I Gotta Ask Why ?

What Makes A Person Well Read?

What really makes a person well read?  Can you be generally well read or is a well read person only from a specific area; i.e. Current Affairs, Ficiton, Biography, Travel, etc. 

I can tell there is a group of you out there subscibing to my Blog so what do you think?  What books should be on anyone's "Must Read" list?

~Kris

My Updated "Books I've Read" List

This is about 1/3 if that of what I've read but it's a start and updated since the last post...more to come.

BookLists

List of Authors I've read Updated 10.05.05

Fiction

• One Steven Bach
• Bridge Across Forever Steven Bach
• Giovanni's Room James Baldwin
• Pilgramage Paulo Coelho
• The Zahir Paulo Coelho
• Veronika Decides to Die Paulo Coelho
• The 5th Mountain Paulo Coelho
• The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
• Piedra Sat by the River and Cried Paulo Coelho
• Eleven Minutes Paulo Coelho
• Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
• Total Works of Michael Chriton
• The Hours Michael Cunningham
• Lord of the Flies William Golding
• Total Works of John Grisham
• Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
• A Moveable Feast Earnest Hemingway
• Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri
• Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
• Spring in Fialta (Short Story) Vladimir Nabokov
• The Gift of the Magi (Short Story) O Henry
• 1984 George Orwell
• Animal Farm George Orwell
• Sophie's Choice William Styron
• Slaughterhouse-five Kurt Vonnegut
• Cats Craddle Kurt Vonnegut
• The Color Purple Alice Walker

Biography

• Madam Secretary Madeleine Albright
• Exiled in Paris: Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett, and Others on the Left Bank James Campbell
• De Gaulle: The Rebel, 1890-1944 Jean Lacouture
• De Gaulle: The Ruler 1945-1970 Jean Lacouture

Business

• First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently Marcus Buckingham
• Execution Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan
• Applied Strategic Planning: How to Develop a Plan That Really Works Leonard Goodstein
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity David Allen
• On Becoming A Leader: The Leadership Classic--Updated And Expanded Warren Bennis
• The Art of Project Management by Scott Berkun
• Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch by Robert G. Cooper
• World Class Manufacturing: The Lessons of Simplicity Applied by Richard J. Schonberger

Science

• Einstein's Universe Nigel Calder
• Glass: From The First Mirror To Fiber Optics, The Story Of The Substance That Changed The World William S. Ellis

Spiritual

• An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices Peter Harvey
• Out on a Limb Shirley Mclain
• Focusing  Eugene T. Gendlin

Travel

• The Camino Shirley Mclain

~Kris

Second List of Must Reads

Pulitzer Prize Books

• 1918  His Family  Ernest Poole 
• 1919 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington
• 1921 The Age Of Innocence Edith Wharton
• 1922 Alice Adams Booth Tarkington
• 1923 One of Ours Willa Cather
• 1924 The Able McLaughlins Margaret Wilson
• 1925 So Big Edna Ferber
• 1926 Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis
• 1927 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield
• 1928 Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder
• 1929 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia M. Peterkin
• 1930 Laughing Boy Oliver LA Farge
• 1931 Years of Grace Margaret Ayer Barnes
• 1932 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
• 1933 The Store T. S. Stribling
• 1934 Lamb in His Bosom Caroline Miller
• 1935 Now in November Josephine W. Johnson
• 1936 Honey in the Horn Harold L. Davis
• 1937 Gone With The Wind Margaret Mitchell
• 1938 The Late George Apley John P. Marquand
• 1939 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
• 1940 The Grapes Of Wrath John Steinbeck
• 1942 In This Our Life Ellen Glasgow
• 1943 Dragon's Teeth Upton Sinclair
• 1944 Journey in the Dark Martin Flavin
• 1945 A Bell for Adano John Hersey
• 1947 All The King's Men Robert Penn Warren
• 1948 Tales of the South Pacific James A. Michener
• 1949 Guard of Honor James Gould Cozzens
• 1950 The Way West A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
• 1951 The Town Conrad Richter
• 1952 The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk
• 1953 The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway
• 1955 A Fable William Faulkner
• 1956 Andersonville MacKinlay Kantor
• 1958 A Death in the Family James Agee
• 1959 The Travels of Jaimie Robert Lewis Taylor
• 1960 Advise and Consent Allen Drury
• 1961 To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
• 1962 The Edge of Sadness Edwin O'Connor
• 1963 The Reivers William Faulkner
• 1965 The Keepers of the House Shirley Ann Grau
• 1966 Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter
• 1967 The Fixer Bernard Malamud
• 1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron
• 1969 House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday
• 1970 Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford
• 1972 Angle Of Repose Wallace Earle Stegner
• 1973 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty
• 1975 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara
• 1976 Humboldt's Gift Saul Bellow
• 1978 Elbow Room James Alan McPherson
• 1979 The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever
• 1980 The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer
• 1981 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
• 1982 Rabbit is Rich John Updike
• 1983 The Color Purple Alice Walker Alice Walker
• 1984 Ironweed William J. Kennedy
• 1985 Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie
• 1986 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
• 1987 A Summons to Memphis Peter Hillsman Taylor
• 1988 Beloved Toni Morrison
• 1989 Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler
• 1990 The Mambo Kings Play Oscar Hijuelos
• 1991 Rabbit at Rest John Updike
• 1992 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley
• 1993 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories Robert Olen Butler
• 1994 The Shipping News E. Annie Proulx
• 1995 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields
• 1996 Independence Day Richard Ford
• 1997 Martin Dressler Steven Millhauser
• 1998 American Pastoral Philip Roth
• 1999 The Hours Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham 
• 2000 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri Jhumpa Lahiri
• 2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Michael Chabon
• 2002 Empire Falls Richard Russo
• 2003 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
• 2004 The Known World Edward P. Jones

