Third and FINAL installment in DU user Book Recommendations

[Pretzel_Warrior]

Hello again! My latest list combines all of the later suggestions other than a couple that just came in--Sorry!!
Anyway, the order of book titles didn't change a whole lot, but there was some movement. I also extended the list to the top 29 based on # of recommenders and where they ranked it (or which they listed first even if they weren't ranked).

In this list, I also included every book title and author people suggested beyond the top 29 (which each got at leat 3 votes). The remaining are sorted by number of votes it got and then alphabetically.

I will be following up in this discussion board with a more comprehensive suggested "teen reads" list that I'm working on which takes into account DU recommendations and a variety of other sources.

This has been a very enlightening and expansive project helping me to see where teen literature has been going the past couple of decades, and my new list will definitely be incorporating more of a focus on pleasant but eye-opening reads for teenagers and writings from other perspectives such as people of color, international writers, etc.

Happy Reading!

1 To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
2 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
3 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
4 Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut
5 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkein
6 A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn
7 Lord of the Flies William Golding
8 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
9 Catch 22 Joseph Heller
10 Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell
11 Siddharta Hermann Hesse
12 Animal Farm George Orwell
13 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
14 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert Heinlein
15 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
16 Ishmael Daniel Quinn
17 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
18 The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
19 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
20 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
20 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut
20 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey
23 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig
24 Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
25 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
26 Les Miserables Victor Hugo
27 Harry Potter J.K. Rowling
28 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
29 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Again a big 'THANK YOU' to the folks who contributed their suggested book titles. Many others also participated in the original thread. If any of you feel I missed anything or you have more to add, just reply to this message or PM me.

11 Bravo
2naSalit
AnnieBW
applegrove
arcane1
Atticus
AverageJoe90
azlatina
backscatter712
BainsBane
Barack America
BillyJack
Blue In AK
Botany
Buzz Clik
CanonRay
Carni
catpuke9000
coalition unwilling
Coyotl
d r
datasuspect
dickthegrouch
Earth First
Egalitarian Thug
Erose999
etherealtruth
FarCenter
farminator3000
FedUpWithIt All
FSogol
Fumesucker
galileoreloaded
GliderGuider
GoCubsGo
graham4anything
gulliver
Hekate
hootinholler
intaglio
JaneyVee
JEB
Joe Bacon
johnnnypneumatic
JustAnotherGen
Kalidurga
KangOnKids
Ken Burch
KittyWampus
Laura PourMeADrink
leveymg
libinnyandia
loli phabay
Lordquinton
LP2K12
Lwolf
madaboutharry
mainstreetonce
malaise
Manifestor of Light
Mass
mfcorey1
mia
morningfog
mrs p
MrYikes
narnian60
NashvilleLefty
NMDemDist2
No Compromise
notundecided
NRaleighLiberal
OffWithTheirHeads
Ohio Joe
OmahaBlueDog
OneTenthofOnePercent
pangaia
PasadenaTrudy
patrice
peacebird
pinto
Pisces
Pretzel_warrior
RagAss
Raine
reACTIONary
Recursion
RedCappedBandit
RedRocco
ReRe
Rider3
riderinthestorm
riverbendviewgal
RoccoR5955
RoverSuswade
rurallib
salinen
samsingh
Sarah Ibarruri
secondvariety
sheshe2
southernyankeebelle
Stargleamer
stlsaxman
stopwastingmymoney
stultuporcos
surrealAmerican
The Wizard
Tikki
truckin
truebluegreen
UBCchuck
Warren DeMontague
Whisp
Whovian
WiffenPoof
wilsonbooks
WinkyDink
Zorra


