The Book You Must Read Before You Die

Welcome to the Literary Blog Hop hosted by The Blue Bookcase!

The writing prompt for this week's blog hop is:

What one literary work must you read before you die?

I've always been a Bucket List kind of gal.

When I was eight, I decided to start with the A's

and read every book in the children's fiction section

of our small public library.

I didn't get very far before I realized that some books are

more worthy of being read than others.

Another life-changing moment came

the first time I visited the library at University of Houston.

I was a senior in high school

working on a paper for my Western Thought class on Kafka.

Perhaps because I looked so lost,

but for some reason a librarian walked me through the stacks

in this enormous library.

"Here," she said, finally, pointing to a shelf of books,

"are Kafka's original works in German. And here,"

she said, pointing to another shelf,

"are translations. And here,"

she said, this time pointing to a whole set of shelves,

"are commentary on Kafka in English and other languages."

It finally hit me: I could not read it all.

That was a terrible thought.

To take my mind off it,

I've chosen to focus on spending my time

reading the good books.

So, I don't know the answer to the question.

I suppose that's why I asked it.

Please tell me.

What one literary work must we read before we die?