Most Common Themes in Literature

Have you ever tried teaching theme to a class of middle schoolers? Trust me, it requires patience and a LOT of examples.  One problem is that there's no widespread agreement on a basic list of "most common literary themes."  (Believe me: I've done a lot of research on this.)  I think one reason is that all but the most primitive tales have numerous themes that can be interpreted in numerous ways, so categorizing texts by theme isn't really possible.  For example, is Don Quixote "mostly" about Man vs. Himself (Quixote's inability to see his own failings), or Man vs. Society (society's inability to recognize his innate nobility), or Good vs. Evil (rescuring people in distress), or the Nature of Love (his chivalric love for Dulcinae)?  See what I mean? 

Over time I've managed to winnow down my nominees for "most common literary themes" to the following. I realize that this isn't an inclusive list, but it incorporates (I believe) the most prevalent themes in classic and popular literature.

1. GOOD VS. EVIL 
1. AKA: Courage, Duty, Loyalty, Patriotism, Heroism, Nobility/Honor, Crime Does Not Pay  
2. EXPLANATION: Most stories exploring this theme feature good triumphing over evil, and all the better if "good" is is vastly outmatched by "evil" but triumphs anyway, a la David and Goliath, The Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter; though, sometimes, evil ends up triumphing over good (Night). 
3. OVERLAP:  This category often overlaps with Love and Friendship (since the heroes risk their lives to preserve those they love), Man vs. Himself (since the heroes often struggle with themselves to find the courage to go on), Fate vs. Free Will (since often there is a prophecy or some other supernatural agency that has thrust heroism upon them), and Suffering and Redemption (since they often have to overcome their own demons in order to prevail).
4. OTHER EXAMPLES: The Iliad, Homer; Le Morte d'Arthur, Malory; Ivanhoe, Scott; The Three Muskateers, Dumas; Treasure Island, Stevenson; The Red Badge of Courage, Crane; The Lord of the Rings, Tolkein; all stories with detectives or superheroes
2. MAN VS. NATURE 
1. AKA: Survival, Quest for Immortality 
2. EXPLANATION:  Includes all stories in which the main character finds himself pitted against weather/environment (To Build a Fire), animals (Moby Dick), or life/death (Frankenstein). Sometimes humans triumph over nature (Swiss Family Robinson); more commonly, nature triumphs over humans (Jurassic Park).  Rarely, man and nature learn to exist together in harmony (Jungle Book); more often, mankind risks destroying nature and themselves with untamed technology (most science fiction).
3. OTHER EXAMPLES: The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway; Call of the Wild, London; Robinson Crusoe, Defoe; The Picture of Dorian Grey, Wilde; Flowers for Algernon, Keyes
3. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP 
1. AKA: Sacrifice, Love, Duty
2. EXPLANATION: Includes pretty much all stories about love, in all its forms: romantic, platonic, godly, unrequited, familial, altruistic.  Usually, love triumphs over the barriers (natural, societal) placed in its way (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre) though, sometimes, love is unable to overmaster the odds set against it (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Romeo and Juliet, Ethan Frome). The one thing they almost all have in common is the overarching message that a life lived without love is a life half-lived.
3. OVERLAP: Stories about obsessive love/jealousy (ex: Wuthering Heights) or improper love/jealousy (Sons and Lovers, Lolita) more properly belong under Man vs. Himself 
4. OTHER EXAMPLES: Little Women, Alcott; The Velveteen Rabbit, Bianco, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck; The Giving Tree, Silverstein
4. MAN VS. SOCIETY 
1. AKA:  Freedom vs. Authority, Individuality, Justice, Social Justice
2. EXPLANATION:  My entirely unscientific survey of literature suggests that there are, alas, more examples of society conquering man (Catch 22, Farenheit 451, 1984) than examples of man conquering society (Moll Flanders, Tom Sawyer); though sometimes these two forces end in an uneasy draw (To Kill a Mockingbird).  A common subtext is that even society seems to triumph, the human spirit remains unconquered (Scarlett Letter, Uncle Tom's Cabin; Les Miserables).
3. OTHER EXAMPLES: Huckleberry Finn, Twain; Tale of Two Cities, Dickens, Cry, the Beloved Country, Paton; Heart of Darkness, Conrad; Invisible Man, Ellison; Native Son, Wright; Diary of Anne Frank, Frank; Animal Farm, Orwell; Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck; The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hugo
5. MAN VS. HIMSELF 
1. AKA: Obsession, Greed, Pride, Hubris, Corruption
2. EXPLANATION:  The usual subtext of these stories is that man carries within him the seeds of his own destruction, and the causes of self-destruction are indeed myriad: pride/vanity/selfishness (Hector in The Iliad, Rebecca Sharp in Vanity Fair), greed/ambition (Dr. Faustus, Richard III, Macbeth), obsession (Moby Dick), insanity (The Telltale Heart), desire for revenge (Othello, Count of Monte Cristo), jealousy (Wuthering Heights), cruelty (The Lord of the Flies), etc.  Sometimes, however, "Man vs. Himself" shows up as "You should never give up on your dream, no matter how hard the struggle," a particularly popular theme in teen fiction and movies about sports.
3. OVERLAP: Stories about the ability of power/money to corrupt the human spirit overlap with Man vs. Society; though allowing themselves to be corrupted is a human failing, the instigating event is often a social inequality (political corruption, as in All the King's Men)
4. OTHER EXAMPLES: The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald; Frankenstein, Shelley; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson; Pride & Prejudice, Austen
6. FATE/FAITH/PREDESTINATION VS. FREE WILL. 
1. AKA: Truth, Faith, Fate. 
2. EXPLANATION: These books explore whether man has the power to create his destiny, or whether his destiny is predetermined, whether by willful gods or fickle fate.  This theme is more common in pre-20th century literature, when believe was more widespread that the gods meddled in the everyday lives of men. However, the theme lives in on literature by worth authors (think magical realism) and in novels that feature reluctant heroes who are somehow "chosen" or "predestined" to save the world. 
3. OTHER EXAMPLES: Iliad, Homer; Oedipus Rex, Sophocles; Harry Potter, Rowlings; The Lord of the Rings, Tolkein.
7. SUFFERING AND REDEMPTION 
1. AKA: Triumph over Adversity, Self-Reliance, Perseverance
2. EXPLANATION:  These stories typically feature characters who seek to overcome obstacles or redeem past mistakes through courage, sacrifice, remorse, or divine intervention.  Sometimes they succeed (A Christmas Carol, Dickens); sometimes, however, one lapse in judgment haunts them forever (Lord Jim, Conrad; Atonement, McEwan)
3. OTHER EXAMPLES: Jane Eyre, Bronte, Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky;  Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne; David Copperfield, Dickens; Les Miserables, Hugo; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Smith

