SoulPancake

@JustindeLeon

http://www.myss.com/CMED/media/
there is a download of John O'Donohue on this website you may like...I did

http://sandralynnthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/soul-pancake-challenge-12.html

The Bible by God's ghost writers: I believe that atheists and Christians alike should read this book. Obvious reasons for the Christian but for the atheist it will help them gain a better understanding of the belief system Christians adhere to. There's nothing better that going right to the source to get information. Plus the moral code you might learn is an added bonus.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut: Witty and philosophical. This anti-war science fiction will have you rethinking what it all means.

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin: Not an autobiography of his life but rather of his stand up career. Quite funny.

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler: The historical value of this book is a good enough reason to read it. However, this book should be read to gain a clear understanding of how hate can spread and to better understand the Holocaust. (Please note I suggest this only for it's historical value, NOT for it's message of hate)

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss: What's not to like about this classic? It teaches children to love new foods! (It may also carry with it a message about discrimination)

Everyone is a lot of people! But I'm going for it. Drawing from what I have read so far in this lifetime, I would recommend that Everyone read:

1. The Bhagavad Gita translated by Juan Mascaro, because the Upanishads are the milk from the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita is the butter made from that milk, or something like that. And Juan Mascaro is a wonderful translator.

2. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, because it is about love and contains some clues to American goodness. (Every place has something special to offer, right?)

3. Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris, because it is possible for everyone to enjoy astronomy and physics this way.

4. And Grandma Said... Iroquois Teachings as passed down through the oral tradition by Tom Porter (Sakokwenionkwas) because Native American wisdom could probably come in handy right about now. And this is a great read.

5. The Tao Te Ching, a pocket size edition so you can carry it with you and refer to it as you move through your day to bring you to a peaceful and centered restfulness. Jonathan Star did a wonderful translation.

1. Harry Potter (All 7 of 'em! - bet you can't read just one!) by J.K. Rowling
2. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (or ANY of her other books!)
3. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5. Sidney and Norman: A Tale of Two Pigs by Phil Vischer

*honorable mentions:
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

1. Anna Karenina, Tolstoy - Tolstoy captures the events of everyday life that I could never put into words
2. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggars - Beautiful and unique autobiographical story, full of life
3. Culture Jam, Lasn - A great book on the massive media and the way they have infiltrated our lives, completely changed the way I consumed goods and my view on the world
4. A Movable Feast, Hemingway - An autobiographical work of Hemingway's time in Paris
5. Anything by the poet Rumi

@coconutlove hm i read a farewell to arms by hemingway and i didn't really like it. it wasn't that interesting to me. I understand it was moving in some parts, but it just ended soo abruptly. maybe it just wasn't the book for me.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee. Contrary to what I first thought, it is not a how-to book. It's so easy to read and has a great message. I want my future husband to be like Atticus

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince- J.K Rowling Once again, really easy to read and it's all about friendship, which I love.

3. The World According to Clarkson- Jeremy Clarkson. It's the funniest thing I've read. Who doesn't love grumpy, old Englishmen talking about what annoys them?

4. P.S I love You- Cecelia Ahern. It's so sad, so happy and so brilliant

5. The Bible. Because it's amazing, inspiring, truthful, helpful and so many other things

The Giver ( for reasons already stated)

the whale rider ( just an all around amazing story.. i know people say this all the time but much much better than the movie)

catcher in the rye (for resoasons that everyone has said)

the alchemist ( i am AMAZED that nobody has mentioned this one yet. seriously flabbergasted. this book taught me so much about purpose)

There are to many amazing and life changing books out there, so I am just going to have to list five books that I love. I am sixteen and have discovered that the best way to discover the world is through reading.

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns ~ Khaled Hosseini
2. Joshua ~ Joseph F. Girzone
3. The Long Walk ~ Slavomir Rawicz
4. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ~ Dee Brown
5. Centennial ~ James A. Michener

@CallmeHeath I love the Tao of Pooh! I read that first when i was nine.

i cant believe no one has said WUTHERING HEIGHTS! heathclifffffff! of course i must mention a farewell to arms by hemingway. hamlet- shakespeare. if only to delve into the mind of the mad. jane eyre- charlotte bronte. 1984 by george orwell.

1. The Little Prince by Antione de Saint Exupery
2. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
3. Animal Farm by George Orwell
4. The Moomintroll Books by Tove Janson
5. Persepolis by Marjane Precht

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee -- If only to experience the wonderful Atticus Finch, and understand any references to Boo Radley in pop culture.

2. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller -- Non-religious thoughts on christianity. Recommended for anyone who has lost faith in God or perhaps never had any. This book took me from being completely against Christianity to understanding it's true intentions and becoming a Christian myself.

3. The Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne -- Much like Shane, I was in search of a true Christian. I found one.

4. The Shack by WM. Paul Young -- Utterly amazing.

5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley -- The original 1984. With a better ending.

1. The Count of Monte Cristo - yes it's long, trust me though. It taught me, more than anything else, that you must experience pain before you can understand joy.

2. East of Eden - John Steinbeck understands humans really well. Also - you kinda want to farm after reading almost anything he writes, not because it's glamorous, but because I want to understand and respect the earth more after I read him.

3. Farenheit 451 - my favorite of the "don't trust the man" books.

4. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas - Tom Robbins has interesting shit to say in all his books.

5. Black Skin, White Mask - Our problems are so much worse than I realize because I live now, and I live here.

1. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein. Amazing sci-fi twist on the development of language, relationships, and religion.

2. Hotel World - Ali Smith. This book takes stream of consciousness to the nth degree. Smith examines the end of a life with the lives that survive.

3. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume. A great coming-of-age for girls.

4. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes. Everyone needs a good tear-jerker.

5. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams. Funny and sc-fi. Don't forget your towel and DON'T PANIC.

1) John Steinbeck: East of Eden - I haven't read too much Steinbeck, just the requisite Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, along with this one. This was by far my favorite. The core idea is that humans are not ordered or promised to be either good or evil, they choose to be one or the other. The various characters demonstrate this idea for better or for worse in an intricate and enthralling plot.

2) Henry David Thoreau: Walden - Simplicity, self reliance, and nature are extolled in this social criticism influenced by Emerson's transcendentalism. Beautiful writing and ideas that are too often forgotten.

3) F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby - Shows the darker side of the lives of the rich and famous in the roaring twenties. This was one of the first "classics" I ever read and it remains one of my favorites. The character of Gatsby is always captivating.

4) George Orwell: 1984 - Everyone should read this if only to understand all the references to it that permeate our society (many people don't know what's meant by "Orwellian" or the actual meaning of "Big Brother" outside of reality TV). It's also a warning against certain elements of government that still, unfortunately, rings true today.

5) Jane Austen: Emma - My personal favorite Austen novel is Persuasion, but if you're only going to read one, it should be this one. It's definitely her best written - there are scenes layered with double or even triple meanings that only become clear after all is revealed at the end. Reading it a second time makes you appreciate even more the cleverness Austen had in writing those intricate scenes.

1.) Little Women...ive read this book like 5 times...and two of those times were in a row...greaaat story about 4 girls growing up with a single parent because their father is away at war..definately one of my fave books =]

2.) The Tempest...one of Shakespeare's best plays..well, in my opinion haha..its a comedy instead of a tragedy which makes it interesting to read..ive read it twice and will probably be reading it for a third time soooon

3.) Lovely Bones...great book because it starts off with a major event thats important for the rest of the book....suchhh a good book everyone should go read it!!!

4.) The Five People You Meet in Heaven...greaaat book and i think everyone should read it immediately!!!the five people he meets on his way to heaven explains his entire life and makes sense in the oddest ways...great author..the reading is easy but it really makes a point

5.) For One More Day...makes you look back in your life and definately realize the things you could have lived without...makes you appreciate things that you have instead of not letting go of things you want

@caiter PG Wodehouse is delightful!

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien because it opens up an amazing world, a reality that is completely different from ours. The Hobbit is a doorway into the land of Faery.

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien because with this series, we meet a classically educated mind. Tolkien opened doors for me and my kids, into English history, Gothic culture (NOT "goth" culture) and Middle English literature, Celtic stuff, Gaelic stuff, fairy tales, paranormal research, ...LOTR is definitely a launch pad for us.

Silverlock by John Myers Myers because the Commonwealth (where it is set) is full of characters and plots from classic literature. You meet Don Quixote, Robin Hood, Yahoos, Job, Beowulf, The Last Mohican, figures from Greek mythology, Sam Houston, Daniel Boone, David Crockett, and many, MANY more. Figuring the stories out where each character came from is such a fun brain exercise! And who knows? The reader of Silverlock may fall in love with books, and our society become literate once again!

How-to manual for changing your car's tires. Because everyone should know how to do that.

and...

A book of poetry from poets of all times and places. Because poetry beautifies the soul.

@Shieldmaiden96 are you my sister? LOL she loves "Owen Meany" It is her favorite book. Her copy is completely dog-eared and missing a cover. She lent it to me to read, and I could not put it down! good choice!

@voldemortisdead ugh, crank? terrible.

1- The Bible: duh
2- The Outsiders: classic, very good
3- 90 Minutes in Heaven: about a man who was resurrected and this is his experience in Heaven
4- Rescuing Sprite: a rescued dog. so good, 1st book i cried @
5- Anne of Green Gables: another classic

1. Poisonwood Bible
2. Harry Potter
3. Any book by Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Glass, Impulse, Identical, etc)
4. Night by Elie Weisel (I'm not sure if I spelled his name right.)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird

I'm pretty sure I could think of other better ones, but those ones are good nonetheless. I'm really glad nobody has mentioned Twilight - as much as I like the book, it's not a must read.

@Shieldmaiden96 yeah, that's a great one!

I just have to share my number one:

1. A Prayer for Owen Meany-- John Irving. I've read all of his books. ALL of them. This one is different. I've given away at least four copies.

From the Corner of His Eye - Dean Koontz if you like quantum theory this is a fun book

@OMFGitstacy Three Cups of Tea - by Greg Mortenson

Greg helps build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Awesome book about he goes about doing so....

http://www.threecupsoftea.com/

This is a bit off-topic, but I figured you guys have such fantastic lists so you'd be able to help! I need a really good non-fiction book. I was going to read the book Blink (anyone ever heard of it?) but I can't find it anywhere, so I need to pick a new one ASAP. It's for an English class. Suggestions would be greatly appriciated. =D

- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
- The Tommorrow Series by John Marsden
- The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick
- The Kitab-i-Aqdas

It's a shame that lots of readers delve no deeper into Steinbeck than Of Mice and Men (or, sometimes, Grapes of Wrath). Seriously: The Moon Is Down is just as short as OMaM, and if you ever want a thoughtful book about how an invaded people deal with an invasion (pertinent to current events much?), pick it up. It changed my perspective on the Iraq War when I read it four years ago.

1. Candide
2. All the Sookie Stackhouse novels
3. Inferno
4. Of Mice and Men
5. SonnenAllee (This is a really great book if you are under the impression that people who lived in East Germany did not enjoy their lives or situations. There is a movie with subtitles if you cannot read German.)

1. The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer - Proof that the human race has been the same since the very beginning, and a wonderful insight to a true man of the people.
2. Harry Potter - JK Rowling - Funny, thought-provoking, and with the perfect underlying message of good defeats evil.
3. Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk - Really makes you think. Well-written, honest, funny in a very dark way.
4. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver - Makes you think, and brings out a passion that's hard to find.
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - Always good, and never stops being relevant.

