WORLD LITERATURE

At the top of my list are both books of Kafka and "Don Quixote" of Cervantes. 

And then I somehow single out: Beckett, Broch, Camus, Céline, Hemingway, Ishiguro, Joyce, Modiano, Pessoa, Proust, J. Roth, Steinbeck, West, Woolf, plus "Ansichten eines Clowns" of Böll, "Nostromo" of Conrad, "Tanagokoro no shōsetsu" of Kawabata, "Nineteen eighty-four" of Orwell.

The poetry of Benn, Dickinson, Frost, Pasternak, Pessoa, Rimbaud, Tranströmer and Ungaretti is incomparable. Especially Dickinson, for me.

And I should mention separately the short stories of Anderson, Carver, Chekhov, Cortázar, Hemingway, Joyce, and Kawabata.

Most books in my list are "old". But I must say that I was astonished by the tenderness and humanity of the very recent (and quite difficult) book of Helle, and the recent "Klara and the sun" of Ishiguro. 

(The books come with their titles in their original language. If this is other than english, then I have read them in their greek translation. Well, I know (?) only greek and some english.)

Svetlana Alexievich Vremya sekond khend.

Sherwood Anderson Dark laughter. Winesburg, Ohio.

Julian Barnes The noise of time.

Sebastian Barry Old God's time.

Samuel Beckett Premier amour. En attendant Godot.

Gottfried Benn Selection of poems.

Thomas Bernhard Der untergeher.

Heinrich Böll Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum. Ansichten eines Clowns.

Bertold Brecht Die Dreigroschenoper. Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner.

Hermann Broch Die Schlafwandler.

Italo Calvino Le città invisibili.

Albert Camus L' étranger. La chute. L' été.

Raymond Carver What we talk about when we talk about love.

Louis-Ferdinand Céline Voyage au bout de la nuit.

Miguel de Cervantes El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Raymond Chandler The big sleep. Farewell my lovely.

Anton Chekhov Dama s sobachkoy. Polnoe Sobranie Sochinenii v tridcati tomach.

John Maxwell Coetzee The Pole.

Joseph Conrad Nostromo. Heart of darkness.

Julio Cortázar Todos los fuegos el fuego.

Janina Degutytė Poezija.

Charles Dickens Great expectations.

Emily Dickinson Selection of poems and letters.

Fyodor Dostoevsky Pryestupleniye i nakazaniye. Bésy.

Jean-Paul Dubois Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon.

Umberto Eco Il nome della rosa.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger Der kurze Sommer der Anarchie; Buenaventura Durrutis Leben und Tod. Hammerstein, oder, Der Eigensinn: eine deutsche Geschichte.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald Tender is the night.

Robert Frost The collected poems.

Jean Genet Journal du voleur. Les bonnes.

André Gide Les Faux-monnayeurs.

Louise Glück Faithful and virtuous night.

Robert Graves I, Claudius.

Vasily Grossman Treblinskiy ad.

Dashiell Hammett Red harvest.

Thomas Hardy The Well-Beloved: A sketch of a temperament.

Heinz Helle Die Überwindung der Schwerkraft.

Ernest Hemingway The old man and the sea. The snows of Kilimanjaro.

Michel Houellebecq Extension du domaine de la lutte. Les particules élémentaires.

Peter Høeg Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne.

Kazuo Ishiguro Never let me go. The remains of a day. Klara and the sun.

Fleur Jaeggy I beati anni del castigo.

James Joyce Ulysses. Dubliners.

Franz Kafka Der Prozeß. Die Verwandlung.

Jasunari Kawabata Nemureru bijo. Tanagokoro no shōsetsu.

Milan Kundera Žert. Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí.

Stanisław Lem Solaris.

Primo Levi Se questo è un uomo.

Jack London The people of the abyss.

André Malraux La condition humaine.

Thomas Mann Der Tod in Venedig. Der Zauberberg.

Javier Marías Todas las almas. Corazón tan blanco.

Gabriel García Márquez Cien años de soledad. El amor en los tiempos del cólera. La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada.

Carson McCullers The heart is a lonely hunter.

Herman Melville Moby Dick, or The Whale.

Yukio Mishima Kamen no kokuhaku.

Patrick Modiano Dora Bruder. Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue.

Herta Müller Reisende auf einem Bein.

Haruki Murakami Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru.

Robert Musil Der Mahn ohne Eigenschaften.

Vladimir Nabokov Lolita.

Flannery O’Connor The violent bear it away.

George Orwell Animal farm. Homage to Catalonia. Nineteen eighty-four.

Pier Paolo Pasolini Ragazzi di vita.

Boris Pasternak Selection of poems.

Victor Pelevine Joltaïa strela.

Fernando Pessoa A educação do estoico. Livro do desassossego. O guardador de rebanhos, O pastor amoroso, Poemas inconjuntos.

Vasco Pratolini Cronache di poveri amanti.

Marcel Proust À la recherche du temps perdu.

Rainer Maria Rilke Briefe an einen jungen Dichter.

Arthur Rimbaud Illuminations. Une saison en enfer.

Joseph Roth The hotel years. Stationschef Fallmerayer.

Ernesto Sabato Sobre heroes y tumbas.

Bernhard Schlink Die Enkelin. Der Vorleser.

John Steinbeck Of mice and men.

Stendhal La Chartreuse de Parme.

Tomas Tranströmer Den stora gåtan.

Giuseppe Ungaretti Selection of poems.

Boris Vian L' ecume des jours.

Herbert George Wells The war of the worlds.

Nathanael West The day of the locust. Miss Lonelyhearts.

Virginia Woolf The death of the moth. Monday or Tuesday, and other short stories.

Alejandro Zambra Bonsái.

GREEK LITERATURE

Ξεχωρίζω τον Καβάφη.

Και τους: Αλεξάνδρου, Βαλτινό, Βιζυηνό, Εγγονόπουλο, Ελύτη, Κοτζιά, Παπαδιαμάντη, Πολίτη, Σεφέρη, Τσίρκα, Χατζή.

Άρης Αλεξάνδρου Το κιβώτιο. Ποιήματα. Έξω απ’ τα δόντια.

Θανάσης Βαλτινός Συναξάρι Ανδρέα Κορδοπάτη: Αμερική. Συναξάρι Ανδρέα Κορδοπάτη: Βαλκανικοί-'22. Στοιχεία για τη δεκαετία του '60. Η κάθοδος των εννιά. Μπλε βαθύ, σχεδόν μαύρο. Επείγουσα ανάγκη ελέου.

Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός Το αμάρτημα της μητρός μου. Διηγήματα Α και Β.

Ρέα Γαλανάκη Ο βίος του Ισμαήλ Φερίκ Πασά.

Νίκος Γκάτσος Αμοργός. Όλα τα τραγούδια.

Άντζελα Δημητρακάκη Το μανιφέστο της ήττας.

Δημήτρης Δημητριάδης Πεθαίνω σα χώρα.

Νίκος Δήμου Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Έλληνας.

Νίκος Εγγονόπουλος Ποιήματα.

Οδυσσέας Ελύτης Ποιήματα.

Ζυράννα Ζατέλη Περσινή αρραβωνιαστικιά.

Άλκη Ζέη Η αρραβωνιαστικιά του Αχιλλέα.

Κωνσταντίνος Καβάφης Ποιήματα.

Ανδρέας Κάλβος Ωδαί.

Μαργαρίτα Καραπάνου Η Κασσάνδρα και ο λύκος.

Κώστας Καρυωτάκης Ποιήματα και πεζά.

Νίκος Κάσδαγλης Κεκαρμένοι.

Αλέξανδρος Κοτζιάς Αντιποίησις αρχής.

Μένης Κουμανταρέας Βιοτεχνία υαλικών. Η κυρία Κούλα.

Μαργαρίτα Λυμπεράκη Τα ψάθινα καπέλα.

Γιάννης Μπεράτης Το πλατύ ποτάμι.

Αριστοτέλης Νικολαΐδης Η εξαφάνιση.

Νίκος Νικολαϊδης Οργισμένος βαλκάνιος.

Χρήστος Οικονόμου Κάτι θα γίνει, θα δεις.

Γιάννης Πάνου Από το στόμα της παλιάς Remington.

Αλέξης Πανσέληνος Η μεγάλη πομπή. Ιστορίες με σκύλους.

Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης Η φόνισσα. Όνειρο στο κύμα. Διηγήματα.

Σωτήρης Πατατζής Μεθυσμένη πολιτεία.

Κοσμάς Πολίτης Eroica.

Γιάννης Ρίτσος Επιτάφιος.

Γιώργος Σεφέρης Ποιήματα.

Τάκης Σινόπουλος Συλλογή Ι. Συλλογή ΙΙ.

Έρση Σωτηροπούλου Η φάρσα.

Πέτρος Τατσόπουλος Η καλοσύνη των ξένων.

Κώστας Ταχτσής Το τρίτο στεφάνι.

Στρατής Τσίρκας Η νυχτερίδα - Αριάγνη - Η λέσχη. Τα διηγήματα.

Ανδρέας Φραγκιάς Λοιμός.

Δημήτρης Χατζής Το τέλος της μικρής μας πόλης.

Ρένα Χατζηδάκη Κατάσταση πολιορκίας.

Γιώργος Χειμωνάς Πεζογραφήματα.

Χρήστος Χωμενίδης Το σοφό παιδί.

ON LITERATURE

Harold Bloom How to read and why.

Milan Kundera L'art du roman.

BIOGRAPHICAL 

Louis Althusser L' avenir dure longtemps. Les faits.

Luis Bunuel Mon dernier soupir.

Didier Eribon Retour à Reims.

Billie Holiday, William Dufty Lady sings the blues.

WORLD

Paul Boyer American History; a very short introduction.

Fernand Braudel Grammaire de civilisations.

Edward Hallett Carr The Russian revolution from Lenin to Stalin, 1917-1929

James Hawes The shortest history of Germany.

Karl Jaspers Die Schuldfrage.

Natacha Polony Nos enfants gâchés.

John Reed Ten days that shook the world.

Laurence Rees The dark charisma of Adolf Hitler.

George Steiner The idea of Europe.

Menno ter Braak Het nationaal-socialisme als rancuneleer.

GREECE

Κώστας Αξελός Η μοίρα της σύγχρονης Ελλάδας.

Θάνος Βερέμης, Ιωάννης Κολιόπουλος Νεότερη Ελλάδα.

ΚΚΕ Το 9ο συνέδριο.

Παναγιώτης Κονδύλης Οι αιτίες της παρακμής της σύγχρονης Ελλάδας.

Κώστας Κωστής Τα κακομαθημένα παιδιά της Ιστορίας.

Έλλη Παππά Ο Λένιν χωρίς λογοκρισία και εκτός μαυσωλείου.

Ρόδης Ρούφος Οι μεταμορφώσεις του Αλάριχου.

Μάνος Χατζιδάκις Ο καθρέφτης και το μαχαίρι. Τα σχόλια του Τρίτου.

SOCIALISM

Karl Marx Ludwig Feuerbach und der Ausgang der klassischen deutschen Philosophie. Der 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon.

Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei.

Vladimir Lenin Chto delat? Gosudarstvo i revolyutciya. Imperializm, kak viysshaya stadiya kapitalizma.

PSYCHOLOGY

Sigmund Freud Die Traumdeutung. Vorlesungen zur Einfürung in die Psychoanalyse. Der kleine Hans. Dora. Der Rattenmann - Schreber - Der Wolfsmann.

MATHEMATICS

Of the books I have studied since my early student years I think I can recommend the following ones. I consider them basic rather than specialized. Some of them I find really excellent and inspiring.

Euclidean geometry

H.S.M. Coxeter, S.L. Greitzer Geometry revisited.

F.G.M. Exercices de géométrie, comprenant l'esposé des méthodes géométriques et 2000 questions résolues.

G. Lemaire Méthodes de résolution et de discussion des problèmes de géométrie.

Ι.Γ. Ιωαννίδη Επίπεδος Γεωμετρία.

