Everybody loves lists.

In the comments of this post, Eddie, our moderator for Doctor Zhivago in December, mentioned another one. Here's a link to The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written from the book of the same name by Martin Seymour-Smith. Of course, all the titles making the list are based on the author's opinion (like 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die), but it's a good resource nonetheless if you're looking for something to read.

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I've read very few from this list since it's heavy on the non-fiction. For me, many of the titles or portions thereof were assigned in high school and college classes. As for those I've read cover-to-cover, there are only five:

• The Prince by Machiavelli
• Don Quixote, Part I by Cervantes
• Candide by Voltaire
• The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels
• 1984 by Orwell

Although I do go through a non-fiction phase every now and then, I read more for entertainment than information or education. It's a way to escape from reality since my own imagination is limited due to an overabundance of pragmatism, so there's nothing better than a good yarn to suck me into another world.