Bonus:
6. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - Short, sweet, and to the point. First book that ever made me cry.
7. Anything by Shel Silverstein - I know he's all over the comments, but I can't choose just one of his books. They're all too good.

In no particular order...

1. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak - a pure classic
2. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein - another pure classic
3. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank - yet another pure classic
4. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling - cisslac erup rehtona
5. A Picture Book by Someone - because everyone has to start somewhere

1) "A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. We all have a purpose. We don't all know why;
2) "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. Because we should all strive to be the tree;
3) "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler. Because sex is fun and because we should all have a sense of humor;
4) The "Harry Potter" series. Because adulthood shouldn't be the death of imagination;
5) "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel; Because we've all been on the boat with Richard Parker.

I AM FLABERGASTED THAT I DID NOT SEE THESE FIVE FROM ANYONE IN THE COMMENTS!!!

1. "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn

The story begins with a newspaper ad: "Teacher seeks pupil, must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person." A nameless character responds to the ad out of nostalgia and upon arriving at the address, finds himself in a room with a gorilla. He notices a sign that says "With man gone will there be hope for gorilla?"

2. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

The book discusses various psychological and spiritual ideas that are rooted in many ancient Eastern Traditions, such as the claim that vegetarianism can help an individual to establish a connection with the Divine. The main character of the novel undertakes a journey to find and understand a series of nine spiritual insights on an ancient manuscript in Peru. The book is a first-person narrative of spiritual awakening. The narrator is in a transitional period of his life, and begins to notice instances of synchronicity, which is the realization that coincidences may have deep meaning.

3. "On the Road" is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences. While many of the names and details of Kerouac's experiences are changed for the novel, hundreds of references in On the Road have real-world counterparts.

4. "Women", by Charles BukowskiIt's about Bukowski. And women. And sex. And you.

5. "The Canterbury Tales" is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a collection of pilgrims on a pilgrimage from London Borough of Southwark to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

Everyone would just be so much happier if they read these books:

Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
The Science of Getting Rich - Wallace Wattles
The Belly Button Book - Sandra Boynton

The Secret
A New Earth Awakening to your Life's Purpose
The Power of Now
Loving What Is
Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life

1. The Traveler's gift ~ Andy Andrews
2. Power of Now ~ Eckhart Tolle
3. Thousand Splendid Suns ~Khaled Hosseini
4. Tao te Ching ~ Lao Tsu
5. Anything by Shel Silverstein

1) The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger: make you snicker
2) The Giving Tree - Silverstein's best
3) The Lorax--Dr Seuss--life among takers
4) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee~Pulitzer Prize in 1960
5) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak~imagination flowing

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Marquez
2. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
3. Extravagaria - Neruda
4. Historias de cronopios y de famas (and English translations must exist) - Julio Cortazar

5. The Moon Is Down - Steinbeck

not necessarily in that order...

1. Kite Runner
2. The five people you meet in heaven
3. Everything roald dahl!!! ( definitely charlie and the chocolate factory..it was one of the best)
4. Memoirs of a Geisha
5. Freakonomics..an interesting look at everything..i think everyone needs to read this!..and no, its not the "boring" kind of econ.

The Bible
Tractatus - Wittgenstein
Paradise Lost - John Milton
Faust - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Don Quijote - Cervantes
(In Search of Lost Time - Proust)

1. Cannery Row - Steinbeck
2. Fear and Trembling - Kierkegaard
3. The Book Thief - Zusak
4. Three Men in a Boat - Jerome
5. Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda

1 The Little Prince
2 Last Temptation of Christ
3 Eat, Pray, Love
4 Range of Motion Elizabeth Berg
5 Joy Diet Martha Beck

The Book of Lost Things

PeterPan

Alice In Wonderland

Memories of a London Doll

Boy Meets Girl

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Chances are, if you went to public high school, you've been required to read this southern coming of age story about a young girl learning about hate, racism, redemption and the glorious dangers of entertaining your own curiosity.
2. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. This beloved children's classic by the renown poet/illustrator will tingle your conscience into thinking about the things you think you want in life and the things that truly matter.
3. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Another southern American classic that everyone who cares at all about a great story should immerse themselves in.
4. A Sickness Unto Death by Soren Kierkegaard. Or really anything by Kierkegaard. The man is phenomenal.
5. The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. An engaging treatise on how and why we love the things we do.

Modern Algebra
Calculus and Analytic Geometry
Physics (Mechanics)
Physics (Electricity and Magnetism)
Chemical Principles

1. The Catcher in the Rye
2. Feed
3. Hot Flat and Crowded
4. A whole New Mind
5.Cat's Cradle

American Gods by Neil Gaman - interesting take on human beliefs

1. 100 Years of Solitude
2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
3. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
4. The Republic
5. The Old Man and the Sea
6. The Giver

1. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway - The first great book I ever read. Lead me to become a teacher.
2. The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff - Makes me feel all peaceful when I'm done. Life just doesn't seem as hard.
3. The Riverside Shakespeare - No one captured the human condition like the Bard. Everyone in the world is in those plays.
4. The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul - Douglas Adams - The second book featuring Dirk Gently, the holistic detective. It is so funny I cried and couldn't breathe.
5. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller - Printed originally as a four-issue series in 1986, I believe these graphic novels (along with The Watchmen, published in the same year) reinvented the comic book as a serious story-telling medium.

1. The Catcher in the Rye by Jd Salinger
2. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
3. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
4. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
5. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

1. Cunt-Inga Muscio (The Womyn's bible)
2.Night-Elie Wiesel
3.Beloved-Toni Morrison
4.The Bluest Eye-Toni Morrison
5.Veronika Decides to Die-Paulo Coelho

im gunna go lazy on this one, but if you;re american you should most definitely read on the road. it embodies a a spirit thats been long dead. maybe not dead, but it's been asleep within people, lying dormant. this book should help wake it back up in anyone that reads it.

I am going to cheat, and list five authors, because (as I generally find) once you like one book by an author, most/all of their books are equally as good.

1. Jules Verne.
Jules was a first-class dude with a first-class beard and a first-class 'stache. Yes, he was French, but he imagined 50% of today's technology, even if some people are all "No, but it was just a telegraph, and not the Internet". They are wrong, I tell you.
If you're just going to read one of his, I'd suggest 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, because it is a fantastic adventure, has the coolest submarine captain ever, and let's face it, submarines!

2. Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket.
Like @oneordinarylife said, his Series of Unfortunate Events it is wonderfully written, an adventure, and full of giggles as a kid. As an adult/older teenager, it is still both of the first two, but there are laughs and really deep moments you can only get as an adult.

3. Neil Gaiman.
Not only do I love the fact that Neil Gaiman has a delightful voice and reads nearly all of his own audiobooks, and not only do I love the books themselves (every single one of them), but he is also a first-class dude, right up there with Daniel Handler and Jules Verne. He reads most emails/tweets directed his way, answers as many of them as he can, and makes up delightful stories while he does it. The Graveyard Book recently won and deserved the Newbery Medal, and his comics, of which I don't know all of them - there are too many - are thoughtful, deep, funny, and often disturbing. My favourite thing about Neil Gaiman is that he thinks very highly of children: his books for them are all similar to his adult books (minus the higher-than-PG-13 bits) in that they are complicated but readable. Children can understand everything he is writing, and he does not dumb anything down, as too many children's authors do.

4. Eoin Colfer.
Why so many children's authors? Well, I will tell you. Children's authors, on average, are funnier than your regular adult author. If a child doesn't have the opportunity to laugh at a book and then promptly be engrossed in an action scene, will they have reason to read? Maybe it is just me, but even as an adult, well-written children's stories still amuse and delight me. Sure, classics are fantastic, but most classics don't have tiny, outspoken, brilliant and kick-butt fairies or eleven-year old geniuses. As a child, reading all of Eoin Colfer's books, and later as a young teenager, having someone smart who I aspired to be helped me get through school and achieve more than I might have if I hadn't wanted to be smart enough to get Foaly to notice my transmissions. Not that I made any...

5. Yann Martel.
Life of Pi is marvelous. The beginning is full of good stuff that folks who frequent this site would be proud of (or would be angry at, and want to quickly write a little '@YannMartel, you're wrong, and here is why' rant). And the middle and end is a magical tale. Yes: he does eventually get onto the boat with the tiger. As soon as you've waded through the rich beginning, the milk chocolatey center makes you look back and realize just how fantastic the whole book is.

1. The Grass Dancer, by Susan Power: The most powerful scene takes place when a Lakota woman dances a traditional dance on the moon during the first moon landing. It's so lyrical and beautiful and strange.

2. The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong-Kingston: My favorite section is the story about No-Name Woman, who has a child out-of-wedlock. The family's reputation and home is destroyed, but that's nothing compared to what happens to the mom and daughter. Such a powerful, chilling part of the book.

3. This I Believe, edited by various peeps: This book collects essays from the NPR program with the same name. You can hear the life stories and philosophies from many people--teachers, stay-at-home moms, actors, philanthropists, activists, artists, and regular folks. It's a treasure-trove of wisdom and insight into other peoples' lives.

4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera: The Dictionary of Words Misunderstood is the best. It always makes me wonder what images people associate with words.

And I can't pick a final one! There are too many to choose from.

Oo, lists of books! I love seeing what everyone lists and getting ideas for my next read.

My list:

1. Everything is illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
2. That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups by C. S. Lewis
3. Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
4. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
5. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

1. The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath): This book explores mental illness before it became popular. It also deals with what roles a woman has in current society. Before I read this novel, I never realized the choices I had that my mother, grandmother never had.

2. The Giver (Lois Lowry): What would our world be like if everything were controlled? If emotions and independence and color were but a faint memory to a choosen few? I had to read this book for my 8th grade reading class and I've been haunted by it every since.

3. Go Tell it on the Mountain (James Baldwin): The black church at its finest/worst. Only two generations removed from slavey, blacks in America had only one thing to hold on to, and that was religion. Baldwin confronts what happens to him when he finally realizes that religion has in a way hurt the progression of blacks.

4. The Gospel According to the Son (Norman Mailer): One of the few Jesus Christ stories that isn't heavily filled with ideology. It's a simple story of a man who's born, lives, dies and tries to get people to love one another.

5. Socrates Cafe (Christopher Phillips): I've read all three of the books he's written, and he puts philosophy in modern terms.

1. The Bible. Not from a religious standpoint (I'm actually a Jew), but from a historical one. From this one volume, 2000 years of history were shaped, so it's worth a look.

2. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Again, another starting point. It's the ultimate romance/tragedy, and has some of the strongest characters in print. Plus, the whole fate/destiny vs. people's decisions is fascinating.

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Amorality at it's finest- is there really a protagonist? An antagonist? Does anyone win?

4. Anything by Dr. Seuss, but preferably The Sneetches and The Lorax. Hugely powerful messages distilled for children, and beautifully done.

5. The Giver by Lois Lowry. Why you should pay attention to the world around you, and never conform for the sake of convenience.

1. 100 years of solitude. i know it's been said before. but really. i read this and read this and when i reached the end for the first time i just about sat on the floor and cried. the skies opened up. the heavens screamed. well... maybe not. but epic. THIS IS EPIC!

2. Autobiography of Malcolm X. this book is such an important and accessible narrative when discussing racism/race-whatever-you-want-to-call-it in america. besides that, it took me on an incredible journey and i think it has the potential to do the same for others.

3. The Captain's Verses (by pablo neruda). oh my. this book convinced me that there were men out there who could love. maybe it wasn't always beautiful or idyllic or enviable. but then again... crafted by a poet like this... whew. i mean... really.

