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100 Must-Read Books

Our five-part series is compiled here.

By the MORE Books Editors

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Part I: The Classics

• "The Awakening":http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Kate-Chopin/dp/1438260997/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884056&sr=1-1 by Kate Chopin • "Jane Eyre":http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Vintage-Classics-Charlotte-Bronte/dp/030745519X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262883672&sr=8-1 by Charlotte Bronte • "To the Lighthouse":http://www.amazon.com/Lighthouse-Virginia-Woolf/dp/1442135034/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262883716&sr=1-1 by Virginia Woolf • "Pride and Prejudice":http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Penguin-Classics-Austen/dp/0141439513/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262883769&sr=1-1 by Jane Austen • "Wide Sargasso Sea":http://www.amazon.com/Sargasso-Penguin-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0140189831/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262883930&sr=1-4 by Jean Rhys • "Little Women":http://www.amazon.com/Little-Signet-Classics-Louisa-Alcott/dp/0451529308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262883948&sr=1-1 by Louisa May Alcott • "To Kill a Mockingbird":http://www.amazon.com/Mockingbird-Harper-Perennial-Modern-Classics/dp/0061120081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262883971&sr=1-1 by Harper Lee • "Lolita":http://www.amazon.com/Lolita-Everymans-Library-Vladimir-Nabokov/dp/0679410430/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262883991&sr=1-1 by Vladimir Nabokov • "Their Eyes Were Watching God":http://www.amazon.com/Their-Eyes-Were-Watching-God/dp/0061120065/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884017&sr=1-1 by Zora Neale Hurston • "Anna Karenina":http://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-Oprahs-Book-Club/dp/0143035002/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884036&sr=1-1 by Leo Tolstoy • "Cry, The Beloved Country":http://www.amazon.com/Cry-Beloved-Country-Alan-Paton/dp/074326195X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884076&sr=1-2 by Alan Paton • "The House of Mirth":http://www.amazon.com/House-Mirth-Everymans-Library/dp/0679406670/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884106&sr=1-1 by Edith Wharton • "Uncle Tom’s Cabin":http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Toms-Cabin-Signet-Classics/dp/0451530802/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884126&sr=1-2 by Harriet Beecher Stowe • "Frankenstein":http://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-Penguin-Classics-Mary-Shelley/dp/0141439475/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884150&sr=1-1 by Mary Shelley • "The Arabian Nights":http://www.amazon.com/Arabian-Nights-Thousand-Library-Classics/dp/0812972147/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884170&sr=1-1 • "Women in Love":http://www.amazon.com/Women-Love-Penguin-Classics-Lawrence/dp/0141441542/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884186&sr=1-1 by D.H. Lawrence • "The Golden Notebook":http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Notebook-Novel-P-S/dp/0061582484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884206&sr=1-1 by Doris Lessing • "Madame Bovary":http://www.amazon.com/Madame-Penguin-Classics-Gustave-Flaubert/dp/0140449124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884224&sr=1-1 by Gustave Flaubert • "Middlemarch":http://www.amazon.com/Middlemarch-Barnes-Noble-Classics-George/dp/1593080239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884243&sr=1-1 by George Eliot • "Wuthering Heights":http://www.amazon.com/Wuthering-Heights-Barnes-Noble-Classics/dp/1593081286/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262884261&sr=1-1 by Emily Bronte CLICK HERE FOR A DETAILED SLIDESHOW OF THESE BOOKS.

