26. Travels with Charlie - John Steinbeck
Steinbeck is the kind of writer that you don't need a reason to read. The same's with Hemingway. You just (wo)man up and read their works.
If you have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, then you've just got to read this. It's a must. An order. A direct command of imperative importance.
28. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun - J.R.R. Tolkien
A bit in the same vein as The Lord of the Rings, but also quite different. What the heck, it's Tolkien. I don't care what it's about once I hear that Tolkien authored it. The man could write no wrong.
Judging Kipling by The Jungle Book alone is not quite fair. In order to properly grasp his vast literary talent, one simply has to read his other stories as well as his fantastic poetry.
30. Revolt in the Desert - T.E. Lawrence
I almost put The Seven Pillars of Wisdom on this list, without realizing what the hell I was doing. Revolt in the Desert is a briefer version of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom - abridged, in a sense - and was sold better than its more detailed predecessor.
31. Historien - Herodot
In German, Herodotus is called Herodot, as Aristotle is called Aristoteles and Plato is called Platon.
I have no idea what's going on with the nomenclature here.
32. Theatre - William Somerset Maugham
The story of an aging stage actress, in all its glory, pathetique and deceit.
33. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
Notice how several of the previous comments to the entries do not actually contain reasons for me to read the listed book. The same will be the case here.
I honestly have no idea-
It's one of the earliest ghost novels, which sparked an interest in me when I was doing research for my term paper The History of Horror Literature.
Ghost stories ahoy!
I believe it was because of this book that Teddy Roosevelt ordered an inspection of food production facilities, in particular meat canneries, and the FDA was eventually established.
If I am right in this assumption, then that means that The Jungle is the book where a worker gets partially minced and stuffed into a meat can and then eaten by the public.
Max and Moritz ain't got nothing on this.
36. In Dubious Battle - John Steinbeck
Somebody is battling someone, and they are doing so dubiously.
Sounds fun.
37. Judas Golovlyov - Saltykov-Shchedrin
He is (or rather, was) one of the funniest writers of all time. Not just of Russia, but of all time. His novel, The History of a Town, is modern in its structure and jokes, even for current times, and the sources of its satires and parodies are as true today as they were when Saltykov-Shchedrin first wrote about them.
This book is a must-read, especially for all Americans. And I am an American, ergo I should read it.
39. Closing Time - Joseph Heller
Go figure.
This is a collection of a few of Chandler's stories, along with an essay about crime and detective fiction. I bought this primarily because of the essay, but the other stories that come with it are more than welcome. Chandler's chief renown lay in his hardboiled detective fiction, and I am a big fan of hardboiled anything.
Hitchcock had a damn good reason to adapt du Maurier's story The Birds into an iconic horror film, and I am set on finding that reason between the pages of a du Maurier story collection.
42. Die Nibelungensage - Gustav Schalk
Mythology has something... addictive to it, which in a way translates to the desire of nerdiness. You know, the feeling of knowing everything about a sport or about a game or about a movie. Mythologies from all over the world are equally easy to get lost in, and before you know yet, you know the know the name of every Titan and their demise, as well as the symbolism used behind the animal heads of Egyptian deities.
Living in Germany, I soon found myself inundated with references to Germanic mythology. Consequently, I feel like I should equip myself with a decent knowledge of German legends, beginning with the legend of the Nibelungen.
At the same time, I may learn something that will help me understand Wagner's The Ring of Nibelungen.
43. Salammbo - Gustave Flaubert
A historical piece, as opposed to Flaubert's other, more famous novel, Madame Bovary. Flaubert, the perfectionist of all perfectionists, wrote about times during the powerful reign of the Roman Empire, in particular in Carthage, a few centuries before Christ.
44. Eugene Onegin and other Stories - Alexander Pushkin
After reading A Hero of Our Time by Lermontov, I just have to Eugene Onegin. And while I'm at it, why not read other stories by Pushkin.
Ah, Pushkin.
45. Gargantua - Francois Rabelais
Damn.
DAMN.
I just realized that I am only in possession of the second novel in the five-novel Gargantua and Pantagruel series.
Nooooo
Ah well I'm reading this anyways.
46. Men Like Gods - Herbert George Wells
Men like Gods? Count me in.
Count me in for anything involving a text by Wells. Heck, I could spend the day reading the man's grocery lists.
47. In the Days of the Comet - Herbert George Wells
Comet days, sounds fantastic.
48. Die Geschichte der Natur - C.F. von Weizsäcker
Mkay.
Let's clear some things first.
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker was a German physicist and philosopher, and he was the elder brother of Richard von Weizsäcker, who was the sixth president of BRD (Germany).
His uncle was Viktor von Weizsäcker, a German doctor and a bit of a philosopher as well.
I'm mentioning this now because guess who is going to make an appearance further down the list.
The cover of the book tells me that this will be a short novel about boxers. Gosh, I hope the cover isn't lying. I am not terribly fond of watching sports, but I am intrigued to actually read a novel about sports, especially boxing.
And who said you can't tell a book by its cover? HAH
50. The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli
As a kid, I kept hearing adults throw around the word 'machiavellian'. 'S 'bout time I learned why.
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