Foundations

P. Halmos Naive set theory.

D. Hilbert Foundations of geometry.

E. Landau Grundlagen der Analysis.

Linear algebra

I. Gel'fand Lectures on linear algebra.

W. Greub Linear algebra.

K. Hoffman, R. Kunze Linear algebra.

K. Nomizu Fundamentals of linear algebra.

Algebra

E. Artin Galois theory.

I. Herstein Topics in algebra.

N. Jacobson Basic algebra.

S. Lang Algebra.

B. van der Waerden Algebra.

Number theory

K. Chandrasekharan Introduction to analytic number theory.

G. Hardy, M. Riesz The general theory of Dirichlet's series.

G. Hardy, E. Wright An introduction to the theory of numbers. 

A. Ingham The distribution of prime numbers.

E. Landau Elementary number theory.

E. Titchmarsh The zeta function of Riemann.

I. Vinogradov Elements of number theory.

A. Weil Number theory for beginners.

Calculus

T. Apostol Calculus. Mathematical analysis.

H. Cartan Differential calculus.

R. Courant Differential and integral calculus.

R. Courant, F. John Introduction to calculus and analysis.

J. Dieudonné Infinitesimal calculus. Foundations of modern analysis.

I. Gel'fand, S. Fomin Calculus of variations.

G. Hardy, J. Littlewood, G. Polya Inequalities.

E. Landau Differential and integral calculus.

J. Marsden, A. Tromba Vector calculus.

G. Pólya, G. Szegö Problems and theorems in analysis.

W. Rudin Principles of mathematical analysis.

V. Smirnov A course of higher mathematics.

M. Spivak Calculus. Calculus on manifolds.

O. Toeplitz The calculus.

Topology

M. Greenberg, J. Harper Algebraic topology: a first course.

J. Kelley General topology.

K. Kuratowski Introduction to set theory and topology.

J. Munkres Topology.

G. Simmons Introduction to topology and modern analysis.

Geometry

W. Boothby An introduction to differentiable manifolds and Riemannian geometry.

Y. Matsushima Differentiable manifolds.

J. Milnor Topology from the differentiable viewpoint.

M. Spivak A comprehensive introduction to differential geometry, vol 1.

S. Sternberg Lectures on differential geometry.

F. Warner Foundations of differentiable manifolds and Lie groups.

Real analysis

G. Choquet Lectures on analysis.

G. Folland Real analysis.

L. Graves The theory of functions of real variables.

P. Halmos Measure theory.

A. Kolmogorov, S. Fomine Eléments de la theorie des fonctions et de l' analyse fonctionnelle.

E. Lieb, M. Loss Analysis.

A. Mukherjea, K. Pothoven Real and functional analysis.

I. Natanson Theory of functions of a real variable.

F. Riesz, B. Sz.-Nagy Functional analysis.

H. Royden Real analysis.

W. Rudin Real and complex analysis.

S. Saks Theory of the integral.

A. Taylor General theory of functions and integration.

R. Wheeden, A. Zygmund Measure and integral.

Functional Analysis

N. Akhieser Theory of approximation.

N. Akhiezer, I. Glazman Theory of linear operators in Hilbert space.

B. Bollobás Linear analysis.

H. Brezis Functional analysis.

G. Choquet Lectures on analysis.

G. Friedlander, M. Joshi Introduction to the theory of distributions.

K. Friedrichs Spectral theory of operators in Hilbert space.

G. Helmberg Introduction to spectral theory in Hilbert space.

A. Kolmogorov, S. Fomine Eléments de la theorie des fonctions et de l' analyse fonctionnelle.

P. Lax Functional analysis.

G. Lorentz Approximation of functions.

A. Mukherjea, K. Pothoven Real and functional analysis.

R. Phelps Lectures on Choquet theory.

M. Reed, B. Simon Functional analysis, vol 1.

F. Riesz, B. Sz.-Nagy Functional analysis.

A. Robertson, W. Robertson Topological vector spaces.

W. Rudin Functional analysis.

H. Schaefer Topological vector spaces.

M. Schechter Principles of functional analysis.

L. Schwartz Théorie des distributions.

A. Taylor Introduction to functional analysis.

K. Yosida Functional analysis.

R. Zimmer Essential results of functional analysis.

Complex analysis

L. Ahlfors Complex analysis. Lectures on quasiconformal mappings. Conformal invariants.

M. Andersson Topics in complex analysis.

C. Caratheodory Theory of functions.