55 Unfinished Works by Great Authors

It shouldn't be startling to learn that most great writers left behind unfinished works upon their deaths; what would be startling is if they didn't.  I've always supposed storytelling to be more of a vocation than a career: those called to it don't stop creating stories just because death is pending.  

All the recent articles about the impending publication of Nabakov's The Original of Laura started me wondering what other great authors' works have been left unfinished - whether due to death, writer's block, or disinterest.  Following is the list I have culled from about 40 different sources, all of which appeared reputable (but who really knows)?  Some, presumably, were abandoned for good reason: in some way, they did not live up to the author's standards or vision.  Others, however, tantalize, leaving us to forever wonder what the author might have made of them.

Perhaps when I have more time I'll post a companion list of authors who did not leave unfinished works, which is some ways even more intriguing.  (Did so prolific a writer as Emily Bronte really write nothing between 1846 and her death in 1848?)

1. Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica
2. Austin, Jane. Sanditon; The Watsons
3. Bronte, Charlotte. Ashworth; The Moores; The Story of Willie Ellin; Emma
4. Byron, Lord George Gordon. Don Juan
5. Camus, Albert. The First Man
6. Capote, Truman. Answered Prayers
7. Chandler, Raymond. Poodle Springs
8. Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. (Only 24 of the 124 Tales were finished)
9. Coleridge, Samuel. Cristabel; Kubla Kahn
10. Collins, Wilkie. Blind Love
11. Dickens, Charles. The Mystery of Edwin Drood
12. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Netochka Nezvanova
13. Dumas, Alexander. The Last Napoleon
14. Ellison, Ralph. Juneteenth (aka Three Days Before the Shooting)
15. Faulkner, William. Elmer
16. Flaubert, Gustave. Bouvard and Pecuchet
17. Fitzgerald, F. Scott.  The Last Tycoon
18. Forster, E.M. Arctic Summer
19. Frank, Anne. Diary of a Young Girl
20. Greene, Graham. The Empty Chair
21. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Dolliver Romance; Septimium Felton; The Ancestral Footstep; Dr. Grimshawe's Secret
22. Hemingway, Ernest. The Garden of Eden
23. Hugo, Victor. Les Jumeaux (prose); Dieu (poetry); La Fin de Satan (poetry)
24. James, Henry. The Ivory Tower; The Sense of Place
25. Joyce, James. Stephen Hero; Giocama Joyce
26. Kafka, Franz. The Trial; The Castle; Amerika
27. Kerouac, Jack. The Sea is My Brother
28. Lewis, CS. The Dark Tower; The Man Born Blind
29. Marlowe, Christopher.  Hero and Leander
30. Melville, Herman. Billy Budd
31. Nabakov, Vladimir.  The Original of Laura
32. O'Brian, Patrick. (published as) The Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey
33. Orwell, George. The Quick and the Dead; A Smoking-Room Story
34. Plath, Sylvia. Double Exposure
35. Poe, Edgar Allen. The Journal of Julius Rodman (serial prose)
36. Salinger, J.D. (Too soon to know; executors of his estate have hinted that he may have left up to 15 unfinished works)
37. Sayers, Dorothy.  Thrones, Dominations
38. Shakespeare, William. Love's Labours Won (Controversial: may just have been an alternative title for The Taming of the Shrew)
39. Spenser. The Fairie Queene
40. Steinbeck, John. The Acts of King Arthur and His Nobel Knights (a retranslation of Le Morte d'Arthur)
41. Stevenson, Robert Lewis.  Weir of Hermiston
42. Styron, William. The Way of the Warrior
43. Swift, Jonathan. The Legion Club
44. Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian Wars
45. Tolkien, J.R.R. The Silmarillion
46. Tolstoy, Leo. The Light That Shines in Darkness
47. Twain, Mark.  The Mysterious Stranger
48. Thucydides.  The History of the Peloponnesian Wars
49. Verne, Jules. Voyages D'Etudes
50. Vonnegut, Kurt. Look at the Birdie (short stories)
51. Wallace, David Foster. The Pale King
52. Wharton, Edith.  The Buccaneers
53. Wilde, Oscar. A Wife's Tragedy (drama)
54. Wodehouse, P.G. Sunset at Blandings
55. Wordsworth, William. The Recluse

Classic Adventure Stories

The biggest problem of doing this list was figuring out what to include and what to exclude.  If you broaden the category to "Action/Adventure" you could potentially include pretty much half the English language canon!  So I have limited myself to "adventure" and to the following criteria: (1) must be a classic, or at least widely known; (2) must include a journey; and (3) must include physical danger.  And if it also includes pirates, knights, cowboys, savages, really big monkeys, and/or deserted islands, so much the better!  (Note that I've also organized them by author rather than title, because so many authors have written numerous notable adventure novels.)

