Please name ten books that you believe everyone should read (please exclude the Bible, Koran, Talmud).?

Question

I'm looking for non-religious materials.

Answer 1

The Count of Monte Cristo
The Canterbury Tales
The Phantom of the Opera
Les Miserables
To Kill A Mocking Bird (even though i hated it)
The Color Purple
a work of Jane Austen
a work of Stephen King
a work of Maya Angelou
a work of William Shakespeare

Answer 2

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
3. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (obviously 7 not 1 book)
4. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
5. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
6. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
8. Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth or Othello or any other work by William Shakespeare
9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

There are SO MANY more that could be put on that list! Except that most people wouldn't respond, I'd say you could easily make it the top 100 books that everyone should read.

Answer 3

I don't know about "everybody should read"; I'm more a lover of individual differences than a proponent of everyone being the same.

However, looking over my reading journal, here are a few favorites I can recommend (excluding the overtly religious except where the approach is critical or satirical rather than proselytizing):

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
Mother Night (Kurt Vonnegut)
Small Gods (Terry Pratchett)
Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling)
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Robert A. Heinlein)
The Princess Bride (William Goldman)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)

and two related plays:
Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard)

There are a couple of good movie versions, particularly of "Mother Night" and "The Princess Bride," but I recommend reading the books. There's a lot more in them than can be put on the screen.

Answer 4

Well 10 of my favorites, I won't think any less of you if you haven't read these "should reads".

Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis (they do contain some religious influence, but they are just really good sci-fi).
I, Robot - Asimov, nothing like the movie.
The Hobbit, Tolkien- better than any single book of LOTR.
The Wizard of Oz by Baum - better than movie, a few more scenes.
The Idiot by Dostoevsky - at least give it a try but this one definitly is not appealing to everyone.
Dune by Herbert - tons of sequels also available, didn't really get into them though.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - good sci-fi type.
10th book - I don't know, just go into the authors under R and grab one with a good title.