What does it mean to be “well-read”?
There are probably as many definitions as there are readers. Stuff-shirt types might say well-read means having absorbed the classic Great Books of Western culture. Writer P.J. O’Rourke reads everything – from high-toned new literature to trashy romance novels – because he learns something from every book he consumes.
Check Out: 9 Great Business Books Every Professional Must-Read
If you’re looking to move closer to “well-read” in 2017, the following list is a decent starting point. It was assembled by lawyer-turned-writer Cristina Hartmann and is designed to expose the reader to a broad spectrum of fiction, from the classics to pop culture favorites and masterworks from other cultures. As with all such lists, this one is very subjective. Feel free to tweak it as you see fit! (And, no, you don’t get to check-off a book because you’ve seen the movie.)
Remember, well-read is a moving target. I’m always most impressed with readers who have read the classics and the best of recent books – both fiction and non-fiction.
I love Hartmann’s observation that if you feel well-read, you probably aren’t. It’s a never-ending task. So don’t stop here!
Western Core Classics:
The Odyssey, Homer
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Dystopian Futures:
Nineteen-Eighty-Four, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
Fantasy and Sci-Fi:
The Lord of the Rings series, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation series, Issac Asimov
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Great American Novels:
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bonfire of Vanities, Tom Wolfe
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Heavy Duty Lit:
Ulysses, James Joyce
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
Pop Literature:
A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R. R. Martin
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Fifty Shades of Grey, E.L. James
Immigrant Stories:
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez
Non-Western Classics:
Ramayana – An ancient Hindu epic
Romance of the Three Kingdoms – An ancient Chinese epic
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
To Live, Yu Hua
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Satire:
Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Check Out: 4 Powerful Books That Have Changed The Way I View My Personal And Professional Life
