Post the books which you think everyone should read at least once, just to have read them because they're so significant. This is not meant to be a list of your favourite books. For example you might put Harry Potter down because of it's shear popularity and how often it's referenced in Pop Culture, but not because you thought it was a brilliant read. I hope that makes sense.
For me it'd be:
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The number of time this has been referenced in this forum alone should be enough. If you haven't read this, you've made writing Essays for English twice as hard for yourself, you can reference this for almost anything political.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Such a confronting novel, the film is often referenced in Popular Culture, now see where it all started. If nothing else you'll at least come out with an arsenal of interesting quotes.

I'm sure there's more, I just can't think of them at the moment.

Skinny by Ibi Kaslik- Is about an anorexic girl and her little 14 year old sister... Its a beautiful novel. Its very confronting to read about what most anorexic people deal with on a daily basis... This is a quote from the book.. "Do you ever get hungry?" Giselle asks her younger sister, Holly. "Too hungry to eat?" It really opened my eyes about anorexic people and their struggles.. Its so sad! But very good

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a good book if you want to understand what is going on in Afganistan, and what it is like to try to impress your parents.....

Gets a bit squirmy but its good *thumbs up*

Lord Of the Rings

i dont care how borring you think it is this book is the standard for all fantasy books, theres a reason why tolkin is referred to as the dude on the fantasy throne...or somthing like that. ALSO its probably one of the most famous books in the western world... even the living dead can appreciate this book

Ive got another one too add:

My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult- Its an amazing book and if you have a sister or brother, after reading this, I can imagine you would see him/her in a VERY different light. Its very eye opening, and a GREAT read!

Slurpee i 2nd that. LOTR is a perfect book for this list.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is an epic book that sheds quite a deep insight into America and its treatment of the black Americans.
(to find out what a mockingbird has to do with the story line, please read)

i thought that book was alright until i wrote the 10th essay about it.
then i started hating it.
thats the one problem with good books, once they become great they become school material, and once they become school material they [most of the time] stop being great.

agreed. except for romeo and juliet. its always been horrible. (well for me anyway)... its no tragic love story... more like an act of stupidity.. but hey. each to their own

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

and

Animal Farm - best political book ever.

i also heard from an english teacher that the curious incident of the dog in the night time is terrible too.

well then your english teacher is stoopid, its an excellent book.

She signed my copy!
Beautiful writer

Baby Zero by Emer Martin is a very very good read, it's about the problems that illegal immigrants in the US and refugees in Ireland face, and it also has a good deal about the Taliban and oppression, really gripping.

OMGOSH YOU LUCKY THING!!
My mums read ALL her books
Its scary

another couple for the fantacy collection

His dark Materials, amazing, prehaps not the best written or it may seem a little childish but a fabuolous story, the most origanol fantacy book ive ever read, it shows that fantact plots dont have to allways be "we have to get there to defeat the bad guy"

Magician i cant even think how to talk about this one... i can only suggest reading it

The Wife of Martin Guerre by Janet Lewis
Tells the story of identity theft, based in the 16th Century on a True Story. During the 16th Century, Free thinking (or enlightenment) was only coming of age. This novel shows how different the culture was compared to today, where religion was a daily part of life, and sin was concidered as intolerable to live with.

Fantastic book, and if your lucky enough to do it in Yr12 VCE i suggest you pick this book.

I Love his dark materials by Phillip Pullman!!!!!!!!! :

last year, My history teacher sang the song in Animal Farm in the middle of class!!! (shudder) but it's also a very good book.

I suggest reading Khaled Houseini's the Kite Runner, its comming out as a movie soon too . But i reccomend reading the book. It gives an insight to the political turmoil that has occured in Afghanistan for decades or since the dawn of time by the way you look at it, and the importance of standing up for what you believe in no matter the status quo, but also the wayn in which culture and the status quo bars us from or descriminates society.

But I would say if you can hack the hard core language, Give Frankenstein by Mary Shelley a chance as it tells of the importance of not letting ambitions take over you and that sometimes different scientific research should be left alone. But most importantly it conveys that those who are descriminated in society are alone because no one accepts their differences, and this creates conflict. Frankentstein (the scientist) rejects his monster who comes after him to revenge the neglect he was shown from the moment he woke up because of his sheer ugliness.

there are a number of books that come to mind in regards to 'culturally significant'.

so here's my list...

Maurice by E.M Forster - for you lazy people out there it's also a movie. given that it was written in 1914 - the subject matter is scandalous, and so deeply personal that he didnt publish it, it wasnt until he died that it was published. its considered by many scholars (particularly from cambridge, not hard to see why either!), as one of his inferior works. id argue its possibly his best, doing something autobiographical using his unique literary style and using literary techniques without getting caught up in OMG ITS ME, is something rare.



The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald. If there's ever a time in your life that you'd like to understand the term 'character development' this is the book to read. I don't like it purely because in a literary sense it's fantastic, but because its a social critique of America in the 1920's, the jazz age!



Holding the Man by Timothy Conigrave - deeply personal and emotional, close to home and socially significant in the context of australia today. it was published in 1994, it details a relationship of Tim's and is not only a beautiful love story, it has a strong notion of criticism of australian society for that era, which still in a minor sense, exists today.

ahh. The Great Gatsby- what a fantastic read!