Part II: Noteworthy Novels
Photo by Bob Stefko

Part III: Nonfiction

• "Love in the Driest Season":http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1400081602/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books by Neely Tucker • "My Life in France":http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0307474852/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books by Julia Child • "A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance":http://www.amazon.com/Round-Heeled-Woman-Late-Life-Adventures-Romance/dp/1400060117 by Jane Juska • "West with the Night":http://www.amazon.com/West-Night-Beryl-Markham/dp/0865471185 by Beryl Markham • "A Vindication of the Rights of Women":http://www.amazon.com/Vindication-Rights-Woman-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141441259/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264015908&sr=1-1 by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley • "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings":http://www.amazon.com/Know-Why-Caged-Bird-Sings/dp/0345514408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264173996&sr=1-1 by Maya Angelou • "The Liar’s Club":http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Club-Memoir-Mary-Karr/dp/0143035746/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264174488&sr=1-1 by Mary Karr • "Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir":http://www.amazon.com/Minor-Characters-Memoir-Joyce-Johnson/dp/0140283579/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264174812&sr=1-1 by Joyce Johnson • "The Hemingses of Monticello":http://www.amazon.com/Hemingses-Monticello-American-Family/dp/0393337766/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264174019&sr=1-1 by Annette Gordon-Reed • "Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching":http://www.amazon.com/Ida-Sword-Campaign-Against-Lynching/dp/0060797363/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264175306&sr=1-1 by Paula J. Giddings • "The Diary of a Young Girl":http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=anne+frank+the+diary+of+a+young+girl&x=0&y=0&sprefix=anne+frank by Anne Frank • "The Woman Warrier: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts":http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Warrior-Memoirs-Girlhood-Ghosts/dp/0679721886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264178155&sr=1-1 by Maxine Hong Kingston • "Georgia O’Keeffe":http://www.amazon.com/Georgia-OKeeffe-Life-Roxana-Robinson/dp/0874519063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264181313&sr=1-1 by Roxana Robinson • "Isak Dinesen":http://www.amazon.com/Isak-Dinesen-Storyteller-Judith-Thurman/dp/0312135254/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264178314&sr=1-1 by Judith Thurman • "Manhattan, When I Was Young":http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-when-I-Was-Young/dp/0140232230/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264178722&sr=1-1 by Mary Cantwell • "No Ordinary Time: Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II":http://www.amazon.com/No-Ordinary-Time-Franklin-Roosevelt/dp/0684804484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264179363&sr=1-1 by Doris Kearns Goodwin • "The Feminine Mystique":http://www.amazon.com/Feminine-Mystique-Betty-Friedan/dp/0393322572/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264179488&sr=1-1 by Betty Friedan • "Her Last Death":http://www.amazon.com/Her-Last-Death-Susanna-Sonnenberg/dp/0743291093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264180753&sr=1-1 by Susanna Sonnenberg • "Personal History":http://www.amazon.com/Personal-History-Katharine-Graham/dp/0375701044/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264181110&sr=1-1 by Katharine Graham • "The Glass Castle":http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Castle-Memoir-Jeannette-Walls/dp/074324754X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264181460&sr=1-1 by Jeannette Walls CLICK HERE FOR A DETAILED SLIDESHOW OF THESE BOOKS.
Photo by Cameron Sadeghpour

Part IV: Poetry

• "The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson":http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Poems-Emily-Dickinson/dp/0316184136/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265125833&sr=1-1 • "She Had Some Horses":http://www.amazon.com/She-Had-Some-Horses-Poems/dp/039333421X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265124923&sr=8-1 by Joy Harjo • "New Collected Poems":http://www.amazon.com/New-Collected-Poems-Eavan-Boland/dp/0393337308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265125331&sr=1-1 by Eavan Boland • "The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova":http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_27?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+complete+poems+of+anna+akhmatova&x=0&y=0&sprefix=the+complete+poems+of+anna • "The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde":http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Poems-Audre-Lorde/dp/0393319725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265127433&sr=1-1 • "Ariel":http://www.amazon.com/Ariel-Restored-Sylvia-Plath/dp/057123609X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265127827&sr=1-3 by Sylvia Path • "The Dream Songs":http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Songs-John-Berryman/dp/0374530661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265128011&sr=1-1 by John Berryman • "Elizabeth Bishop: The Complete Poems 1927-1979":http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Poems-1927-1979-Elizabeth-Bishop/dp/0374518173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265128770&sr=1-1 • "Shakespeare’s Sonnets":http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-Sonnets-William-Shakespeare/dp/1599867044/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265129153&sr=1-1 • "Mother Love":http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Love-Poems-Rita-Dove/dp/0393314448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265129202&sr=1-1 by Rita Dove • "Given Sugar, Given Salt":http://www.amazon.com/Given-Sugar-Salt-Poems/dp/0060959010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265129374&sr=1-1 by Jane Hirshfield • "Trapeze":http://www.amazon.com/Trapeze-Deborah-Digges/dp/0375710213/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265129738&sr=1-1 by Deborah Digges • "The Beauty of the Husband":http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Husband-Fictional-Essay-Tangos/dp/0375707573/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265129984&sr=1-1 by Anne Carson • "E.E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962":http://www.amazon.com/E-Cummings-Complete-Poems-1904-1962/dp/0871401525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265130284&sr=1-1 • "Miracle Fair":http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Fair-Selected-Wislawa-Szymborska/dp/0393323854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265130482&sr=1-1 by Wislawa Szymborska • "Mary Oliver: New and Selected Poems":http://www.amazon.com/New-Selected-Poems-Mary-Oliver/dp/0807068780/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265130628&sr=1-1 • "The Dream of the Unified Field":http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Unified-Field-Jorie-Graham/dp/0880014768/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265130881&sr=1-1 by Jorie Graham • "Elephant Rocks":http://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Rocks-Poems-Kay-Ryan/dp/0802135250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265131311&sr=1-1 by Kay Ryan • "My Poems":http://www.amazon.com/My-Poems-Selected-Tsvetaeva-English/dp/1438202784/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265131653&sr=1-1 by Marina Tsvetaeva • "The Wild Iris":http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Iris-Louise-Gluck/dp/0880013346/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265131949&sr=1-1-spell by Louise Gluck CLICK HERE FOR A DETAILED SLIDESHOW OF THESE BOOKS.
Photo by Keller & Keller

