21 Novels to Read by the Time You're 21

I made this reading list for my granddaughter Meggie, and wanted to share it with you too, though I could easily add at least another ten to this list. It's hard for me to imagine someone not having read these books before she or he reaches 21 (in no particular order):


1) Portrait of Jenny (Robert Nathan)
2) Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
3) Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
4) The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers)
5) To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
6) Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
7) Dune (Frank Herbert)
8) The Godfather (Mario Puzo)
9) The Black Stallion (Walter Farley)
10) Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
11) Catch 22 (Walter Heller)
12) Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
13) The Collector (John Fowles)
14) Enders Game (Orson Scott Card)
15) Casino Royale (Ian Fleming) -- and all the James Bond books!
16) Love Story (Erich Segal)
17) The Prince and the Pauper (Mark Twain)
18) The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
19) Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier)
20) The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
21) Birdy (William Wharton)
Lagniappe: Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse)