100 Must Read Books

A while back, there was a list posted on Facebook of the 100 must read books.  I remember scanning this list and thinking I probably read about five; and of the five, I remember the content of none. 

Mentally, I placed this on my bucket list of things to do before I die.  I never wrote it down, just sort of ‘penciled’ it in, so to speak.  Well, I remembered the other day that I don’t have this list and I’d better get it before it disappears. 

I recently finished the book, ‘Persuasion’ by Jane Austen, and I was pretty sure that this book may have been on that list.  While reading this book, I became angry at myself for taking the time to read a book.  I simply could not put this book down to participate in my normal life.  There were other things I needed to get done.

So, I’ve been thinking long and hard about this particular bucket list item and decided that I could not possibly accomplish this feat.  I would have to live like a hermit to do this monumental task.  There was just no way.

Yet, I needed this list so I would have it, in case something happened in which I found myself with a lot of time and no pressing need to participate in normal life.  Imagine that.

To find this list, I did an internet search and I found not one universal list, but several of them.  There was the ‘BBC, The Big Read, Top 100’; ‘Harvard Book Store, Top 100’; ‘Modern Library, 100 Best Novels’; ‘Time, All Time 100 Novels’; and there was even The Art Of Manliness's "100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library"; and many more!    

How confusing is this?

So I glance over the lists and find many of the same titles on all of the lists.  But the novel I just read is only listed one list, BBC, The Big Read, Top 100.  Should I adopt that list since I’ve one down and many more to go?  I think so!         

It did bother me that I could not find the original list I had seen on Facebook.  I decided to add ‘Facebook’ to my original search criteria of ‘list 100 books to read’.  At the top of the list was the BBC list, the one that has ‘Persuasion’ listed as novel #38.  Alright!  I do have the list!  Click here to see BBC, The Big Read, Top 100. 

Scanning over the list to see how many I books I really have read, I feel a little better.  There are 11 books that I have read.  Many were requirements of high school and college literature classes and that was ions ago.  I don’t remember them, so I’m going to have to go back and read those again so that I could talk intelligently about them should I ever be asked. 

NOT! 

I’m moving forward and going to start book # 12.  If…I ever find that time where I don’t have anything to do and won’t feel guilty for taking the time to read a book.