Part V: Short Stories

• "Runaway":http://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Alice-Munro/dp/1400077915/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265835895&sr=1-1 by Alice Munro • "A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You":http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Man-Can-Much-Love/dp/0375705570/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265816411&sr=8-1 by Amy Bloom • "Amy Hempel: The Collected Stories":http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Amy-Hempel/dp/0743291638/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265816711&sr=1-1 • "A Day, A Night, Another Day, Summer":http://www.amazon.com/Day-Night-Another-Summer/dp/0156030667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265817241&sr=1-1 by Christine Schutt • "Friendly Fire":http://www.amazon.com/Friendly-Fire-Short-Fiction-Award/dp/0877456437/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265817389&sr=1-1 by Kathryn Chetkovich • "The Coast of Chicago":http://www.amazon.com/Coast-Chicago-Stories-Stuart-Dybek/dp/0312424256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265818354&sr=1-1 by Stuart Dybek • "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute":http://www.amazon.com/Enormous-Changes-Last-Minute-Stories/dp/0374515247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265818850&sr=1-1 by Grace Paley • "Some Fun: Stories and a Novella":http://www.amazon.com/Some-Fun-Stories-Antonya-Nelson/dp/1439190925/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265818932&sr=1-3 by Antonya Nelson • "Birds of America":http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0307474968/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books by Lorrie Moore • "Olive Kitteridge":http://www.amazon.com/Olive-Kitteridge-Fiction-Elizabeth-Strout/dp/0812971833/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265820705&sr=1-1 by Elizabeth Strout • "The Things They Carried":http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0618706410/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books by Tim O’Brien • "Tell me a Riddle":http://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Riddle-Writers-Contexts/dp/0813521378/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265821094&sr=1-1 by Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt • "Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories":http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-Flannery-OConnor/dp/0374515360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265835632&sr=1-1 • "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?":http://www.amazon.com/Where-Are-Going-Have-Been/dp/0865380783/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265835795&sr=1-1 by Joyce Carol Oates • "Dubliners":http://www.amazon.com/Dubliners-James-Joyce/dp/142092530X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265836046&sr=1-1 by James Joyce • "Trailer Girl":http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Girl-Stories-Terese-Svoboda/dp/B000H2MZDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265836480&sr=1-1 by Terese Svoboda • "Normal People Don’t Live Like This":http://www.amazon.com/Normal-People-Dont-Live-Like/dp/0892553545/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265836612&sr=1-1 by Dylan Landis • "Anton Chekhov: Stories":http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Anton-Chekhov/dp/0553381008/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265836137&sr=1-2 • "Romancer Erector":http://www.amazon.com/Romancer-Erector-Diane-Williams/dp/156478312X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265836434&sr=1-1 by Diane Williams • "Selected Stories by Katherine Mansfield":http://www.amazon.com/Katherine-Mansfields-Short-Stories-Mansfield/dp/145054066X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265836456&sr=1-1 CLICK HERE FOR A DETAILED SLIDESHOW OF THESE BOOKS.
Photo by Bob Stefko

First Published Wed, 2010-02-17 16:13

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