4. P.G. Wodehouse books. Jeeves in the Offing, perhaps, to pick a title at random. these books are light and frothy little cups of humor. as you read, i think it is necessary to employ a certain dialect of british-ability.

5. this one i leave open. because as i read new books, the last recommendation always changes... will it be EN LA LUCHA? will it be PORTALS TO FREEDOM? will it be the one i write and am trying to send flying off the shelves? the world may never know...

I read many of the books that people listed and they would be my choices too, but I wanted to pick five books that I did not already see listed. So, here goes:

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett. English moors, two privileged but neglected kids and one secret garden. Nothing like digging in the dirt to work through your problems.
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. Who really is the monster here? You develop so much empathy for the "monster" and so much antipathy for the "creator."
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson. I will probably never walk the Appallachian Trail but you will feel like you did after reading this hilarious book.
Montana, 1948, Larry Watson. The issues in this book are as relevant today as they were then.
An Old Fashioned Girl, Louisa May Alcott. This may be out of print. The young heroine was ahead of her time and, again, this book is still relevant today--maybe even more so.

1. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
2. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coehlo
3. Savage Inequalities - Jonathan Kozol
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. The Giving Tree- Shel Silverstien

Hello everyone...Im a political scientist and creator and have always looked for meaning in life (just a background so you know more about my book choices). Here are three books that changed my life:

1. The Divine Beauty - by John O'donohue, a book about finding beauty in every day life. Amazing, it took me over a year to read because every page is filled so many kernels and gems. Great for anyone who likes (or is constantly striving to) taking their time with life and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

2. The Life of Gandhi - by Louis Fischer, its an old book but really amazing (@bionic_butterfly you would like this). Touched my life during a time of self exploration and changed it forever.

3. 12 Myths to World Hunger - by Francis Moore Lappe, an inspiring book that takes those notions of hopelessness and throws them out the window. Poverty, hunger, and injustice are broken down in a humane fashion that filled em with home and direction. Read it in college and havent put it down since.

Two other books that are great are:
4. When Elephants Dance - by Tess Uriza Holthe, about a boys coming of age during WWII in the Philippines told in a uniquely imaginative and heart warming manner.
5. A Short History of Nearly Everything - by Bill Bryson, this is a book that explores much of the natural world in a scientific manner yet is simple enough for the lay person. Being inquisitive...when I read this book I had to keep a notepad of all the things that I wanted to learn how to do or learn more!

1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
2. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
4. Buddha Is as Buddha Does by Lama Surya Das
5. The Outsiders by SE Hinton

I don't want to tell you why you should read each of these. Read them and answer that question all on your own.

1. Harry Potter - Read any of them, all of them, just one of them; it won't matter. The life lessons that anyone can relate to are there for everyone to see and learn from (Bad things happen to good people, sometimes things get tough but you can't quit, the people you love can really upset you but that doesn't mean you love them any less, etc.,etc.)

2. The Giver - A very emotional look into a controlled society, free will, and the complexities of human emotions. Quick read for any age to enjoy and understand

3.The Republic - The groundwork of politics. Read it and then form your political opinions.

4. A Child Called It - A truly terrible book in the fact that it is all real.

5. The Fair Tax - Doesn't anyone see how absolutely ridiculous our tax code is?

1. The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch...absolutely beautifully written
2. The French Lieutenants Woman- John Fowles
3. Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov
4. The Shipping News- Annie Proulx
5. alllll Douglas Coupland books but if i had to pick one.. Hey Nostradamus

@MemarieLane I love Terry Practchett, own all the Discworld series plus a few of his others. He's one of those authors I can read over and over and over again.

I have to stop reading other peoples comments now, or I'll be replying all day.

@blueacoustic I loved Sophie's World, it almost made my top five list. It's a terrific crash course in philosophy.

@megfry88 I think I went to the only school that did not require reading The Giver. My husband recommended it to me and I read it for the first time as an adult. I think it's an awesome book and though it was written to be accessible to young adults, I agree it has value for any age.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Cradle to Cradle - William McDonough & Michael Braungart
The Shell Collector - Anthony Doerr
Anything by David Sedaris.
Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy - Simon Blackburn

1. Will's Choice -- Gail Griffith. In sophomore year I read this book. It made me realize that I couldn't fix my depression by hiding it from the people I love. I opened up, got help, and am now more appreciative of life than I have ever been.
2. I have to agree, anything by Shel Silverstien is vital. He reminds you how to be a child. I'm 19, I recently moved, and his books were some of the first things in my new house.
3. Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With the Truth. An eye-opener no matter what your beliefs.
4. Anything by Edgar Allen Poe. Yes, dark and tedious, but insightful.
5.The Outsiders -- S.E. Hinton. Just plain good.

The Giver - it is technically a children's book, but I think adults can learn from it as well. I read it once in sixth grade and can probably tell you more about it than something I read last week.
Napalm and Silly Putty (George Carlin) - we should all stop taking ourselves so seriously, we've giving ourselves enough crap to deal with and laugh at!
Les Miserables - Well written classic that is great to pick up every now and again.
Tangerine - another kids book, but it never felt like one to me. I highly recommend at least one read!
Maus- Another story about the Holocaust, but this one has pictures! Seriously, it is a great story about something that everyone should know about, and it seems more kid friendly (minus the genocide)

Tom Swift, Terror on Moons of Jupiter -- Heroic inspiration
Jump off the Cliff Notes -- Humorous reminder of past experiences
Republic of Plato -- inspiration on new perspectives
An Introduction to Thermal Physics -- The origin of the universe is in there
The user manual for whatever device you're currently having trouble with!

books that change the way I look at things:

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and its four sequels too) [Douglas Adams] - Douglas Adams is absolutely brilliant and there are so many laugh-out-loud moments. I've never opened such a fantastically creative book.

2. The Universe in a Nutshell [Stephen Hawking] - It's a bit slow reading but it really is the most amazing, eye-opening book.

3. Angels and Demons [Dan Brown] - very well written, and the ambigrams are incredible.

4. Making History [Stephen Fry] - made me rethink time travel books and brought millions of new ideas to my overthinking mind.

5. The Giver [Lois Lowry] - This book and others by Lowry are very strange but definitely all their own. I'm glad they're still making kids read Lowry's books in school, because these are definitely must-reads.


As runner up, I'd like to recommend the Harry Potter series as well. It's not that well written, nor are the characters really original, but I've never picked up a series that kept me interested through thousands of pages nor have I ever experienced so many well thought out plot twists.

1. When I was Five I Killed Myself - Howard Buten
2. The Adrian Mole Diaries - Sue Townsend
3. Papillon - Henri Charrière
4. Nine Stories - JD Salinger
5. The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

And if I were allowed to add two more:

6. Dead Souls - Nikolai Gogol
7. The Awakening - Kate Chopin

But I'm not allowed to, so I'll just pretend I didn't do that. I wish there were a section to mention our top three favorite poems. Hint.

1. Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado De Assis
2. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
3. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
4. Briefing for a Descent into Hell - Doris Lessing
5. Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

or if you're a fan of non-fiction, I recommend The Tipping Point and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. You'll change the way you see the world.

I don't know if series count as one or more books, but I'm gonna say a series is just one extended book ;)
1. The Harry Potter series - They are really just amazing books, and the movies are amazing as well.
2. The Chronicles of Narnia series - Yes, they were written for children, but adults can learn a lot from them as well. I read them this summer (and fall) and I feel that I have a renewed outlook on life since then.
3. The Twilight series - Though cliche by this point, the Twilight series remains a great series. Do not rely on the movie(s) to give you the full story. It(they) do(es) not. There is a much deeper story between the two main characters than what you see in the movie.
4. The Host (by Stephenie Meyer) - The beginning is slow, but once you get past it...OMG...most amazing book I've ever read. It's just a unique story...you've never read anything like it, trust me.
5. Hamlet - Simply because its the best thing I've ever read by Shakespeare, quite possibly his best piece ever written. Also, everybody needs a little Shakespeare in their life.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird- I love it. It gives you many things to think about and it's fun to analyze. ITs just a really nice read.
2. Harry Potter series- umm...because its awesome and well written and a fully realized work.
3. The Republic- classic philosophy. This is the first great work and everything else ever is just response, discussion and opposition to this.
4.Anything by Shakespeare- its all really brilliant and you feel really accomplished when you understand and finish it.
5. Animal Farm- when you read it, don't just read it as a novel. MAKE CERTAIN to pay attention to the references and symbolism and all. Its all very obvious, but when I covered it in school, we did not talk about what the book was really saying. It was dissapointing.

@seanscherck Yeah, I think the same thing. Stephen King can be read on a purely popular-novel level, but you can also delve into his stuff more and find out that he really knows a lot about human nature and how to weave a story. I think this side of him comes through more after you've read his "On Writing" -- he's a really smart guy.

@oneordinarylife
I forgot about House of Leaves!! An Amazing reading experience.
After reading all of these responses, I'm realizing that it's almost impossible to choose only five books. There are too many genres, too many ways that a book can move you.

I can't possibly list five books that I feel like *everyone* should read, because I don't feel that I have yet read five transcendental books. I do love the choice of Persepolis, though. I read it in my class on visual lit last year, and it was amazing.

I've been rereading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and A Short History of Nearly Everything, and both are also wonderful, which I'd highly recommend.

Shutter Island by Denis Lehane is brilliant, nailbiting.
Blindsight by Peter Watts, hard sci-fi on the concept of man.
The color of magic/Light fantastic by Terry Pratchett, fun fantasy.
Mouse I/II by Art Lieberman, graphic novel about the Holocaust.
2001/2010 by A C Clarke. "my god, it's full of stars."

House of God - this is what it's like to save people's lives...
Gray's Anatomy - this is what you need to save people's live (google it)
Goodnight Moon - need I explain why?
Romeo & Juliet/Hamlet - you choose. either way, the greatest tragedy from the greatest playwright
Slaughterhouse-Five - awesome

I have been out here twice now to see what everyone has been listing. I don't consider myself an avid reader but when I read I am all in and then I go off and do other things for a while.
As for listing 5 books. I have been struggling with finding 5 that EVERYONE should read. I am thinking too analytically for the question. EVERYONE? Well then it must be a book with great impact. And I don't think there are 5 that fall in that category - especially if you are going to go outside religious writings...
So here are a few I think are interesting, thought provoking, and have made for good conversation in my life... (The first 2 are definites, the last 3 are because the question asked for 5)
1. The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald... I think for the pure reasons (1) it is a classic and (2) wow it is entertaining. I have read some other books and short stories by Fitzgerald, I like this one best by far. It can be categorized as my favourite book.
2. Atlas Shrugged - Rand... I listened to it on tape after my first attempt to read it fell short. I even bought the Cliff Notes so that after I listened to it on tape and read the 1,000+ pages, I could gain even more insight as to the message she was trying to convey. As we face unique and hard economic times I wish it was a quicker read so that everyone would pick it up and be a little unnerved by things and how closely it resembles the novel.

3. Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles - most importantly The Vampire Lestat. I find it an interesting view on life... Here is a guy that hates his life and finds himself made immortal... Living out his days (and all the other novels) to contemplate his immortality.

4. Reading Lolita in Tehran... It is a great view into a part of the world I only know through the nightly news and in the midst of it all they discuss novels. A wonderful approach to story telling.

5. Think and Grow Rich - Napolean Hill... Perhaps I should move this up in my list. It is another book I have read more than once. I beleive it was written around the same time as Atlas Shrugged... and interesting juxtaposition.

