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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

I don't have that much time. Just tell me: what are the books I must read?

Okay, I realize that when people ask for book suggestions, they aren't necessarily asking for a lifetime reading project. They are really asking what handful of books—usually novels and mostly modern—they have to read to be considered moderately well-read.

Again, there's no single answer. But I'll go out on a limb with a medium-length list of accessible works I think would go toward giving you a feel for the breadth of literature, in rough order of publication:

I'm sure other readers would have dozens more they think should go on this list of thirty-odd and I can already think of more to add myself. No Thomas Mann? D.H. Lawrence? Victor Hugo? Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler? They should all be on the list, and many others.

But it's a start.

 

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