{"id":927,"date":"2016-01-11T17:55:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T17:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=927"},"modified":"2023-10-16T15:39:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:39:08","slug":"great-books-group-reading-list","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/great-books-group-reading-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Books Group Reading List 2006-2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Disclaimer:<\/strong> I have not finished reading every book on this list and, for that reason, cannot unequivocally recommend every single one of them. Some of them didn’t interest me at all. I had strong feelings of dislike for a couple of them. I can say, however, that each selection on the list edified at least one person in the group<\/a>. I don’t think there is anything on the list that every member of the group thought was a waste of time. Since most of these books are classics, I believe they are worth sampling, even if a reader does not choose to embrace them. For fiction I have read and can recommend, please see “My Favorite Clean Fiction<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

2006<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Initial meeting of the group to decide on a list of books to read for the year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Victor Hugo. Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Sun Tzu. The Art of War<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Everyone read something by C.S. Lewis; I picked Mere Christianity.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The Constitution of the United States<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Louisa May Alcott. Eight Cousins<\/a>. Rose in Bloom<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Herman Melville. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. William Shakespeare. Sonnets<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Oedipus at Colonus. Antigone<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Charles Dickens. “A Christmas Carol<\/a>.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    2007<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Augustine of Hippo. The City of God, Volume 1<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Lew Wallace. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. William Shakespeare. The Taming of the Shrew<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Mark Twain. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. The Declaration of Independence of the United States<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Little House<\/em> in the Big Woods<\/em> and sequels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    7. Johanna Spyri. Heidi<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    8. Eleanor H. Porter. Pollyanna<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    9. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    10. Charlotte Bront\u00eb. Jane Eyre<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    11. Lloyd C. Douglas. The Robe<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n

      2008<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. Plato. The Republic<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. R.D. Blackmore. Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Thomas Hardy. Under the Greenwood Tree<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. C.S. Lewis. The Screwtape Letters.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      5. Frederic Bastiat. “That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen<\/a>.”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      6. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Song of Hiawatha<\/a>. <\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      7. Conrad Richter. The Light in the Forest.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      8. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      9. Chaim Potok. The Chosen. The Promise.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      10. Lloyd C. Douglas. Magnificent Obsession<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      11. John Bunyan. The Pilgrim’s Progress<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n

        2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        1. Spencer W. Kimball. The Miracle of Forgiveness. <\/em>(Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        2. Henry David Thoreau. Walden<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
        3. William Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice<\/a>.<\/em> A Midsummer’s Night Dream<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
        4. Edward Gibbon. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        5. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        6. David McCullough. 1776<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        7. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        8. Rudyard Kipling. Just So Stories for Little Children<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
        9. Victor Hugo. Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        10. Pearl S. Buck. The Good Earth<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        11. James Hilton. Random Harvest.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \n\n\n\n

          2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          1. We took the evening off because of snow.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          2. James E. Talmage. Jesus the Christ<\/a><\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          3. Elizabeth Gaskell. North and South<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          4. Plutarch. Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          5. Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          6. Joseph Addison. Cato, a Tragedy<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          7. C.S. Lewis. Chronicles of Narnia<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          8. Frances Hodgson Burnett. A Little Princess<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          9. Irving Stone. The Agony and the Ecstasy<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          10. Charles Dickens. Bleak House<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          11. E.M. Forster. A Room with a View<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
            \n\n\n\n

            2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            1. James E. Talmage. The Great Apostasy<\/a><\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            2. Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
            3. William Shakespeare. Much Ado about Nothing<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
            4. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            5. George Eliot. Daniel Deronda<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            6. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom’s Cabin<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            7. L.M. Montgomery. Anne of Green Gables<\/a><\/em> and sequels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            8. Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy-Tacy<\/em> and sequels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            9. William L. Shirer. The<\/em> Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
            10. George Orwell. Animal Farm<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            11. Aldous Huxley. Brave New World<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
              \n\n\n\n

              2012<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \n
              1. Neal A. Maxwell. One More Strain of Praise. <\/em>(Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              2. Jane Austen. Emma<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              3. Sir Walter Scott. Ivanhoe<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              4. Nathaniel Hawthorne. The House of the Seven Gables<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              5. Voltaire. Candide<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              6. Henry Grady Weaver. The Mainspring of Human Progress<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              7. Louisa May Alcott. An Old-Fashioned Girl<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              8. Margaret Sidney. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              9. George Eliot. Middlemarch<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              10. Alexandre Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              11. Robert Bolt. A Man for All Seasons<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                \n\n\n\n