@oneordinarylife It bothers me that Stephen King has been labeled a Horror writer. I understand that we need to label things at times. It makes it easier to discuss them or sell them. "It" is a horror story about killer clowns and scary shit. That is the book cover that gets you to read it. But the book is also the best description of childhood I have ever read. The truth is that Stephen King is not a horror writer. He is a great storyteller. Our world needs great storytellers.

@noeleh First, Lamb is my favorite book. I would like to buy this book in bulk and stand on the street corner handing it out.

Galapagos is the book that got me into the joy of reading. It was such a complete world that I just fell into. When I was younger reading was a chore that had to be completed. This is the first book that made me realize reading can be fun. It made me laugh and made me cry. How do you explain why you love something? I hold the book in my hands, smell its pages, and smile even while a tear runs down my cheek. I really believe only a book can do that. Is it sad that only a book can do that and not a person?My books will always be there for me. So, in the end, there is nothing special about this particular book except what it has meant to me. I always thought I might be a writer some day. I feel okay with the knowledge that I am just a reader. Every time I pick up a new book I just can't wait to get lost.

1. I agree @seanscherck that Dark Tower should be in there. Stephen King reveals himself as much more than a writer of horror stories with this set of seven books.

2. Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut: A tale spanning the whole solar system; gave me a new outlook on life.

3. House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski: "Horror" story told through four different narrators (if you count the editor's footnotes) and one of the best fictional pieces I've ever read. Sit down and read it expecting to have to read pieces of it again, however.

4. Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket: The story of the three Baudelaire orphans appealed to me from the very first book, back when I was in fourth grade. Now, ten years later, I still love the books. To me they're like Pixar movies: enjoyable as kids but you won't fully understand all the jokes/references until you're an adult.

5. Sabriel/Lirael/Abhorsen - Garth Nix: This trilogy was another that kept me enthralled as a kid. I feel like some of the most exciting contemporary writing has been in the teen/children's genre or section. I think this is mainly because children's genre has always been relatively safe, and newer authors are writing books for children that are more complex, so they feel fresh to me.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the list.

Ok, I confess I couldn't keep it to only five. There are so many great books it's hard to narrow it down to just five! I didn't go too over the # though....

1. Fall On Your Knees - Ann Marie Macdonald
This is number one in my top ten list of fav books.
The story is told from such a different point of view it's hard to put down.


2. The Way the Crow Flies - Ann-Marie Macdonald
True-to-life account of life (especially military life) in the 60s. AMD tells a dark dark story in a sympathetic, compassionate way.


3. The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Biblical times from a woman's point of view....


4. Barney's Version - Mordecai Richler
Read this book right to the very last sentence. I almost put it down a few times but I'm glad I didn't.


5. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
this book is about four characters from varied backgrounds who come together and develop a bond while struggling to survive in an unforgiving, tradition-driven world. It's difficult to read about such abject poverty and hardship but it's eye-opening and important to read about other cultures and people.


6. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize
This book took me a few tries to get into it. I'd start and stop not "getting it" but the final time I gave it a one-last-ditch effort it clicked and I couldn't put it down.
Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel in which the protagonist Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of religion, spirituality, and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck, while stranded on a boat, with a tiger, in the Pacific Ocean.


7. The Stand - Stephen King
Good post-apocolyptic thriller.


All of these books are about strong yet regular, everyday people who push through adversity to get to the truth.


Ok. so there's one more I have to mention cuz it really affected me in more ways than one....

Read, get and own "Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time," - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
GM and DOR recount the journey that led Mortenson from a failed 1993 attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, to successfully establish schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This is a true story. It's truly inspiring what one person can do with honest dedication hard work, sacrifice and care. It really happened. It's still happening.....

Oh, oh, one more! I'll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. I challenge you to read this without crying!

I tried to pick books that I hadn't already seen mentioned because there were already so many great suggestions. Just reading this discussion has given me a long list of books I need to get and made me remember the books I need to read again.

@seanscherck Love that you enjoyed Lamb--one of my favorites. I have been dying to talk to someone who has also read Galapagos. I got lost, put the book down for a while, but intend to pick it back up again. What exactly did you love about it?

I gots four. but theyre amazing:

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
It so captures the human spirit and the character development is beyond amazing. One quote: "Janet, Donkeys!"

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond
You'll learn more after reading this than you did in college.

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
He captured the feel and emotion of the Great Depression with grace and depth and beauty. We all know what happened, but this book makes you feel the experience.

100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Holy cow. You know when you read a book and it just makes you BELIEVE? This book makes you believe the magical world Macondo - a place caught in time and space with magic carpets and alchemy and love and conflict and lots of people named Jose Arcadio and 17 Aurelianos.

I will admit to being a little bit of a book snob. I don't necessarily think that everyone should just be reading the classics as this list will show, but I do tend to look down on certain types of reading material. Then I think, "Well, at least they are reading." In an age when most people look at you as if you are speaking Swahili when you try to discuss a book it is good to see people reading at all. I am also not bashing television because I love TV too. Usually I read and watch television at the same time.
So, in no particular order:

The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne- childhood at its simplest and purest

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore- Teaches the basic tenets of the Bible without being "too preachy" and is just damn funny to boot. Finally explains why bunnies are a part of Easter too. I read it once a year.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King- I know it is seven books but it is only one story. Epic story full of real life experiences and feelings. Happiness, love, loss, kinship and finally the futility of it all.

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut- The reinvention of the human race. A new world created in a few hundred pages

A fifth book is hard. Any books by Neil Gaiman, Chuck Palahniuk, Nick Hornby, Chuck Klosterman, or any of the other books by the authors I have already mentioned would be a great choice. But to pick just one-

The Road by Corman McCarthy- a bleak vision of the world that is still filled with hope and humanity. The essence of life. Just keep moving down the road and doing the best you can in any situation

So many other choices. The shelves of my book cases sag under their weight.

For those teens who like meaningful books that are to the point and don't make you search for the irony or symbolism or any other english class terms.

1 - A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
[This one is a kind of hard read at first, but when you get to the end, it will be well worth it. My favorite book.]

2 - Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
[Most of us have seen the movie, and there are instances left out or not described to their full potential. This is a sickly awesome book. Its even better to read if you haven't seen the movie.]

3 - V for Vendetta - Alan Moore
[Like anarchy and comics?]

4 - Hairstyles of the Damned - Joe Meno
[A book about a kid growing up and growing through phases especially based around punk music. Some crazy stuff is inside for you.]

5 - Paper Towns - John Green
[ever liked a girl/boy from a distance? This is the story of how they too, are not perfect. Read this in one night.]

1. "Nothing I See Means Anything-Quantum Questions-Quantum Answers" by David Parrish. A beautiful and illuminating melding of Psychology, Quantum Physics, and Mysticism as the "bridges to Beauty, Truth, and Good". A fresh look at how we actually create our own reality. Don't let the title fool you!

2. "The Great Field: Soul at Play in a Conscious Universe" by John James PhD.
In this groundbreaking book, James explains the Great Field as the foundation of everthing in the Universe-including the personal energy we call the soul, and the inplications are just staggering.

3. "Divine Intuition-Your Guide to Creating The Life You Love" by Lynn A. Robinson M.Ed. Your Intuition is your true self-your soul-whispering to you. Learn all the ways it works and how to listen to it. An easy read, but this book is not fluff, folks!

4. "The Laws of Spirit: Simple Powerful Truths For Making Life Work" by Dan Millman (He also wrote "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior")
This prolific author presents 12 of the core principles upon which all religions, moral systems, and spiritual teachings are based, and he gives you practical advice for applying them.

5. "Conversations With Seth: The Story of Jane Roberts' ESP Class" by Susan M. Watkins. Chaneller Jane Roberts channels Old Soul "Seth" during weekly classes.
They explore reincarnation, probable selves, the dream life, how you are creating your reality, and a lot more. This one was one of the first truly mind expanding books I had read. Google "Seth" to see how many books Jane and her husband (who transcribed her sessions as Seth spoke through her. It's also entertaining stuff,

@zellerpress American Gods is an amazing book! i loved it so much, i actually forgot about it until you mentioned it. :)

1) 1984-Orwell
2) The Catcher in the Rye-Salinger
3) The Bible-(for reference' sake) Yeah, if someone can tell me WHO wrote it, I'm all ears!
4)The Rise and Fall of a Proper Negro- Alexander
5) Closer- Marber --Though not a book, an incredibly raw look at life and relations

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Great Expectations - Charles Dickinson (i would like to put another book possibly, but I just went with this one for now)

(i would like to put the complete works of plato but idk its more than one book) so i didnt put that.
all of these books are philosophical and were something which changed my perceptions of life and how one should live it.

Man's Search For Meaning-Viktor Frankl
Bible
Night- Elie Wiesel
Mere Christianity- C.S. Lewis
Collected Works of Emily Dickinson

War and Peace--Tolstoy
Tender is the Night--Fitzgerald
Les Miserables--Victor Hugo
Count of Monte Cristo--Dumas
Cloud Atlas--can't remember who wrote

these are the first 5 that came to mind. but there are so many more...

The Fountianhead- Ayn Rand
Stranger in a Strange Land- Robert A. Heinlein
Ender's Shadow- Orson Scott Card
Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck

These books are my favorite books so far.

I love to read all types of genres, but for all-time classics, I'd have to say my top 5 would be:

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - If the idea of "objectivism" gives you as much a brain wedgie as it does me, never fear. Howard Roark and Peter Keating present a fascinating creative dichotomy-- protecting creative integrity vs. protecting reputation and/or financial success.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho - Such a great tale of life's journey, soul searching, and finding your purpose.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein - Touched by this book as a child and still get a soft spot for it as an adult.

Night by Elie Wiesel

1. The Bible - Learn about the Judeo-Christian world and understand zillions of references in our culture.
2. The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah - Short, poetic gems of guidance that relate to the universal truths of all religions.
3. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen - Romance, social criticism, and the grace of an earlier century.
4. Harry Potter series - It's just plain fun.
5. Olya's Story, by Olya Roohizadegan - An inspiring true story of strength in the face of adversity.

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison. There are not words to describe this book. It will make you think about all that you consider to be "beautiful" traits in a person.

On the Road - Jack Kerouac His journey through a time in American history that turned the country in a whole new direction. Funny and sad.

The Hobbit - Tolkien If you like to read, this is a book for you.

The Stand - Stephen King King at his best. A great tale that will scare the hell out of you and make you wonder what we are messing with sometimes.

Holy Books - Various Maybe if we all read each others beliefs, we would see just how alike we are and could get along better.

oh the places you'll go - seuss

extremely loud and incredibly close - foer

the gospel according to john - john, i guess

1984 - orwell

james and the giant peach - dhal

in no particular order...
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn : changed my life and how I think about our society, life, and how we came to be this way as a society and human beings.

Garlic and Sapphires - Ruth Reichl : if you love food, if you're a chef, if you have any kind of passionate connection with food, the preparation of it, the enjoyment of it, food as art.. any of it.. this is an amazing book. Any of Ruth Reichl's books would make it in my top five. The way she describes food, how she lived at the NYTimes food critic is hilarious and incredibly smart. How food affects us and changes our lives resonates with me and in this book.

American Gods - Neil Gaiman : My favorite of his books. Close to it is "Good Omens" by Neil and Terry Pratchett. Both amazing books and just really hilarous. American Gods holds a place because of its interesting take on religion through a brilliant story of how the gods and goddesses of old have disappeared or forgotten, but still exist.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky : A classic in our generation/age. Something everyone in high school should read. My life was almost exactly like the book's character, and it helped me a lot in high school.

