To-Read Lists

By Andy on Jul 29, 2009 | Add a Comment

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> So many books, so little time. There are the GREAT books of world literature that we all “should” read. There are the hot books of the hour that we must read to be part of the conversation. There are easy books to pass idle hours in the enjoyable process of reading. And there are books perfectly suited to our emotional states or life events.

All these books add up to lists: our book group lists, the weekly bestseller lists featured on this Web site, our Staff Picks lists, and so many others.

Of course books and vacations go together. Visit the NPR Web site and you’ll find a list of the 100 best beach books, as voted by almost 16,000 avid reading listeners.

Others, too, will be happy to help you decide what should be on your list. In his Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature’s 50 Greatest Hits, medieval and renaissance literature scholar Jack Murnighan assesses the broad range, from The Illiad and the Old Testament to Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Like a very experienced travel guide, Murnighan gives a quick overview, then zeros in on the buzz, what people don’t know (but should), the best line, a quirky fact, what’s sexy, and what to skip. 

George Walsh covers similar territory in abbreviated form in his 50 (plus one) Great Books You Should Have Read (and probably didn’t). Unlike Murnighan, however, he includes important works of religion, political philosophy, and science, from Plato’s Republic and the Koran to Einstein’s Relativity and McLuhan’s Understanding Media.

What do writers read? J. Peder Zane’s The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books compiles the choices of 125 contemporary authors, from Sherman Alexie to Meg Wolitzer. This thoughtful bunch nominated 544 different works of literature. The winner? Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, but the other 543, as detailed here, are definitely worth your consideration.

Finally, there is 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, edited by Peter Boxall. This is nearly a life list, a history of the novel through the ages, from Aesop’s Fables to Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.