# What 10 books should all people peruse? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456 "2003-05-11T05:11:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/21 "2003-05-12T00:11:55Z")
Allow me a slight hijack on the Bible issue. It absolutely does not have to be read from any religious perspective, but I think should be read by everybody as a text which has profoundly influenced Western thought, history and art. I pick it up every few years and always find it interesting and always learn something I’m embarrassed I didn’t know before. Anyway, Moby Dick- Herman Melville The Scarlet Letter- Nathaniel Hawthorne Great Expectations- Charles Dickens Vanity Fair- William Makepeace Thackeray The Red and the Black - Stendhal The Essays of George Orwell The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson The short stories of Jorge Luis Borges Shakespeare’s Plays Eugene O’Neil’s Plays ---
**Author:** ![robgruver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@robgruver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robgruver)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/22 "2003-05-12T00:19:58Z")
In no particular order: _Ender’s Game_ by Orson Scott Card _The Dark Knight Returns_ by Frank Miller (This is the finest work of comic fiction ever.) _The Runaway Jury_ by John Grisham (I will get hate mail for this one, but it is an amazing look into juries and how they can be manipulated. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/23 "2003-05-12T00:21:34Z")
Hmmm… just some random books that I think people should read, in no particular order: _Lord of the Rings_ by JRR Tolkien _Ender’s Game_ by Orsen (sp?) Scott Card _Paradise Lost_ by James Milton (Although many parts are truly skim-worthy) The Bible _To Kill a Mockingbird_ by Harper Lee _Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry_ by Mildred D. Taylor _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ by Jared Diamond _The Souls of Black Folks_ by WEB du Bois _Roots_ by Alex Haley _1984_ and _Animal Farm_ by George Orwell _The Gate to Women’s Country_ by Sherri S. Tepper _The Dispossessed_ by Ursula K. Le Guin (but don’t read it expecting sci-fi, cause you’ll be disappointed) _Bridge to Terabithia_ by Katherine Paterson _Catcher in the Rye_ by J. D. Salinger _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ by Robert Heinlein The poetry of John Keats The poetry of Robert Frost _A Clockwork Orange_ by Anthony Burgess _The Once and Future King_ by T. H. White _Charlotte’s Web_ by E. B. White _Shogun_ by James Clavell _The Handmaid’s Tale_ by Margaret Atwood _Huckleberry Finn_ by Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens _Wuthering Heights_ by Emily Bronte Anything by Jane Austen This is an incomplete list. Books/authors that should be read and discussed with others (IMHO): Shakespeare Ernest Hemingway _The Canterbury Tales_ by Chaucer James Joyce Toni Morrison _The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald _Beowulf_ This also is an undoubtedly incomplete list. So basically, read lots of different stuff, often. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/24 "2003-05-12T01:28:54Z")
The parameters of your OP are a bit intimidating, I just don’t feel qualified to prescribe books. You might want to take a look at St. John’s “Great Books” list, their entire curriculum is based on them. I do think these books provide interesting views of American life & would recommend them - they’re mostly of a lighter weight than previous suggestions, but I found them meaningful: _Frannie and Zooey_, J.D. Salinger _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_, Betty Smith _Auntie Mame_, Patrick Dennis (pseud. for Patrick Tannenbaum) _Gone With the Wind_, Margaret Mitchell _The Right Stuff_, Tom Wolfe _Bonfire of the Vanities_, Tom Wolfe _Lonesome Dove_, Larry McMurtry _Roots_, Alex Hayley _The Cliff Walk_, Don Snyder _Different Seasons_, Stephen King - yes, I know, but that kid & the Nazi are haunting, damnit! ---
**Author:** ![Bjork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@Bjork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bjork)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/25 "2003-05-12T02:28:48Z")
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol The Cat in The Hat - Dr Seuss The Stinky Cheese man and other fairy tales Where the wild things are (dont know the author of the last two, but those 4 books got me through childhood) Invisible Monsters - Chuck Pahlahnuik American Pyscho - Brett Easton Ellis The Beach - Alex Garland American Gods - Neil Gaman Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone (hell, why not!) ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/26 "2003-05-12T02:40:15Z")
Godel, Escher, Back - Douglass R. Hofstatder. This one book should count at 10! ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/27 "2003-05-12T02:46:10Z")
For Fantasy: Any book in The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. For SF: Gold and Magic, Isaac Asimov as the editor, collecting material from his monthly book magazine Any of the collected works of Isaac Asimov, written (of course) by Isaac Asimov. Horror: It, by Stephen King. ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/28 "2003-05-12T02:53:22Z")
All the **Curious George** books All the **Harold and the Purple Crayon** books That’ll give you at least ten or more. ---
**Author:** ![Slindorff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Slindorff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slindorff)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/29 "2003-05-12T03:03:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fessie \* > \*\*_Different Seasons_, Stephen King - yes, I know, but that kid & the Nazi are haunting, damnit! \*\* I agree entirely! And, as already mentioned, _The Body_ and _Shawshank Redemption_ are beautiful short stories. This book shouldn’t be dismissed as being “merely” popular fiction. (I have Issues about the turning up of noses at popular fiction). I also agree with Jeanster that P.G. Wodehouse is a lot fun! ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/30 "2003-05-12T03:41:25Z")
[hijack]Oooooh - don’t know if you guys are kidding, but now I wish I’d been more gutsy about listing my kid-book favorites: _Harriet the Spy_ & _The Long Secret_ - Louise Fitzhugh everything by Beverly Cleary everything by E.B. White the Henry Reed series by Keith Robertson the Beany Malone series by Lenora Mattingly Weber the Great Brain series (shades of Cecil!) by John D. Fitzgerald (honestly, if you’re ever home sick from work on one of those nagging icky-itis days when what you really need is a comfort party, these are tasty & light, and more nourishing than Springer et al) ( **ring ring** …not that I ever skipped work a day in my life… **ring** …um, cough cough, I’m not feeling well, cough) [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/31 "2003-05-12T03:48:17Z")
