Stephenie Meyer has had great success in her market, but let's leave her completely OFF the 1000 books you must read. (unless you are a teenybopper, anyway)

What about Barbara Cartland then? Isn't she earlier than Danielle Steel?
Not saying that I want her added though...

Danielle Steel kinda pioneered the romantic genre, though.

Twilight is a step above Danielle Steele. Please!

I read Twilight and definitely do not think it belongs on this list. It's really nothing new, and literarily it's not great. Plus it's too new to know if it will last or if it's just a fad.

Laura, you're right. The influence is more cultural and with the purpose of the book formulated like you mention, I stand corrected. :-)

I would argue that while Harry Potter had an influence, it wasn't a literary one. As far as the form goes, it contributes very little. One of the reasons it has had such power in popular culture because it employs classic archetypes - not because it's inventing a new structure, concept, style, etc. It does what it does quite well, but it's nothing new. I think it could be left out of the list and a reader wouldn't be missing some important aspect of the evolution of the novel. I think the key phrase here is 'seminal work key to understanding and appreciating the written word'.

I don't believe Dante, Homer and the Bible fits the category of this list so I think it's fair enough that they are not on the list.
I think some authors have too many books on it so I think it's fair to take some of these away and put some others on the list.

If it's okay to put ya on the list, I do think that there should be a Harry Potter book on the list because as I see the list, it's about novels having influence, and Harry Potter definitely fits this description. Maybe Twilight will too, I'm not sure of that since I haven't read it, but I don't think it will.

I don't think the Brothers Karamazov should be taken off.

I was surprised these didn't make the list:
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Dune by Frank Herbert
and
Narnia by CS Lewis (or at least The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Linda wrote: "Jenni,
While I agree with your must-read juvenile/ya novels, there are just too many others that could be added along with Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, Little House, etc. Although Pippi Longstocking is..."

Pippy Longstocking for the win! :) I can't wait to read those to my daughter!

I'm going to have to agree with Sarah here...Twilight is not in the same category....

Wife of GR author: Michael J. Sullivan | The Crown Conspiracy (10/08) | Avempartha (04/09)

Woah. Twilight with the likes of Faulkner & Vonnegut? I think no.

Personally yea the series is one of my favorites of all time, but in no way is it literarily credible. The grammar, syntax, and authorship are completely abominable and not worthy of a list such as this. That's equal to stating we need a Fabio covered trash novel on here, except that the Fabio book was edited better.

Twilight
Harry Potter
The Chronicals of Narnia
A tale of Deasperaux
Little house in the big woods

Sorry! That is: "Ange of Repose", and "Crossing to Safety", both by Wallace Stegner.

Jenni,
While I agree with your must-read juvenile/ya novels, there are just too many others that could be added along with Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, Little House, etc. Although Pippi Longstocking is on the list...

Light in August - Faulkner
The Clown - Heinrich Boll
Darkness at Noon - Koestler
Gilead - Marilynne Robison
The Hidden Wound - Wendell Berry

wait, is Blood Meridian on the list? Because that is a MUST!!!!!

Angle of Repose
Crossing to Safety
both by Wallace Stegner

Here are mine:

The Chronicles of Narnia
Shogun
The Princess Bride
A Wrinkle in time
Little House on the Prairie series

Even if a few of them are considered juvenile literature, they're still classic-type books that everyone should read. :)

I checked and doublechecked the list, looking for Atlas Shrugged. I couldn't believe it wasn't on there.

Also, they removed Brothers Karamazov for the 2008 list, which is just insane.

And I haven't yet read Watership Down, but until someone mentioned it in this thread, I definitely would have assumed it had made the list!

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (JULES VERNE)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (JK Rowling)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (CS Lewis)
The Voyages of Dr Doolittle (Hugh Lofting
The Call of the Wild and White Fang (Jack London)

I believe the following two should definitely be on the list. A McEwan or two could easily be sacrificed.

Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
The Invention Of Morel, Adolfo Bioy Casares

So with those comments in mind, here are my picks that should be on the list:

1. The Good Earth (what, no Pearl Buck??)
2. Fahrenheit 451 (what, no Bradbury??)
3. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (at least that gets him onto the list!)
4. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
5. Metamorphosis by Kafka
and just a couple more:
6. My Antonia by Cather
7. Tom Sawyer, because I also think Twain deserves more than just the one on the list.

It seems like works such as A Wrinkle in Time, Chronicles of Narnia and The Little House series are not included since they fall into the basically juvenile lit. category. If those are included, there are many other juvenile works that should also be added. (We just need to make our own list of children's/teen novels!)

Since this is supposed to be "Books" it seems to me that anything in verse as well as plays should also be excluded in order to be consistent, which would leave out Dante and Goethe's Faust. And although I agree that the Bible is a must-read, it technically is a collection of 66 books, not just one!

I'm going to go with

I'll have to second Dune and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and The Bible

For Twain, I have to vote for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

The one whose absence I was most struck by was Grace Paley's Enormous Changes at the Last Minute which I think had a profound effect on feminist ideals and is simply wonderful and unique writing.

I agree The Stand is an excellent book, and though I enjoyed the Shining, it almost seemed likt they just randomly picked a Stephen King book to put upon the list, The Stand would have been a more deserving choice.

After having just finnished Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson I am surprsied it was not mentioned on the list. I think it deserves to be there.

So many are missing. But if I had to pick five--

1. The City Boy OR The Caine Mutiny - Herman Wouk

2. The Bible -- Talk about a "must read before you die"; it's also essential for understanding most English literature; and it has some of the oldest short stories, epic, closet drama, etc.