How Well Read Am I? Book List

I used to think I was well read, with reading 52 books alone last year because of travel, and I still think I am yet there are so many more books to read.  One of my current lists that I'm trying to read from is the Random House Top 100: (crossed out mean I've read it)

• 1  Ulysses  James Joyce
• 2 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald Bibliophile
• 3 A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man James Joyce
• 4 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov Bibliophile
• 5 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
• 6 The Sound And The Fury William Faulkner
• 7 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
• 8 Darkness At Noon Arthur Koestler
• 9 Sons And Lovers D. H. Lawrence
• 10 The Grapes Of Wrath John Steinbeck
• 11 Under The Volcano Malcolm Lowry
• 12 The Way Of All Flesh Samuel Butler
• 13 1984 George Orwell Bibliophile
• 14 I, Claudius Robert Graves
• 15 To The Lighthouse Virginia Woolf
• 16 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser
• 17 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
• 18 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut Bibliophile
• 19 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
• 20 Native Son Richard Wright
• 21 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow
• 22  Appointment In Samarra John O'Hara
• 23  U.S.A. (Trilogy) John Dos Passos
• 24 Winesburg, Ohio Sherwood Anderson
• 25 A Passage To India E. M. Forster
• 26 The Wings Of The Dove Henry James
• 27 The Ambassadors Henry James
• 28 Tender Is The Night F. Scott Fitzgerald
• 29 The Studs Lonigan Trilogy James T. Farrell
• 30 The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford
• 31 Animal Farm George Orwell Bibliophile
• 32 The Golden Bow Henry James
• 33 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser
• 34 A Handful Of Dust Evelyn Waugh
• 35 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner
• 36 All The King's Men Robert Penn Warren
• 37 The Bridge Of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder
• 38 Howards End E. M. Forster
• 39 Go Tell It On The Mountain James Baldwin
• 40 The Heart Of The Matter Graham Greene
• 41 The Lord Of The Flies William Golding Bibliophile
• 42 Deliverance James Dickey
• 43 A Dance To The Music Of Time (Series) Anthony Powell
• 44 Point Counter Point Aldous Huxley
• 45 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
• 46 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad
• 47 Nostromo Joseph Conrad
• 48 The Rainbow D. H. Lawrence
• 49 Women In Love D. H. Lawrence
• 50 Tropic Of Cancer Henry Miller
• 51 he Naked And The Dead Norman Mailer
• 52 Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth
• 53 Pale Fire Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov
• 54 Light In August William Faulkner
• 55 On The Road Jack Kerouac
• 56 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett
• 57 Parade's End Ford Madox Ford
• 58 The Age Of Innocence Edith Wharton
• 59 Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm
• 60 The Moviegoer Walker Percy
• 61 Death Comes For The Archbishop Willa Cather
• 62 From Here To Eternity James Jones
• 63 The Wapshot Chronicles John Cheever
• 64 The Catcher In The Rye J. D. Salinger
• 65 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
• 66 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham
• 67 Heart Of Darkness Joseph Conrad Bibliophile
• 68 Main Street Sinclair Lewis
• 69 The House Of Mirth Edith Wharton
• 70 The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell
• 71 A High Wind In Jamaica Richard Hughes
• 72 A House For Mr Biswas V. S. Naipaul
• 73 The Day Of The Locust Nathanael West
• 74 A Farewell To Arms Ernest Hemingway
• 75 Scoop Evelyn Waugh
• 76 The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
• 77 Finnegans Wake James Joyce
• 78 Kim Rudyard Kipling
• 79 A Room With A View E. M. Forster
• 80 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
• 81 The Adventures Of Augie March Saul Bellow
• 82 Angle Of Repose Wallace Earle Stegner
• 83 A Bend In The River V. S. Naipaul
• 84 The Death Of The Heart Elizabeth Bowen
• 85 Lord Jim Joseph Conrad
• 86 Ragtime E. L. Doctorow
• 87 The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett
• 88 The Call Of The Wild Jack London
• 89 Loving Henry Green
• 90 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie
• 91 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell
• 92 Ironweed William J. Kennedy
• 93 he Magus John Fowles
• 94 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
• 95 Under The Net Iris Murdoch
• 96 Sophie's Choice William Styron
• 97 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles
• 98 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain
• 99 he Ginger Man James Patrick Donleavy
• 100 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington