There are so many books out there that it is easy to read whatever catches your attention or happens to be handy. I think it’s better to be strategic about our reading. Have you ever planned a year in advance what you are going to read? At least, I would suggest that you develop a partial list that allows for a few other things as they are brought to your attention.
One way to determine what books are best is to ask people you respect for the books that have influenced them the most. The internet makes that a bit easier and I did a little bit of looking for you.
John MacArthur is a pastor and college president in southern California and his list is short and includes Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, about which I once heard MacArthur say that he would buy it for anyone on the faculty if they promised to read it. (I bought it myself and haven’t read it yet.)
John Piper, a pastor in Minnesota, has a longer list with some explanations. It is dated (1993) and less valuable to me than some of the others I found.
R.C. Sproul has a list of 16, none of which I’ve read, but a few of which I’ve heard of.
A few months ago, Christianity Today published their list of the Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals, which includes as #1 a book no one has read.
Sam Storms gives his list of the 15 books that should have been the most influential (the second list).
Here’s a list by a bunch of random people, but they seem to be pretty smart random people.
And I found a whole book on the subject: Indelible Ink: 22 Prominent Christian Authors Discuss the Books That Shape Their Faith. They include a summary of the results on this page. (Here’s the Amazon link.)
Know of any other lists?