TOP TEN MUST-READs ???

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2005
TOP TEN MUST-READs ???
9
Wed, 06-22-2005 - 11:10am

At some point- everyone gets frustrated by the fact that they have read everything their favorite author has produced, maybe your friends have no literary recommendations and nothing on the shelves at your local bookstore looks appealing?

When you are absolutely stumped on what book you should read... fiction, biography, self-help, non-fiction, history, audio... whatever.... wouldn't it be nice to have a required recommended reading list?

My question is " What books do you consider a MUST READ during your lifetime books?!"

Please post- if you can post 10 great- if you can post 3- wonderful- whatever you have...

thanks-

Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-22-2005 - 7:57pm

Hi Not So Far,


Thanks for the post!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2004
Wed, 06-22-2005 - 9:10pm

Hmmm...how about ten classics? :)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
5. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
6. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
7. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
8. Dune by Frank Herbert
9. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
10. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-22-2005 - 9:52pm

" What books do you consider a MUST READ during your lifetime books?!"

During my lifetime?...Hmmmmm....here are 10 that I would like to read (or have read) in my lifetime...

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

2. To Kill a Mockingbird (My absolute favourite book...EVER!!!!!)

3. The Bible (went to Catholic school and I am sorry to say that my religious education was sadly lacking...I know VERY little about the Bible and I'd like to read it someday)

4. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

5. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

6. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

7. Roots by Alex Haley

8. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky

9. War and Peace by Tolstoy

10. Beowulf

Boy, I could go on and on...these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Jenn

 Jenn 



iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-1997
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 9:50am

Here are some I've loved, and whose stories and messages have stayed with me:


1. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand


2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith


3. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell


4. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee


5. King's Row - Henry Bellamann


6. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien


7. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom


8. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom


9. Stardust - Neil Gaiman


10. The Red Tent - Anita Diamont



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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2005
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 10:47am

you all selected such classic books/novels and i am embarrassed to say I have not read many of them... although as I strive to leave my pessimistic ways- my more optimistic side might say - i have a lot of great books left to read.

i find this question incredibly difficult- one of the reasons being that my must read list will be different for everyone who asks it... some of friends must read something while others should try something different.

titles that spring forth:

drinking... a love story.
ALIVE
a girl named Alice
color purple
and the band played on
even cowgirls get the blues
me talk pretty
love in the time of cholera
a walk in the woods
are you there god it is me, margaret.

so many others though...tough question! who asked that anyway?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-02-2003
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 11:07am

Hmm!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-12-2003
Fri, 06-24-2005 - 12:19pm

What a great, great list to make...

as a big reader, I get very "into" my books, and while reading them I am always convinced they are the BEST. Alas only few withstand the test of time.

I consider priceless, left me with lifelong lessons and/or sweet memories (not in order of relevance):

1. like water for chocolate.
2. The Good Earth Trilogy - pearl s. buck
3. Foundation - Asimov
4. the Jungle Book - Kipling
5. Inferno - Dante Alighieri
6. The Mists of Avalon -- by Marion Zimmer Bradley
7. Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos (perhaps because I was reading it instead of studying... )
8. Huis Clos - Sartre
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray
10. the Kite Runner - as I am reading it now, it sure is the best ever.

OUF! that was hard to put together!!! perhaps it will inspire some, for sure your list have reminded me of some that I always meant to read...

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2004
Fri, 06-24-2005 - 1:31pm
Oh, The Color Purple!!! I should have put that on my list too.
Avatar for cl_ladibbug
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 06-24-2005 - 7:13pm

Welcome, Folle Violaine!


Thanks for stopping by.