What books would you say someone has to read to be considered well read?

Question

I'm just looking for ideas of books to read and I'm curious about other people's must reads, whether it's considered classical literature or modern fiction.

Answer 1

My best answer: http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtother.html#great - look especially at the Harvard Classics list. All the books that I should have read and mostly never did.

I hope this helps.

Jim, http://www.life-after-harry-potter.com

Answer 2

Haha, funny thing is, my mom said I really should read the books by Mitch Albom, but I haven't yet. That's why this question caught my eye. Like Tuesday's With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. The classics are a really good idea, but you've got to find your thing or they'll just bore you. The Great Gatsby is very famous. I enjoyed The Diary of Anne Frank. Make sure it's stuff you enjoy reading, too, otherwise it's pointless. My dad says War and Peace is a really famous book that really makes it look like you're well read (and you wouldn't just SEEM to be well read; you WOULD be. If you just look at it in the bookstore, you'll see what I mean; it's HUGE. But you can tell from the title that not everyone would enjoy it).
Good question; I'll check out the other answers myself, too.

Happy reading.

♥ Peace

Answer 3

Well, I've never thought about whether or not I'd consider someone "well read," but the books that have been really important to me are:

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (John Gray)
Children are from Heaven (John Gray)
The Road Less Travelled (M. Scott Peck)
The Billings Method of Fertility Control (by Ms. Billings)
all of Anne McCaffrey's books (sci-fi fantasy)
all of Georgette Heyer's books (regency romance)
The Bible
The Book of Mormon
Truth Restored (Gordon B Hinkley)
The Miracle of Forgiveness (Spencer W. Kimball)
Food Pharmacy (Jean Carper)
Food Your Miracle Medicine (Jean Carper)
Your Auras and Your Chakras (Karla McLaren)
The New Healing Herbs (Michael Castle)
When Technology Fails (Matthew Stein) [self-reliance]

I haven't read them yet, but I think these would be essential to a well-rounded understanding:

The Vedas (esp Bhagavad Gita)
The Quran (and other Islamic writings)
+ Buddhist texts

Still learning!

Answer 4

The Hobbit and LOTR series by J.R.R. Tolkien
Xenogenesis Series by Nebula and Hugo award winning author Octavia E. Butler
The Sprawl trilogy by William Gibson
Everthing, long and short, written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Stephen King's The Stand
The Beast Within by Edward Levy
Vison Qwest by Terry Davis
Enders Game series by Orson Scott Card
Ferenheight 451
Bram Stokers Darcula
Frankenstien by Mary Shelly
A Brief History of Everthing by Ken Wilbur
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stepehn Hawking

Answer 5

I like to read things from a variety of countries so that I can feel like I know something about the way other people live:

The Wild Sheep Chase (Japan)
Cry the Beloved Country (South Africa)
God's Little Acre (US)
Love in the time of Cholera (Colombia)
Midnight's Children (India)
Anna Karenina (just because it's my favorite)
Atonement (UK)
Kite Runner (Afghanistan)
Waiting (China)

of course, most "must read" lists are very US/UK centered, and if this is where you live, people here might considered "well read" to mean "a person who has read the western canon". I'm well-read because I love to read and will try most things that people suggest.

Answer 6

The Harvard Classics, also known as "The Five Foot Shelf of Books", which contain the best of the best for the past couple thousand years; philosophers, historians, poets, playwrights, travelers.......
Some of the scientific books are outdated, since this collection was put together more than a hundred years ago.
I have managed to get through about two-thirds of them.

Answer 7

Catcher in the Rye
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
The Bible
Chronicles of Narnia
Harry Potter
Pride and Prejudice
Fahrenheit 451
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
A seperate Peace
To Kill a Mockingbird
Dracula

...to be well read, that is.

Answer 8

The Catcher in the Rye
Jane Eyre
To Kill A Mocking Bird
Hamlet
Wuthering Heights (not a need to read book, but my favourite so it made the list)
Anthem
Dracula
Ferenheight 451

GREAT books READ ALL OF THEM

Answer 9

Every real reader has his/her own top-list. Sometimes a minor work by an unknown writer may be more important for you than a masterpiece by the most famous writer. For me, for example Bradbury is more significant than Goethe! And I could go on...

Answer 10

It is important to read the titles, also.
Only one of you spelled Fahrenheit correctly.
I never heard of books entitled Frankenstien or Darcula, but I did read FrankenstEIn by Mary ShellEy.