The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan : because everyone should read why America is fat, why our food industry is fucked up, and why eating locally and not eating so much processed foods would help in drastic proportions. It's a great book. Also, all of his books are great reads.

a long way down - nick hornby
this book is wonderful. hornby gave me faith in humanity again with this book.

fight club - chuck palahniuk
An amazing book. I don't even know what to say about it. If you saw the movie, read it. If you didn't see the movie, read it.

happiness is a warm puppy - charles m. schulz
the book that reminds me of childhood. when everything was simple.

love in the time of cholera - gabriel garcia marquez
I'm a sucker for a love story, and this is the best one I have ever read.

lifetimes - bryan mellonie
when i was five my dog, sasha, died. my parents used this book to teach me what that meant. it sounds morbid, i know. but we all have to learn about it sometime, and this is a beautiful book.

1. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Even if you can not relate to Objectivism as a personal philosophy, the characters are powerful and determined.

2. Picture of Dorien Gray by Oscar Wilde. This book blows my mind. It's a raw look at what can lie beneath the surface of you.. me.. anyone.

3. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. While I'm thinking of Wilde, this children's book always comes to mind. It's the story of transformation from selfish to selfless. And it makes me cry each and every time.

4. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Because we could all stand to be more educated about how we evolved, and the geological processes that affect (and may soon greatly affect) us each day. Bryson explains this in layman's terms, and makes it a very interesting read.

5. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. I can not begin to describe my love for this book. It's about philosophy, but woven into it is such an amazing story - one that I can not tell because it would ruin the book. All I can say is read it. Now.

BTW those that listed Life of Pi- I read it recently, and while I thought it was a great book, I found a strange disconnect in the spiritual aspect of it. It's a book that claims to make people believe in God. But as Pi goes through his experiences, he followed certain religious rituals, but he seemed disconnected from God. He expressed wonder at the things around him, but never connected them to God. So it did not touch me in that way. I thought it was wonderful otherwise though.

For those that liked The Kiterunner, his next book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was equally amazing.

Any other Terry Pratchett fans out there?

@nicholi I hated Old Man and the Sea, but A Moveable Feast was fantastic, maybe because it's posthumous? :P

@zinzy: I agree that there is not one book for everybody. Not really into science fiction and probably won't be picking up a book that has that theme any time soon (sorry if i offend anyone!). I certainly don't want to give off the impression that you must read all of my top 5.

I think the word you are looking for is fiction (???) not fantasy. Only my 2nd and 3rd choices are fantasy, the rest are drama/literature (if that is even a category of books? hehe). Im a big fan of fiction, especially those that reflect deep/profound issues about society. Thats where my 1st, 4th and 5th books kick in.

I definitely want to read The Kite Runner soon. Heard its a fantastic book! (and movie)

I would love to give my list of must-reads as I'm an avid reader who downs about three to four books a week. But one of the most meaningful experiences I've had with reading is the revelation that there's not one book for everybody. Genre and author are completely subjective and vary between everyone.

While Sabrina19 would like us to read fantasy (if that's the correct term; I don't want to offend anybody), but I would never even make it past the first page, simply because that style of writing and storytelling does not apply to my interests at all.

However, I enjoy being new to Soul Pancake and having my first reply be one to a subject that I like so much. There ARE some titles in here that I will look into. And oh, if you are into biographical. coming of age, what-is-this-even-really-about books, you should try "Blue Mondays" by Arnon Grunberg, one of my favorite Dutch authors. :)

From what I've read so far...

1) My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult- Her stuff is amazingly good. It's a book for anyone: fathers, daughters, sisters, mothers, brothers. Just the complexity of human relationships in her books makes it worthwhile. The great twist at the end makes it even better. (Am also glad that some people have this book as part of their Top 5!)

2) Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling- What else can I say about it? Half of the earth's population would probably agree that this is one (or seven) of the best novels ever written.

3) Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien- This man's ability to write so descriptively leaves nothing to the imagination. It's all there in the book anyway. Haha.

4) Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Anarchy + Children = an interesting read.

5) Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson - Great piece of literature about the love between an American man and a Japanese woman during World War 2. The great thing about this book is that the ending left me angry and sad but I understood why David Guterson ended it the way he did.

And of course there are others that I need to get around to reading... maybe my top 5 will change.

1. The giving tree- silverstein: self explanatory...
2. The bell jar- plath: such a beautifully sad book. A MUST READ if you're a woman!
3. Ham on rye- bukowski: gotta love good ol' henry chinaski
4. Coming up for air- orwell- I haven't finished it yet. But it's like he's read my mind about suburbia... and put it all on paper. Kinda funny at times too.
5. The green book- rogers: A must read for ANYONE! Super informative!

1. Lord of the Rings. The theme of good versus evil isn't new, but I like how in lord of the rings you see just because good wins out, that doesn't mean everything is dandy. There are sacrifices, both in human lives and in our own identities. There are some things when lost we can never get back. We do things for the good of the general population, but that doesn't mean we don't personally pay.

2. Brave New World. We live in a world like this, where people are becoming numb do to too much pleasure. It speakss of the dangers of hedonism. True happiness does not equal constant fun, or constant pleasure. It has to be earned through struggles, and overcoming, and life experiences.

3. The Giving Tree. Rarely does a children's book mean anything to me, but Shel Silverstein is one children's author I have nothing but respect for. I think everyone should read this simple story of what it means to give everything for the one you love, in this day and age we don't want to give anything unless we're getting something materialistic in return.

4.The Metamorphosis. A book on the ugliness of human nature to things it deems ugly. The vast incompassionate nature of humans. We need to see the ugly side sometimes.

5. Of Human Bondage - A semi-autobiography, it tells the tale of the life of a man. Very long, but it's a journey, like our own lives. You see the changes, and how he reacts to him. And by the end you truly understand the title.

ok, I saw this topic about 8 hours ago and it took me this long to come up with 5.

1. The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery- A friend gave this to me as a going away gift, and it taught me to not always take things for face value but to try to view the world differently.

2. Gone With the Wind- I read this book for the first time in 8th grade, but reading it now, I always get caught up in the story, and never really feel satisfied at the end.

3. Breakfast of Champions- I don't remember the last time I found a book so disturbing and funny at the same time.

4. Catcher in the Rye- One of my all time favorites, though I think this book annoys a lot of people. Even though Holden had his problems, I identified with him a lot.

5. The Giver- at the time I first read this book I hated it, mostly I think I didn't understand the whole picture, but looking back I never really understood why life was beautiful before I read it.

The first thing that blows me away is how quickly soulpancake has become this active. Kudos to the scheming souls behind this!

In whichever order you prefer:

Lord of the Rings - Tolkien wrote it as a single book. It was split in three by a wise publisher.

The Dawnbreakers (Nabil's narrative) - Faith. Devotion. Heroism. Sacrifice. Love. Life!

God Passes By (Shoghi Effendi) - History, yes, but Shoghi's command of English - not his first language - and passion for the craft of writing places him on the short list of great authors who have, inexplicably, yet to be properly celebrated.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - FUH-NEE!

Moby Dick - because I love the Romantics, light and dark. And because Melville is the Orson Welles of American novelists. Or maybe it's the other way around....

I didn't place the sacred texts of any religious faith on my list because, IMHO, those Writings are a daily touchstone. But, if you haven't read it and want your mind thoroughly blown, try a brief book called The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys.

This is a difficult question...and I'm sure the top five books I'd choose would change depending on the day, and what I might need to read that day. But, that being said, I there are, of course, some which should be read at some point...

1. Three Cups of Tea - An amazing story of how one person can create change, one step at a time

2. Pride and Prejudice - personal preference, and it's the best ever love story out there.

3. God Loves Laughter - You need to laugh. You are guaranteed to die laughing reading this book.

4. The Chronicles of Narnia - reawaken that kid's imagination, when whole other worlds existed through the closet doors.

5. The last one is always tough...I have a few in mind, but at the moment I would say The Elegance of the Hedgehog. It made me think...and I don't think you'll rely on first impressions for a while after reading this book!

1. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote - Some people pick this up and read the summary and say "not for me." What a horrible crime that is to this masterpiece. Probably one of the most universal pieces of literature ever written, simply because of the impeccable talent in Capote's prose. It teaches us about redemption and the true value of human life, two lessons that are, in my opinion, extremely valuable to the independent intellectual.

2. Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury - I would normally suggest that you read ALL of Bradbury's work, from the most miniscule sentence to his longest epic, but if you were to pick only one of his pieces of fiction to read, this is the obvious choice. It emphasizes the value of inheritable knowledge and the tyranny of a disconnected, overly technological lifestyle.

3. Walden, by Henry David Thoreau - Now, this book is more personal for me. Beyond the Christian backdrop which he technically ignores a lot in this piece, transcendentalism is definitely an essential part of my ideal lifestyle. Living simple, eliminating stress, and learning through forced experiences and changes. These ideas are even more approachable when you take a walk through the extremity of simplicity that he describes and rationalizes.

4. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller - This list wouldn't be my own without this beautiful book. A defining epic of satire, its influence can be traced to many different story-telling styles in today's media, including the character-centered flash-back system that you may be familiar with in Lost. His style in both humor and syntax has rubbed off on my own writing more than any other written comedy. Also, amidst its fantastic satire, it explores human nature and mortality in the melting-pot of WWII. It humanizes and abstracts conflict and war in the same context, leaving you with a rush of emotion that is paralleled in very few other war novels.

5. Watchmen, by Alan Moore - As much as I hate sounding like a hipster by saying this, but you have to read this graphic novel some time in your life. It is the only graphic novel I have read and plan to have ever read, and although I have my own opinions of the execution (not the premise) of the conclusion, I still believe this is one of the best-written books I have ever read. Its exploration of human nature and the archetypal depiction of "real-life" superheroes is captivating and moving. You sometimes feel sick reading the book, which is exactly what Moore wants you to take away from it: a more intricate and realistic perspective towards the filth and dirt of society. He removes the veil, violently, and then shoves your face into the manure of humanity's presence on earth. That kind of treatment garners some sort of change in psyche, obviously, and it's usually for the better: the pursuit of progression and, at the same time, justice for all.

And my personal favorite book is "Illusions" by Richard Bach. It is a simple read, but it leads you on a journey that makes you question the reality of this physical life.

Persepolis 1 and 2 are AWESOME. With her impeccable talent of storytelling, Satrapi intimately presents her life during the Persian Revolution as an exciting roller-coaster of events. She makes you laugh, cry, experience nostalgia, and even learn a few things along the way. The universal themes presented in the graphic novels are identifiable and applicable to almost anyone who picks up the books. Almost, because some of the content is definitely best suited for mature audiences. It is certainly a must-read!

it'd be cool if someone who had some free time wanted to consolidate the list and find the top 5 books that were mentioned. just from a quick glance I see a lot of Atlas Shrugged, Catcher in the Rye, and books by Chuck Palanuik. Or we could break it up and split the work. thoughts?

There are two books that I have read that have entirely changed my life-

1. Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
2. Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

One taught me how to think. The other taught me how to live.

@MemarieLane I know it's insane how sad those two lives where, only happy with one another, yet never allowed to be alone. I can't even finish the book, I've read 3 other books by the guy and I can't finish the The Last Czar because I know the ending....And I don't want the end to happen. You kind of fall in love with the Romanov family, you forgive them for their tyranny and want to serve them in an odd way.

Also I find it amusing the not one person has put "The Old Man and the Sea" yet everyone seems to have to read that book. Hemingway= Over Rated Drunk!

God that is such a hard choice, ive read so many books and all of them feel like good friends that somehow taught me something, but the following books i guess out of all of them are the ones that if im going through a rough time i think back on the characters and ask myself, what would they do?