                2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  \n
                1. David O. McKay. Secrets of a Happy Life. <\/em>(Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                2. George Eliot. Romola<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                3. Anne Bront\u00eb. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                4. Margaret Mitchell. Gone with the Wind<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                5. Thomas B. Costain. Below the Salt<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                6. The Magna Carta<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                7. Jean Webster. Daddy-Long-Legs<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                8. Gene Stratton-Porter. Freckles<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                9. Henryk Sienkiewicz. Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                10. Elizabeth Gaskell. Wives and Daughters<\/a>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                11. Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                  \n\n\n\n

                  2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    \n
                  1. James E. Talmage. The House of the Lord<\/a><\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  2. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The Idiot<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  3. Blaise Pascal. The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  4. Willa Cather. O Pioneers!<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  5. Charlotte Bront\u00eb. Shirley<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  6. Thomas Paine. “Common Sense<\/a>.”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  7. L.M. Montgomery. The Blue Castle<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  8. George MacDonald. “The Light Princess<\/a>.”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  9. Roy J. Cook. 101 Famous Poems<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  10. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  11. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                    \n\n\n\n

                    2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      \n
                    1.  Sheri Dew. Women and the Priesthood: What One Mormon Woman Believes<\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    2. George Eliot. Adam Bede<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    3. Owen Wister. The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    4. George Bernard Shaw. The Devil\u2019s Disciple<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    5. Pat Frank. Alas, Babylon<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    6. David Hackett Fischer. Paul Revere\u2019s Ride<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    7. SydneyTaylor. All-of-a-Kind Family<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    8.  Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Secret Garden<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    9. Charlotte Bront\u00eb. Villette<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    10. Emile Zola. The Ladies\u2019 Paradise<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    11. Henry Van Dyke. \u201cThe Story of the Other Wiseman<\/a>.\u201d \u201cThe Mansion<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                      \n\n\n\n

                      2016<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        \n
                      1. Parley P. Pratt. Key to the Science of Theology<\/i><\/a>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      2. Sir Walter Scott. Kenilworth<\/i><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      3. Jane Austen. Persuasion<\/i><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      4. Ivan Turgenev. Fathers and Sons<\/i><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      5. Gertrude Himmelfarb. The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot<\/i>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      6. Alexis De Tocqueville. Democracy in America, Volume 1<\/a>.<\/i><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      7. J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit<\/i>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      8. Howard Pyle. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights.<\/i><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      9. Miguel Cervantes. Don Quixote<\/i><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      10. Mark Twain. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Volume 1<\/a> and Volume 2<\/a><\/i>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      11. C.S. Lewis. Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold.<\/i><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                        \n\n\n\n

                        2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          \n
                        1. J.R.R. Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring<\/em>. The Two Towers<\/em>. The Return of the King<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        2. John A. Widtsoe and Leah D. Widtsoe. The Word of Wisdom: A Modern Interpretation<\/em><\/a>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        3. Henrik Isben. An Enemy of the People<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        4. George Eliot. The Mill on the Floss<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        5. Charlotte Bront\u00eb. The Professor<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        6. Esther Forbes. Johnny Tremain<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        7. Rudyard Kipling. The Jungle Book<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        8. Mary Mapes Dodge. Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        9. Charles Dickens. Nicholas Nickleby<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        10. Clark B. Hinckley. Christopher Columbus: A Man Among the Gentiles<\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        11. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                          \n\n\n\n

                          2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                            \n
                          1. The Revelation of John with a focus on the temple.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          2. Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          3. Edwin A. Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          4. Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales<\/em>. Most of us read a modern translation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          5. Willa Cather. The Song of the Lark<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          6. Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America, Volume 2<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          7. Robert Lewis Stevenson. A Child\u2019s Garden of Verses<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          8. Mark Twain. The Prince and the Pauper<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          9. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          10. Elizabeth Gaskell. Cranford<\/em><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                          11. Catherine Marshall. Christy<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                            \n\n\n\n

                            2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              \n
                            1. Bruce R. McConkie. Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man<\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            2. Katherine Padilla. Fall to Eden: An Apocalyptic Fantasy<\/a><\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            3. E.M. Forster. Howards End<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            4. Jane Austen. Northanger Abbey<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            5. Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Gift from the Sea<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            6. Montesquieu. The Spirit of Laws<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            7. William J. Bennett. Children\u2019s Book of Virtues<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            8. Kenneth Grahame. The Wind in the Willows<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            9. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver\u2019s Travels<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            10. C.S. Lewis. Out of the Silent Planet<\/em>. Perelandra<\/em>. That Hideous Strength<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            11. Michael Wilcox. Fire in the Bones: William Tyndale\u2014Martyr, Father of the English Bible<\/em>. (Latter-day Saint)
                              <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                              2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n