# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**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, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/41 "2003-05-12T06:18:43Z")
Curses. _Rabbit, Run[_. That is all. Oh, damn. And anything by Pam Houston. Especially _Waltzing the Cat_. And _Interpreter of Maladies_ by Jhumpa Lahiri. And _A Thousand Acres_ by Jane Smiley. Okay, now I’m really done. I think. ~mixie ---
**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, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/42 "2003-05-12T06:22:17Z")
Please disregard the extraneous bracket, also seen as the _typo_ in my effing _correction._ ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Lolita\_Robinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Mrs.Lolita\_Robinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Lolita_Robinson)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/43 "2003-05-12T06:34:06Z")
The Harry Potter books A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman History of Sex by Reay Tannahill History of Food by Reay Tanahill (I will spell her name different ways here so I have a chance of getting it right.) The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Lolita by Vladamir Nabakov Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff The Collected Works of Mark Twain ( I favor Pudinhead) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck I just took two Tylenol PMs as I have strep throat and can’t sleep. I am feeling very woozy. I am sure I will look at this list tomorrow and want to change it a hundred different times. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/44 "2003-05-12T06:40:59Z")
I never thought to include children’s books, unless _Huckleberry Finn_ counts. I would then include _The Black Stallion_ or any of the other wonderful horse tales by Walter Farley. My favorite teacher of all time read several of them to us in class over a whole school year, and then I read them all myself. Mrs. Henricks (whom I dearly loved) got me interested in reading, for which I am grateful to her. ---
**Author:** ![Shana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Shana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shana)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/45 "2003-05-12T06:51:42Z")
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austin The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Dune (read the whole series) - Frank Herbert The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee A Room with a View - EM Forster Siddhartha - by Hermann Hesse Shakespeare (I adore Will) Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen In Cold Blood - Truman Capote Tennessee Williams (all works) EB White (all works) Louisa May Alcott - Little Women Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Complete Sherlock Holmes Ooops…I couldn’t possibly be expected to keep to ten…lol. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/46 "2003-05-12T06:58:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by QueerGeekGirl \* > \*\*That’s pretty offensive, dude. I purposely listed books that _I_ found to be of great importance to _me_. Nowhere did I claim they were astounding works which the like we’ve never seen before. I listed things that truly made me think and reexamine my own life and thoughts. > > I’m not trying to bust your balls, man. I’m just saying…don’t knock what’s important to other people simply because you may not agree. > > 🙂 \*\* The thread is about 10 books ALL people should peruse, not just books that were solely important to you… _dude_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/47 "2003-05-12T12:25:15Z")
> [@](#): > > The thread is about 10 books ALL people should peruse, not just books that were solely important to you… dude. Oh, I’m so sorry. God forbid I didn’t pull out my big book of _Books You’ll Never Give a Damn About and Probably Won’t Mean a Rat’s Ass to You_. I bow before your literary elitism. :rolleyes: ---
**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, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/48 "2003-05-12T12:30:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mockingbird \* > \*\*The thread is about 10 books ALL people should peruse, not just books that were solely important to you… _dude_. > \*\* I refute the concept that there is such a thing as a book that _all people_ should read. What you’re talking about is that hoary old myth - The Literary Canon…which has traditionally been a list of books by dead white guys. Reading, and the value that comes from it, are highly subjective. Race, Religion, Class, Gender, Affectional Preference, etc, etc, etc, all impact how a particular book will be interpretted and therefore the value to be gained from it. We can’t definitively say “These are the best books”, the best we can ever do in recommend books that have touched our hearts and minds. In the process of doing that, some books will be nominated enough times (as we’ve seen here with _To Kill A Mockingbird_ and _Ender’s Game_) to a achieve a special “short list” status. I also feel that trying to draw a line between Literature (note the capital L) and popular fiction is a meaningless exercise in elitism. It, in effect, says that anything approved of and enjoyed by the masses cannot be Art. I’ve never been comfortable with that kind of classist elitism. Is there a difference between, say, your average bodice-ripper and Shakespeare? Oh hell yes. But that doesn’t mean that a book that just happens to be a bodice ripper can’t also have that undefinable spark that engages the mind and heart of the reader in the same way as Merry Wives of Windsor (which was pretty baudy stuff and greatly appreciated by an audience that hadn’t been trained yet that it wasn’t appropriate to yell the 16th century equivilent of HUBBA HUBBA at the “actresses”). I stand by my earlier endorsement of Stephan King’s _Four Seasons_. Just because you’re likely to find it in an airport bookstore does not mean that it is not well crafted, nor that it has nothing profound to say about the human condition. ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/49 "2003-05-12T13:05:23Z")
Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury 1984 - George Orwell The Last Hurrah - Edwin O’Connor Zorba The Greek - Nikos Kazantzakis The Bridge on The Drina - Ivo Andric Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck Lord of the Flies - William Golding The Prince - Machiavelli Schindler’s List - Thomas Keneally ---
