A DU'er posted Replies of DU Members "Must Read" list for Books that Make a Difference...

[KoKo]

I was looking for something else...but, saw this. Thought others might find it interesting for a "Re-Post."

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Pretzel_Warrior (6,354 posts)

Third and FINAL installment in DU user Book Recommendations

Last edited Sun Jan 13, 2013, 07:38 PM - Edit history (1)
Hello again! My latest list combines all of the later suggestions other than a couple that just came in--Sorry!!
Anyway, the order of book titles didn't change a whole lot, but there was some movement. I also extended the list to the top 29 based on # of recommenders and where they ranked it (or which they listed first even if they weren't ranked).

In this list, I also included every book title and author people suggested beyond the top 29 (which each got at leat 3 votes). The remaining are sorted by number of votes it got and then alphabetically.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022186743

I will be following up in this discussion board with a more comprehensive suggested "teen reads" list that I'm working on which takes into account DU recommendations and a variety of other sources.

This has been a very enlightening and expansive project helping me to see where teen literature has been going the past couple of decades, and my new list will definitely be incorporating more of a focus on pleasant but eye-opening reads for teenagers and writings from other perspectives such as people of color, international writers, etc.

Happy Reading!

1 To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
2 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
3 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
4 Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut
5 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkein
6 A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn
7 Lord of the Flies William Golding
8 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
9 Catch 22 Joseph Heller
10 Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell
11 Siddharta Hermann Hesse
12 Animal Farm George Orwell
13 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
14 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert Heinlein
15 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
16 Ishmael Daniel Quinn
17 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
18 The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
19 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
20 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
20 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut
20 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey
23 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig
24 Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
25 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
26 Les Miserables Victor Hugo
27 Harry Potter J.K. Rowling
28 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
29 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Again a big 'THANK YOU' to the folks who contributed their suggested book titles. Many others also participated in the original thread. If any of you feel I missed anything or you have more to add, just reply to this message or PM me.

[MrScorpio]

1. Can I watch the movies instead?

I like movies.

[Shandris]

2. I'm sure on many of them you can, but don't bother with Hunger Games.

Go to the source: Battle Royale. Much better.

[Shandris]

3. I would also recommend Johnny Got His Gun and...

Born on the 4th of July.

[Brother Buzz]

5. Johnny Got His Gun does get a mention in PW's OP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022186743

[Shandris]

6. Ack! You're right, sorry about that!

Now to go hide sheepishly somewhere... Oh look, here's a nice wall!:

[Brother Buzz]

8. LOL, blame that lazy KoKo for not posting PW's entire OP ;)

On a side note: It looks like PW's time-out ends Sunday.

[ananda]

4. That is a fantastic list!

I'm bookmarking it.

Right now I'm reading Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence,
an excellent comprehensive book on what Barzun considers the
three main revolutions of modern times.

I'm still in part one of the first modern revolution, the Protestant
Reformation. I just finished the intro on Humanism, which has a
more complex history than I had been aware of, most interesting.
Tomorrow I read the section on Petrarch, the first Humanist ...
I had no idea that Petrarch started this movement, so this is
turning out to be a wonderful learning experience.

[arcane1]

7. Glad to see "Cat's Cradle" on the list, and at least one non-fiction :)

I posted a thread last month requesting non-fiction suggestions, and there were MANY great replies:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024146773

[RainDog]

9. mighty white list

Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man? imo, this is one of the greatest novels by an American.

Jame Baldwin - Giovanni's Room?

Alice Walker - The Color Purple?

No Toni Morrison on there? The Bluest Eye? Sula? Beloved?

No Haruki Murakami (who will likely win the Nobel Prize for literature one of these years soon) - he's Japanese

I would remove Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Ishmael and probably a few others for these authors.