Serious Thoughts: 50 Books you Should Read Before you Die
So, the other day I was on Facebook, you know, like your typical college student with three billion pages to read a night, and I found one of those list challenge where you go through a list of things and mark all the things on the list you've done. Anyway, I found one that was called '50 Books to Read Before You Die'. Anyway, I read a lot, so I thought it I would try it, but out of 50, I'd only read 19, and, while most of the books on the list are famous and well known and note-worthy, I don't think my life would be significantly different if I hadn't read Frankenstein. Which, by the way, was like the dullest book I've ever read.
I don't really like this whole idea of list of "necessary" books. It's hard to create a list of books that everyone should read before they die because, obviously, not everyone likes the same sort of thing. That's not to say that I don't think dark or boring books can be valuable. For example, Heart of Darkness was one of densest, darkest, most interesting books I ever read, but I probably wouldn't read it again. Like, that's not the sort of book you want to read when you're having a bad day.
I mean, if you only read 50 books in your life, they should be books that you enjoy and that stick with you in positive, meaningful sort of way. Like, sometimes, I get cravings for certain books, like 'hm, it's been two months since I've read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I should probably remedy that situation'. And, when that happens, I end up re-reading the entire Harry Potter series and doing homework NEVER.
So, instead of making a list of books that you should read before you die, I'm going to go all English major on you and make a list of 50 of my favorite books.
I don't really like this whole idea of list of "necessary" books. It's hard to create a list of books that everyone should read before they die because, obviously, not everyone likes the same sort of thing. That's not to say that I don't think dark or boring books can be valuable. For example, Heart of Darkness was one of densest, darkest, most interesting books I ever read, but I probably wouldn't read it again. Like, that's not the sort of book you want to read when you're having a bad day.
I mean, if you only read 50 books in your life, they should be books that you enjoy and that stick with you in positive, meaningful sort of way. Like, sometimes, I get cravings for certain books, like 'hm, it's been two months since I've read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I should probably remedy that situation'. And, when that happens, I end up re-reading the entire Harry Potter series and doing homework NEVER.
So, instead of making a list of books that you should read before you die, I'm going to go all English major on you and make a list of 50 of my favorite books.
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
- The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
- The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling
- Beowulf
- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
- The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
- Ivanhoe by Sir. Walter Scott
- Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson
- Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman
- East Wind: West Wind by Pearl S. Buck
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
- "Song of Songs"
- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Elliot
- The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
- The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
- Richard III by William Shakespeare
- King John by William Shakespeare
- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- The Oresteia by Euripides
- Lysistrata by Aristophanes
- The Scarlett Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne
- The House of the Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
- Electra by Euripides
- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
- Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
- Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz
- "A Madman's Diary" by Lu Xun
- "TV People" by Haruki Murakami
- The Children of Odin by Padraic Colum
- Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Many Waters by Madeline L'Engle
- An Acceptable Time by Madeline L'Engle
- Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck
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