Essential Reading

Here are some suggestions for books that you think should be essential reading for everyone. Feel free to send more.

Adult

I believe Crime and Punishment should be required reading, obviously for higher grade levels. I did not read in until my mid thirties and I can confidently say that the struggle between confession of guilt to cleanse the soul and the desire for self-preservation by avoiding the consequences of actions is something that we all face daily, and had I had a better understanding of this concept many of my earlier choices would have been different. Also, the thought process explored by which the end of a particular line of thinking or plan justifying the means necessary to get there, no matter how violent or morally wrong and the folly of this rationale, is something that all developing minds can benefit from.
Thank you,

Jeff

A book that I have just read that I think is a beautiful work of art and
everyone would enjoy...LES MISERABLES By Victor Hugo.
This piece was originally over 2000 words long.  Daunting for some indeed. 
I am planning to tackle it anyway after reading the condensed version.  It
is the story of a man that was branded a thief. He spent over 19 years in
prison. Upon his release he spent the rest of his life running from his past
and looking for love and forgiveness.  This is a book for everyone because
it deals with the social barriers that still enslave us all.   

Mellissa Foster

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Nothings by Ron Deboer are must reads because they both express the search for an identity. Jane Eyre is my favourite book, Bronte captures the themes of passion, sorrow and romance. The Nothings is a modern story that speaks truth about our society.

There's a very old book which may be impossible to get hold of now, on the life of Ignaz Semmelweiss. It's called The Cry and the Covenant and I think the author's name is Thomas Morton. It's one of those books that's part fiction to make an interesting story out of what's essentially a biography. I read it years ago, before I ever heard of him (if anyone doesn't know who he is, look in a good encyclopedia) and wish I'd kept it, but unfortunately it disappeared. Everyone who has ever given birth should read this.

Chris Gardner

Robert R. McCammon's Boy's Life is a beautiful book
that deals with everything from bullies to death to
faith. It will make you cry so much that you won't
want to read it, but you will have to, if only to see
what happens next. It's long (paperback is about 580
pages) but well worth it.

Christina King

Young Adult

1. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
     Who could have claimed to have grown up without
reading this book? I read it only when I was 25 and
found that Salinger very rightly put into words what I
was feeling in my earlier years.

2. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
     The only book (so far) which I can't put down!

3. Animal Farm - George Orwell
     Easy to read and short (only 98 pages) but the
allegories go beyond simple fairy tale. Good for all
ages, could be introduced into a classroom to
stimulate thinking.

From Yeo.

Were I recommending books to either students or family
members, I would strive for variety above all. Variety
in both subject matter and age of the work.

Now, having said that, I'm naturally going to go right
ahead and do a little recommending anyway, but only
for purposes of clarification. ;) For late pre-teens
and older, I would suggest Heinlein, Shakespeare,
Spillane, Jung, Hemingway, Ayn Rand (philosophy books,
as well as her fiction), Stephen King, Carlos
Castaneda, Fred Alan Wolf, Homer, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Immanuel Kant...well, you get the idea.
These are merely examples off the top of my head.
Specific subject matter is not as important as it's
variability.

Variety is not only the spice of life, it dictates
it's quality. Without variety, choices are fewer.
Fewer choices leads inevitably to a narrow, stagnant
life.

Michael Courson
San Antonio, Texas

I teach my child what I learned in my teens, read every banned book you can.
Those you can't read, check the summaries in 100 Banned Books : Censorship
Histories of World Literature by Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, Dawn
B. Sova, Ken Wachsberger.  You'll never appreciate the opportunity to learn
in the same way again.

Mary D Crowe

Children (and adults)

1.    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
because:

(a) It's delightful and fanciful, and engages the creative imagination in a
way that television and movies simply can't;
(b) It doesn't suffer from the stuffiness and stilted, archaic
structure/language that some classic do;
(c) The frequent allusions to of Alice in Wonderland  in modern literature,
movies, music and conversation cry out for a context to give them meaning;
(d) It's quite funny in places and so ludicrous throughout that you can't
help enjoying it;
(e) It's as fun to read in adulthood as it is in childhood;
(f) Everyone needs to read the full text of The Jabberwocky and The Walrus
and the Carpenter at least once in their lives;
(g) It was the very first book I read on my own as a child. It took me a
month of reading every day, sitting in my dad's armchair, but I so loved the
story that I couldn't put it down, and the impression it made on me has
lasted a lifetime.


2.   The Wind in the Willows because of the same reasons I listed in (a)
through (e) above. Additionally, its characters are so
delightfully quirky and well-developed that the reader can't help liking
them and becoming invested in their well-being.

 3.   The Doctor Dolittle books, especially "Doctor Dolittle's Circus",
"Doctor Dolittle's Caravan", "Doctor Dolittle's Zoo", "The Voyages of Doctor
Dolittle" ... all for the same reasons I gave for "The Wind in the Willows".

4. The Jungle Book, for similar reasons, but also as a backdrop to
understanding the attitude in Kipling's time toward people of color, their
societies and cultures.

5. Anything by Roald Dahl, for the same reasons as given above for "Alice in
Wonderland", "The Wind in the Willows" and the "Doctor Dolittle" books.
Additionally, Roald Dahl's frequent theme of mistreated/unfortunate children
surviving and overcoming    unpleasant  circumstances makes the stories
particularly delicious. Of all the Roald Dahl books,  The BFG is my
favorite because of its naughty focus on body functions - a subject that
make kids giggle and adults squirm.

The bottom line for me is that these are all books I loved as a kid and
loved just as much when I had kids of my own with whom to share them.
Nothing in life is as warm and wonderful as curling up with a child on my
lap and one of these marvelous books in hand to read aloud.

From Pam Slick, San Diego, California.

Interesting Aside

You mention Through the Looking Glass.  It is my understanding that it is not only a children’s book, but a commentary on quantum physics. The strange happenings which are widely taken as drug reference are really reference to many of the strange principles of quantum physics. For example, after the chess game “We have all won and all must have prizes” seems like a childlike mentality. What could easily be taken as a childish statement is really talking about the wave-particle debate. It was assumed that light had to be either wave or particle. If an experiment was set up to prove it to be wave, it would hold true. The same would happen with particle experiments. It was finally decided that light had a dual nature. Hence everyone was right and they should all receive the Nobel prize.

It talks about the uncertainty principle, the dual nature of light, general relativity, and even tunneling ( there is a picture of tunneling). Check out some of the drawings in the book. There is at least one that I remember that is most definitely Werner Heisenberg.

It’s a lot of fun if you recognize the references. Actually it’s a lot of fun even if you don’t.  Just a comment I thought you would like to hear. 

 Phil Weaver ( www.karaticise.com )

'I recommend 11 Year Old Refugee, by Bogdan Tiganov,
because the poems in this book are wonderfully
heartfelt.  Also, Paul Escu's books Tarnish, and its
sequel Fakery, are essential because of the
extraordinary power of these books - classics in the
field of cult reads.'

Sincerely,

Bogdan Tiganov http://www.authorsden.com/bogdantiganov

If you're serious about writing that book, I strongly recommend you take a look at this site!   Click here

Home | Contact | Order | Site Map |Subscribe   

Copyright 2006 Jennifer Stewart Write101.com