1.) The Alchemist- a journey about finding what your looking for and the journey you have to make before it can be found. Also learning about what it means to have faith and that you dont need to speak the same language to know what someone is saying

2.) the book thief- This book will tear your heart to pieces but its told in such a way that death becomes more human and youre really able to share the lives of the characters.

3.) A little princess- The part when she gives the beggar girl the bread and the baker sees the good deed and takes her in? Priceless. I know im a sap but there you go, to me simple little acts of kindness are so beautiful and i just find this story beautiful.

4.) Fried Green Tomatoes- Hilarious, sad, funny...it makes me nostalgic for a time i was never able to witness. A time when people didnt twitch when we dont have internet or technology and life was living and being able to sit in a cafe, be rowdy and just enjoy some fun and practical jokes, and everything still seemed so big. When did the world become so complicated and...ugly?

5.) The hero and the crown- I read the first half of this book in 6th grade and then had to return it to the library; i remember this was one of the first books i truly read in English that was a big book and i must have hunted it down for years. I finally found it as i was graduating from high school years back and it was just as amazing as ever and completely worth the wait. Like an old friend and I starting up an old conversation right where we left off. :)


And yes. I am a huge nerd. ; p

1. Lord of the Flies by William Golding The first chapters will bore you to tears, bute eventually, the plot climaxes, and stays there. There is no falling action.

2. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen The only love story withstandable on Earth.

3. Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser Changed my life.

4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Speaks for itself.

5. King Lear by William Shakespeare Not a novel, but plays so count.

1. The Bible - divinely influenced by God - it will change your life. Literally.

2. Love Walked In - Marisa de los Santos - so sweet. I loved it.

3. The Shack - William P. Young - amazing and exactly who I belive God to be.

4. Superfudge - Judy Blume - one of my all time faves. Makes me feel like a kid again everytime I read it.

5. The Pleasure of My Company - Steve Martin - hilarious and brilliant and totally relatable if you suffer from any degree of OCD

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

1-anthem by ayn rand
this defined refined and provoked me and still does

2-the bible-
i hear ppl talk about it alot but i wonder how many have actually read it

3-american by blood-andrew huebner
put simply it was raw gritty and intense

4-anything l. frank baum but i suppose mainly the first oz book
this opens the eyes to imagination and purity

5-the prince-machieavelli
i'm cheating and making this an even tie with
the black pearl-scott o dell

1. I Am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak
Amazing book about a person's potential for good.

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
A story about friendship, innocent love and the loss of innocence. And feeling Infinite.

3. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
He's not Thoreau for nothing. Some of the things said in this book have changed the way I live my life.

4. The Shack by William P. Young
This book forced me to look at my relationship with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit in a way that nothing else ever had. Made me do a complete 180 in what I thought I knew most about.

5. Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling
You can fight it all you want, but just because it's a children's fantasy series doesn't mean it lacks merit. This story teaches love to children all over the world. If nothing else it criticizes discrimination and promotes tolerance and acceptance.

1. Catcher in the Rye- I reread this every couple of years. The significance grows and changes everytime.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird- It just feels good to read
3. Brave New World - Huxley is so brilliant and ahead of his time.
4. You Can Heal Your Life - Louise Hay will rock your world.
5. Equus - a play by Peter Shaffer. shocking and touching.

@what_if
yes I'm replying to my own post,
I'm adding
Booky wook- Russell Brand , because it looks funny :P

Life of Pi - Yann Martel. A fantastic examination of spirituality and humanity.

Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger - Just read it for the first time this year, I think it's definitely a must-read.

Watchmen - Alan Gibbons - I know it's a GRAPHIC novel but it still counts. It's a great take on how we look at ourselves and the corruption that power causes.

Waiting For Godot - Samuel Beckett - A fantastic play. I think most of us have been waiting for some Godot or another at some time in our lives.

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut - I could have filled this entire list with Vonnegut books but I narrowed it to one. Vonnegut has an uncanny ability to examine the deepest parts of the human psyche while keeping you amused at the same time.

Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury
Really gets you to use your head. Very good book. One of my favorites.

War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy
Words cant explain, just take my word for it and read it.

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Animal Farm- George Orwell

And anything religious; Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Torah, Qur'an, Bible,and whatever else!

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Repair - Pirsig
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Carnegie
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
The Road Less Traveled - Peck
Bathroom Walls

* palahniuk. Sorry. =)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Steven Chbosky
Because feeling infinite is what it's all about.

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Because it's great literature.

Fight Club - Chuck Palanuik
Because it's amazing.

Haunted - Chuck Palanuik
Because it's disgusting.

The Bible, the Qur'an, the mormon bible or whatever religious text you haven't already read.
Because it's always good to know about others' beliefs.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
it's a classic as well as my favorite perspective of the american people

The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
i read it years ago and still refer back to it

Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut
it's a Vonnegut. period.

The Psychedelic Experience by Tim Leary and friends
even if you never would imagine taking LSD, read it. it will change the way you think about the summer of love as well as your own brain

Brain Droppings by George Carlin
comedy that is so funny because it is your own thoughts (mine at least)

Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Steven Chbosky
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk

1. Atlas Shrugged - Rand

2. Catcher in the Rye - Salinger

3. Ender's Game - Card

4. Autobiography of Malcolm X

5. The Story of Henry Sugar and 6 more - Dahl

1. Lord of the Rings trillogy
2. Hobbit- this was the book that actually got me excited to read fiction again
3. Chronicles of Narnia - anything by C.S. is fantastic honorable mention to Mere Christianity
4. Lord of the Flies- first book that i was forced to read which caused me to seriously think about life
5. The Bible-

Honorable mentions- Harry Potter series- The Shack, Michael Connely stuff, Great Gatsby, Dean Koontz, anything by Henri Nouwen the guy is phenomenal

I and Thou - Martin Buber, amazing, people just need to read it.

Discipline and Punish - Foucault, this book with mess with your head in an amazing way.

Catcher in the Rye - Salinger, Holden is just one of those characters that stays with you.

God's Beauty Parlor - Moore, this book forces you to look at the bible like you never have before.

The Hauerwas Reader - Hauerwas, my favorite ethicist, doing what he does best.

A Million Little Pieces- James Frey (who cares if he faked it)
The Giving Tree- Shel Silverstein
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day- Dr. Seuss
The Giver- Lois Lowry
A Little Princess- Frances Hodgson Burnett

I'm a kindergarten teacher ;)


of course there's millions more that I love, all the classics (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, etc.), but as far as books that I tore apart word by word, these are the top of the list.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - It's just really really good.
The Giver by Lois Lowry - Probably the whole world had to read this in English at one time or another, but it's quite interesting and probably one of the school board's best picks.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - ...I said so?
The Good Thief by... - look it up. It's about a kid who lost his hand & is an orphan, a "dead" murderer who's really quite alive, and quite a few more interesting characters.
The Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis - C.S. Lewis is an amazing author, and the books are better than the movies... and those were pretty good.
And a few that were already mentioned... the kite runner, little women, a million little pieces... etc.
I read a lot.

1. Your Journal
2. The Bible
3. Seat of the Soul
4. The Giving Tree
5. Leaves of Grass

Np particular order.

1. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein - The dark side of global capitalism over the last 50 years. An amazing story with overwhelming impact.

2. Life of Pi by Yann Martel - A fantasy of great spiritual depth.

3. A Short History of Nearly Everything - A very entertaining, amusing, and informative narrative of the development of science back in the days when it was possible to know everything and nothing at the same time.

4. Atonement by Ian McEwan The love story is compelling. The vividness of the war scenes is unparalleled. The skill of the author challenges the reader to hang on every word or get lost, without resorting to pretentious, obscure language or bizarre literary constructions. I have read the book twice and the last 2 pages at least 25 times, just to make sure I know what really happened. The comments at Amazon were astounding. Some people saw things in that book that made me almost fallout of my chair. It is a bit of a Rorschach test.

5. The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene - A layman's history of modern physics that taxed and tickled my feeble mind.

Who says I don't have self discipline? I stopped at 5, didn't I?

@libby Chuch Palahniuk is definitely one of the greatest contemporary writers! Choke is a fun read.:D

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust - a young man in high society muses on his friends and acquaintance's. A book that requires a lot of time, (there are 6 volumes) but worth every moment.

Cheri and The Last of Cheri by Colette - a young man and his mistress as viewed thru Colette's wit.

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein - greatest adventure/sword & sorcery/fantasy EVER!

Little Women (and its two sequels) by Louisa May Alcott - my copy from childhood literally fell apart from re-reading.

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer - an account of a disaster on Mt. Everest. Makes you truly think about what you would do in a survival situation.

1. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - it's simply good!

2. The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne - intriguing ideas about Christianity, whether or not we're living it like it was meant to be lived.

3. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - 'nuff said.

4. Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck - An awesome book about discovering America. It really puts words to the longing so many have to be somewhere else.

5. Jonathon Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach - A great short story about resisting conformity and living as an original.

1. Invisible Monsters by Chuck palahniuk - it's motivational in a strange twisted way. Classic Chuck.
2. 1984/brave new world - yea, these are 2 different books, but they're going in one answer.
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - for all the reasons everyone else has already mentioned.
4. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk - i just love chuck.
5. Goodnight Moon. - well duh.

1. The Perks Of Being a Wallflower - Steven Chbosky - Like hellodahly said, if you don't get anything out of this novel then you are missing something. It literally changed my life.
2. The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen- Even though it is based around a more youthful group, this book is one that anyone who has ever suffered a loss will demolish.
3. The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine Bonaparte - Sandra Gulland - One of the only novel's I've ever read about a historic figure that is so addictive.
4. The Lorax - Dr Suess - He knew what was going to happen ages ago.
5. A Million Little Pieces - James Frey - Amazing writing on the details of drug abuse and such things.

all of those books TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY ROCK!!!!! and everyone should like buy them right away...and if you can understand french, read the last one in french for sure since it's created, the movie as well, in french.

1. The Phantom Tollbooth -- Norton Juster
2. My Name is Asher Lev -- Chaim Potok
3. Waiting for Godot -- Samuel Beckett
4. Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. The Toilers of the Sea -- Victor Hugo

@AJokerman
Kudos for tackling Paradise Lost--I've tried twice!

1. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand--whether or not you agree with Ayn Rand's philosophy , this is one of the most absorbing, insightful novels ever written. 1100 pages of vivid characters, captivating plot developments, and enough moral and philisophical issues to fill a college syllabus.

2. Autobiography of Malcolm X--an incredibly moving tale of one man's spiritual evolution from street-hustler to militant to enlightened would-be civil rights reformer.

3. Aztec, by Gary Jennings--the most amazing wok of historical fiction I've ever read. This is a facet of history that is essentially ignored in high school, and Jennings brings it to life in Technicolor.

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke--my vote for the greatest sci-fi story ever told, spanning millions of years of human evolution and most of the cosmos.

5. A Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan--Sagan, the world's greatest author of science literature for the masses, teaches us how to tell science from psuedo-science, how to agrue rationally, and how to draw conclusions based on evidence. A must-read for anyone interested in dispelling superstition and rumor.

1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
2. The Shack by William P. Young
3. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
4. Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
and MY personal fave:
5. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Can you tell I am a preschool teacher?!

I'm a big fan of reading but I don't think I've read some of the greatest works yet. I like checking books from second hand book stores, and since we have required readings, I've learned to love some reads that I never thought I'd love!

Here are five reads that everyone should check out--according to me:
(in random order)

-Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. A personal favorite. To death.
-The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Another classic cult read.
-Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. Perhaps one of the must-reads for Non-fiction fans.
-Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories. His language seems difficult to read at first but once you get through one story, you'll learn to compromise. "The Minister's Black Veil" is something we had taken up in our Fiction class, and it would always be one of my favorite short stories.
-Homer's The Iliad. Another seemingly dreadful read but it's amaaaazing!:) One read that discusses life and death, mortality and divinity, and other binaries.

1. The kiterunner by Khaled Hasseini- Moved me beyond words
2. Divine secrets of the ya ya sisterhood by Rebecca Wells- Its me and my girlfriends in 20 yrs.
3. Secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd - sweep me away on many levels.
4. The blues all around me by BB King - What a kind kind man
5. Letter from a nut- Ted L. Nancy - Endlessly funny.

Anam Cara by John O'Donohue

Into the Wild by John Krakauer

the poetry of William Butler Yeats

Metamorphoses by Ovid

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (might sound obvious or cliche but his writing is amazing)

On The Road, by jack Kerouac - It captures the essence of what it means to be a young American: The desires, the hopes, the sadness.

Pardise Lost, by John Milton - Not really a book, but still a hugely amazing work of the imagination that, in my book, ranks up there with the Illiad. It is very Homeric, and definitely deserves the title of an epic poem. Fantastic.

The Colloquy of Monos and Una, by Edgar Allen Poe - A short story that evokes something essential to the human spirirt, it is a commentary on the negative aspects of modernity, and the beauty of something purer.

The poetry of William Blake - That is a bit of cheat, I guess, but I am truly amazed, and tremendously enjoy, almost his whole body of work. A master of stupendous imaginative magnitude, he created an exhilerating, and almost entirely original pantheon.

The Art of Dreaming, by Carlos Castaneda - Another wierd one, and definitely a mind bender. Whether or not you belive he was telling the truth - all of Castaneda's books are based on an apprenticeship with a "toltec sorcerer" - this book is still a portal into a truly strange and beautiful world.

To be honest I haven't read all that many books but of the ones that I have read these are some of my favs.

1. The Book of Certitude/Kitab-i-Íqan revealed by Bahá'u'lláh: A revolution in religious hermeneutics. This book opened my eyes to how religions can actually be quite sensible when looked at in a comprehensive historical and spiritual context.
2. 1984 by George Orwell: This is one of few books that after reading I just had sit for a while in silence.
3. I love the Discworld series but my favorite is probably Sourcery: The discworld books parody the fantasy world as well as shedding humorous light on the human condition.
4. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: An awesomely funny book about the apocalypse. 'Nuff said :P
5. The short stories of Edgar Allan Poe as well as the Short stories of Isaac Asimov: These are two geniuses who's stories are unforgettable.

1. Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Steven Chbosky. If you don't get something from this book, I think you're missing something very important. Too important to miss.
2. How They Met And Other Stories by David Levithan. Sweet stories that aren't too unrealistic/sickening. Great writing.
3. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. Great book, read it all the way through no matter how much you like the beginning. Good quotes for anyone who has ever been to high school and didn't think it was all fun and rainbows. Meaning pretty much everyone.
4. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Just a good book. Fetch!
5. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Funny, and tragic. And ironic. And good :]

1. "Le Petit Prince" because it gives a beautiful description of human life and death.
2. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" because it's full of literary layers and interpretations and people could spend a lifetime learning something new from different analyses of words.
3. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" because it's an awesome book that will surprise you at the end of every chapter.
4. "Maus" because it's a great graphic novel, is based on a true story and asks what it means to 'survive'.
5. "I'll Love You Forever" even though it makes me cry every time, because it shows how much your mommy and daddy will always love you.

:)

As an adult:
1. _Remembering Blue_ by Connie May Fowler. Every person would love to be loved and have an elegy like this one.
2. _Sight Hound_ by Pam Houston. Multiple narrators, including 2 dogs who have more wisdom than the people they live with.
3. _Ahab's Wife_ by Sena Jeter Naslund. Sheer love of language.
4. _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving. This book redeems him for everything else he's written that I've tried to read and hated.
5. _American Gods_ by Neil Gaiman. Magical surrealism.

1.) Lolita -Vladimir Nabokov: @turnonyourlovelight I have to agree with you here. Never has a women been as adored as Lolita, no matter how that might seem disturbing.
2.) Cien años de soledad -Gabriel Garcia Marquez: there are no words. A must read.
3.) The World According to Garp -John Irving: it's simply funny, heartbreaking, beautiful and horrifying. Garp's story is so bizarre and filled with the kind of characters you wish you had a chance to meet.
4.) Kafka on the Shore -Haruki Murakami: another must read. It's such a strange story, it's lovely and scary and beautiful.
5.) A Little Princess -Brunnet: if anybody says this is a children's book, they've clearly never read it.

1. The dictionary
2. The Bell Jar
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
4. The Giving Tree
5. The Grapes of Wrath

1- The Giver and

2- Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. Great stories set in strange worlds but with familiar feelings.

3- A dictionary. It's fun to learn new words and if you get a fancy one you can learn where words came from and such,

4- A Dean Koontz book. His are good on nights when you don't have to to go sleep. They're hard to put down!

5- Up to the 6th Harry Potter book. The last one stunk. :)

1. Pat the Bunny
2. Make way for Ducklings
3. A gift from the Sea
4. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulane
5. To Kill a Mockingbird

The Holy Bible by God

The Barbarian Way by Erwin Raphael McManus

Mere Christianity by S.S. Lewis

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll

@abrelosojos

great list, as you can see I definitely agree with a lot of your choices.

Also, Abre Los Ojos > Vanilla Sky. By Far.

In No Particular Order

1. The Power And The Glory - Graham Greene. The journey and search for a man's faith.
2. 1984 - George Orwell. This is to prevent the world from collapsing into an evil tyranny.
3. The Hithchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams (The Series If Possible). The most comprehensive and easy (even to a monkey) book about philosophy, as viewed through some of the weirdest and wackiest characters.
4. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby. A book that any music fan must read.
5. Las Batallas En El Desierto - Jose Emilio Pacheco. A coming of age story in what now seems a distant, yet not that old place.
4.

I'm really glad that someone posted this question, because I find myself continually trying to convince people to read books that I love, and I could talk about these books for hours on end.

1. Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov. Without a doubt the most beautifully written book I have ever read. Don't let the child molestation plot scare you off, because when reading it you will find yourself both disgusted and compassionate for the narrator, Humbert Humbert in the same paragraph. Nabokov called Lolita his "love affair with the English language," and it couldn't be more true. The first chapter of Lolita is the most beautiful passage in all of literature, in my opinion.
2. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest- Ken Kesey. Brilliantly explores our need for laughter and human compassion in our lives. The film is great as well, but will never match the depth of the book.
3. All Souls- Michael Patrick MacDonald. MacDonald's memoir about growing up in the projects of South Boston in the 1970s. Anyone who has Irish Catholic heritage will see parallels to their family.
4. Where the Wild Things are- Maurice Sendak. I don't really think I need to explain why this is on my list.
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chobsky. I first read this book when I was 16, and much like every other teenager who read it, it was the first time that I felt a book really spoke to me and knew how I felt when I was a lonely, misunderstood teenager. My high-school formed a book discussion club, and the 2nd book they did was PoBaW. Almost 100 people showed up, which never happened before or after in the history of my high-schools ill-fated book club. Though I haven't read it in years and don't think I would feel the same way about it now, it will always hold a special place in my heart for helping me realize that I wasn't alone.

1. Brave New World-Aldous Huxley. Like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange.
2. Madame Bovary-Gustav Flaubert. Middle Class gluttony and disillusionment at its best
3. Fight Club-Chuck Palahniuk. There is more than just blood and anarchy in this novel. It changed the way I felt about modern literature.
4. 20 Love Poems and a Song of Desperation-Pablo Neruda. The most beautiful love poems written in the 20th Century by a man who was exiled for being a communist in Chile.
5.Anything by Richard Yates. Revolutionary Road hogs all the credit, but most of his work is a fantastic portrayal of human loneliness.

1. The Alchemist
2. The Red Tent
3. Mists of Avalon
4. Harry Potter Series
5. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

1- Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel. Because some things do not need lots of words to tell us about pain and loss and the constant struggle of normal (whatever that is) life. The shortest story in there is almost a page and echoes more than the great Russians.
2- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Because no one should ever kill a dream. A dream is what pushes to what's next.
3- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Because there are many things in the world. Some are terrible and plain truth and apparent. Some you would never guess and their revelation is what changes you.
4- Slaughterhouse Five or Breakfast of Champions or Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Because. Because, that's why. Because some people are 'zany enough to agonize over time and distance without limit, over mysteries that will never die, over the fact that we are right now determining whether the space voyage for the next billion years or so is going to be Heaven or Hell.'
5- The Places In Between by Rory Stewart. Because we have one planet to live our lives on, and while horrible things happen on it by horrible people, it is very old with tremendous beauty and other wonderful events and people live here.

1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - if only to experience the vast potential literature can have, as well as to admire the masterful technique of the author
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Good for the depressed teenager in all of us.
3. Orientalism by Edward Said - It will allow you to talk about the Middle East without sounding like an essentialist idiot. This is the book that makes sense of what is happening in the world.
4. The Bell Jar - probably essential reading for every young woman
5. A book by Roald Dahl (Charlie, or The Twits, perhaps)

(I tried to make my list essential for some "greater purpose" but other great lit: Eugenides, Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Eggers, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, etc.)

@sweston Oh yeah... I LOVE the Phantom Tollbooth too. :-)

In no particular order...
1. A New Earth by Eckhart Toille
2. The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer
3. Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu
4. Man's Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl
5. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins (this one is a guilty pleasure!!!)

just a recent and incomplete list of must reads...

1. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
3. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris
4. Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
5. Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

1. Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin
2. Watchmen by Alan Moore
3. The Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
4. Abarat by Clive Barker
5. Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Also have to make a shout out to the Maximum Ride series. At this point James Patterson should probably end it already but still favorite.

The Bible - literally, your life will not be complete without it.

ones i'd say would be where the sidewalk ends , the giving tree ,persipolis. most inportent books to read in ure life

@davidprecht The Giving Tree had a big effect on me too. Now I read it to my kids, and I tear up every time.

@nicholi I recently read The Last Tsarina, a very good biography of Alexandra Romanov, so I know what you mean about Nicholas. Never has there been a more doomed human being from birth,

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, it will give you a whole new perspective and a sense of humility. Changed my life.
2. Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs. The man is so damn funny.
3. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Transgender goes through the past couple of generations to discover why he is the way he is -- beautifully written.
4. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Random, hilarious, and deep.
5. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer OR The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Both will give you the same sort of feeling. In the former, a 9 year-old searches for how his dad died on 9/11; in the latter, an autistic boy travels across London to find his mother.

1. A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn
2. Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Lowen

And just so you don't get the impression I'm a kill joy

3-5. Everything (not the title just read everything) written by David Sedaris

1) Oh The Places You Will Go - Dr Seuss (anything by Dr. Seuss, really) Key quote: "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."

2) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Key Quote: "I guess I should have been excited the way most of the other girls were, but I couldn't get myself to react. I felt very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo."

3) Harry Potter series -- J.K. Rowling Key quote: "There was no point in worrying yet.... what would come, would come... and he would have to meet it when it did. "

4) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen Key quote: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

5) The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde (okay so it's a play but you should still read it) Key quote:"Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?"

The argument for the Harry Potter books is that Rowling is a great author that used her craft to bring people back into reading.
The argument against the Twilight books is that Stephenie Meyer is not. Sure, she's getting people to read but her books are...not good.

