We have here a bunch of somewhat intelligent people. We ought to catalog the sources of our knowledge and generate a reading list. Please indicate author, fiction/non-fiction, and most importantly a brief synopsis/basic point of the book.

The Little Prince by Antoine St. Exupery

A fairy tale about the importance of friends and the sadness loss.

Beowulf (I can't remember the translator of the version I have, but I really like it)

The basic points:
- Respect is earned, and not soon forgotten
- Loyalty above all else
- Great leaders lead from the front and lead by example
- Role models can come from any age or time (more of a personal point than from the book)
- Epic tales should not be made into cartoons (I still refuse to see the latest movie)

Beowulf Translated by Burton Raffel

Set aside your bias against that horrible movie, and pick up Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass. I can almost guarantee that you'll want to read the two following books after you're done. The trilogy is called His Dark Materials.

The story is fiction, set in an alternate universe with an overall theme of the dangers of theocracy, the value of innocence, and the importance of family. Also, there's some corny, coming-of-age love story stuff, but not until the end of the trilogy.

This book beats the snot out of Harry Potter. I read it the first time in early high school, and found it much more entertaining.

-Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) - Should be a classic
-The Hobbit (tolstoie??) - Classic
-An Elegant Universe (Brian Greene) - String Theory
-Porter Rockwell (Dewey) - Great Biography
-Songs of Solmon 8:8 - The Bible - (because we all have a little sister) - Just read it .

That should keep you busy.

I need to reread a short play call "Waiting for Godot"

Any of the Wayside School books by Louis Sachar.
Anything by Bill Waterson, Charles Schults, J. Micheal Strachinski, Brian Micheal Bendis, Kevin Smith, and of course, Stanley Martin Leiber, alias, Stan Lee.
Cowboy Poetry, by Baxter Black.
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. fiction

p.s. Thank you for the idea of this post. I'm sure no one believes this, but I have read TONS of books. Trying to narrow down a few was kind of a pain in the ass, but very pleasing in itself.