50 books to read before you die discussion

These are the named books I have read:

☒ 1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Hobbit or There and Back again (1937) by J.R.R. Tolkien – read 2015.
Sagan om ringen (1954) av J.R.R. Tolkien – read 2016.
Sagan om de två tornen (1954) av J.R.R. Tolkien – read 2016.
Sagan om Kungens återkomst (1955) av J.R.R. Tolkien – read 2017.
☒ 2. 1984 (1949) by George Orwell – read 2018.
☒ 3. Pride and Prejudice (1830) by Jane Austen – read 2019.
☒ 4. The Grapes of Wrath/Vredens druvor (1939) by John Steinbeck – read 2024.
☒ 5. To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee – read 2016.
☒ 6. Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte – read 2021.
☒ 7. Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte – read 2021.
☐ 8. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
☒ 9. The Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding – read 2015.
☒ 10. Hamlet (1602) by William Shakespeare – read 2015.
☐ 11. A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
☒ 12. The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald – read 2014.
☒ 13. The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger – read 2016.
☒ 14. The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath – read 2020.
☒ 15. Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley – read 2019.
☒ 16. The Diary of Anne Frank (1947) by Anne Frank – read 2016.
☒ 17. Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra – read 2015.
☐ 18. The Bible by Various
☐ 19. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
☐ 20. Ulysses by James Joyce
☐ 21. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
☐ 22. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
☐ 23. Money by Martin Amis
☒ 24. Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter och De Vises Sten (1997) by J. K. Rowling – read 2015.
Harry Potter och Hemligheternas kammare (1998) by J. K. Rowling – read 2015.
Harry Potter och Fången från Azkaban (1999) by J. K. Rowling – read 2016.
Harry Potter och den flammande bägaren (2000) by J. K. Rowling – read 2016.
Harry Potter och Fenixorden (2003) by J. K. Rowling – read 2016.
Harry Potter och Halvblodsprinsen (2005) by J.K. Rowling – read 2016.
Harry Potter och Dödsrelikerna (2007) by J.K. Rowling – read 2016.
☐ 25. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
☐ 26. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
☐ 27. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
☒ 28. Anna Karenina (1878) by Leo Tolstoy - read 2019.
☒ 29. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll – read 2014.
☐ 30. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
☐ 31. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
☒ 32. On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac – read 2016.
☐ 33. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
☐ 34. The Way We Live Now by Antony Trollope
☒ 35. The Outsider (1942) by Albert Camus – read 2017.
☒ 36. The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker – read 2016.
☐ 37. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
☒ 38. Frankenstein eller Den Moderne Prometeus (1818) by Mary Shelley – read 2018.
☐ 39. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
☐ 40. Man without Women by Ernest Hemingway
☒ 41. Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift - read 2019.
☒ 42. A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens – read 2016.
☐ 43. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
☐ 44. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe
☒ 45. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1963) by Ken Kesey – read 2014.
☐ 46. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
☐ 47. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
☐ 48. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
☐ 49. The Divine Comedy by Alighieri Dante
☒ 50. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde - read 2020.

Updates: I finally finished The Lord of the ring trilogy so it has been added to the list. Earlier this year i finished "The Outsider" but forgot to update my progress. It is done now.

Update: 1984 by George Orwell was added to the list.

Erika wrote: "Update: 1984 by George Orwell was added to the list."

Way to go Erika. Orwell's 1984 is a must-read book and one of my all time favorites. So powerful.

Buck wrote: "Erika wrote: "Update: 1984 by George Orwell was added to the list."

Way to go Erika. Orwell's 1984 is a must-read book and one of my all time favorites. So powerful."

I really liked it! It's definitely a book that makes a lasting impression and I my case had me pending between several emotions. All from despair, anger, joy, suspense and more. Have you read anything else by Orwell and if so what would you recommend reading next?

I've read several works of Orwell's. Animal Farm is his other well known book. 1984 is by far Orwell's magnum opus, but Animal Farm is well worth reading.

Buck wrote: "I've read several works of Orwell's. Animal Farm is his other well known book. 1984 is by far Orwell's magnum opus, but Animal Farm is well worth reading."
Thank you for the recommendation!

Update. The following books were added to the list: "Frankenstein" (number 38), "Pride and Prejudice" (number 3) and Brave New World (number 15). The first two i loved. I'm not so sure about "Brave New World". It was interesting and a ok read.

Erika wrote: "Update. The following books were added to the list: "Frankenstein" (number 38), "Pride and Prejudice" (number 3) and Brave New World (number 15). The first two i loved. I'm not so sure about "Brave..."

The problem with Brave New World is that is distopian qualities are suspect. It may not be such a horrible society if we are all drugged all the time. 1984 is horrendous.

Geoffrey wrote: "Erika wrote: "Update. The following books were added to the list: "Frankenstein" (number 38), "Pride and Prejudice" (number 3) and Brave New World (number 15). The first two i loved. I'm not so sur..."

[Spoiler alert]

In what way do you find its dystopian qualities suspect?

Mas production of so called humans, because lets face it they are genetically engineered and removed of all that represents being human. Emotions are the last thing they are trying to get rid of by drugging themselves and that way suppressing it. It's definitely horrendous in that sens just like "1984". A society were everyone is drugged senseless is not my perception of a well functioning society and definitely not one that I would like to live in.

Erika wrote: "Geoffrey wrote: "Erika wrote: "Update. The following books were added to the list: "Frankenstein" (number 38), "Pride and Prejudice" (number 3) and Brave New World (number 15). The first two i love..."

Then let me ask you, of the two, 1984 or BNW, if you had to make a choice which would you go with?For me, BNW would be clearly favorable. At least I would be drugged euphorically.

List updated by adding nr 6, 7, 28, 41 and 50.

List updated by adding nr 4.