(no subject)
Okay, so in light of the scandal over those 1001 books you have to read before you die, I think we should make our own list. This might even be useful because everyone can look back here when they're looking for new book recommendations.
Here's how to play: In a comment to this post, give us 10-20 books that you think everyone should read. Explanations for why you recommend those books are optional.
In a few days, I'll compile everything and make a new post with the grandmaster list. Don't worry about repeating what others have included, just pick your 10. Books that get more than one rec may get a special designation.
Also, we all have our biases. That's what makes it fun.
Also, no genre limits, so include your fantasy and graphic novels and plays and non-fiction and short story collections and whatever else, too.
Mine, in no particular order:
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Paradise by Toni Morrison
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Maus by Art Spiegelman
La Divina Commedia/The Divine Commedy by Dante Alighieri (Inferno at minimum)
Cosmicomiche/Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
The Awakening by Kate Chopine
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Also, sentimentally:
Harry Potter etc. by J.K. Rowling
The Eyre Affair etc. by Jasper Fforde
And, since it was included in the big list, everyone should read "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Will explain why if you ask. I wrote my thesis on Toni Morrison, that's why she's there twice. And I took many years of Italian, so that's why 2 books written in Italian are there. Hence what I said earlier about biases.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Some of these are just favorites some are Important. I can think of a lot more. Now you go.
This is a public post, random passersby can contribute, too!
I think I may also start a list later in the week of Classic Novels We Actually Like.
Here's how to play: In a comment to this post, give us 10-20 books that you think everyone should read. Explanations for why you recommend those books are optional.
In a few days, I'll compile everything and make a new post with the grandmaster list. Don't worry about repeating what others have included, just pick your 10. Books that get more than one rec may get a special designation.
Also, we all have our biases. That's what makes it fun.
Also, no genre limits, so include your fantasy and graphic novels and plays and non-fiction and short story collections and whatever else, too.
Mine, in no particular order:
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Paradise by Toni Morrison
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Maus by Art Spiegelman
La Divina Commedia/The Divine Commedy by Dante Alighieri (Inferno at minimum)
Cosmicomiche/Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
The Awakening by Kate Chopine
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Also, sentimentally:
Harry Potter etc. by J.K. Rowling
The Eyre Affair etc. by Jasper Fforde
And, since it was included in the big list, everyone should read "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Will explain why if you ask. I wrote my thesis on Toni Morrison, that's why she's there twice. And I took many years of Italian, so that's why 2 books written in Italian are there. Hence what I said earlier about biases.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Some of these are just favorites some are Important. I can think of a lot more. Now you go.
This is a public post, random passersby can contribute, too!
I think I may also start a list later in the week of Classic Novels We Actually Like.