I saw this list floating about the other day and I was so intrigued by it I thought I would see what readers of my blog thought of it. The list was written by Marc and Angel of Marc and Angel Hack Life (love them). They have come up with a list of 30 books you should read before you are thirty. The reasoning behind their choices: HERE
So I am already pass thirty and I have read a few of these books. What do you think - Would these books make your list of 30 before 30? How many have you read?
1. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I will probably never read this book}
7. The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
8. The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
10. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
11. The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton
12. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
13. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
14. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
15. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
16. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
17. Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
18. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
19. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
21. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
22. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
23. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
24. The Republic by Plato
25. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
26. Getting Things Done by David Allen
27. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
28. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
29. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
30. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
I have read 13 out of the 30 books so far – which is pretty darn good in my world. How about you and would you add any book to that list…
I read romance and love it – I wonder what would be on a romance list of must read before thirty… Any thoughts
29 Speak To Me:
Um. I've read 11, but I didn't vote because... I couldn't really tell you on most of them whether it was before I was 30 or not. Probably. But... I can't remember for sure.
I've read 10 on the list and read them all before I was 30!
Great list, I'll need to check the other books out! :)
HAHAHAHAHAHA 1 Yep, one, uno, jeden, ichi. (1984 - forced to in high school)
Guess that tells you I'm culturally ignorant. How come Cat in the Hat's not on there? Or any Johanna Lyndsey titles? Then I'd do well. Even Homer would work for me.
I've always been a popular culture reader, not "literature" as some experts would call it.
I've read only 9 of those books and all of them by the time I was thirty. Now I feel like I have to read the others on the list.
The list is much too intellectual for someone with my plebian tastes altho I did read War and Peace many years ago.
@Chris..
Me too - I know I read at least one after 30, so I can get with that..
I am actually surprise I read so many to be honest...
E.h>
@Blanche..
whooo hooo - well done you for getting that done before 30...
I still have a huge amount to read as well...
E.h>
@Tam..
I can't believe you only read one book... really...
Please at least read The Art of War - so good....
Cat in the Hat - Classic, should be number one if truth be told...
I don't think Johanna Lyndsey makes the grade...
E.H>
@ A Buckeye Girl Reads
Please hon, no rush - some of those I will never read.,...
Romance is keeping me occupied...
E.h>
@Patrica..
Well I have 2,5 years left to read 29 books...I think I'll pass
Actually I have read all but seven of the books. That is probably due to the fact that my upper elementary/college classes required most of them. I also found that some of them were just darn good reading and picked them up in the days when I had to squeeze my reading in with dishes, dusting, house cleaning -- during the baby's nap. So Thanks for posting this list -- oddly enough, it was a very pleasant trip down memory lane.
Yikes! I've only read 2 book - Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird - thanks to my high school english classes. I'm more of a romantic. I like Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and Jane Austen.
I read three and a half. Three were school reading and the half was my choice.
I have read 9 but I can't say I am very impressed with this list. I can see the reasoning why they chose those books, but I don't see a point in reading Darwin, for example. You learned about him in school, that is enough for me. Next thing you know they put "The Double Helix" or Mendel's writings on the list.
I think I read 9 or 10 but most of those books I turn my nose up at - they would certainly be DNFs for me (bo-ring!) It is kind of a weird list...
I'm not much impressed by this list either.
@Patricia..
That comment made me giggle..
As a librarian I am surprise you have not read more...
E.h>
@Blodeuedd..
Well I have 2,5 years left to read 29 books
Snap to it them girl.. times a wasting..
LOL
@Dr J..
I read most of mine during me early school years as well..
I can't say I had any fun with most of them.. but I agree there were some that was worth the memory... TKAMB..
:)
@Zee.
Welcome to my place...
I am actually surprise none of the romance classic were on it...
very surprise...
:)
@Amy..
happy weekend hon..
You have a whole lot of catching up to do...
You better put down that romance book and start....
LOL
:)
@ Rikki..
I know what you mean - when I saw The lord of Flies - I was sure Animal Farm would be there some where... as you would read them in the same time frame..
But then books like Great Expectation is not there - which is just a damn good book, even leaving off the The Sonnets -have ruled out a whole set of people..
damn silly list....
E.H>
@Patti..
they would certainly be DNFs for me (bo-ring!)
Totally agree - I would never want to read War and Peace.. why would I...
:)
@VC
Join the gang hon..
Damn silly list..
.
:)
I'm late to the party. :)
I've read three of them and they were during high school.
There are some great books missing. What about Dante's Inferno? Ray Bradbury and Shakespeare?
Maybe I can get extra points since one of the three I read was War and Peace. That one should count as more. :)
@Lily..
I don't think much people have read War and Peace....go you..
I agree about the list - quite a few books were left off that list...
Definately Shakespeare should be on there...
:)
I love that Clockwork Orange is on here. :) I read many (eleven, I think) of those titles, but not all. Some just don't interest me. In some cases, I read alternative titles (my professors were mavericks) by the same authors (like, Wasteland. Why is T.S. Eliot's Wasteland, or John Steinbeck--anything but G.o.W? Why are they not *the ones* to read? I read G.o.W, but prefer some of his others more). Some of these titles/authors I'd never even heard of until after I turned thirty. Makes me wonder who came up with this list. And yes, Shakespeare should be! at least Hamlet. ;)
@VP.
.
It would vbe sacrilage if Clockwork Orange was not on there...
but, I am thinking this list is short of a good many books to satisfy us ...
at least we had fun..
E.H>
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