10 Books You Have To Read

There are some favourite books for all book lovers. Even if you read more than twenty books a year, you probably have your own list of the books that have stayed with you in some way. They might not be great works of literature, but just books that have affected you. So I decided to create my own list of favourite books. I really suggest you read at list some of them! Take a look! :)

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

"All Animals Are Equal, But Some Are More Equal Than Others"

Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell, published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917.

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. Old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals — inspired by his philosophy of Animalism — plot a rebellion against Jones.

Initially, the rebellion is a success: The animals complete the harvest and meet every Sunday to debate farm policy. The pigs, because of their intelligence, become the supervisors of the farm. But as time passes, things aren't happening quite as expected.

Animal Farm is one level, a simple story about barnyard animals. On a much deeper level, it is a savage political satire, on corrupted ideals, misdirected revolutions and class conflict-themes as valid today as they were sixty years ago.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"...time was not passing...it was turning in a circle..."

One Hundred Years of Solitude is a 1967 novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, that tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, metaphoric Colombia.

It is partly an attempt to render the reality of García Márquez’s own experiences in a fictional narrative. Its importance, however, can also be traced back to the way it appeals to broader spheres of experience.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is an extremely ambitious novel. To a certain extent, in its sketching of the histories of civil war, plantations, and labor unrest, One Hundred Years of Solitude tells a story about Colombian history and, even more broadly, about Latin America’s struggles with colonialism and with its own emergence into modernity.

García Márquez’s masterpiece, however, appeals not just to Latin American experiences, but to larger questions about human nature. It is, in the end, a novel as much about specific social and historical circumstances—disguised by fiction and fantasy—as about the possibility of love and the sadness of alienation and solitude.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

“As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment.”

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a parable about what it means to be human. Steinbeck's story of George and Lennie's ambition of owning their own ranch, and the obstacles that stand in the way of that ambition, reveal the nature of dreams, dignity, loneliness, and sacrifice.

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.

Ultimately, Lennie, the mentally handicapped giant who makes George's dream of owning his own ranch worthwhile, ironically becomes the greatest obstacle to achieving that dream.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach

"Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect. -And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there."

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, published in 1970, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is no ordinary bird. He believes it is every gull's right to fly, to reach the ultimate freedom of challenge and discovery, finding his greatest reward in teaching younger gulls the joy of flight and the power of dreams.

This is an allegory for people who follow their hearts and know there's more to this living than meets the eye: they’ll be right there with Jonathan, flying higher and faster than ever they dreamed.

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"You're beautiful, but you're empty...One couldn't die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under glass, since she's the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she's my rose."

At first glance, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 classic The Little Prince appears to be a children’s fairy tale. It doesn’t take long, however, to discover that it speaks to readers of all ages. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism, remarking on the strangeness of the adult world.

After being stranded in a desert after a crash, a pilot comes in contact with a captivating little prince who recounts his journey from planet to planet and his search for what is most important in life. You really should read it, it's a classic!

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, by Patrick Suskind

"For people could close their eyes to greatness, to horrors, to beauty, and their ears to melodies or deceiving words. But they couldn't escape scent. For scent was a brother of breath. Together with breath it entered human beings, who couldn't defend themselves against it, not if they wanted to live. And scent entered into their very core, went directly to their hearts, and decided for good and all between affection and contempt, disgust and lust, love and hate. He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men."

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a 1985 novel, that explores the sense of smell and its relationship with the emotional meaning that scents may carry. Above all it is a story of identity, communication and the morality of the human spirit.

The story focuses on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a perfume apprentice in 18th-century France who, born with no body scent himself, begins to stalk and murder virgins in search of the "perfect scent", which he finds in a young woman named Laure, whom his acute sense of smell finds in a secluded private garden in Grasse.

But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever - more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume" — the scent of a beautiful young virgin.

The Name Of The Rose, by Umberto Eco

"What is love? There is nothing in the world, neither man nor Devil nor any thing, that I hold as suspect as love, for it penetrates the soul more than any other thing. Nothing exists that so fills and binds the heart as love does. Therefore, unless you have those weapons that subdue it, the soul plunges through love into an immense abyss"

The Name of the Rose is the first novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory.

Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon—all sharpened to a glistening edge by wry humor and a ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey, where “the most interesting things happen at night.

Cujo, by Stephen King

"The monster nevers dies."

Cujo is a 1981 psychological horror novel by Stephen King about a rabid dog. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983.

Cujo is a family dog who is bitten by a rabid bat. Cujo's illness goes unnoticed by his owners, who are embroiled in their own drama, allowing the illness to progress to the point that Cujo turns from a gentle, loving dog into a horrifying killer.

At the height of Cujo's illness, a woman brings her child to Cujo's home, which happens to also be the location of a remote car repair shop, and where she finds herself stranded in a no longer functioning vehicle.

Cujo is a fairy tale for adults, one with so many unthinkable but altogether possible coincidences, which will give any parent enough nightmares to last a lifetime.

Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins

flickr

"Perhaps the most terrible (or wonderful) thing that can happen to an imaginative youth, aside from the curse (or blessing) of imagination itself, is to be exposed without preparation to the life outside his or her own sphere - the sudden revelation that there is a there out there"

Jitterbug Perfume is Tom Robbins' fourth novel, published in 1984. The major themes of the book include the striving for immortality, the meaning behind the sense of smell, individual expression, self-reliance, sex, love, and religion. The novel is a self-described epic, with four distinct storylines, one set in 8th century Bohemia and three others in modern day New Orleans, Seattle, and Paris.

A powerful and righteous 8th-century king named Alobar narrowly escapes regicide at the hands of his own subjects, as it is their custom to kill the king at the first sign of aging. After fleeing, no longer a king but a simple peasant, he travels through Eurasia, and eventually meets the goat-god Pan, who is slowly losing his powers as the world turns toward Christianity. In India, he meets a girl, Kudra, who goes on to become his wife. As with most of Robbins' couples, their mutual libido is enormous, and their love quite like something out of a fairy tale.

Momo, by Michael Ende

"People never seemed to notice that, by saving time, they were losing something else. No one cared to admit that life was becoming ever poorer, bleaker and more monotonous. The ones who felt this most keenly were the children, because no one had time for them any more. But time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart. And the more people saved, the less they had"

At the edge of the city, in the ruins of an old amphitheater, there lives a little homeless girl called Momo. Momo has a special talent which she uses to help all her friends who come to visit her. Then one day the sinister men in grey arrive and silently take over the city. Only Momo has the power to resist them, and with the help of Professor Hora and his strange tortoise, Cassiopeia, she travels beyond the boundaries of time to uncover their dark secrets.

Related:

• 12 Dozen Places To Educate Yourself Online For Free
• 20 Websites To Help You Learn A New Language
• List of 40 FREE Educational Websites
• Free books: 100 legal sites to download literature
• 135 Self-Education Resources For Lifelong Learners
• 300+ Mind Expanding Documentaries
• How I Learned to Read 300 Percent Faster in 20 Minutes
• Work Less and Do More by Applying the Pareto Principle to Your Task List
• MOTIVATION: 15 Best Socrates Picture Quotes
• Socrates: The Test Of Three
• The Four Types Of Friends According To The Buddha
• 25 Life Changing Lessons to Learn from Buddha
• 25 Life Lessons from Albert Einstein
• Albert Einstein - How I See the World
• 10 Unbelievable Facts You Didn't Know About Nikola Tesla
• Leonardo Da Vinci's Resume Written In The 1480s
• The Wisdom of Bruce Lee: 25 Quotes on Mastery, Martial Arts & Consciousness
• Mark Twain’s Top 9 Tips For Living A Kick-Ass Life
• 99 Interesting Quotes That Will Change How You See The World
• It will take just 1 minute to read this and change your thinking.