1. Anonymous - The Epic of Gilgamesh
2. Anonymous - The Song of Roland
3. Anonymous - Beowulf
4. Anonymous - Tales of Prester John
5. Anonymous - The Arabian Knights
6. Barrie, JM - Peter Pan
7. Baum, Frank - The Wizard of Oz
8. Buchan, John - The 39 Steps
9. Burroughs, Edgar Rice - Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars
10. Carroll, Lewis - Alice in Wonderland
11. Cervantes - Don Quixote
12. Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim
13. Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer
14. Cornwell, Bernard - Sharpe series, The Grail Quest series, the Saxon series
15. Crichton, Michael - Jurrasic Park, The Great Train Robbery, Congo
16. Cussler, Clive - Sahara, Raise the Titanic, Inca Gold
17. Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, The King of Pirates
18. Doyle, Arthur Conan - Lost World
19. Dumas, Alexandre - Three Muskateers, Man in th Iron Mask, The Count of Monte Cristo
20. Forester, CS - Horatio Hornblower series
21. Fraser, George MacDonald - Flashman series
22. George, Jean Craighead - My Side of the Mountain
23. Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
24. Haggard, H. Rider - King Solomon's Mines, She, Allen Quartermain
25. Hilton, James - Lost Horizon
26. Homer - Iliad, Odyssey
27. Hope, Anthony - The Prisoner of Zenda
28. Howard, Robert - Conan the Barbarian
29. Kipling, Rudyard - The Man Who Would Be King, The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, Kim
30. L'Amour, Louis - Shane, How the West Was Won, Sackett
31. London, Jack - The Call of the Wild, Sea Wolf, White Fang
32. Ludlum, Robert - The Bourne Identity
33. Malory, Sir Thomas - Le Morte d'Arthur
34. McCully, Johnston - The Mark of Zorro (aka The Curse of Capistrano)
35. McMurtry, Larry - Lonesome Dove
36. Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
37. Paulsen, Gary - Hatchet, Grizzly
38. Reid, Thomas Mayne - The White Gauntlet, the Bush Boys
39. Sabatini, Rafael - Captain Blood
40. Salgari, Emilio - Pirates of Malaysia series, Black Corsair series, Pirates of Bermuda series
41. Scott, Sir Walter - Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Pirate
42. Stevenson, Robert Lewis - Treasure Island, Kidnapped
43. Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
44. Tolkein, JRR - The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings
45. Twain, Mark - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Adventures of Tom Sawyer
46. Vergil - The Aeneid
47. Verne, Jules - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth
48. Wallace, Edgar - The African stories
49. Wells, HG - The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau
50. Wren, PC - Beau Geste
51. Wyss, Johann David - Swiss Family Robinson

Best Movies That Were Adapted From Books

Want to read a good book but just don't have the energy? Cheat by watching one of these movies from the American Film Institute's list of Top100 films, all of which were adapted from books.  (NOTE: This list is based on AFI's most current list, which is updated every year, so a year from now this list may change slightly.)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
2. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
4. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clark
6. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
7. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, B. Traven
8. Double Indemnity, James Cain
9. A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams
10. Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
11. Godfather II, Mario Puzo
12. Jaws, Peter Benchley
13. Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris
14. Shane, Louis L'Amour
15. Ben-Hur, Lew Wallace
16. Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally
17. Wizard of Oz, Frank Baum
18. The Graduate, Charles Webb
19. Bridge Over the River Kwai, Pierre Boulle
20. Rear Window, Cornell Woolrich
21. Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkein
22. African Queen, C.S. Forrester
23. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee
24. Shawshank Redemption, Steven King
25. In the Heat of the Night, John Ball
26. All the President's Men, Bernstein & Woodward
27. Sophie's Choice, William Styron
28. French Connection, Robin Moore
29. Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Really Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip Dick)
    

Books Read by our Book Club

The book club I belong to has been discussing a book a month since 2003, which adds up to a pretty impressive list of books!  Looking at the collated list, I see that we have a definite penchant for fiction and books with international settings/themes.  I feel so very fortunate to be able to discuss literature with a group of women so intelligent and inquisitive! 

1. 1000 Splendid Suns (read 2008), Khaled Hosseini
2. A Prayer for Owen Meany (read 2006), John Irving
3. A Visit from the Goon Squad (read 2013), Jennifer Egan
4. Ahab's Wife, Sena Naslund
5. Alias Grace (read 2003), Margaret Atwood
6. America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines (read 2013), Gail Collins
7. Anil's Ghost* (read 2006), Michael Ondaatje
8. Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral (read 2006), Dris Radish
9. Arthur and George (read 2011), Julian Barnes
10. Atonement (read 2005), Ian McEwan
11. Ava's Man (read 2003), Rick Bragg
12. Away (read 2008), Judy Bloom
13. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (read 2004), Sijie Dai
14. Behind the Beautiful Forevers (read 2013), Katherine Boo
15. Bel Canto (read 2004), Ann Patchett
16. The Bells (read 2012), Richard Harvell
17. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk* (read 2013), Ben Fountain
18. Birth of Venus (read 2006), Sara Dunant
19. Blind Assasin (read 2004), Margaret Atwood
20. Blindness, Jose Saramago
21. Blue Diary (read 2003), Alice Hoffman
22. The Bonesetter's Daughter (read 2003), Amy Tan
23. The Book Thief (read 2012), Markus Zusak
24. The Buccaneers (read 2007), Edith Wharton
25. The Call (read 2013), Yannick Murphy
26. Carter Beats the Devil* (read 2009), Gold
27. The Color of Water (read 2005), James McBride
28. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
29. The Count of Monte Cristo (read 2003), Alexandre Dumas
30. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (read 2005), Mark Haddon
31. Cutting for Stone (read 2010), Abraham Verghese
32. Dandelion Wine*, Bradbury
33. Darcy's Utopia (read 2004), Fay Weldon
34. The Death of Vishnu (read 2004), Manil Suri
35. The Devil Wears Prada (read 2005), Laura Weisberger
36. Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Jorge Amado
37. Double Bind (read 2008), Bohjalian
38. Education of Little Tree (read 2007), Forrest Carter
39. The Elegance of the Hedgehog (read 2009), Barbery
40. Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
41. Flimsey Little Plastic Miracles (read 2013), Ron Currie Jr.
42. The Franchise Affair (read 2012), Josephine Tey
43. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe (read 2003), Fannie Flagg
44. The Frozen Rabbi* (read 2012), Steve Stern
45. Gap Creek (read 2003), Morgan
46. Gate at the Stairs (read 2011), Lorrie Moore
47. Giants of the Earth (read 2004), O.E. Rolvaag
48. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (read 2010), Stieg Larrson
49. The Girls from Ames (read 2010), Jeffrey Zaslow
50. The God of Small Things, (read 2005) Arundthi Roy
51. Gone Girl (read 2012), Gillian Flynn
52. Great Good Thing (read 2004), Roderick Townley
53. Greatest Man in Cedar Hole (read 2006), Stephanie Doyon
54. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (read 2009), McCullers
55. The Help (read 2011), Kathryn Stockett
56. The History of Love (read 2006), Nicole Krauss
57. Holidays on Ice (read 2003), David Sedaris
58. Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (read 2011), Jamie Ford
59. The House at Riverton (read 2011), Kate Morton
60. How I Live Now (read 2007), Meg Rosoff
61. The Hour I First Believed, Lamb
62. The Human Factor (read 2009), Graham Greene
63. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (read 2012), Michael Rogers
64. Inheritance of Loss (read 2008), Desai
65. Inn at Lake Devine (read 2004), Elinor Lipman
66. Kite Runner, Khaled Husseini
67. Known World, Edward Jones
68. Lamb (read 2007), Christopher Moore
69. Life of Pi (read 2005), Yann Martel
70. The Light Between Oceans (read 2013), M.L. Stedman
71. Little Bee (read 2013), Chris Cleave
72. The Lord of Misrule* (read 2012), Jaimy Gordon
73. Loving Frank (read 2012), Nancy Horan
74. Memoirs of a Geisha (read 2007), Arthur Golden
75. Minaret (read 2008), Leila Aboulela
76. The Mirror (read 2009), Marlis Millhiser
77. Mohawk (read 2008), Richard Russo
78. Mrs. Dalloway (read 2004), Virginia Woolf
79. Ms. Hemple Chronicles (read 2009), Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
80. My Life on a Plate (read 2003), India Knight
81. My Losing Season, Pat Conroy
82. The Namesake (read 2013), Jhumpa Lahiri
83. O Pioneers (read 2008), Willa Cather
84. Olive Kitteridge (read 2010), Elizabeth Strout
85. On Chesil Beach (read 2009), McEwan
86. Our Man in Havana (read 2010), Graham Greene
87. Out Stealing Horses (read 2010), Per Petterson
88. Outlander (read 2005), Diana Gabaldon
89. Parrot and Oliver in America (read 2011), Peter Carey
90. Pilot's Wife (read 2004), Anita Shreve
91. Poisonwood Bible (read 2008), Barbara Kingsolver
92. Pope Joan (read 2007), Donna Cross
93. Possession (read 2003), A.S. Byatt
94. Rabbit Run, John Updike
95. Reading Lolita in Tehran (read 2006), Azar Nafisi
96. Red Tent (read 2003), Anita Diamant
97. Riding on the Bus With My Sister (read 2005), Rachel Simon
98. R.L.'s Dream* (read 2007), Walter Mosley
99. The Round House* (read 2013), Louise Erdich
100. Saving Fish From Drowning (read 2013), Amy Tan
101. Seabiscuit (read 2004), Laura Hillenbrand
102. Secret Life of Bees (read 2004), Sue Monk Kidd
103. The Senator's Wife (read 2008), Sue Miller
104. The Sense of an Ending (read 2012), Julian Barnes
105. Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
106. Skeleton at the Feast (read 2010), Christopher Bohjalian
107. Sister Carrie (read 2005), Theodore Dreiser
108. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (read 2006), Lisa See
109. Snow Child (read 2013), Eowyn Ivey
110. Special Topics in Calamity Physics*, Marisha Pessl
111. Spooner (read 2010), Pete Dexter
112. State of Wonder (read 2012), Ann Patchett
113. This Book Will Save Your Life, Holmes
114. Three Cups of Tea, Rlin
115. Three Junes, Julia Glass
116. The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
117. To Kill a Mockingbird (read 2005), Harper Lee
118. Trip to the Stars (read 2005), Christopher
119. Vision of Emma Blau (read 2003), Ursula Hegi
120. Water for Elephants (read 2008), Sara Gruen
121. Watership Down (read 2009), Adams
122. White Tiger* (read 2010), Aravind Adiga
123. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
124. Wolf Hall* (read 2011), Hilary Mantel
125. Woman of Independent Means (read 2006), Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
126. Women of the Silk (read 2004), Gail Tsukiyama
127. The World According to Garp (read 2011), John Irving
128. World Below (read 2010), Sue Miller
129. Year of Wonders (read 2005), Geraldine Brooks
130. The Yiddish Policemen's Union* (read 2009), Michael Chabon

