sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

March 14, 2006


british librarians tell you what to read
posted by soe 3:07 pm

The Guardian, the best paper to read if you like literature, has published a list of librarians’ must-read books.

Librarians were asked by the Museum, Libraries, and Achives Council, “Which book should every adult read before they die?”

The complete list, with those I’ve read in bold (those I’ve read parts of are marked with a single asterisk):

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  2. The Bible*
  3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
  4. 1984 by George Orwell
  5. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  8. All Quiet on the Western Front by E M Remarque
  9. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman*
  10. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
  11. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  12. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  13. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
  14. Tess of the D’urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
  15. Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
  16. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
  17. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
  18. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  19. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  20. The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  21. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
  22. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
  23. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  24. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  25. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  26. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
  27. Middlemarch by George Eliot
  28. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
  29. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
  30. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

If we include the two I’ve read parts of, I’m halfway through the list, with a strong emphasis on the classics.

Granted, it’s clear from this list that books originally written in English and those written by Brits themselves get a higher priority than on lists that other groups would create. But that’s still okay. Because it’s fun to see what others recommend.

Category: books. There is/are 3 Comments.



So you can see where I stand on this list:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bible
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All Quiet on the Western Front by E M Remarque
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Tess of the D’urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

Comment by randomduck 03.14.06 @ 4:01 pm

I will try to remember to ask my librarian to make a list of books every adult should read before they die, and see how different the list is.

I would also be curious to hear what books anyone, librarian or otherwise, recommends everyone should read after. I would guess there will be some on that list that we haven’t heard of, and which sprite and I will never get to read.

I think it shows that I stopped being an English major in that the number I have read is far less than half of the above list. Completely finished might count three of them. Even Jane Eyre I never finished, which meant I never had to worry about whether or not I liked the ending (I’m not sure I would prefer Thursday Next’s changes, either).

Comment by Grey Kitten 03.14.06 @ 9:33 pm

Haven’t read:
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Woo! Gimme another list so I can show off how erudite and loopy I am!

Comment by PJ 03.14.06 @ 10:46 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.