A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 2
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque 2
Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt 2
Another Roadside Attraction Tom Robbins 2
Black Boy Richard Wright 2
Black Like Me John Howard Griffin 2
Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 2
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown 2
Collected Short Stories H.P. Lovecraft 2
Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman 2
Lies My Teacher Told Me James Loewen 2
Metamorphosis Franz Kafka 2
Native Son Richard Wright 2
Night Elie Weisel 2
Our Town Ring Lardner 2
Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2
Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein 2
The Bible Unknown 2
The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future Riane Eisler 2
The Color Purple Alice Walker 2
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 2
The Jungle Upton Sinclair 2
The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin 2
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe 2
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte 2
"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman Harlan Ellison 1
A Boy and His Dog Harlan Ellison 1
A Brave New World Aldous Huxley 1
A Break with Charity Ann Rinaldi 1
A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller 1
A Child is Born Lennart Nilsson 1
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 1
A Dictionary Unknown 1
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1
A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway 1
A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold 1
A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket 1
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1
Alex Rider Anthony Horowitz 1
An Instance of the Finger Post Ian Pears 1
An Interrupted Life Etty Hillesum 1
Apex Hides the Hurt Colson Whitehead 1
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1
Back to Basics--A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills Abigail R. Gehring 1
Beach Music Pat Conroy 1
Being and Nothingness Jean-Paul Sartre 1
Beloved Toni Morrison 1
Beneath the Wheel Hermann Hesse 1
Beyond Equality: Labor and the Radical Republicans 1866-74 David Montgomery 1
Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1
Black Elk Speaks John G. Neihardt 1
Blindsight Peter Watts 1
Book of Lost Things John Connolly 1
Briar Rose Jane Yolen 1
Calculating God Robert J Sawyer 1
Candide Voltaire 1
Candles to the Sun Tennessee Williams 1
Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy Joseph Schumpeter 1
Chesapeake James Michener 1
Cider House Rules John Irving 1
City of Bones Cassandra Clare 1
Class Warfare Noam Chomsky with David Barsamian 1
Clout Atlas David Mitchell 1
Cosmos Carl Sagan 1
Courtship Rite Donald Kingsbury 1
Crime and Punishment Theodore Dostoevsky 1
Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1
David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1
Dealing with Dragons Patricia Wrede 1
Debt: The First 5000 Years David Graeber 1
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1
Delirium Lauren Oliver 1
Delta of Venus Anais Nin 1
Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac 1
Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank 1
Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences Rene Descartes 1
Divergent Veronica Roth 1
Dragon Slippers Jessica Day George 1
Dragonback series Timothy Zahn 1
Dune Frank Herbert 1
East of Eden John Steinbeck 1
Elmer Gantry Sinclair Lewis 1
Enchanted Vagabonds Dana and Ginger Lamb 1
Encyclopedia Unknown 1
Enders Game Orson Scott Card 1
Even Cowgirls Get The Blues Tom Robbins 1
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1
Fictions Jorge Luis Borges 1
Five Yard Fuller Bob Wells 1
Flowers For Algernon Daniel Keyes 1
Forever War Joe Haldeman 1
Foundation Trilogy Isaac Asimov 1
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang Joyce Carol Oates 1
Freakonomics Steven Levitt 1
Freddy's Book John Gardner 1
Galapagos Kurt Vonnegut 1
Ghost Story Peter Straub 1
Go Ask Alice Anonymous 1
God Created the Integers Stephen Hawking 1
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything Christopher Hitchens 1
Godel, Escher, Bach Douglas Hofstadter 1
Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 1
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond 1
Hawai'i James Michener 1
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 1
Henderson the Rain King Saul Bellow 1
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 1
HMS Surprise Patrick O'Brien 1
Hocus Pocus Kurt Vonnegut 1
How to Fix (Just About) Everything: More Than 550 Step-by-step Instructions for Everything from Fixing a Faucet to Removing Mystery Stains to Curing A Hangover Bill Marken 1
How to Lie with Statistics Darrel Huff 1
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream Harlan Ellison 1
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah Richard Bach 1
Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri 1
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison 1
It's Kind of a Funny Story Ned Vizzini 1
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte 1
Jefty is Five Harlan Ellison 1
Jitterbug Perfume Tom Robbins 1
Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo 1
Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1
Jungle Upton Sinclair 1
King Jesus Robert Graves 1
La Linea Ann Jaramillo 1
Lathe of Heaven Ursula K. Le Guin 1
Legend Marie Lu 1
Less Than Zero Brett Easton Ellis 1
Letters From the Earth Mark Twain 1
Life of Pi Yann Martel 1
Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1
Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Plutarch 1
Looking Backward Edward Bellamy 1
Lord Jim Joseph Conrad 1
Magister Ludi Hermann Hesse 1
Make Room! Make Room! Harry Harrison 1
Man's Search For Meaning Viktor Frankl 1
Maus Art Spiegelman 1
Meditations Marcus Aurelius 1
Meetings with Remarkable Men G.I. Gurdjieff 1
Microcosmic God Theodore Sturgeon 1
Mind Magic Don't Know 1
Moby Dick Herman Melville 1
Monster Walter Dean Myers 1
More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon 1
My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 1
Mythology Edith Hamilton 1
Nickle & Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 1
No Logo Naomi Klein 1