**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, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/50 "2003-05-12T14:18:55Z")
Stephen Jay Gould (rip!) belongs here, too, next to Carl Sagan & Stephen Hawking. Any of his books would be a great choice. I also think it’s time to dispense w/this “no religion” thing - gimme a break, everything that’s really meaningful includes a God quotient in there somewhere. Besides I see Siddhartha slipping thru. The Bible is a no-brainer, how could that not be on the short list? Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu Illusions - Richard Bach The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff (and I’d also like to second about half of the books already listed here, and thank people for the other half which I now need to go read!) (except for Moby Dick, that’s sadistic) ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/51 "2003-05-12T15:18:19Z")
Some amazing books have already been mentioned, but I’m just going to repeat the ones with which I agree. In no particular order: 1. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley 2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 3. The Little Prince by St. Exupery 4. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Persig 5. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 6. Master and Margarita by Bulgakov 7. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway 8. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse 9. Twelfth Night by Shakespeare 10. A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/52 "2003-05-12T15:29:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lizard \* > **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.** I know it’s ‘your’ OP, but if you dismiss writers and books because you _think_ they might merely be entertainment, how would you know if they contain ‘something profound’ about humanity? Stephen King, while entertaining most of the times, has certainly explored some darker sides of what it’s like to be human. I would even say that I’d rather read him for a look at evil, than plow through Dante’s Devine Comedy. King won’t be on my list, mainly because I think one pick up bits and pieces from reading a lot of his books. And you asked for ten books, so I won’t say “everything by X.Y.” but limit myself to writing that I indeed think are a must: The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie The Perfume - Patrik Süsskind American Tabloid - James Ellroy The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer Underworld - Don De Lillo Cider House Rules - John Irving Something Happened - Joseph Heller The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler Brighton Rock - Graham Greene A Perfect Spy - John Le Carré I didn’t bring up any books that were suggested earlier in the thread, since they have nominations allready. I omitted books to get one from each author. I wanted more of each and every one of them. I’ve read them all, they’re in the bookshelf. It’s all great literature, while at the same time highly entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/53 "2003-05-12T15:41:01Z")
I realize that this is increcibly subjective, and I appreciate that some folks have at least attempted to justify their choices, but someone is going to have to explain why The Fellowship of the Ring keeps showing up. Of all the books ever written, I find it difficult to swallow that Tolkein is someone EVERYONE should read. ---
**Author:** ![Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clint_in_Wichita)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/54 "2003-05-12T16:51:01Z")
I think **Cosmos** by **Carl Sagan** should be required reading for all high school students. Probably my favorite book. The DVD collection of the PBS TV series is also very good. ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/55 "2003-05-12T18:25:28Z")
I am going to stick with fiction so… _The Mansion_ William Faulkner _The Fountainhead_ Ayn Rand _Prometheus Bound_ Aeschylus _The Odyssey_ Homer _Stranger in a Strange Land_ Robert Heinlein _Crime and Punishment_ Dostoyevky _Don Quixote_ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra _Lolita_ Vladimir Nabakov OK, so I am stopping at eight, but only because choosing is becoming so difficult!! ---
**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, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/56 "2003-05-12T18:48:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by plnnr \* > \*\*I realize that this is increcibly subjective, and I appreciate that some folks have at least attempted to justify their choices, but someone is going to have to explain why The Fellowship of the Ring keeps showing up. Of all the books ever written, I find it difficult to swallow that Tolkein is someone EVERYONE should read. \*\* Because this is the SDMB? 😛 It’s obvious to anyone who hangs out here that we’re pretty heavy on people into gaming, fantasy, paganism, etc. Especially so in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/57 "2003-05-12T18:49:36Z")
Ah, the ever present geek factor. ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456/58 "2003-05-12T19:02:38Z")
Well, Tolkien’s books are the only ones that reference the dozen (dozens of?) languages that he invented. So from a linguistic standpoint, it could make a top 10 list. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-10-books-should-all-people-peruse/174456.md?page=2)