1. Dominion: The Power of Man The Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy by Matthew Scully. A plea targeted at everyone of all faiths/races to spead compassion for animals.
2. The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell. Because she helped pave the way for female writers.
3. It by Stephen King because everyone should read at least one of his books and i believe it's one of his best thought The Stand is a close second.
4. Me Talk Pretty on Day by David Sedaris, he's just so flippin funny.
5. Modoc by Ralph Helfer cause everyone should read the biography of the greatest elephant to have ever lived.
5.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. All five. ^^

The are books that I consistantly re-read
1) To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - what can I say, perfection
2) A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle - read this when I was a young teen, and still enjoy it
3) The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - a book that hooked me on reading when I was young
4) Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery - makes me cry everytime
5) A Room with a View - E. M. Forster - re-read this while I way touring Italy - a great book of cultural repression and liberation

1. The Perks of Being a Wall Flower
2. Scar tissue
3. The Catcher in the Rye
4. Into the Wild
5. Gossip Girl.......haha, im just kidding. but really ppl? twilight?

1.Man's search for meaning by Viktor Frankl has seen me through some very difficult times...I love his observation is that our last freedom is the freedom to chose how we feel
2.Kitchen Table Wisdom (stories that heal) by Rachel Naomi Remen. Dr Remen is a medical doctor who has been counselling terminal cancer patients for many years. The stories of how people faced their cancer is very moving.
3.Shake Hands with the Devil by Romeo Dallaire. A heartwrenching account by the Canadian General who lead the UN forces trying to keep peace during the Rwandan genocide. A good man trying to do his best in unimaginable circumstances.
4. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. An understanding about freeing yourself from your ego.
5. Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb. Story about a British girl raised as a Muslim in Ethopia. Deals with belonging and defining family in unconventional ways.

There are so many books in the world but they are those I always read again and again...in another 10 years this list might change.

1.) The Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander (there are 5 books in this series)
2.) Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
3.) Flowers in the Attic - V.C. Andrews
4.) The Color Purple - Alice Walker
5.) Mustang Wild Spirit of the West - Marguerite Henry

there are so many more but for a start these books are all great.

@onlyspinning White Oleander is one of those books that stay with you forever, I loved it. The premise of The Shack is really good, it's how I think God really is, but I wish it was written as good literature.

@MemarieLane The Alchemist is one of my favorites - I often give it as a gift.

1. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand (let's just say it was my 16th birthday well-spent)
2. Paper Towns - John Green
3. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
4. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

Enjoy, my friends.

Veronika Decides to Die - Paolo Coehlo
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
We the Living - Ayn Rand
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Well I could never have only 5 on my list, but here are 5 of many:
1, The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo - It's like a fairy tale for grown-ups, filled with lots of wisdom.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - to see the injustices of the world through a child's eyes
3. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafish - makes the free people of the world appreciate freedom and also our Literature, and how we are all the same
4. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - a compelling adventure story and so much more
5. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris - we all need to laugh and feel

1. Siddartha - Herman Hesse
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
3. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
4. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. What is the What? - Dave Eggers

In no particular order:
1. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
3. Blindness-Jose Saramago
4. Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl
5. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Do I have to stop now?

1. The Harry Potter Series, by JK Rowling: This seires inspired me to become a writer. I owe this series more than I could possibly say.

2. The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien: The perfect story. Tolkien's words are timeless and with each read, I figure out something new about life.

3. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn: Even in the worst of circumstances Ivan finds hope in life. It's a great message and a fantastic book.

4. Twlight, by Stephenie Meyer: I could easily roll my eyes at the exploding fandom and utterly horrible (in my opinion) final book, however I could read this novel over and over again. Stephenie's eye for detail and belief that the characters move the plot rather than the plot moving the characters is unique and inspiring.

5. Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer: Wonderfully written account of a true story. Krakauer mixes the life of Chris McCandless with his own story. It inspired me to really explore the world around me.

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez. It shows humanity for it's best and it's worst, the simplicity of life but at the same time it's over complication. By the end of the book you will want to go escape from the world.
2. To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee. Atticus Finch is what everyone should aspire to be.
3. Animal Farm, George Orwell. Some times we need reminding what can happen when too much power is held by one or few.
4. The Last Czar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II, Edvard Radzinsky. The saddest story that very few know about.
5. The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus, Joel Chandler Harris. The world has forgotten the power of story telling, this collection of tales reminds one of simpler times.

@Osgood I almost put The Stand instead of WWZ. I'm reading the comic series right now, and so far they are doing a great job (much better than the miniseries, imo).

1. Forever by Judy Blume
2. Free To Be by Marlo Thomas & Friends
3. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
4. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
5. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

1. Three Cups of Tea
2. Some Answered Questions/Abdu'l-Baha
3. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
4. The Island of the Same Name/Joseph Sheppherd
5 Music of the Spheres/Guy Murchie

Does anyone else remember 'The Giving Tree'? It just popped into my head and I can't forget the effect that had on me. I never recommended it to anyone but probably should have.

1. Harry Potter 1-7 by J.K. Rowling (totally counts as one book)
2. Othello by William Shakespeare
3. The Stand by Stephen King
4. Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
5. Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey

i forgot one! i know it'll make my list 6 but its a great read and my childhood favorite and still an all-time favorite really

6. Fantastic Mr. Fox

1. The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams
2. Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverteen
3. The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery's
4. Sermon on the Mount, Emmet Fox
5. The Wisdom of Florence Scoval Shinn, by Florence Scoval Shinn

The Shack - i believe this book really opens up new thinking about faith and God, and what those things mean in awful circumstances

White Oleander - the writing is great. this is just a great story about discovering yourself and this girl's journey, and relationships

Chuck Klosterman IV - a hilarious commentary on pop culture. check out his other books too!

Middlesex - a very intriguing story about a person with unusual circumstances. a good read

Speak - a younger read, but none less powerful. a great book about finding your voice when its been taken away

1. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss; not exactly fiction, not exactly a love story, one the most well written books i have ever ever ever read.
2. The Education of Mrs. Bemis by John Sedgewick; I've read this book over and over because of how rediculously interesting it is. I'm trying to describe it and I can't..
3. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; Do not judge this book by it's movie!! Everything in this book moves so flowy and perfectly
4. Survivor by Chuck Palahnuik by romantic and horrifying in all the best ways, i'm pretty amazing no one has mentioned anything by him!?
5. Schrodinger's Ball by Adam Felber; mannn SUCH a cool book. a mix of quantum physics and fiction that is just so so interesting. and really funny :]

I also wanted to put The Giver, Watership Down, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Time-Traveler's Wife but others have mentioned them, amaaazing books!!! and i'm reading Atlas Shrugged next for sure! :]]

1.Buddha, Story of Enlightenment-Deepak Chopra...I got it for christmas after openly expressing my deep love for Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse. It was very different but it really opened my eyes to another way of life.
2. The Sweet Far Thing-Libba Bray... It may be a book about a magical realm, but it can still be scary and intense. It deals with a lot of issues we are still dealing with today.
3. The Blood Confession-Alisa M. Libby... The name spells the story out. Its a book about the legend of Elizabeth Barthory, or Lady Dracula. Its a lesson about what vanity does to you, and the people around you.
4. Anthem-Amy Rand- I had to read this book for school, so it didnt start out on my list of excellent books. But once I read it, I found that it really was a good book. It was all about individuality and being your own person in a world that doesnt except that.
5.Girl,Interrupted-Susanna Kaysen...I found the book after watching the movie, and fell in love with the whole story. over time of reading and re-reading it, Kaysen has definetly become my hero.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert--amazing narrative of her life and it gave me a new perspective on life (i know some people who completely disagree with me on this too so it show that to each his own)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Beloved by Toni Morrison--what a mother would do to save a child from racism, very chilling

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. The Giver -Lois Lowry. Read it in 5th grade and continue to think about it over a decade later and be shaped by it.
2. The Four Loves- C.S. Lewis. I love almost all of Lewis' works, but this subject is my favorite. perhaps because I had so many guy friends my whole life and Lewis finally gave me the vocabulary to differentiate "friendship" from "eros"
3. East of Eden- John Steinbeck. I go back and forth between this and Grapes of Wrath, but being where I am now in life, the idea of "Timshel" has become very important
4. Our Town- Thorton wilder. OK, it's a play. and it's about living life every, every minute. the beautiy in the little things. etc. etc. completely changed how I try to live.
5. The Irresistible Revolution- SHane Claiborne. Another book that challenged the way I look at and live my life. A book about modern faith and the challenges we face living out Christ's love instead of safely hiding behind preconceived notions of "church"
5.

@jedikelb I LOVED Time Traveler's Wife. In fact I almost listed it myself but couldn't think of good reason to besides the fact that it is just an amazingly good book. :) Prodigal Summer was great too.

We The living by Ayn Rand (because I haven't yet read Atlas Shrugged)

The Odyssey by Homer - A fantastic Adventure story. (Narrowly beats out The count of monte cristo)

Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal - A great story about both the destructor and savior of works of art.

Watership Down by Richard Adams - Its more than a book about rabbits.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, but the audio version, not the print version, by Max Brooks - I love audio books, and hate to be in a car without one. This one is fantastic for a multitude of reasons, but I'll just list three: Its about freakin Zombies, after the fall of WWZ when people are giving a retrospect of different points in the epidemic/war, 2 - Each character is played by a different actor, perfectly and 3 - you can taste the grittiness.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons (but you should read the 3 previous books in the series first...)

What's So Amazing About Grace - Phillip Yancey:: Read the chapter about homosexuality.

The New Testament - I'm always amazed how many people who are down on Christianity haven't read the book.

The Travels of Marco Polo

Wild at Heart if you want to understand relationships better

The Sea People - every CEO in America should read this right now.

1. Mans Search for Meaning by Victor E Frankel breaks down the mentalities set in a prison system-- uses the holocaust as his example
2. On The Road by Jack Kerouac amazing book about traveling the US
3. Black Like Me by John Griffith written by a sociologist in the 1950's who decides to dye his skin black to answer the racial issue in the rural south... life changing!
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee another good book about looking at people through their actions not their skin color
5. Breaking Open the head by Daniel Pen--(forgot the spelling) about hallicigens, shamans and the modern world

Dune by Frank Herbert - a classic, and a wonderful blend of sci-fi and fantasy. Beautifully written.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - again, classic, so many important elements, such good writing.

A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer - it's a kid's book. It's also incredible.

Joan of Arc by Mark Twain - no one knows that Twain wrote a book on Joan, but he considered it to be his best, most polished work.

I can't pick a fifth. Rob Bell writes some amazing non-fiction on Christianity; one of his books would probably go here.

1. Atlas Shrugged – It's pretty preachy, but it's a pretty incredible prophecy of what's happening to our society
2. What is the What – While not 100% factually true, it's an eye-opening tale of what happened to the Lost boys of Sudan both while they were escaping and after arriving in America.
3. Groundswell – mostly because it's what I do for a living, but I think this book provides a great roadmap for companies getting started with social media.
4. The Chronicles of Narnia – I kind of love these books. Beautiful allegory.
5. The Fair Tax Book – I long for the day when this could actually happen.

twilight...
olya's story....
eragon.....
eldest ( sequel of eragon )....
moon light ( sequel of twilight )......

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho- following your dreams
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrisom - self esteem and racism
Cider House Rules by John Irving - excellent arguments on both sides of the abortion debate
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut - the value of life
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - society

1. Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
2. Story of B - Daniel Quinn
3. My Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
(the above is a fantastic series, a very easy read as well. not very "advanced" in terms of books but the ideas and though provoked is fantastic.)
4. A people's History - Howard Zen
5. Dammaphada