Mandatory Literature

My list of must reads.  First one is a no-brainer:

Don't by Charlie Mann - My best novel to date, San Francisco Book review gave it 5 stars and a commendation for being character driven.  A little heavy for a first (about 135k words) and admittedly slow to get going, but once the stage is set, you won't want to put it down (I hope).
Don't on Amazon
Don't on Nook
Don't on iBookstore

Storm and Earth Abides both by George R Stewart - The first a story of a snow storm with insights into meteorology and innovations in story telling that are a must for those who are interested in writers ahead of their time (which counts for a lot on this list).  The second a forerunner of the modern post-apocalyptic novel, a disease wipes out most of civilization, leaving a few with the world at their disposal; Stewart has a masterful eye for details in a fictional world, considering the environmental impact and psychological impacts of his setting that few have been able to match.
Storm on Amazon
Earth Abides on Amazon

Chesapeake by James Michener - Never very good with shorter formats, I have loved nearly all of his larger works (and they are many and large, often running over 1000 pages).  Michener takes a setting, often a place (in the case of Space, he takes an industry/profession, while The Novel uses both place/culture and industry/profession) and tells its story through the people and creatures that inhabit it through time, sometimes going back as far as prehistory.  This one was my favorite, though, set on Maryland's Eastern Shore (on the Choptank river) and covering the settlement of Europeans in the region, slavery, religion, industry, climate and ecosystems and class up through the early 70's.  As in many of his other works, Michener sticks with family clans to tell stories throughout generations to keep things familiar for the reader.  Second place among his books goes to Alaska and third to The Source.
Chesapeake on Amazon
Alaska on Amazon
The Source on Amazon

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - Follett is one who has worked (at least) three different genres of fiction, as well as one non-fiction (whose title I forget, but it covered Ross Perot's experience with Iran).  He does WWII, modern suspense and historical drama.  This massive work (on the order of a Michener) falls into the last category, telling the story of the building of a cathedral in 12th century England.  Follett creates characters with so much realism that you will love some and hate others and know all if you met them on the street.  For less literary diversions, The Third Twin and The Hammer of Eden will keep you turning pages long into the night.
Pillars of the Earth on Amazon
The Third Twin on Amazon
The Hammer of Eden on Amazon

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - Part sci-fi, part romance, this novel can be disorienting until you get the hang of it, but it uses the disjointed time line to tell the story of a relationship from the perspective of two who can be literally at different places in their lives and in the relationship throughout.  You know what's coming, don't want it to, but can't stop it.
The Time Traveller's Wife on Amazon

Cider House Rules or almost anything else by John Irving - The coming of age story of a boy in an orphanage run by a doctor who performs abortions illegally in his clinic, much like Irving's other works, it is the characters that keep you coming back for more (a second major criteria for my "must read" list).  Irving creates sympathetic perspectives for opposing views between the doctor and Homer Wells in way that keeps this story from being the political statement it could have become, while conveying the bittersweet nature of life, compromising one outcome for another, lying for a good cause and loving those who are not exactly what we want them to be.  Of course, the fan favorite, A Prayer for Owen Meany also falls into the mandatory category, along with a few others.  Irving does not shy away from quirky characters, unlikely events or recurring themes, even embracing them to keep the stories unique and yet believable and focusing on the important themes and feelings.
Cider House Rules on Amazon
A Prayer for Owen Meany on Amazon

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by A Square (pseudonym, actually Edwin Abbot Abbot).  This is another "ahead of its time" qualifier.  Originally written as an allegory for social inequality in England, this novella not only gives the reader a good insight into multiple dimensions, it was written at a time when the concept was well out of the mainstream.  Even more impressive, Abbot was a minister, not the first person you might think of writing a cutting edge math book.  Short and definitely unique (something my blog post tries to say is impossible), well worth the read.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions on Amazon

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein - I am a huge Heinlein fan and struggle so much to pick what to put here that I will just stick with this classic from the second part of his career for now.  I say second half because Heinlein's writings throughout the first half of his career tended to be more of the Cold War era traditional sci-fi/space western style (style, not quality) and targeted more at the juvenile audience.  There was some hard sci-fi woven in (dynamics of a space suit, physics of space flight, energy and transportation), but also a fair amount of coming of age, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, dreaming big and working hard type story throughout.  The latter half still maintain some of this, but was more adult in nature and of a libertarian bent. Stranger was probably the best of this era, very idealistic in nature, recognizing the potential benefits of a communistic, free love utopia, while acknowledging the inability of flawed humans to maintain it.  A good place to start, but for those (like myself) who love all kinds of sci-fi, you will exhaust his major works and begin searching the thrift stores, libraries and book stores for the older, out of print stuff.
Stranger in a Strange Land

I have a long list, but little time, so I will stop here.  But creating the list in this format will hopefully allow me to update better than I do with the rest of the blog.
Please feel free to comment a request or input into these or other books, especially sci-fi and post-apocalyptic, as well as additional books from the authors or insights into lighter reading.  I love a good book and love to share my passions (the main reason for the blog).