This New Year, make a promise to read some great works of
literature
Forget losing weight or keeping a cleaner house. Make a New Year’s resolution that will be fun to keep this year: Start reading all of those great works of literature you’ve always meant to read but have never gotten around to.
To get you started, here are 30 suggestions. Books made the list if they were recommended more than once. The top 10 books were the most frequently suggested by teachers, book retailers, frequent readers and South Valley Newspapers staff writers. We also tried to avoid listing books most people read in high school or Oprah’s Book Club books.
A few of the book listings include a short description about the stories and their authors.
So grab your scissors, cut the list out and get to your nearest book retailer!
1. War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
This was by far the most-suggested novel. It seems most people want to read it someday but are deterred by the size of the book (1,000 plus pages). The epic follows the stories of five families and is set during the Napoleonic wars.
2. The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
Aside from being on many people’s “I should read that” list, South Valley residents have no excuse not to read this great work of literature because it’s by the Central Coast’s favorite native son. Steinbeck wrote this novel while living in Los Gatos and won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1940. He eventually went on to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
3. Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
This book was recommended by Melissa McGrath, an English teacher at San Benito High School, as well as Cinda Meister, owner of BookSmart in Morgan Hill.
“This is definitely one of those books I’ve always meant to read,” Meister said. “A lot of people have read it, but I just never have.”
4. Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens
Many of Dickens’ novels were suggested to be included in the list, but this one was mentioned more than any other. Meister said this is a good Dickens book to begin with because it isn’t as thick as some of his others, making it more accessible.
5. The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
This was one of the most suggested books by the South Valley Newspapers staff. It’s hard to get into the book at first, said staff member Jenn Van Gundy, but once you do, it’s gripping. Just watch out for the Russian names – they can be tricky.
6. The House on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
7. 1984
by George Orwell
8. The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
9. Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert
10. Catch 22
by Joseph Heller
11. Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
12. The Moonstone
by Wilke Collins
This is thought to be the first great detective novel, first published in 1868. Sherlock Holmes wasn’t published until almost 20 years later. The book is about the theft of the Moonstone, a huge gem originally pilfered from a Hindu statue in India. The novel features 11 different narrators, a highly unusual writing technique at the time the book was written.
13. Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
14. Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
15. Redburn
by Herman Melville
Believe it or not, Melville wrote something other than “Moby Dick”! This book is also about a journey at sea, but no whales are involved. If you’re looking to ease into Melville and find the length of Moby Dick daunting, this book, at almost half the length, may be a good way to do it.
16. The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
17. The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
18. The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
19. The BFG
by Roald Dahl
“BFG” – short for “Big Friendly Giant” – is another of Dahl’s children’s tales, albeit less well-known than others such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach.” We think adults and children alike will fall in love with “BFG.”
20. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
21. The Magic Mountain
by Thomas Mann
22. Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
23. Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott
24. The Silmarillion
by JRR Tolkien
Several people suggested the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies, also by Tolkien, but we chose this book because it is the precursor to all six of the others. To read Tolkien in the correct order, start with “The Silmarillion” to get the proper introduction to Middle Earth and all of its turmoil, then move on to the Hobbit series and finally to the Lord of the Rings.
25. Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand
This book is a mystery, a romance and a philosophic treaties. Rand isn’t an easy read, but it’s worth the struggle. Just arm yourself with some patience before sitting down with this one.
26. The Stranger
by Albert Camus
27. Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo
28. Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes
29. All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Remarque
30. The Bible
McGrath was the only person to suggested this book. When we mentioned it in our discussions with other people, a common reaction was, “You know, I’ve always wanted to read that all the way through.” So, here it appears on the list as a reminder that you’ve probably wanted to give this book a complete read.
