So Who Really Cares?

In high school and college I had to read books that were considered the classics: The Scarlet Letter, Farewell to Arms, The Red Badge of Courage, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The Nigger of Narcissus, Slaughterhouse-Five, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, Sons and Lovers, Gulliver's Travels, etc. Some had a moral, others made you think, but most were just BORING. I've come up with a list of fiction that I think would be both educational and enjoyable to read. I limited myself to just one title per author.

The Ox-bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
The Magus, by John Fowles
Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
Youth, by Joseph Conrad
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Texas, by James Michener
The Man Who Would Be King, by Rudyard Kipling
A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
Hounds of the Baskerville, by Arthur Conan Doyle
Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
Patriot Games, by Tom Clancy
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
The Precious Present, by Spencer Johnson

Once upon a time, I owned a string of video stores (before the Blockbusters and Hollywood Video chains were around). I have always been a big movie buff, and have a knack for picking good flicks (not the artsy type). Some are thought provoking, and all are enjoyable. Here is a list of my Top 25, in no specific order, other than how they popped into my head.

Little Big Man
In Harm's Way
Duets
When Trumpets Fade
The English Patient
Crash
Saving Private Ryan
The Sand Pebbles
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Four Seasons
The Duellist
Cider House Rules
Frequency
Final Destination
House of Sand and Fog
Life of David Gale
Das Boot
Memento
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rear Window
Three Days of the Condor
Marathon Man
A River Runs Through It
Hellfighters
Blackhawk Down