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Book Riot's From Zero to Well Read in 100 Books

Isn’t it strange that we have the term “well-read” but absolutely no one can come close to defining it? And isn’t also strange that other art forms don’t have equivalent terms for a vague sense of someone’s total experience of that form (well-seen for movies? well-heard for music? Absurd).
Thinking about this recently sucked me into a little thought-experiment: say someone had never read any literature and wanted to be well-read. What should they read? And how many books would it take them to get close?
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1984 (George Orwell)
1984
1
George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
2
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
3
Arthur Conan Doyle
The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton)
The Age of Innocence
4
Edith Wharton
All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque)
All Quiet on the Western Front
5
Erich Maria Remarque
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Michael Chabon)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
6
Michael Chabon
American Pastoral (Philip Roth)
American Pastoral
7
Philip Roth
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
Anne of Green Gables
8
L.M. Montgomery
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
9
Leo Tolstoy
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Atlas Shrugged
10
Ayn Rand
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
The Bell Jar
11
Sylvia Plath
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
12
Beowulf (Anonymous)
Beowulf
13
Anonymous
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
The Book Thief
14
Markus Zusak
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
Brave New World
15
Aldous Huxley
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
16
Junot Diaz
The Call of the Wild (Jack London)
The Call of the Wild
17
Jack London
Candide (Voltaire)
Candide
18
Voltaire
The Canterbury Tales (Geoffrey Chaucer)
The Canterbury Tales
19
Geoffrey Chaucer
Casino Royale (Ian Fleming)
Casino Royale
20
Ian Fleming
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22
21
Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Catcher in the Rye
22
J.D. Salinger
Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
Charlotte's Web
23
E.B. White
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Cloud Atlas
24
David Mitchell
Collected Poems by Emily Dickinson
Collected Poems by Emily Dickinson
25
The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (Edgar Allen Poe)
The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe
26
Edgar Allen Poe
The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor (Flannery O'Connor)
The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor
27
Flannery O'Connor
The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
The Corrections
28
Jonathan Franzen
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Crime and Punishment
29
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller)
Death of a Salesman
30
Arthur Miller
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote
31
Miguel De Cervantes
Dream of the Red Chamber (Cao Xueqin)
Dream of the Red Chamber
32
Cao Xueqin
Dune (Frank Herbert)
Dune
33
Frank Herbert
The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
The Da Vinci Code
34
Dan Brown
Everything Is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer)
Everything Is Illuminated
35
Jonathan Safran Foer
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
Fahrenheit 451
36
Ray Bradbury
The Fault in Our Stars (John Green)
The Fault in Our Stars
37
John Green
Faust (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
Faust
38
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades of Grey
39
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Frankenstein
40
Mary Shelley
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