The first question I'd ask is: is this a list of must-read books or are you attempting to identify a literary canon? The two are, naturally enough, not equivalent sets.

I come to this question myself when I think what books would I have my children read. What books, I wonder, changed the way I viewed things or simply enriched my life. Those are the books that I would put on such a list.

For my money, not everything that I've read that is literature has had that effect on my and aren't necessarily well-remembered by me. As such, it becomes a very personal list of likes and dislikes, personal preference and bias.

My problem with assembling a list of the greatest literary works of all time and noting which ones I've read reduces to my holding out my brain-penis for subsequent measure against everyone else's comparison-- and the point gets lost on me as to why bother.

But I've given a lot of thought lately to compiling the list of books I'd put in front of different people for different reasons. Most specifically pulling together a reading list of books I'd most want to read and have read by my kids as they grow is of value to me.

And there are my thoughts. :)