Daisy Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hubby and I are trying to put together a list of books we'd like to buy. A sort of classics wish-list. I thought maybe you'd all like to play along and help us compile a list. Twenty seemed a reasonable number for starters although we are looking at eventually going as high as 100. You are welcome to suggest more or less than 20. I'm thinking more adult books because we are fairly well set for children's classics. Just a well-rounded set of books you'd want to have in your home if there were no access to a brick & mortar or digital library. What 20 books should every person read/own? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizabeth Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GardenGirl639 Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 The Bible Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte something by Charles Dickens (yeah, I like Brit lit.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberia Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 The Iliad The Odyssey Hamlet David Copperfield Gulag Archipelago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 To Kill a Mockingbird Plato's Republic 1776 (Not a classic, yet, but it's a great book.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Something like the collected works of Shakespeare and I'd add a complete set of the Narnia books. Great for children and adults alike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mktkcb Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Bible Pilgrim's Progress LOTR Selected Dickens Pride & Prejudice To Kill a Mockingbird Once and Future King Selected Shakespear Selected Kipling Alice In Wonderland/Through Looking glass Winnie the Pooh The Chosen (Potok) James Herriot series Selected David McCullough several poetry anthologies 1 or 2 greek/roman myth anthologies Narnia series..anything by Lewis really Twain - anything Watership Down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 The Iliad The Odyssey The Aeneid Complete Works of Plato Complete Works of Aristotle The Bible (possibly other religious works) Poetry--maybe a Norton Anthology--I have one I love, but it's, er, not the only anthology in our house :D Dante's Inferno Paradise Lost Chaucer I guess nobody needs an anthology of Old English poetry, but I like it--same for the Greek tragedies. The romantic poets should be well represented in your poetry anthology...so maybe some romantic/goth novels: Frankenstein? Shakespeare--no excuse for less than the complete works. ;):D Austen Huck Finn A good collection of American short stories. Throw in some British if you must. (or if you're in England) ;) Eliot & cummings should be represented in your poetry anthology, too, & really, nobody needs their complete works, but...they're awfully nice to have. :D I appreciate having an anthology of literary essays, but...on an essential 20 list? I'd leave it off. Dickens--I hate Dickens, but he's got to stay. Faulkner probably doesn't get to sit at this table, but he's my favorite. Moby Dick To Kill a Mockingbird 1984 House on Mango Street (Are we sticking to fiction? I thought you said that in OP, but I'm checking.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linders Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 The Complete Shakespeare (a volume with all the plays and sonnets) would be on my list. Of course, it's on my shelf:001_smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 (edited) Iliad Odyssey Aeneid Complete Shakespeare To Kill a Mockingbird Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer I would consider a children's classic) Fahrenheit 451 Bible Dante's Inferno Beowulf Don Quixote The Tale of Genji Le Morte d'arthur Canterbury Tales Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass Lord of the Rings trilogy Lord of the Flies Something by Dickens The Chosen The Art of War Edited April 10, 2011 by elegantlion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pqr Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 (edited) The Bible Collected Works of Shakespeare Plutarch's Lives Dickens -Tale of Two Cities Austen - Pride and Prejudice Thucydides- The History of the Peloponnesian War Saffire-Lend me your Ears (greatest speeches---even though some of those he lists are questionable) Kissinger-Diplomacy Churchill-The Second World War and The Island Race de Tocqueville- Democracy in America The Illiad Gibbons- Decline and Fall 1,001 Nights War and Peace Lord of the Rings Poetry Anthology (to include Kipling, Tennyson, Frost etc) Collection of Great Documents. (Martin's 95 Theses, Dec of Independence, Constitution, Magna Carta etc) Edited April 10, 2011 by pqr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzybluecheese Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez Pedro Paramo, Juan Rulfo A complete work of e.e. cummings Those are the first three that come to mind. There are others, but I'm thinking that they could be in a child's library as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 The Bible The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (I think this is the best personal development book in existence besides the Bible). The Chronicles of Narnia The Harry Potter series Any Jane Austen Any Shakespeare A Separate Peace Poems by Robert Frost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I'd also add to your collection: A good unabridged dictionary Rodale's The Synonym Finder A language handbook Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntieM Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I echo many of the suggestions already made, I'd just like to suggest that you go for anthologies, ie, collected works of Austen, a collection of Shakespeare, a collection of Dickens, a great history multi-volume set, get the idea? That way your top twenty books are more like 100. Didn't catch if someone said the Bible... surely someone said that? If you're looking to preserve what you think may become unavailable (as opposed to just making a collection of favorites/classics, you'll be sure to want some things like a good gardening/edible herbs encyclopdedia, as well as a medical reference manual (my personal fave is Where There Is No Doctor). And a copy of Farenheit 451 (yeah, yeah, I know it was about TV abuse moreso than censorship, but it still is a good reminder of how things can change!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 People have mentioned Dante. There is hope for the world. :001_wub: But why only Inferno? Commedia is ONE unit, and you are missing out on so much beauty if you limit yourself only to the first part. If buying for the home library, buy the WHOLE thing (if you do not read Italian, get it in Mandelbaum's translation :tongue_smilie:, now that we had that thread and I took some time to compare them). As for playing the game, alright, but I will stick to fiction (no particular order, as I think of them): 1. Bible 2. Dante, Divina Commedia 3. Iliad 4. Odyssey 5. Virgil, Aeneid 6. Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. Milton, Paradise Lost 8. Shakespeare, pick your favorite one 9. Racine, Phedre 10. Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (+ Antigone + Oedipus at Colonus, if you can get such an edition) 11. Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 12. Euripides, pick your favorite one (I would go with Medea or Alcestis) 13. Moliere, pick your favorite one 14. Goethe, Faust 15. Dostoevsky, pick your favorite one (C&P if you want to be "sure" of your choice, but I would go with Brothers Karamazov) 16. Melville, pick your favorite option (I would opt for a collection of his novellas) 17. Cervantes, Don Quijote 18. Balzac, Pere Goriot 19. Maupassant's short stories 20. And for some childhood nostalgia and fun, de Amicis' Heart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Dickens -Pride and Prejudice and Tale of Two Cities Dickens wrote Pride & Prejudice too? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GardenGirl639 Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 My husband voted: Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Confessions by Augustine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pqr Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Dickens wrote Pride & Prejudice too?;) That is what happens when one cuts and pastes from a larger list of books in one's personal library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 These are great suggestions and we already own some of them. Hooray. I think we are just wanting to have a good solid set of books that we can use to educate ourselves and our children. It was something we started talking about after learning that our libraries may close due to budget cuts. We don't particularly enjoy reading online and really we'd like to have actual physical books anyway. My husband's grandmother had a wonderful collection of hardback books she passed down to us from her years as a teacher. I'd love to be able to do the same for my children some day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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