Of the "classics" which 5-10 books do you recommend every person read?

Question

I love reading and am noticing I really haven't read any the the great American (or otherwise) classics. I'm motivated by this thought and am wondering which ones to start with. Please help me out and give me your top 5-10 books and or authors. Though I'm looking for classics if you have something else in mind please share and your reason why. Thanks so much for your help.

Answer 1

Books that affected me deeply and continue to haunt me, despite the fact that I was assigned to read them in school/college:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
3. The Trial by Franz Kafka
4. 1984 by George Orwell
5. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
6. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Books that had a significant impact on me and my understanding of literature (especially the origins of western literature), but only when placed in context by a teacher or professor:
7. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
8. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
9. The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner

Classics I picked to read myself and was surprised by how much I enjoyed them and how much they stay with me:
10. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
11. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
12. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Kids and Young Adult books that I loved and still love that go much deeper than your average story:
13. Watership Down by Richard Adams
14. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
15. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume
16. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
17. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
18. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
19. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
20. Pardon Me, You're Stepping On My Eyeball by Paul Zindel

Answer 2

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (the whole series, which is cheating because i'm only using one space, lol) 2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden 4. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 5. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli 6. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 7. Atonement by Ian McEwan 8. The Well-Dressed Ape by Hannah Holmes 9. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer... and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 10. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank I love how the person who says these are all the opinions of a 14-year-old can't even spell "mockingbird" :) Don't be so condescending. You were 14 once.

Answer 3

1. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

2. Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

4. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

5. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

6. Alice in Wonderland by Caroll Lewis

7. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

8. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

9. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

These classics are like a story of their past, during the author period of time. How women are being treated "inequal" with men. How life differs between a low class and a high class families. How vast the imagination of a child at that time. So much to learn in their greatest classic works.

Answer 4

"Classics" is a pretty subjective term, but I'll assume you're referring to English Lit. and novels in particular (which still remains subjective). I'd start off with some of the earlier British novels and work up to some of the more difficult periods like modernism.
1. "Jane Eyre" Charlotte Bronte
2. "Tom Jones" Henry Fielding
3. "Nothanger Abbey" Jane Austen
4. "Oliver Twist" Charles Dickens
5. "The House of the Seven Gables" Nathaniel Hawthorne
6. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" Mark Twain
7. "The Sun Also Rises" Ernest Hemingway
8. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" James Joyce
9. "The Sound and the Fury" William Faulkner (8 and 9 are pretty difficult, but very much worth reading)
10. "Heart of Darkness" Joseph Conrad

Answer 5

The Velveteen Rabbit, Moby Dick, Plato's Republic, The Complete William Blake, The King James Version of the Bible, Dante's Inferno, The Five Rings, The Art of War, The Hobbit, The Screwtape Letters-- This is the real Short list , there are at least 200 books every student should read before they are 25 years old.

Answer 6

I'd recommend all books by Jane Austen.
The Great Gatsby - Scott Fitzgerald
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

Answer 7

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
To Kill a Mockingbird
In HIs Steps
Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Christy by Catherine Marshall
The Hobbit by Tolkien
Girl of the Limberlost by Porter
Ferenheit 451
Anne of Green Gables
Pollyanna

Some books that aren't considered classics, but I think should be:
Because of Wynn Dixie by Kate DeCamillio
The Acorn People by Ron Jones
The Blue Bottle Club by Stokes
The Joy Luck Club by Tan
A Room Of My Own by Tatlock
No Promises in the Wind by Hunt
Joshua by Joseph Girzone

Answer 8

Absolutely check out Jack London's books, particularly Call of the Wild and White Fang.
The Great Gatsby
A Raisin in the Sun
Their Eyes were Watching God
The Divine Comedy
Blue Highways

A couple of these are relatively contemporary, but can be considered classics, or were by my English teachers way back when anyway. All of them in one way or another made quite an impact on me when I read them, particularly The Great Gatsby and Blue Highways.

Answer 9

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
6. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
7. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
8. The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
9. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
10. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

I know that the last two aren’t as old as the others but they are two of my favourites and just too brilliant to pass up.

Answer 10

- Pride and prejudice - Jane Austen
- To kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee
- What Maisy knew - Henry James
- Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
- The great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
- Great expectations - Charles Dickens

and maybe you want to look here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/vote/
Look at the top 100 too. I know you will find some great classics to read in that list.