Reading has been a lifelong passion for me, as it is for many people. Lately it has been a hobby of mine to peruse top 100 book lists to see how many I can check off. My average on most lists is around 20-30, and to be perfectly honest, many of those, like The Great Gatsby, Great Expectations and To Kill A Mockingbird, were from freshman and sophomore year of high school.
Here’s a list that all you other book nerds out there can test yourself on:
http://www.listchallengeapp.com/booklistchallenge/
These lists tend to be a little biased toward THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL, or the British equivalent. Of course books like The Lord of the Rings put in a good name for fantasy, and classics like Dune for science fiction, The Canterbury Tales is on there as well, and Dracula, but overall the relevant genre for our times still seems to be straight fiction. And that is fine, if it is representative of us and our generation. As far as content goes, I think there is more to reading than just fiction or non-fiction from the 20th century. Read older, read newer, read sci-fi and read fantasy and read crappy romance novels and teen paranormal adventures. Most importantly, even though we are are all busy with our lives and homework and everything else, just remember to keep reading.
Here’s another list I found that is a little more rounded, and a bit more specific:
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/books-magazines/books-to-read-before-you-die/story-fn9412vp-1226682476552
Enjoy!
Jenny