#48 A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Gene returns to the Devon School, site of the angst of his teenage years. He is older, but the school looks younger, varnished and gleaming. Equally varnished are Gene’s memories of Phineas, his best friend while at the Devon School. Finny, an adroit charmer and natural athlete, makes life look easy. He is everything Gene is not. When an accident involving Gene, a high tree, and a questionably clumsy Phineas puts an end to his physical prowess, Gene must ask himself a hard question: Did he cause Finny’s fall on purpose? Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference between a friend and a frenemy until you’re falling out of the tree.

#47 Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

It’s sort of like the show Seinfeld, but with more songs and pine trees. Pooh is the Jerry of the book, as he always breaks even and never comes to any harm. He and his friends, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo also spend the day visiting each other’s apartments (that is, tree houses) and muddling through the absurdities that fill their lives. But this book, unlike that show, is not about nothing. It is about friendship, imagination and the wonder of childhood. Pooh could give Jerry a few lessons on dealing with life’s little Heffalumps with a “hummy” song, a smackerel of “hunny,” and a quiet stroll though the woods.

#46 The Iliad by Homer

There are names for women like Helen of Troy, and by the tenth year of a most bloody and unceasing war, she has called herself every one. Every day, men have their limbs slashed, eyes gouged, throats cut, skulls smashed and corpses defiled, all because of her. The war starts when she, already married to Menalaus of Sparta, ran away with Paris of Troy. The Greeks launch a thousand ships to get her back. When the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus get involved, it quickly turns into a battle between the mortal and immortal: an unfair match. All this fuss over one woman. She’s beautiful, yes, but can she cook?

#45 The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Long before Maury Povich came on the scene to reveal paternity, people just had to take the mother’s word for it. The problem in this novel is that Hester Prynne isn’t talking. Her husband cannot be the father of her child, because he is thought to be two years at the bottom of the sea. Rather than leave the confines of her strict Puritan town, she stays and is forced to wear the letter “A”, for “adultery”, upon her chest. So who is the father? One who speaks eloquently about the Heavenly Father, and who suffers unimaginably in hypocrisy and shame. His secret letter “A” is the agony within his heart.

#44 The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

First there was the land and the land was good. Wang Lung is a poor farmer in China before the revolution, whose love of his land rules his life.   Wang sweats through sunshine, rain and harvest time, reaping the crops from his good and fertile land. Then Wang Lung chooses O-Lan, a slave woman from the majestic house of Hwang, to be his wife.   She is no beauty, with her big feet and big hands, but she works and bears sons, and brings prosperity to Wang Lung's house.  But as Wang Lung’s wealth grows, so do his troubles.  In the end, the land remains, planted with seeds of deceit and greed.

#43 A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

To a wood, in the dark of night,

Fair Hermia and Lysander steal away.

In the midst of their secret flight,

Fairies make mischief, confusion and play.

Helena, spurned by Demetrius, tells him of the lovers’ plan.

Demetrius, spurned by Hermia, chase to the lovers gives.

Helena, love-sick and forlorn, follows this rough, unfeeling man

In whose heart no love for Helena lives.

Under moonlight, Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen

Quarrel over a little boy who to the queen belongs.

Oberon with his henchfairy, Puck, schemes

To make Titania, to a Donkey, sing love’s sweet songs.

Oh what fools these Mortals be!

Yes, Fairy Puck, I quite agree.

#42 The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

It is a good island, but what about the boys marooned there? Fair-haired Ralph tries to maintain order and to keep a fire going as a signal for ships and airplanes. Meanwhile, red-haired and blood-thirsty Jack does not want to be rescued at all. Why get rescued? There are no rules on this island and one can hunt and kill whatever or whomever one pleases. When Jack allows the fire to go out when there is a ship on the horizon, all systems break down. Ralph has been named Chief, but who is really in charge here? It is the spirit of evil and savagery, the Lord of the Flies.