3. The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

4. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

5. Night OR Dawn - Elie Wiesel

I'd replace Stephen King's The Shining with The Body or The Stand. I'd replace Cat's Cradle with Player Piano (Vonnegut). I might replace one of the Waugh with The Loved One.

For classics, I agree with adding 'The Metamorphosis' - definitely a must-read.

Also Kenneth Roberts, one of my all time favorite authors; shouldn't 'Northwest Passage' (at least) and 'Rabble in Arms' be included in the list?

As for newer books, the two that come to mind for me are 'Out Stealing Horses' by Per Petterson and 'Evening is the Whole Day' by Preeta Samarasan.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle was on the old list.
If both of Henry Miller's tropics have been dropped I'll be happy.

Several by Ian McEwen, Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Austin and Peter Ackroyd were dropped from the 2008 list. Sounds as if some of you will be glad to hear that!

Some of my choices are already listed, but here goes:

1. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
2. A Separate Peace - John Knowles
3. The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
4. A Dry White Season - Andre Brink*
5. The Heart of a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

And because I can never seem to follow the rules
6. Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain



Also, I believe that Blindness, All the Pretty Horses, Barabas and The Wind Up Bird Chronicles were added to the 2008 version. Someone mentioned that one earlier.

*added to the 2008 version

No prob. There are a few books that have more than one title, so it becomes confusing (i.e. Demons/Devils/The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky).

oops my bad. Yes I think it is listed as The Outsider, and I just did not realize that was the same. Thank you

The Stranger is on the list...it is just probably listed under its other title The Outsider. The Stranger/The Outsider...same book.

I was also surprsied to fine The Stranger, by Camus not on the list

I have to agree, having just read The Metamorphosis for the first time. It is classic and essential, regardless of length! :)

Yeah, The Metamorphosis should absolutely be on the list!

I was shocked to read that The Metamorphisis wasn't on the list. I thought that it was such an obvious selection, and that since Kafka has two other books on the list, this would be there as well. Wow. I mean, it's longer than many of the shorter books on the list, like The Garden Party, The Nose, and those Poe short stories.

Yet another one to grill the editor about!

Though perhaps it is too much of a short story for the list, I think The Metamorphisis by Kafka would be deserving of a place. I could think of some of the novels I would rather see replaced by this story.

Not particularly a big Rand fan but Darkness at Noon does seem like it should be on there. Same with Heinrich Boll's "The Clown" and maybe not some of the others of his on the list.

Ayn Rand is something of an aquired taste. Personally I think The Fountainhead is absolutely fantastic but I know a lot of people that hate it and her wiritng.

Though I do like Jane Austen, I agree with you about her works on the list. Persuasion really was not that good, not as good as some books that were excluded from the list. I could see Pride and Prejudice, but her entire works did not really kneed to be there.

I find it a rather gross oversight that Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon," easily one of the best political novels I've ever read, didn't make the list. Also, where's Butler's "The Way of All Flesh," McCullers' "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," and ANYTHING by Bradbury? Also, even though I don't really like her books, I find it odd that Ayn Rand didn't make the list.

But you know, with such limited space, I guess there had to be some sacrifices. After all, why include these books when you can include the entire output of Jane Austen and books like The Taebek Mountains and Professor Unrat, since, you know, that last two are so easily available to English speakers (i.e., the people this book is marketed to).

Here are two books I was imidieately dissapointed to not find on the list, and that I think everyone should read.

Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I'll second Becca on the Time Traveler's Wife.

Anything by Jayne Anne Philips. It is incredibly sad that not one of her works is on the list. Shelter is possibly my favorite novel of all time

The main book missing is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I agree with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

My other four
-Clan of the Cavebears; Jean M. Auel
-The Red Tent; Anita Diamante
-A Wrinkle In Time; Madeline L'Engle
-The Princess Bride; William Golding

Mcgyvers--

I think All The Pretty Horses was included on the "updated" list.

And Jessica--

I totally agree about Ayn Rand. I forgot that one on my list I posted before, but I was quite surprised to not see Atlas Shrugged or the Fountainhead on here.

I agree that Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Good Earth should be included. Also, why no Ayn Rand? Certainly Atlas Shrugged is one of thos books that people always put on "most influential books" type of lists. Ok, for my other two choices, I'd like to see Barabbas by Par Lagerfest and The Red Tent by ANita Diamante.

The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies should be there. To me, this almost voids the list that Stephen King and Douglas Adams are on there while this one isn't.

Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck should be there.

The Gallery by John Horne Burns

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer. Another list voider.

Cormac McCarthy - All The Pretty Horses

In regards to Harry Potter, perhaps it won't change each individual life, but you must admit that it has changed the way people read this type of literature. There's no question of that, and that's a pretty damned impressive feat! Besides, you just can't knock it if you don't try it.

And regarding Murakami, although the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles was a WONDERFUL book, I was personally more affected by Hard Boiled Wonderland et al.

I think, without a doubt, that

C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia (Hello!!!)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

should be included. There are several others that surprised me in their exclusion, but not that necessarily feel that they MUST be on there. These are

Little House Books (Wilder)
Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux)
Any other Mark Twain (McEwan gets 5 and Twain gets 1???)
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
Among others. Some I think could have been excusable in exclusion if there were not so many contemporary novels on the list. I have nothing against modern writers, but their books have yet to stand the test of time against so many classics that I feel have earned their place on a list like this.

Oh well, though. No one is telling us we can't read those classics, so why complain?? lol