[http://www.editoreric.com/greatlit/greatlit.html](http://www.editoreric.com/greatlit/greatlit.html) Here’s a pretty extensive list with some reviews. As far as my personal favorites…I’ll have to get back w/ ya on that. My tastes are greatly varied. I’ll read practically anything if it keeps my interest. I read textbooks for fun. Not too much fiction anymore but I’ve read many of the classics. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra has to be included in any list of great novels IMHO. Gulliver’s Travels Moby Dick Lord of the Flies Robinson Crusoe Lonesome Dove That’s a good start for now. I’ll be back asap ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/32 "2003-05-12T04:25:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jabba \* > \*\* > > 1. Plato, _The Republic_ > 2. Sophocles, _The Theban Trilogy_ > 3. Dante, _The Divine Comedy_ > 4. William Shakespeare, Complete Works > 5. John Milton, _Paradise Lost_ > 6. _The Norton Anthology of Poetry_ > 7. Leo Tolstoy, _Anna Karenina_ > 8. Hermann Melville, _Moby-Dick_ > 9. Charles Dickens, _Bleakl House_ > 10. James Joyce, _Ulysses_ > \*\* Yeesh. Maybe the 10 books to read if you have insomnia (except some of shakespear and plato) 😉 OP: This is impossible. we need to break it up into different sections, and you cannot become well read on a certain field by reading one book. What is the minimum number of fields we can divide into? ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/33 "2003-05-12T04:32:15Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the Dune saga by Frank Herbert!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/34 "2003-05-12T04:38:42Z")
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy by Douglas Adams. (Comedy, and without a doubt, some of the greatest literary comedy ever) The Age of Intelligent Machines, Ray Kurzweil The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes Hamlet, Will Shakespeare The Hobbit, J.r.r Tolkien ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/35 "2003-05-12T04:53:30Z")
Great suggestions all. Heads up on one “classic” to avoid is Moby Dick. If you’ve never heard of sailing ships or the sea, I mean never, this might not be a complete bore. The movie with Gregory Peck as Ahab is the superior telling. The latter mess with Patrick Stewart is just as boring as the book. Call me Ishmael. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/36 "2003-05-12T04:55:01Z")
_Hamlet, MacBeth, King Lear_, and _Henry V_, by William Shakespeare. _Pride and Prejudice_, by Jane Austen. _The Catcher in the Rye_, by J. D. Salinger. _The Grapes of Wrath_, by John Steinbeck. _Catch-22_, by Joseph Heller. _The Left Hand of Darkness_, by Ursula K LeGuin. _Ender’s Game_, by Orson Scott Card. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lizard \* > **I’m asking because yes, I DO intend to go read them, if there is any kind of consensus.** We’ll have a consensus any minute now. Just you wait and see. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/37 "2003-05-12T05:25:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bjork \* > **The Stinky Cheese man and other fairy tales > Where the wild things are > (dont know the author of the last two…** A quick search reveals “Jon Scieszka” for the first (which I haven’t read) and _Where the Wild Things Are_, (one of my fav books of all time) was written by Maurice Sendak. Adding to the kid’s books (or read when feeling ill) list I offer: _The Weirdstone of Brisingamen_ and sequel _The Moon of Gomrath_ by Allan Garner. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/38 "2003-05-12T06:11:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \* > \*\* > OP: This is impossible. we need to break it up into different sections, and you cannot become well read on a certain field by reading one book. What is the minimum number of fields we can divide into? \*\* Well, when I first thought of this thread, I was thinking that people would reccomend Literature. I think **Jabba’s** recommendations come closest to what I was thinking. Although I think they’re good books, and I’ve read them all, I’m really surprised at the numbers of recommendations for “Ender’s Game,” various Stephen King books, et. al. To me, those books are entertaining fiction, and no more. To meet the criteria I was thinking of (and, in truth, didn’t explain very well) fictional works should say something profound about the human condition to qualify as Literature. Otherwise, why should _everyone_ read them? Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” is an example of what I mean. I’d say Asimov’s books such as “I, Robot” come close, since they are relevant to our day and age. And I have to agree with **japatigt** about “Moby Dick.” What a yawn. The “greatness” of this work escapes me. I feel the same way about Toni Morrison. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/39 "2003-05-12T06:15:24Z")
Okay, one or two of these might have been mentioned, but here are my favorites (in no particular order) -_One Hundred Years of Solitude_-Gabriel Garcia Marquez -_Love in the Time of Cholera_-Gabriel Garcia Marquez -_The Satanic Verses_-Salman Rushdie -_The Ground Beneath Her Feet_-Salman Rushdie -_Haroun and the Sea of Stories_-Salman Rushdie (childrens’ book) -_Never Cry Wolf_-Farley Mowat -_The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be_-Farley Mowat (childrens’ book) -_The Book of the Dun Cow_-Walter Wangerin, Jr. -_Watership Down_-Richard Adams -_Rabbit Run_-John Updike -Any of the _Lad of Sunnybank_ stories by Albert Payson Terhune -_Catch-22_-Joseph Heller (funniest book EVER) -_1984_-George Orwell Okay, more than ten. So sue me 😉 Peace, ~mixie ---
**Author:** ![justwannabeme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@justwannabeme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannabeme)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/40 "2003-05-12T06:18:35Z")
I have to thank everyone for giving _me_ some wonderful ideas for reading material. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456.md?page=3)