H. Cartan Elementary theory of analytic functions of one or several complex variables.

J. Conway Functions of one complex variable, vol 1.

J. Dieudonné Infinitesimal calculus.

P. Duren Theory of H^p spaces.

W. Fuchs The theory of functions of one complex variable.

J. Garnett Bounded analytic functions. Analytic capacity and measure.

M. Heins Selected topics in the classical theory of functions of a complex variable.

K. Hoffman Banach spaces of analytic functions.

L. Hörmander An introduction to complex analysis in several variables.

K. Knopp Theory of functions.

P. Koosis Introduction to H^p spaces.

O. Lehto Univalent functions and Teichmüller space.

O. Lehto, K. Virtanen Quasiconformal mappings in the plane.

J. Littlewood Theory of functions.

R. Nevanlinna Eindeutige analytische Functionen.

G. Pólya, G. Szegö Problems and theorems in analysis.

C. Pommerenke Univalent functions.

W. Rudin Real and complex analysis.

S. Saks, A. Zygmund Analytic functions.

D. Sarason Complex function theory. Function theory on the unit disc.

E. Titchmarsh The theory of functions.

E. Whittaker, G. Watson A course of modern analysis.

Harmonic analysis

A. Besicovitch Almost periodic functions.

S. Bochner Lectures on Fourier integrals.

H. Bohr Almost periodic functions.

J. Duoandikoetxea Fourier analysis.

J. García-Cuerva, J. Rubio de Francia Weighted norm inequalities and related topics.

I. Gel'fand, D. Raikov, G. Shilov Commutative normed rings.

G. Hardy, W. Rogosinski Fourier series.

H. Helson Harmonic analysis.

Y. Katznelson An introduction to harmonic analysis.

L. Loomis Abstract harmonic analysis.

M. Reed, B. Simon Functional analysis, vol 2.

E. Stein Singular integrals and differentiability properties of functions. Topics in harmonic analysis related to the Littlewood-Paley theory.

E. Stein, G. Weiss Introduction to Fourier analysis on Euclidean spaces.

A. Torchinsky Real-variable methods in harmonic analysis.

N. Wiener The Fourier integral and certain of its applications.

T. Wolff Lecture notes in harmonic analysis.

A. Zygmund Trigonometric series. Intégrales singulières.

Potential theory

L. Ahlfors Conformal invariants.

M. Brelot Éléments de la théorie classique du potentiel.

L. Carleson Selected problems on exceptional sets.

O. Frostman Potentiel d' équilibre et capacité des ensembles.

W. Fuchs The theory of functions of one complex variable.

J. Garnett Analytic capacity and measure.

W. Hayman, P. Kennedy Subharmonic functions, vol 1.

M. Heins Selected topics in the classical theory of functions of a complex variable. Potential theory.

N. Landkov Foundations of modern potential theory.

T. Rado Subharmonic functions.

M. Tsuji Potential theory in modern function theory.

Differential equations

W. Boyce, R. di Prima Elementary differential equations and boundary value problems.

E. Coddington, N. Levinson Theory of ordinary differential equations.

L. Evans Partial differential equations.

G. Folland Introduction to partial differential equations.

P. Hartman Ordinary differential equations.

L. Hörmander Linear partial differential operators. The analysis of linear partial differential operators, vol 1.

W. Hurewicz Lectures on ordinary differential equations.

F. John Partial differential equations.

L. Pontryagin Ordinary differential equations.

D. Sánchez Ordinary differential equations and stability theory: an introduction.

Probability theory

K. L. Chung A course in probability theory.

H. Cramér Random variables and probability distributions.

W. Feller An introduction to the theory of probability and its applications.

B. Gnedenko Theory of probability.

B. Gnedenko, A. Kolmogorov Limit distributions for sums of independent random variables.

A. Khinchin Mathematical foundations of information theory. Mathematical foundations of statistical mechanics.

A. Kolmogorov Foundations of the theory of probability.

J. Lamperti Probability.

M. Loève Probability theory.

Biographical

J. Littlewood Miscellany.