This is too hard. I am a reading fanatic and love so many books.
I love Into the Forest by Jean Hegland.
I love The Stand by Stephen King
I love Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence by Robert Pirsig
I love The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartman. ( Lifechanging).
I am trying to stop. I just, simply can't stop. There are too many wonderful books. I haven't even scratched the surface.

SHOGUN---- my book of life--- Clavel was a great writer with interesting insight on all facets of being.

The SOURCE, BY James Michener

Cosmos by Carl Sagan. It spoke to me about science from love of the subject and the beauty of reality. Until then I only knew the artificially animated corpse of science presented by my public school.

Don Qijote de la Mancha....(Cervantes) Why? Because is as real today as it was in the XVII century

The Stranger - Albert Camus
I read it in third grade, had a lasting effect.
Have had a copy since and re-read it occasionally.
....
Also the Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men.

“Jim said that bees won't sting idiots, but I didn't believe that, because I tried them lots of times myself and they wouldn't sting me.”
― Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

For me, I'd have to say TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST, by Richard Henry Dana-for many reasons.

After that, I guess it would be ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE, as the most influential.

That would depend on the point I was at in my life. Two examples close together:
1972-73 - Starship Troopers (Heinlein). I was attached to the 1st Cavalry in Vietnam... flying Hueys.
1973-75 - The Teachings of Don Juan (Castaneda). I was assigned to the ASA at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. Again, flying Hueys.

H. P. Lovecraft: The Complete Collection. Because I had incredibly realistic lucid dreams when I was growing up before I knew what that was and when I first came across his Dream series stories I flipped out with so many of the things we wrote about. I could relate.

The Alchemist - Paulo Cohelo

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen is my favorite book of all time. I know she was a European Colonialist by birth and circumstance, but I am haunted forever by some of the passages from that novel. I'll never leave it entirely behind. I also love all of the works of Jane Austen, and then there is Very Good, Jeeves, and not to mention the incredible world building of the Song of Ice and Fire novels by GRR Martin. I love books in general. I guess I just love too many of them, but these are the ones I return to again and again.

"A Prayer for Owen Meany." It introduced me to literature in a way that other books had failed. Religion is a secondary theme but the story is phenomenal.

A novel called Maybe The Moon by Armistead Maupin. Funny and heartbreaking.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and the film by David Fincher. I add the film because Chuck openly stated that he thought the film was better than his book and I have to agree, but it was still birthed by his mind.

The book destroyed concepts I was struggling with regarding capitalism and materialism without using the bullshit rose colored glasses that normally came with the debate.

The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy. Read it for the first time when I was 15 and it really made an impression. I really like the way Pat Conroy wrote. I was the first time I ever noticed an author's prose style.

To kill a mocking bird
They way I imagined it while reading it really stayed in my head.

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

The thing is, although I enjoy the book tremendously, I can't claim it's a great work of literature. And parts of it really haven't stood the test of time well at all. But still, that's the book that really fired up my imagination when I was young. Who wouldn't want to have a devoted time-traveling dragon at their beck and call. This book is the reason I have a lifelong fascination with dragons ... and a dragon tattoo.

Hm. This is a tough one. If it's 'book I've read more times than any other' it's probably Michael Crichton's 'Sphere' or Jonathan Nasaw's 'The World on Blood.' If it's 'book I enjoyed the most' the answer is either Gaiman and Pratchett's 'Good Omens' or Gaiman's 'The Neverwhere.'

If we're counting anthologies and collections, then I've got to go with my Lovecraft commemorative edition 'Necronomicon' collection.

I luxuriated through Hawaii by James Michener the summer of my sixteenth year. The first novel I think I just fell into.

Fiction
Animal farm. Read it when I was 11. First story I'd ever known without a happy ending. First book to make me cry.
Non Fiction
The Selfish Gene. Answered so many questions I'd struggled with regarding evolution and altruism. Explained why there were bad people in the world.

This is a great place to get some book ideas.

I vacillate between Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence, fun stuff by Anne Tyler, soap opera stuff like Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons. I was one of the five people who adored Moby Dick.

There are so many classic and contemporary books that I should have read.

I’d love to hear about those. What books do you think a Lit teacher must read?

Well...I could pick "Candide" by Voltaire for it's twisted absurdity. But the only book I've ever read twice was "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, so that's my lowbrow pick. The characters, the classes, plus living near Tulsa made it more personal.

It's funny, but I don't really read books. I mostly read things online... I'm always reading online.

But to answer your question... In childhood, either 'The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe' or 'The Wizard Of Oz' (the original old version). They are both magical.

Later in life.. 'Two On A Tower' (Thomas Hardy) or a book of short stories by 'E M Forster' because they had an intense romantic quality about them. But both were quite tragic, which I didn't like.