilla

1

BattleBreeches t1_j9t17w0 wrote

I'd suggest Middlemarch, Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Beloved. No love for le Guin? If you're interested in Sci-Fi you should at least read The Left Hand of Darkness.

Personally, I wouldn't waste your time with The Stand and The Alchemist. If you must read King, I'd suggest one his books that are actually readable like The Shining or Different Seasons. I would pick Foundation over I, Robot for Asimov. It's a better book and more influential, I, Robot just has the name recognition from that Will Smith film.

Edit: When it comes to Hamlet. I strongly advise you don't just read it, you watch it. It wasn't written for you to read it was written for actors to perform to you. Watch a production first. Same goes for any Shakespeare or really any play for that matter.

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daiwilly t1_j9t1vau wrote

The Magus by John Fowles

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wendalpendal t1_j9t21k4 wrote

I've read 26 of them. Feelsokman

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KieselguhrKid13 t1_j9t3k7o wrote

Great list - tons of excellent books on there!

Watchmen by Alan Moore (the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine's list of the 100 best books of the 20th century, and with good reason - it's incredible).

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

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advokatonko t1_j9t525c wrote

Master and Margarita by Bulgakov should be on your list. It's great book

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cmajka8 t1_j9t5f63 wrote

That looks awesome. I would recommend spacing out Monte Cristo and East of Eden - just my two cents

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The_Nootiest_Noot t1_j9t5mi7 wrote

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

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Mattcheco t1_j9t5ts3 wrote

No Oryx and Crake? Margret Atwood is a national treasure.

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mollslanders t1_j9t7pzr wrote

I feel like this list could definitely benefit from more women!

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, but only after you read Jane Eyre

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

I hope at least a few of these will interest you!

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JalenSmithsGoggles t1_j9t86m1 wrote

Where's your African literature? Need to add Chinua Achebe or Ben Okri or Wole Soyinka.

I'd also suggest something by Salman Rushdie, perhaps Midnight's Children.

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Kirra_Tarren t1_j9t9iog wrote

The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks

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ArgentStar t1_j9t9oda wrote

Kindred, by Octavia Butler

Goodreads description:

>The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given...

ETA: Wow, I've read 36 of those (and given up on a few others). It's a really good list, but some are much longer/more dense than others. Funny seeing The Second Sex and The Old Man And The Sea on the same list. One you could finish on a long train journey, the other... you can't. Unless the train is taking you to Siberia.

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Flymadness t1_j9t9x8l wrote

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton is one I love and was very important for obvious reasons. Begs the question if a book from 1990 can be a classic yet. One of my favorite movies of all time but the book is so much better.

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Lande4691 t1_j9tadt0 wrote

Suggesting A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul. Considered one of the great Caribbean classics by a Nobel prize winner.

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themoonstop t1_j9taney wrote

quicksand and/or passing by nella larsen

the heart is a lonely hunter by carson mccullers

stone butch blues by leslie feinberg

rubyfruit jungle by rita mae brown

not without laughter by langston hughes

plum bun by jessie fauset

the violent bear it away by flannery o connor

the house of spirits by isabel allende

oreo by fran ross

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grynch43 t1_j9tao8z wrote

Good list but I would switch out The Stand for The Shining. I would also replace a lot of the childrens books with some more Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc…

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thedevilyoukn0w t1_j9tbvr7 wrote

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. Many would recommend his more famous work, The Name of the Rose, but I think this one is much more readable.

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies.

Impressive list. I think I need to start reading more.

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FergusAnthonyWriter t1_j9td1lc wrote

Cloudsplitter The Gambler (Dos, not Rogers) Spring Sonata (If you can find this it's a great read. It's by Bernice Rubens. It tells the story of a baby who decides not to be born, and stays in the womb for years, keeping a diary and becoming a celebtated violinist, among other things.)

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ClaraReed t1_j9td84l wrote

If you’re going to read “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” you have to read “Through the Looking-glass” too. I recommend Martin Gardener’s annotated version of the combined texts.

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books-ModTeam t1_j9tdabw wrote

Hi there. Per rule 3.3, please post book recommendation requests in /r/SuggestMeABook or in our Weekly Recommendation Thread. Thank you!

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she_said_gleba t1_j9sxvbs wrote

Omg no Camus or Austen? This is outrageous

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