11.  Eight Cousins/Rose in Bloom, by Louisa May Alcott.  Now, I could say Little Women, but that's too obvious     and also it never stole my heart in the way that this series did. Similar to the above, the first features a girl as a     child and the second as an adult, and both are about equally good. The only thing I would warn you is that   Rose in Bloom is a little...hard to grasp the first time you read it. I liked it much the first time, loved it the second, and adored it the third.  Because her style is a little hard to grasp as she alternates between treating  her heroine like a child and treating her like an adult, and she does tend to be a little bit too preachy. But Rose in Bloom is so good...another of my favorite male literary heroes. 
 12. The Blue Castle/The Ladies of Missalonghi, by L.M. Montgomery/Colleen McCullough. Absolutely, read the     first. It's much better than Ladies, being lovely, lovely, lovely, sort of like a quiet Pride and Prejudice.  It's undoubtedly L.M. Montgomery's best adult romance.  A fairy-talish book for every woman. As for Ladies, it's the book that some people think  Colleen McCullough ripped off of The Blue Castle. Myself, I have no idea whether that's true or not, although there certainly are a lot of similarities. But it's absolutely different enough that both can be enjoyed(Ladies has completely different atmosphere, writing style, and main character, not to mention setting.) It's like a box of chocolates-short, sweet, and  satisfies the cravings.
13. I Will Maintain/Defender of the Faith/For God and the King, by Marjorie Bowen. I would absolutely recommend reading all three-it's a trilogy about King William and Queen Mary of Orange, although really much more about him than her. Some of the best historical fiction I've ever read, although be warned parts of it is really boring and can be skimmed, particularly in the first one. But you will be missing out if you skim. The second two are lovely, lovely, lovely,  because of their tale of the relationship and slow-growing romance between the Prince(as he was at that time) and his English bride. Oh, but it's perfect. The last is probably my favorite. Read, read them.
14. Beauty/Deerskin, by Robin McKinley. The first is better, being a universally loved fantasy re-telling of Beauty and the Beast and all-in-all wonderful, but the second is also breathtakingly lovely and gloriously and warmly romantic. I can't believe I didn't have these higher on the list. Ah well-it's only in rough order anyway.
15. Murder on the Orient Express/Maisie Dobbs, by Agatha Christie and Jacqueline Winspear, respectively.  I've searched and searched for good mystery authors and these are the only two I've found who are constanly enterrtaining, wholesome, and not too creepy or convoluted.  Most Agatha Christies will do although Murder is one of the best and a few of her others are really creepy. Of Maisie Dobbs I have only read one book so far, but I enjoyed it immensely and I would imagine that any of the others in the series are equally good.
16.Goodbye Mr. Chips, by James Hilton. Lovely little story by the author of the famous but extremely creepy Lost Horizon. I loved this book. It's a quiet story of a beloved teacher at an all-boys school in England, and it's filled with light and nostalgia. I was so glad that I'd read it when I finished it. Short and easy to read, it's much more interesting than it sounds. Trust me.
17. Nicola and the Viscount, by Meg Cabot. Okay, so I'm putting an absolute bubblegum of chick lit and fluff on this oh-so-serious list of books to read before you die.(Grins, shields head from criticism and scorn raining down on her) But what the heck? It's a good book! I LURVE, LURVE, LURVE it. Loved every moment, read the first page and knew I would love it. So it's more of a teen book than an adult. So it's simply written and and lacking a complex plot. It's still LOVELY and FABULOUS and so much fun it's incredible. This and Bridget Jones are my absolute favorite chick lit books in the world-both leave me in a halo of enjoyment and fun. And besides, I LOVE the male character in this-my favorite brown-eyed literary hero in the world.
18.Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy. So this is the only Hardy book I've read and others may be better. So what? Gabriel Oak will always remain my favorite Hardy hero. On second thought, I'm not so sure that the certain person from Nicola and the Viscount is my favorite brown-eyed hero-Gabriel Oak is pretty stiff competition. *sigh*. It's a toss-up.  A very good book all around-you'll fall in love, I promise.
19. A Wizard of Earthsea/The Tombs of Atuan/The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. LeGuin. Any one of these books is essential. They're the three parts of an epic fantasy trilogy that's often called the only worthy follow-up to the Lord of the Rings. They're absolutely wonderful-wise, lyrical, gripping, and short enough that she says everything she needs to say without indulging in the wastelands of characters and details that most fantasy writers get lost in. The second book is my favorite, being the only one whose main character is female and the only one with hints of romance, but the last is also great. There's a fourth book but I consider it a loose addition, and it's not as good as the others.
20. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. It's something like a mix of Daddy-Long-Legs and Pride and Prejudice, being written in the form of a girl's diary as she chronicles her coming-of-age in a run-down castle in England, living with a host of extremely poor and wildly eccentric relatives, and besieged by her own maturity, her sister's beauty, and conflicting feelings about her family and first love. It's by turns poignant, brilliant, funny,melancholy and bittersweet-rarely any two at once or it really would be brilliant instead of only having flashes of brilliance. It's not perfect-it's a flawed book-but still oh, so good. Especially the ending, which broke my heart.
21. Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand. One of the most well-written and overall best books I've ever read-and it's almost all biography, not fiction. Fabuous, wonderful. Leaves you with an incredible feeling of well-being and an incredible sense of the history and humanity of that time and the horse that was the symbol of both.
22. October Sky/The Chosen, by Homer H. Hickam and Chaim Potok, respectively. They're both about equally good. The first is a personal memoir written by a real person, a boy who, growing up in a backwoods mining town, found the strength and courage to put his dreams into reality, and together with a group of boys built his own rocket out of handmade materials-and launched it. It's a superb book, not just because of the story itself although its incredible but just because it's so well-written. The second is not for everyone, being about two Jewish boys growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s, who form an unusual bond out of their differences and later find themselves at the center of a religious clash between Jewish sects(that part is more in the second part of the series, called The Promise). But that's not really what it's about. It's about life and friendship and fathers and relationships and the barriers we build around ourselves, and is abolutely brilliant and utterly fascinating. Read it.
23. Peter Pan/Rumpole on Trial, by  J.M. Barrie and John Mortimer, respectively. It's a little known fact that the original Peter Pan is a great book and has far more in it than just the bones of the story that everyone knows. It's truly magical-so easy to say, so hard to describe, and so difficult to do. Perfectly wonderful, with lots of details I'd never read before that really lit up the story for me. As for Rumpole, well, take your pick-magical storytelling or British barrister humour? The Rumpole books are a good deal like the Jeeves books, except with lawyers, and more generally amusing than laugh-out-loud, at least compared to Jeeves. But certainly not to be missed. I love the Brits.
24. Mara, Daughter of the Nile, by Eloise Jarvic McGraw.  The best children's historical fiction book I've ever read, complex enough to be thoroughly enjoyed by adults as well. I've read it countless times. Vidanric from Crown Duel and Sheftu, the grey-eyed lord in this, have certain similarities-delicious ones. Fabulous characterizations, excellent sense of Egypt at that time, and very well-written. The end is quite wonderful.
25. A Tale of Two Cities/Les Miserables, by Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo respectively. Take your pick. They're both equally brilliant and equally depressing.  Either one is a must read.

P.S. I'm sure that North and South should have gone on here, but as I haven't read it yet(GARRRfunkel! A series of long and extrememly frustrating blocks have kept me from reading it-like, NO LIBRARIES AROUND HERE HAVE IT! Anyway, if you think I've missed anything, any other fantabulous books that I simply must read, by all means drop a note! ^_^