No Picnic on Mount Kenya Felice Benuzzi 1
Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1
Of Love and Other Demons Gabriel Garcia Marquez 1
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters Barack Obama 1
Oh, The Places You'll Go! Dr. Suess 1
Old Yeller Fred Gipson 1
On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors John Delorean 1
On The Road Jack Kerouac 1
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1
Parting the Waters Taylor Branch 1
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life Thich Nhat Hanh 1
Percy Jackson & The Olympians Rick Riordan 1
Planet of Exile Ursula Le Guin 1
Prester John John Buchan 1
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1
Ranger's Apprentice John Flanagan 1
Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane 1
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 1
Rules for Radicals Saul Alinsky 1
Sag Harbor Colson Whitehead 1
Savage Inequalities: Children in American Schools Jonathan Kozol 1
Searching for Yellowstone Paul Schullery 1
Secrets of the Temple William Greider 1
Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 1
Seven Pillars of Wisdom T.E. Lawrence 1
Seventeen Booth Tarkington 1
Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon 1
Shadowland Peter Straub 1
Shogun James Clavell 1
Silent Spring Rachel Carson 1
Sisters Grimm Michael Buckley 1
Skinny Legs and All Tom Robbins 1
Skippy Dies Paul Murray 1
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1
Song of the Lioness Tamora Pierce 1
Soul On Ice Eldridge Cleaver 1
Speak Laurie Halse Anderson 1
Spell of the Yukon Robert W. Service 1
Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner 1
Stargirl Jerry Spinneli 1
Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse 1
Sword of Truth Terry Goodkind 1
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1
The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 1
The Apology Plato 1
The Art of Computer Programming Donald Knuth 1
The Art of Living Lin Yutang 1
The Art of Racing in the Rain Garth Stein 1
The Autbiography of Malcom X Malcom X and Alex Haley 1
The Autobiography of Malcom X Malcom X and Alex Haley 1
The Basketball Diaries Jim Carroll 1
The Belgariad David Eddings 1
The Betrayal of America Vincent Bugliosi 1
The Book Thief Markus Zusak 1
The Catch Trap Marion Zimmer Bradley 1
The Chocolate Wars Robert Cormier 1
The Chosen Chaim Potok 1
The Chronicles of Prydain Lloyd Alexander 1
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy Jay Stephenson 1
The Confession John Grisham 1
The David Allen Story Not sure 1
The Demon Haunted World Carl Sagan 1
The Dispossessed Ursula Le Guin 1
The Dubliners James Joyce 1
The Earthsea Trilogy Ursula K. Le Guin 1
The Emperor's New Mind Roger Penrose 1
The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer 1
The Fall of Reach Eric Nyland 1
The First and Last Freedom Jiddu Krishnamurti 1
The Front Runner Patricia Nell Warren 1
The Gates John Connolly 1
The Giver Lois Lowry 1
The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls 1
The Glass Teat Harlan Ellison 1
The God Delusion Richard Dawkins 1
The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing 1
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 1
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1
The Hero's Journey Joseph Campbell 1
The High King Lloyd Alexander 1
The Histories Herodotus 1
The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkein 1
The Human Comedy William Saroyan 1
The Illuminatus Trilogy Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea 1
The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde 1
The Infernals John Connolly 1
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha Miguel de Cervantes 1
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel Benjamin Graham 1
The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 1
The Last Temptation of Christ Nikos Kazantzakis 1
The Legend of Drizzt R.A. Salvatore 1
The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heavan Sherman Alexie 1
The Lords of Discipline Paat Conroy 1
The Lottery Shirley Jackson 1
The Man in High Castle Phillip K. Dick 1
The Mars Trilogy Kim Stanley Robinson 1
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert Heinlein 1
The Mysterious Stranger Mark Twain 1
The Nigger of the 'Narcissus': A Tale of the Sea Joseph Conrad 1
The Other America Michael Harrington 1
The Pearl John Steinbeck 1
The Physician Noah Gordon 1
The Pied Piper of Tuscon Don Moser and Jerry Cohen 1
The Plague Albert Camus 1
The Plague of Doves Louise Erdrich 1
The Plumed Serpent D.H. Lawrence 1
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment Eckhart Tolle 1
The Prince of Tides Pat Conroy 1
The Prophet Kahlil Gibran 1
The Reluctant Heiress Eva Ibbotson 1
The Republic Plato 1
The Riverworld Series Philip Jose Farmer 1
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne 1
The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins 1
The Snopes Trilogy William Faulkner 1
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner 1
The Stand Stephen King 1
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle David Wrobelewski 1
The Stranger Albert Camus 1
The Terrible Twos Ishmael Reed 1
The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 1
The True History of the Conquest of New Spain Bernal Diaz del Castillo 1
The Untold History of The United States Oliver Stone 1
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Edward R. Tufte 1
The Way of Shadows Brent Weeks 1
The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith 1
The Wheel of Time Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson 1
The Winds of War Herman Wouk 1
The Years of Lyndon Johnson Robert Caro 1
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston 1
Thirteen Reasons Why Jay Asher 1
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None Friedrich Nietzsche 1
Trinity Leon Uris 1
Trout Fishing in America Richard Brautigan 1
True Grit Charles Portis 1
Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom 1
Vanished Meg Cabot 1
Walk on the Wild Side Nelson Algren 1
War and Remembrance Herman Wouk 1
War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning Chris Hedges 1
Watership Down Richard Adams 1
What to Expect When You're Expecting Hathaway & Eisenberg 1
What You Pawn I Will Redeem Sherman Alexie 1

