What books should a person read in their life time? I am thinking of creatng library room, so what is a MUST?

Question

My son and his wife have moved out of our home, into their own seperate love nest.

Now I have unused rooms. Should I make one into a library?

Besides the Bible and the Dictionary, what are the MUST HAVE books that we should read?

I already have a jam packed bookshelf in the sun room, which we keep donating books to the church to make room for books like Joel Ostene's "7 Things" that I got as a Christmas gift.

But for any one, not just me, what books should a person read in their life time?

Where shall I begin adding books to read?

Is a good set of encyclopedia still relevant, in this age of internet versions?

I just glanced at the cover of Rev Ostene's book... the real title is "Become a Better You".

This sub-title is "7 keys to Improvement".

I picked up on the 7 things, because I have given away books of 7 things of this or that, as gifts in the past.

Why are improvement books always aiming for 7 things?

Why are they all "12 step programs", whether A.A. or drugs, etc.???

Why does the head office is Souix City Iowa always have a top ten list?

Maybe I should ask for 7 books, or 10, or 12 ???

But I will leave it wide open, for you, in case you have the time to expound, or need to do a Readers' Digest version of starting a good library.

Answer 1

A Greek New Testament and Hebrew Old Testament, Greek or Hebrew lexicons, C.S. Lewis books, "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan, and my book "America's Christian Heritage" whenever it comes out.

Answer 2

1.) Worst book ever read? Traditionally published book? Twilight. However, I've read excepts from some astonishingly bad self-published books advertised here. 2.) Best Book? Lord of the Rings. 3.) Book that left the biggest imprint on your life? I don't think I could name a single one, though _books_ have left a huge imprint on my life. 4.) Book that inspired you to write (if you do) That would be a kid's TV show, not a book - I've been a fanfic writer for 30 years. However, Twilight inspired me to write down the idea for an original novel which has been bubbling around my brain for a couple of decades - if that can get published, maybe I can too. 5.) First book you read from each genre? Not the faintest idea. 25 years ago. 6.) Most recently read book? Josephine Tey - "The Man In The Queue" 7.) Book you keep telling yourself you will read but never get to? Pride and Prejudice. Tried it several times, never got through it. (Though I enjoyed Mansfield Park and Emma). 8.) Hardest book to read? Camus - "La Peste". Set text for my A level French. I never did finish it, not in French or English. 9.) Worst story you've ever written? There's some pretty bad self-insert Mary Sue fanfic under my bed, but I was only 14... 10.) What was the most popular book when you were in grade school? There wasn't one - reading was _seriously_ not done when I was that old, I would never even have considered taking a book to school and only read at home. I predate Harry Potter by a fair bit :)

Answer 3

Every good library should have the classics:
Little Women
Wuthering Heights
The Tell-Tale Heart
Oliver Twist
A Tale of Two Cities
1984
Huckleberry Finn
The War of the Worlds
Treasure Island
Gulliver's Travels
The Chronicles of Narnia

Etc

Also the Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
Strong's Complete Concordance
The Writings of Josepheus

Answer 4

I wish to create a library one day as well!

Regarding the Encyclopedia, i've always wanted a set. They are a bit outdated because you can get all of the same information online for free, but there's something nice about the large set of books.

As for "must haves," I say the classics. Start with Shakespeare (you can get a very nice complete works from Barnes & Noble for around $20) and go from there. Twain, Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Poe, Hawthorne, Bronte (both), Irving, Austin...they're all amazing. Again, most classics can be bought pretty cheap.

Just make sure that they're books that you'll one day want to read. It's nice to have a giant complete library, but if you never read any of the books...it's a slight waste.

If classics aren't your thing, maybe go towards your genre. For instance, it looks like you're into inspirational writings...find books that fit your taste and work from there. (4 Agreements, Five People You Meet In Heaven, etc.)

Good luck!

Answer 5

Love in the Time of Cholera
I, Claudius
Age of Reason
The Bell Jar
Catch-22
Flowers for Algernon
Lordof the Flies
Le Mort d'Arthur
Of Mice and Men
Red Badge of Courage
To Kill a Mockingbird
Treasure Island
War and Peace
Brothers Karamazov
Atlas Shrugged
The Art of war
My Antonia
The Time machine
Madame Bovary
Plato's The Republic
Silent Spring
A Breif History of Time

Answer 6

Personal libraries are not built by going out and buying all the books someone else thinks are what should be on the shelf. We buy a book. We read it. If we like what we read and believe we'll check back into it, it goes on the shelf. If we don't like it or we don't feel we'll get back into it in the future, it goes to the library (public) or any charity you deem worthy.

There are few things more obvious than a library filled with books that don't get used and it becomes just one of the many masks we wear.

There are no "musts" for "your" bookshelves. What you like, what you use and use again, those belong on your shelves.

Just my tuppence, man.

J.

http://www.jrichardjacobs.net

"The speed of the brain is inversely proportional to the speed of the mouth squared."

Answer 7

1. Anything Douglas Adams.
2. Kurt Vonnegut
3. PG Wodehouse
4. Volumes of poetry
5. Edith Wharton
6. Terry Pratchett
7. Tom Robbins
8. Christopher Moore
9. Stephen Hawking
10. "Lady Chatterly's Lover"--but first, learn the history surrounding it.
11. Hunter S. Thompson
12. Jack Kerouac
13. Thomas Pynchon

And of course, whatever classics you can lay your hands on.

Answer 8

Of course the classics, but everyone has already told you that point. I am big on owning bios and memiors as well. And some history books and a few other non fiction things mix well with most books. And there are modern classics as well, not just things like Shakespeare and the like.

I suggest:
Jane Austen
Shakespeare
Hemingway
Fitzgerald
Salinger
Bradbury
Orwell
Vonnegut
Amy Tan
Toni Morrison
Stoker
Mary Shelley

Answer 9

Titles only:
The Art of War
Les Miserables
Beyond Good and Evil
A Tale of Two Cities
The Little Prince
The Prince
The Stranger
The Lord of the Rings (trilogy)
Beowulf
The Way Things Work
A Brief History of Time

Edit...

My Shakespeare Favs....Macbeth, Hamlet, Henry V
Poets... get all sorts. Rumi, Shel Silverstein, whatever...
MYTHOLOGY. Greek, Norse, Hindu...

Another Edit...

Get the holy books of various faiths. It'd be interesting to explore.

Answer 10

I think my favorite book, "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry is a must in any library. Even if you don't like the Old West setting, you'll still fall in love with all of the characters. I also think that all of John Grisham's books are worth putting into a personal library.