Books You Must Read

[Lillie]

What books do people presume you've read, or that you need to have good knowledge of, before you go to university (or at any other point in your life, for that matter)? There's the top 100 books on the BBC, the "books you must read before you go to college!" and so on and so forth.

I've been Googling a few different sites that all have different opinions, but there aren't enough opinions for my liking. So -- what's your opinion?

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, one example of a short list I got my hands on is:

Brontë, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
Homer - The Odyssey
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

[Medusa]

Well actually, I've found that what books you should have read when you go to college or University really depend on what you are studying. (With Arts degrees being the ones that probably require more of this general knowledge of various books.)

One of the main ones that always seemed to keep being brought up at my University in first year was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Other than that, some of the classics would probably not lead you astray.

I assume basically anything that indicates you are a well-read individual will probably do the trick. Anything of really substantial importance to a course will usually be part of the required reading for the course anyways.

Apparently Charles Dickens is supposed to be very good too

[Igg]

Jane Eyre I have absolutely no desire to read.
Ditto with The Mill on the Floss.

I've already read Gulliver's Travels and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I wouldn't recommend people try and seek out Oedipus Rex or The Odyssey in their original language (won't understand it) or even a full translated version because it will be a PLOUGH THROUGH. You're much better off with an adapted version in English or whatever your native language.

Likewise you might want to read a story-fied version of Hamlet as opposed to the play.

[skizzy the wonder lizard]

Likewise you might want to read a story-fied version of Hamlet as opposed to the play.

don't do this. never do this with any play. if you do not know how to read shakespeare, i strongly suggest you learn how by practicing and using study guides rather than getting adapted versions. you are seriously cheating yourself (and insulting the author, in my opinion) by reading adaptations.

Well actually, I've found that what books you should have read when you go to college or University really depend on what you are studying.

quite true, and also probably depend on which university you're going to. for example, going to my college, i'd recommend a person to read marx and foucault (neither of whom i've read, to be honest). the suggested books if you're going into theater will be different if you're going into literature, and even more different if you're going into philosophy. how about suggesting some fields, and we can suggest some good books to read for those fields?


but off the top of my head i'd suggest looking into some wilde, shakespeare (read as much as you can, and don't be ashamed to use cliff notes as guides), any classical greek stuff (get some greek mythology read, i'll come up in any kind of class!), chekhov, gogol, woolf, and i very strongly suggest reading the bible. i personally am not religious so i'm not suggesting it for that reason, but the world is jam-packed with biblical references and it's definitely helpful to recognize them.

[Lady Night]

Brontë, Charlotte - Jane Eyre

Read it, in college (for a class)...wasn't a big fan...

Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss

never heard of it

Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man

Seen the movie, never read

Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby

Read it and seen the movie...(in High school)

Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter

Tried to read it...gave up (in High school)

Homer - The Odyssey

read it in High school

Shakespeare, William - Hamlet

Read it in High school

Sophocles - Oedipus Rex

Not sure if heard of this, sound vaguely familar

Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels

Read it, in High school

Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Read it in College (not for college class)


I have a BA in psychology with minors in Anthropology and Sociology if that helps.

Basically if a college wants you to know about a certain classic book, they assign you to read it. But having previous knowledge of it doesn't hurt either lol


My best advice while in college or preparing for college is:

Read what you love, and it will help you in the end...if for nothing else than to keep you sane!

[Smart Duck]

I've read most of Jane Eyre, and all of David Copperfield. We're going to read the Great Gatsby sometime in class this year. I liked David Copperfield......

The hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is pretty important. Then you know why 42 is an important number.

[bex]

I don't know that there are really any set books that people assume you have read, but I think some of the following are ones that most people do read before going to a university. Of course, some of these books aren't the greatest, but they are ones that people assume you have some knowledge of. And not all are ones that I would even suggest to others.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Lord of the Flies by William Gerald Golding
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Candide by Voltaire

They also usually expect you to have read at least one play by Shakespeare, one Dickins novel, a part of either the Illiad or the Odyssey, something by Hemmingway, and something by Mark Twain.

I think that many professors now days, however, are used to people not reading the "classics" and therefore many assume that you have very little knowledge with many famous works.

[Igg]

Likewise you might want to read a story-fied version of Hamlet as opposed to the play.

don't do this. never do this with any play. if you do not know how to read shakespeare, i strongly suggest you learn how by practicing and using study guides rather than getting adapted versions. you are seriously cheating yourself (and insulting the author, in my opinion) by reading adaptations.

Wow, thankyou. It's a shame I can't punish you for insulting my intelligence, really.

I have read the play. I read plays. I ALSO read story versions. I know how to read shakespeare and I don't need your suggestions with study guides. I resent being patronised, a little bit.

However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with reading an adaption of a play in this context. This context suggests you need an overview of the story, not a detailed working knowledge of the play.
If this list was to do with reading in play-form, why Hamlet? It could have suggested many Shakespeare plays- indeed all of them.

It's a good introduction to Shakespeare to read the story and then the play, too. Reading a play straight off is chucking yourself in at the deep end and perhaps unwise, and daunting.

