A discussion in the comments of the previous post brought up Oprah, and her "top 5 books everyone has to read at least once" list (Lolita, Things Fall Apart, Waiting for Godot, The Wisdom of the Desert, and Four Quartets). Her list is, in our view, flawed. So in this post I would like to propose a new list.
Or at least, one possible list. This would of course change, probably daily, depending on mood. Oh well.
1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
3. Brave New World, Aldus Huxley
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
5. The Odyssey, Homer
My thinking on this: five great books that have influenced our culture, representing a wide range of subjects, not all traditional "classics" but not all published recently either.
What's your list?
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2 comments:
ok, here is my 5 books that everyone should read once:
(1) The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
(2) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
(3) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
(4) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
(5) Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
I opted for a fantasy, science fiction, nonfiction, young adult, and poetry book in my collection, and tried to come up with a great example of each. The above list is respectively the selections I've made.
One of the great mistakes I probably made was a lack of any book that deals with romance or sexuality. It might be because I have yet to read a book that covers the subject in what I would consider a timeless and poignant manner.
None of my books touch on religion either. I think I'm ok with leaving the subject entirely alone though. Spirituality is a very personal matter, and one version of it may not suit all readers.
I think I'll stand by this list. It's not the most "advanced" selection of reading out there, but I think all of these books will stick with the reader after reading them.
Okay, I tried for days to come up with a list, and I can't.
I'm sorry. I'm a terrible reader/reviewer.
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