Since I'm not sure I believe in the concept of a list of must-read books, for the very reasons you state, I suppose I'm suggesting a literary canon of sorts - one where a person with a good selection from it might consider themselves to have sampled a fair number of the literary offerings most likely to have an impact on their lives.

I just realized that I'm attempting to do exactly that which I decried about the first list. I'm attempting to set up an authority others could appeal to in deciding on their reading material.