Weekend Chatterbox: 20 Must Reads Before You Fly MEME

Since the New York Times has this fantabulous article, "Volumes To Go Before I Die" inspired by the book, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die I thought it would be fun to open this weekend's chatterbox to the blog literati.Do you agree with the list? And, What are the 20 Must Reads everyone should read before you fly away. :) I think our recommendations will also reflect our nationality, faith, ethnicity and personal reflections. A few books that come to mind for me are books that helped me to define who I am. I welcome your list. You can post them here in comments or post them on your blog and link them here. In fact, I want to go a step further and make this a Meme. I'm tagging Rhonda McKnight
and anyone who reads this blog and is avid reader.

My Recommendations(in no rank or aesthetic value:)

1. Alice Walker's A Color Purple
2. Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye
3. Plato's Republic
4. John Milton Paradise Lost
5. Thomas Hardy Tess of the d'Ubbervilles
6. Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
7. Alexandre Dumas's Count of Monte Christo
8. Ron Hansen's Mariette in Ecstasy
9. Francis Ellen Harper's Iola Leroy
10. The Autobiography of Malcom X
11. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
12. The Holy Bible
13. Philip Roth's The Human Stain
14. Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees
15. Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club
16. Walter Mosley's A Devil in a Blue Dress
17. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
18. Terry McMillan's Disappearing Acts
19. Marilynne Robinson's Gilead
20. Leif Enger's Peace Like a River
    

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