25 Books To Read in This Lifetime

The amazing library from Disney's Beauty and the Beast

So I decided, on the spur of the moment, to clean up my book/miscellaneous cupboard (yeah whereas most people have book shelves, I've got a book cupboard. When I have my own house, one day, I plan to have my own library :) Preferably one like the library in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but I do admit the high impossibility of this, so as long as I can have a library in my home I'll be happy.)

Anyhoo, going through my little 'library' I got to thinking about the books that I've read that were just so awesome and some even life changing and I thought about how my life might have been different had I not  read those books and that made me truly sad. I do get ever so attached to books. They're much more reliable than human beings are.

And I thought of all those lists out there, "100 Books to Read" and what not... So I decided to make my own list of books to read. This is just based on books that I have read to date, there are many 'major' titles that I have not gotten round to reading yet, and so do not think that I have overlooked them, its just that I simply cannot be a judge of something I have no personal experience/knowledge off. Also, I am sure that as time goes on and I read more books, my list will grow, but this is my list based on the now. So here is my list of books (in no particular order) you should read in this lifetime:

1. To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
2. The Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson
3. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
4. His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
5. Shades by Marguerite Poland
6. The Percy Jackson series (As well as the Heroes of Olympus series which is AMAZING) by Rick Riordan
7. Hamlet by Shakespeare (not usually a Shakespeare fan, but this play is just that amazing)
8. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
9. The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda
10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
11. To Sir With Love by E. R. Braithwaite
12. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
13. Spud by John van de Ruit (there are three more books in the series and while they are good I feel that this is the best and the others just sort of lack something after the first book)
14. The Twilight Saga (Because I am also a soppy girl on the inside, and this is not to be judged by the movies)
15. The Shadow Child by Judith Lennox
16. The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. Noughts & Crosses series by Malorie Blackman
19. Chromosome 6 by Robin Cook
20. Agatha Christie (any of her books)
21. Aidan Chambers  novels
22. Reginald Hill novels
23. Along Came A Spider by James Patterson
24. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
25. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien