h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm surprised that Terry Pratchett isn't in the top 10. The list strikes me a being a mix of hyped mass popular titles and ones that people think ought to be read. If that's a list of what should be passed on to the next generation, I despair.

Ten years ago or in ten years time the list will be totally different. There are definite trends in popular fiction as in media generally, clothes, cars and furnishings. Authors that I read ten, twenty, thirty years ago have largely disappeared from library shelves. I'm always reticent to recommend an author as tastes vary so much. However, here's one for a list of books that should be kept in print: Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth.

I'd imagine that people when 'answering the question', of 'what books would you like to pass down to the next generation', that in reality people havne't been answering that* question... Instead just listing 'books I liked recently', which of course isn't the same thing

People dont think about the answers to important questions, they just answer with the first thing that comes into their heads, hence the abomination that is that list.
I have been thinking about the books that have influenced my life from very young to very recent, spending time thinking about it brings more books and authors to mind. For example, I was brought up on fairy tales and my favourite is the princess and the pea. I would want future children to be sent to sleep with images of princessess and ballrooms. Then came a book called 'The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles' I wish I could remember the authors name, but the story was fantastic and still makes me smile when I remember it.
Moving into adulthood I was swept away by Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' and other comics. And as an adult Im reading everything I can from Emily Brontes @Wuthering Heights' to Raymond E Feists 'Magician' and much much more. There are so many books to pass on and so little time to read them all.