Books that everyone should read before they die.

[Pithe]

I want to know what are the great books, the life changers, the ones every person should read at least once in their life. Doesn't matter if it's a classic or something nobody's even heard of but you and the author's mom, what are your must-reads?

[Kelsey Grace]

Watch out for Levin in Anna Karenina. A friend of mine and I read it at the same time over the summer, and he captivated both of us. And the preface to Dorian Gray alone is pure genius!

[Trick]

Thanks, I'll be sure to watch for him! And I think Dorian Gray on the whole is one of the most ingenious books I've ever read - it's both utterly creepy and really quite thought-provoking.

[Kutzki]

I'm always adding to this list, though none come off it.

All my friends are superheros - Andrew Kaufman
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man - Joseph Heller
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
A Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Hard Times - Charles Dickens
Galapogas - Kurt Vonnegut
White Noise - Don DeLillo
The Castle - Frankz Kafka
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories- Nikolai Gogol
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
Death in Venice - Thomas Mann
L'Etranger (The Stranger/ The Outsider) - Albert Camus
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
A Separate Peace - John Knowles
Waiting for the Barbarians - J. M. Coetzee
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
The Island of Dr. Moreau - H. G. Wells
The Butter Battles - Dr. Seuss
Chicken Butt; The Story of a Man - N. A. Kay
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - Carol Lewis
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Passing - Nella Larsen
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Book of Guys - Garrison Keillor
The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories - Leo Tolstoy
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Stupid Fairy Tales - Jon Scieszka
God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian - Kurt Vonnegut
Everyman - Philip Roth

Each one helped me through a point or two in my life.
These are not just great reads; they open a portal into Knowledge, Heart, and Soul.
Man, that last line sounds kind of preachy...

[Insert Somewhat Creative Name]

Planning to read Catcher in the Rye at some point...
I've read Moby Dick, I read Of Mice and Men recently - required school reading... it was really good :)
And I think I may slightly remember The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Stupid Fairy Tales from grade school.
Ahh, good times, good times...

[Kutzki]

I know, right! I bumped into the book on Amazon when looking up another book and was very pleased to be reminded of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Stupid Fairy Tales.

[Zadie]

Random Factoid: A Seperate Peace is based on the school John Knowles went to, Phillips Exeter Academy. The school still exists today.

[tammy franyik]

any of john green books, they are amazing made me the nerdfighter i am today :)

[GrapefruitSally]

Any(or all) Dr. Seuss, Amelia Bedelia, and Miss Piggly Wiggly books (yes, I realize these are children's books but that doesn't make them any less important)
A Little Princess
The Giver
Cut
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Into Thin Air
Brave New World
Watchmen (everyone should read a comic book/graphic novel or multiple)
Breakfast of Champions

[Runa]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone on here needs to add some children's books to their lists. I mean, come on, they are at least important in the sense that they got most of us into reading in the first place :)

[Elena]

Angela's Ashes!

[Ereshkigal Inanna]

The Salmon Of Doubt-Douglas Adams

[Natalie]

Before I Die
The Giver
Harry Potter
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Les Miserables
The Time Quartet (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters)
Cat's Cradle
Paper Towns
Maniac Magee
The Catcher in the Rye (I wasn't personally a fan of it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's "one of those books")
And, of course, Dr. Seuss is essential.