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. Thank you very much for all the follow up. I have one question,

Can somebody please explain what/why the nearly universal appeal of "Catcher in the Rye"? I've read it several times at every stage of my life and have never felt anything but contempt for Holden and find everything about the book to be puerile to the point of offensive.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

2. A lot of people are like you in disdain for this book

I didn't read it until I was 19 or 20. I definitely disliked the negative worldview expressed, but I also could identify with the sense of wanting to rebel against all the conventions and hypocrisy around me.

My daughter was 15 or 16 when she read it and adores Holden Caulfield. She read it for a variety of reasons--not the least of which was to understand what in it might have driven John Lennon's killer. She is an unabashed John Lennon fan which makes her papa proud. Of course, she's also a big Nirvana/Kurt Cobaine fan too.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Well, that should take care of your summer reading!

[Pretzel_Warrior]

8. You ain't kidding! I need to buy and check out a few

From the library. I'm building my 'Top 10 great books I haven't read yet' list.

[Fumesucker]

4. Nice list, looks like a considerable amount of work compiling that

[Pretzel_Warrior]

5. thanks! yep, the initial run through was....having a great time

because I am building my own list of reading and extending my research about books not in the normal catalogue

[Fumesucker]

6. Harry Potter aside it seems like all the books on the first list are quite old

Time tested classics and all that but a lot them were time tested classics when I was in grammar school.

Do you have a group that you're planning on sharing the lists with other than on DU?

[Pretzel_Warrior]

7. Hunger Games is also a new book series capturing young people's attention

There are some by John Green and other more recent authors I'll be sharing with DU.

I am not sure who I will share my list with, but I used DU as a starting point to generate ideas. I might just put it on my blog for my own reference, and I'll certainly share with other teens I come into contact with including my son one day.