The UK's Telegraph recommends 110 books that form the "perfect library." It's certainly a balanced list. They've made sure to draw from several categories: Classics, Poetry, Children's Books, Sci-Fi, etc.

As for perfect, the comments address this, summed up by one reader thus: "Well, I think the author may have got the point by now that every reader of this list thinks him an idiot and I hope he/ she feels thoroughly stupid for this incredibly lack lustre effort."

Anyone care to share three books that would start them on their way to a perfect library? Mine are: The collected poems of Yeats (or Larkin), The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, and The Risk Pool by Richard Russo. OK, and Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It's quite difficult to limit to three.