My 10 Favorite Books

Here they are, in no particular order: 

1. Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury.  I make a point of reading this book every 1-2 years to remind myself that being alive is about so much more than living - and that magic is everywhere, if only you remember to look for it.
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkein.  Everytime I read these amazing novels I discover some new universal truth.
3. Into the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead, James Lee Burke.  Lush, evocative, lyrical, gritty, intimate, heartbreaking, nobel, disturbing, seductive, and mythic ... in short, just what you'd expect from a book with such a breathtaking title.
4. Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers.  Superbly written mystery that just happens to include as a subplot one of the most exquisitely-rendered courtships in literature.
5. The Three Muskateers, Alexander Dumas.  Swashing AND buckling, all in one deliciously exuberant read!
6. Sherlock Holmes short stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If you haven't read them in a while (or only ever read The Speckled Band in some anthology of short stories), read them again - astonishingly clever, hugely entertaining, and surprisingly timeless.
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.  Amazes me that teachers have to MAKE kids read this - what an astonishing book about the enduring relevance of humanity, compassion, tolerance, courage and personal honor in our everyday lives.
8. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen.  It's probably petty of me to wish the world hadn't suddenly "discovered" this novel over the past decade ... for a while there I could pretend I had Mr. Darcy all to myself!
9. Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott.  What can I say - I'm obviously a sucker for swashbuckling yarns! The scene where Ivanhoe arrives, battered and weary, just in time to save Rebecca's honor from the designs of the evil Brian de Bois-Guilbert still has the power to give me goosebumps!
10. The Princess Bride, William Goldman.  The book has all the sweetness of the movie version but is 10 times as funny - honestly!