Books with reading lists--plus, my Halloween story

I was saying last post that Frankenstein makes some recommendations for self-learners--Milton, Plutarch, and Goethe, in the monster's case, and Volney's Ruins of Empires for Safie, the Arabian. And that got me thinking of other books that have book recommendations in them-- osprey_archer mentioned Daddy Long-legs, and I know people have mentioned Jo Walton's Among Others in that capacity.

And I thought, what an interesting take on Great Books--books that writers think are great, or formative in...