Of Great Books

Tonight, I was trying to remember the name of the story that the film Apocalypse Now is based on.  I could plainly remember the plot and some of the characters, but not the title or the author.  There was a time when such information would have slipped like oil off my tongue.  That was when I was reading fiction almost daily.

Today,  I spend much of my reading time on non-fiction titles that are designed to help me grow personally and professionally.  This has been my focus for several years.  I'm beginning to wonder, though, if I shouldn't start to pick up fiction again and add it to my daily reading regimen.  By fiction, I don't mean the multitude of titles published each year that are here today and gone tomorrow.  Instead, my focus would be on books and stories that are timeless.

I could revisit the antics of Yosarian and his crew in Catch-22, follow the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, or float down the river again with Huckleberry Finn.

Below is a list of some of the books that I've read and those I would like to.  Great books, I've discovered, often have a message that is timeless and applicable to life inserted within the pages of a great story.

 Books I've read
The Bible
Catch-22
A Christmas Carol
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Old Man and the Sea
Slaughterhouse Five
A Clockwork Orange
The Road
To Kill A Mockingbird
Fahrenheit 451
Animal Farm
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Silas Marner
Dracula
1984
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Dune
Of Mice and Men
The Jungle Book
Ender's Game
Candide
Heart of Darkness
The Canterbury Tales
Through the Looking Glass
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
War of the Worlds
The Red Badge of Courage


Books I would like to read
Moby Dick
Oliver Twist
A Tale of Two Cities
David Copperfield
The Grapes of Wrath
The Brothers Karamozov
Crime and Punishment
The Illiad
The Odyssey
War and Peace
Gulliver's Travels
Les Miserables
Little Women

Just writing this list has whet my appetite to get started either reading new books or re-reading classics.  Great stories are timeless and new each time they are entered.

In case your wondering, the book I mentioned in the first paragraph is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Any suggestions for this list would be appreciated!!!