Book Bucket List

I love books.

(Can you tell?)

And if you love books, here is a list of some I think everyone should read before croaking. It is incomplete; so be sure to check back every once in a while to see if there’s anything new. Read it with care. It is carefully compiled; I have kept a number of well-loved books off the list because I can’t actually justify their presence on this list. And I included books I didn’t love because they still should be on this list anyway. (If only so you can read it and say ‘yup. That was rubbish.’)

Also, unlike some other lists of this nature, it doesn’t just lump series/collections together as one, you will notice. I have, however, listed them all in the same colour, just to distinguish stand alone work from series/collection.

(PS – Shakespeare is not on this list because I’m assuming everyone has studied him in school and that most people have had a gutful of “McDuff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped!” and other such nonsense. If by some stroke of luck you were spared the high school Shakespeare study, then consider him On The List.)

1. The Bible (Almighty Yahweh.)
2. The Magician’s Nephew (C.S. Lewis)
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)
4. The Horse and His Boy (C.S. Lewis)
5. Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis)
6. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis)
7. The Silver Chair (C.S. Lewis)
8. The Last Battle (C.S. Lewis)
9. Rachel’s Tears (Darryl Scott and Beth Nimmo)
10. Ned Kelly (Douglas Stewart)
11. The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
12. The Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
13. The Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
14. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien) - just because I failed to finish it, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be read! And I will go back and finish it someday. I will.
15. The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
16. Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
17. At least 1 Jane Austen novel. I recommend ‘Persuasion’. Also, just because you’re male, don’t think you should skip a Jane Austen novel. She is partly to blame as to why your lady-companion expects weird things of you. Like wearing pantaloons.
18. Seven Ancient Wonders (Matthew Reilly)
19. Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
20. A Time To Kill (John Grisham)
21. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) - ABRIDGED!! ABRIDGED!! I woudn’t wish unabridged Hugo on anyone!!!
22. The Princess Bride (William Goldman *cough* err, I mean, S. Morgenstern.)
23. A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket)
24. Soul Cravings (Erwin Raphael McManus)
25. A Study In Scarlet (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
26. The Sign of Four (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
27. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
28. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
29. The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
30. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
31. The Valley of Fear (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
32. His Last Bow (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
33. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
34. Daughter of the Regiment (Jackie French) -  Or, at least SOMETHING by the amazing Jackie French!!
35. Tomorrow, When the War Began (John Marsden)
36. The Dead of the Night (John Marsden)
37. The Third Day, The Frost (John Marsden)
38. Darkness, Be My Friend (John Marsden)
39. Burning For Revenge (John Marsden)
40. The Night is for Hunting (John Marsden)
41. The Other Side of Dawn (John Marsden)
42. The Sword in the Stone (T.H. White) - technically, this is just part 1 of 4 of ‘The Once and Future King’, but the ‘parts’ were published over the course of a few years.
43. Black (Ted Dekker)
44. Red (Ted Dekker)
45. White (Ted Dekker) - at least read something by Ted Dekker. ‘Blink of an Eye’ is a good choice too.
46. This Present Darkness (Frank Peretti)
47. Something by Enid Blyton. ‘The Wishing Chair’ is a good choice. As is ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’
48. Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)
49. The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne Frank)
50. Playing Beatie Bow (Ruth Park) - I was made to read this in school, and I don’t see why the rest of you shouldn’t suffer. Actually, it’s not too bad.
51. Our Sunshine (Robert Drewe)
52. The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)
53. Batavia’s Graveyard (Mike Dash)
54. Dead! The Story of Death and Dying (Jim Hatfield) - this is the first Horrible Histories book I ever read, way back in grade 5 or 6, and I loved it all so much that the librarian got the HH book about Egypt for the library so I could read it. And now over a decade later I still love HH and I love the sketch show and no it is NOT just because Mat Baynton is attractive, and there is my proof; I’ve loved HH for years. Although he is. Attractive, I mean. 
55. The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde) - well, you should read something by him, and this is easily the least depraved.
56. Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)
57. The Looking Glass Wars (Frank Beddor)
58. The Revenge of the Sith (Matthew Stover) - especially if you love Star Wars.
59. The Other Boleyn Girl or The Constant Princess (Philippa Gregory) - nowhere near historically accurate, but the Tudor period is fascinating. 
60. The Four Feathers (A.E.W. Mason) - I haven’t actually read this but I REALLY want to.
61. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - be warned though; it’s rubbish. At least, I think so.
62. An original Brothers Grimm fairytale.
63. A Voice in the Wind (Francine Rivers) - and I dare you not to want to read the next one, which is An Echo In the Darkness, the second you finish reading it! 
64. Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) - I’ve only just started this and it’s so good that it’s on the list already. You see? It is good!
65. The 95 Theses/A Treatise on Indulgences (Martin Luther) - this is a large reason as to why we no longer revere relics or worship saints or burn witches. Even if you think worshiping Jesus is a load of bunkham (it isn’t), you should still read this. Afterall, it is in part thanks to the Treatise on Indulgences that you are free to say that you think worshiping Jesus is a load of bunkham (it isn’t) without having the Catholic Church excommunicate and execute you.