Oberlin's Favorite Books

At every community event we invited participants to write the title or author of a favorite book on a long scroll: the "list of books to save" from a fire.  Many of the titles noted below were offered by more than one person, and a few entries relate to an entire series of books by the same author. There are just over 230 books on the list - we are an eclectic group of readers, judging by this list!

Final list, as of April 20, 2011:



Author Title

1984 George Orwell

"anything by" Mark Twain

"anything by" Patricia Highsmith

"anything by" Wilhem Reich

"anything by" Willa Cather

Absalom, Absalom William Faulkner

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

Ahab's Wife Sena Jeter Naslund
The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell

All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren

Always Outmanned, Always Outgunned Walter Mosley

American Gods Neil Gaiman
The American Pageant David M. Kennedy

And Tango Makes Three Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

And the Band Played On Randy Shilts

Angle of Repose Wallace Stenger and Jackson J. Benson

Angry Candy Harlan Ellison

Animal Dreams Barbara Kingsolver

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral Barbara Kingsolver

Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
The Ants E. O. Wilson

As I Lay Dying William Faulkner

As You Like It William Shakespeare

Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison

Beloved Toni Morrison

Between Friends Debbie Macomber
The Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna

Black Beauty Anna Sewell

Black Like Me: Autobiography of Malcom X Malcom X

Blood Meridian or the evening redness in the West Cormac McCarthy

Blood Oranges John Hawkes
The Blue Sword Robin McKinley

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy Eric Metaxas

Brain Sex: the real different between men and women Anne Moir

Brave New World Aldous Huxley

Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky

Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
A Canticle for Liebowitz Walter M. Miller

Captain Underpants Dav Pilkey

Carnival of Fury William Ivy Flair
The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger

Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko

Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
The Color of Water James McBride

Color Purple Alice Walker
The Columbia Encyclopedia Clarke F. Ansley, editor in chief
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson

Confederacy of Dunces Kennedy O'Toole
The Constitution of the United States of America James Madison, et al.

Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas père

Courage and Consequence Karl Rove

Crossings: a history of Vermont Bridges Robert McCullough

Cry the Beloved Country Alan Patak

David Copperfield Charles Dickens
The Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson, et al.

Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey

Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank
The Drifters James Mitchener

Dune Frank Herbert

Eazy Rollins series Walter Mosley
The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery
The End of Time Isaac Asimov

Ender's Game Orson Scott Card

Everything is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer
A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway

Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Federalist or The Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

Fifth Sacred Thing Starhawk
The Fledgling Octavia Butler

Flowers for Algernon (Charly) Daniel Keyes
The Gift Hafiz

Giraffe J.M. Ledgard
The Giver Lois Lowry
The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein

God Bless You Mr. Rosewater Kurt Vonnegaut

God of Small Things Arundhati Roy
The Golden Compass Philip Pullman

Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck

Good Omens Neil Gaiman

Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown

Goosebumps: Say Cheese and Die R. L. Stine
The Gospel According to Biff Christopher Moore
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

Habibi Naomi Shihab Nye

Hamlet William Shakespeare

Harold and the Purple Crayon Crockett Johnson

Harry Potter series J. K. Rowling
The Help Stockette
The History of Love Allison Krause
The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again J. R. R. Tolkien

Holes Lewis Sacher
The Holy Bible
The Holy Qur'an

Hope Dies Last: Autobiography Alexander Dubcek

How Did We Find Out About Electricity? Isaac Asimov

How Many Licks, or How to Estimate Damn Near Anything DeAaron Santos

How to Read the Air Dinaw Mengestu

Hunger Games Suzanne Collins

I and Thou Martin Buber

I, Robot Isaac Asimov

If On a Winter's Night a Traveler… Italo Calvino

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs

Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
The Joy of Cooking Irma von Starkloff Rombauer

Katherine Anya Seton

Klondike Fever Pierre Berton

L'Etranger Albert Camus
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles Julie Andrews

Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman

Let the Circle be Unbroken Mildred Taylor

Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke
The Life of Pi Yann Martel

Like Water for Chocolate Laura Esquivel
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis

Little Birds Erotica Anais Nin

Little House in the Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Miss Sunshine Roger Hargreaves

Lolita Vladimer Nabkob

Lord Jim Joseph Conrad

Lord of the Flies William Golding
The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tokien

Love Leo Buscalgia

Love You Forever Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw

Marley and Me John Grogan

Martian Timeslip Philip K. Dick
The Marx-Engels Reader Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels; ed. by Robert C. Tucker

Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris

Middlemarch T. S. Eliot

Midwives Chris Bojalimna

Moby Dick Herman Melville

Moonspinners Mary Stewart

Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf

My Side of the Mountain Jean Craighead George

Naked David Sedaris
The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri

Neverending Story Michael Ende

Night Elie Wiesel

Night Watch Terry Pratchett
The Notebook José Saramago
The Once and Future King T. H. White

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexander Solzhenitsyn

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Dr. Seuss

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez

Organic Chemistry, 6th ed. Francis A. Carey
The Other Wind U.K. LeGuin

Our Town Thornton Wilder

Out of Africa Isak Dinesen
The Outsiders S. E. Hinton

Parable of the Sower Octavia Butler

Perdido Street Station China Mieville
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky

Persuasion Jane Austen
Le Petite Prince Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster

Phantoms in the Brain V.S. Ramachandran
The Pigman Paul Zindel

Pilgrim's Progress Mark Twain
The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett

[Poetry] Edgar Alan Poe
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austin
The Prophet Kahlil Gibran

Queen Zixi of Ix; or, the Story of the Magic Cloak Frank  L. Baum

Quiet Flows the Dawn Sholokov

Redwall Brian Jacques
The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy
The Road Less Traveled M. Scott Peck

Robin Hood [author not given]

Room [author not given]

Running with Scissors Augusten Burroughts
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd

Seeds: Time Capsules of Life Kesseler and Stuppy
A Separate Peace John Knowles

Short stories Anton Chekhov

Single Variable Calculus, 6th ed. James Stewart

Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughter House Five Kurt Vonnegaut
The Sledding Hill Chris Crutcher

Snakes: the evolution of myster in nature Harry Greene
The Soft Machine William Burroughs

Solaris Stanilaw Lem
A Song of Ice and Fire George R. R. Martin

Song of Solomon Tony Morrison

Soulstepping Elizabeth C. Fine
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
The Sparrow Mary Doria Russel
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman

Stargirl Jerry Spinelli

Stones Into Schools Greg Mortenson

Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein

Sufi poetry Rumi (Jalal ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi)

Summerhill A. S. Neill

Tales from Central Russia, Book 1 James Riordan

Tangerine Edward Bloor

Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin

Their Eyes Were Watcing God Zora Neal Hurston

There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom Louis Sachar
The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien

Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson

To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

Toby Chipmunk Margaret J. McElroy and Jessica O. Younge

Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith

Twenty Love Poems and One Song of Despair Pablo Neruda
The Twits Roald Dahl

Two Logs Crossing; John Haskell's Story Walter Dumaux Edmonds
The Velveteen Rabbit Margarey Williams

Venus In Furs Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch

Walden Henry David Thoreau

War and Peace Leo Tolstoy

Water for Elephants Sara Gruen

Watership Down Richard Adams
The Way of the Scout Tom Brown, Jr.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver

Where I'm Calling From Ray Cower

Where's Waldo? Martin Handford

Whiteman Tony D'Souza

Who Are You People? Shari Candron
The Wind-Witch Susan Dexter

Winnie the Pooh stories A.A. Milne
The Witch of Blackbird Pond Elizabeth George Speare
The Wizard of Oz Frank L. Baum
The Woman Warrior Maxine Kingston
The World According to Garp John Irving

World Without End Ken Follett
The Writing Life Annie Dillard

Zeitoun Dave Eggers