There are phrases and things that it is useful to know like ‘catch 22’, ‘Emperor’s new clothes’ and about ‘Pinocchio’s nose growing when he tells a lie’ that stems from books. These things can come up almost daily in the media and other situations.
It is good to have read these books to understand when these phrases are used.
Many can be understood without having read the books. But I stil do not understand calling someone "Pollyanna’ even though I have looked it up in the dictionary. I have not read the book.
What other phrases and books should be read to be fully literate ?
I’m not sure what you’re looking for exactly, but someone gave me a book once, called “An Incomplete Education”, which I greatly enjoy. It’s a little hard to describe, but it might be considered a sort of Cliff’s Notes to cultural literacy. Not just literature, although there’s lots of that, but also topics like Economics, History, Art, Film, Science and so on. The literature section covers 80 pages, and deals with British poetry, literary devices (wit, irony, ambiguity), Shakespeare, Shaw, Boswell’s life of Johnson, English novels, the English social structure in literature, 20th Century novels, Greek myths, and such oddities and different kinds of drink, money, transportation that appear in literature.
Browsing through a book like this will give you a hundred ideas for further reading, or just the book itself will increase your cultural literacy. If that’s of any interest to you.
Bartlett’s Quotations is also a fertile field to find out where common expressions that originated in literature actually came from (approximately half came from Shakespeare, apparently).
Roddy
I’m not sure that there is a specific list one could give you. For example, if you didn’t read crime novels, you wouldn’t necessarily be expected to know that a “squealer” also referred to an informant. There’s nothing inherently bad in not knowing what every literary reference pertains to.
S/he is looking for a list of classic books that you should read if you are to a have a more complete understanding of the many phrases and sayings that make up our language.
Perhaps some Shakespeare in order to have more knowledge of often quoted phrases such as “To be, or not to be…” and “Alas poor Yorick…”
Yep. The modern equivalent is being pop-culture literate, to understand Simpsons references (“Worst. Movie. Ever.” might not be a criticism of a movie but of the nerdiness of a critic of the movie, but without knowing the Comic Book Guy) or, say, Peanuts (if someone says someone is his Little Red-Haired Girl, you’ll know he means more than she’s a redhead only if you know of Charlie Brown’s crush).
Off the top of my head:
A familiarity with the Christian Bible if helpful, though references to it today are far fewer than in the past. “The patience of Job,” “The road to Damascus,” “remove the plank from your eye” as phrases; assumed familiarity in some circles of the Sermon on the Mount, or of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even many people who argue against Christianity will give short references to stories (like the near sacrifice of Isaac) that they assume will be familiar to others. Jokingly suggesting the Song of Solomon for reading in circles is a joke only if you know that the book is essentially erotic prose. And there is always someone using apocalyptic imagery lifted from Revelation for political purposes.
I’d suggest reading the books of Genesis (for the Creation, the story of Noah, the story of Abraham/Isaac), Job, the Gospels (Matthew/Mark/Luke/John for all the Jesus references), Acts (for the basic story of Saul/Paul), and Revelation (apocalyptic imagery).
A good working knowledge of Greek mythology is always helpful. “A Sisyphian task,” “Herculean challenge,” the story of Jason’s quest for the golden fleece. It’s kind of a cheat, but perhaps Bulfinch’s Mythology and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. The former was probably the primary way that Greek mythology was introduced to Americans-- the Wikipedia article on the book states “The Bulfinch myths are an indispensable guide to the cultural values of the American 19th century, yet the Bulfinch version is still the version being taught in many American public schools.” The latter is still used in schools today as an intro to Greek mythology.
Collections of fables, tales, etc: Aesop’s fables, Grimm’s fairy tales, Perrault’s Mother Goose Tales, 1001 Nights. People grow up with the stories, have the tropes and morals imbedded in their minds, and reference them for the rest of their lives.
Orwell’s 1984, if only to understand the large number of terms used to speak of politics or as pop-culture to this day. Thought police, doublethink, big brother, memory hole, “we have always been at war with Eastasia,” thoughtcrime, even the names Emmanuel Goldstein and Winston Smith.
My suggestion is to go to the fiction section of the library. Start at the A’s and work your way through the entire section. You could also do like A.J. Jacobs and read the entire Encyclopedia. Or at least read his book The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. I don’t think there is a comprehensive book that is going to have everything the OP is looking for. Though the book mentioned earlier “An Incomplete Education” sounds very interesting. Thanks for the recommendation.