Capital Kiwi > my list in the previous post stands, if only because if I fiddled with it I'd be like Wow - torn between umpteen different authors

"umpteen authors" : too true Cap!
And I didn't mention the fascinating books about Hawaii and its people or the wonderful books I've read from China like "The Mustard Seed Garden" and David Kidd's "Peking Story." Then too, the Japanese "Tales of Kanji"!

I find it interesting that most all of the books listed here are for European and American authors. What books would a native of China or Japan, or India or Saudi Arabia put down as their canon?
I guess it's all in what we are exposed to : for instance I know a lot of European History from reading, whereas my older son who graduated from the University of Hawaii can reel off the Chinese history and dynastic info and the Japanese Emporers and Shoguns etc. I'm sure his list would be quite different from mine, and not just because of the ages and "times!"