[skizzy the wonder lizard]

Likewise you might want to read a story-fied version of Hamlet as opposed to the play.

don't do this. never do this with any play. if you do not know how to read shakespeare, i strongly suggest you learn how by practicing and using study guides rather than getting adapted versions. you are seriously cheating yourself (and insulting the author, in my opinion) by reading adaptations.

Wow, thankyou. It's a shame I can't punish you for insulting my intelligence, really.

I have read the play. I read plays. I ALSO read story versions. I know how to read shakespeare and I don't need your suggestions with study guides. I resent being patronised, a little bit.

However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with reading an adaption of a play in this context. This context suggests you need an overview of the story, not a detailed working knowledge of the play.
If this list was to do with reading in play-form, why Hamlet? It could have suggested many Shakespeare plays- indeed all of them.

It's a good introduction to Shakespeare to read the story and then the play, too. Reading a play straight off is chucking yourself in at the deep end and perhaps unwise, and daunting.

wow, good to know that the first thing you think of when someone says something you don't agree with is to punish them. very becoming for a mod.

there is everything wrong with reading a story version of a play in this context. wanting to be well-read before one goes to college does not mean just knowing the stories. becoming well-read, especially before college, means learnign how to read read, that is, being able to get as much out of a text as possible. it includes picking up nuances in the lines. it includes learning to make decisons about the characters for oneself based on what the AUTHOR gives you, not spoon-fed to you (sometimes in a very one-sided fashion) by a summary. hamlet in particular, as there is all that discussion about hamlet's madness. you can't have a proper discussion without reading the play itself, analysing the lines that shakespeare wrote. reading adaptations is utterly mssing the point of becoming well-read.

i never said you didn't know how to read shakespeare, but i suggested that IF one didn't know, one should learn. which is another vital thing if one is trying to become well-read before entering college. a good way to learn to read shakespeare is to use study guides.

[.neko.]

I can't recall what it's called, but the one with the guy who gos on the journey and comes across the windmills that he thinks are like monsters?

[Turkish]

I can't recall what it's called, but the one with the guy who gos on the journey and comes across the windmills that he thinks are like monsters?

don quixote?

[.neko.]

I can't recall what it's called, but the one with the guy who gos on the journey and comes across the windmills that he thinks are like monsters?

don quixote?

Thankyou.

[Runevalkyrie]

Likewise you might want to read a story-fied version of Hamlet as opposed to the play.

don't do this. never do this with any play. if you do not know how to read shakespeare, i strongly suggest you learn how by practicing and using study guides rather than getting adapted versions. you are seriously cheating yourself (and insulting the author, in my opinion) by reading adaptations.

Wow, thankyou. It's a shame I can't punish you for insulting my intelligence, really.

I have read the play. I read plays. I ALSO read story versions. I know how to read shakespeare and I don't need your suggestions with study guides. I resent being patronised, a little bit.

However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with reading an adaption of a play in this context. This context suggests you need an overview of the story, not a detailed working knowledge of the play.
If this list was to do with reading in play-form, why Hamlet? It could have suggested many Shakespeare plays- indeed all of them.

It's a good introduction to Shakespeare to read the story and then the play, too. Reading a play straight off is chucking yourself in at the deep end and perhaps unwise, and daunting.

wow, good to know that the first thing you think of when someone says something you don't agree with is to punish them. very becoming for a mod.

there is everything wrong with reading a story version of a play in this context. wanting to be well-read before one goes to college does not mean just knowing the stories. becoming well-read, especially before college, means learnign how to read read, that is, being able to get as much out of a text as possible. it includes picking up nuances in the lines. it includes learning to make decisons about the characters for oneself based on what the AUTHOR gives you, not spoon-fed to you (sometimes in a very one-sided fashion) by a summary. hamlet in particular, as there is all that discussion about hamlet's madness. you can't have a proper discussion without reading the play itself, analysing the lines that shakespeare wrote. reading adaptations is utterly mssing the point of becoming well-read.

i never said you didn't know how to read shakespeare, but i suggested that IF one didn't know, one should learn. which is another vital thing if one is trying to become well-read before entering college. a good way to learn to read shakespeare is to use study guides.

Come on, getting a bit uncalled for in your debate here.

[Josephine]

Jane Eyre I have absolutely no desire to read.
Ditto with The Mill on the Floss.

I've already read Gulliver's Travels and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I wouldn't recommend people try and seek out Oedipus Rex or The Odyssey in their original language (won't understand it) or even a full translated version because it will be a PLOUGH THROUGH. You're much better off with an adapted version in English or whatever your native language.

Likewise you might want to read a story-fied version of Hamlet as opposed to the play.

Jane Eyre is great.

Gulliver's Travels was also great.

Everyone should read 1984 by George Orwell. BECAUSE BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis (I think that was his name) was good too.

[Lillie]

how about suggesting some fields, and we can suggest some good books to read for those fields?

Probably English literature and/or language.
Maybe history, or philosophy.

I've never seen a Cliffs Notes book selling here; never heard of them until I came across a rant against them on a literature site. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing that they don't sell. There are, however, many versions where they have annotations/explanations at the back or in the form of footnotes, especially for plays.