I feel like reading is one of the best ways for me to keep increasing my vocabulary and comprehension. What do you guys think are some "must haves" either written in, or about Esperanto, to add to my con-lang bookshelf?

Which books have you already read in Esperanto?

It's true that there are some real classics in Esperanto.

Having said that, it has been my experience with foreign language learning that you can build your vocabulary etc. even by reading junk. Reading in a foreign language can be frustrating and time-consuming. It is hard to get through a whole book when you are not yet proficient in the language. I still remember how it felt like a great achievement when I read my first whole Esperanto book - even though it was a book that wasn't very long, and that I didn't even like! My advice - your first book purchases should be things that you normally like to read. If you love haikus, buy a book of haikus. If you like historical fiction, buy some of that. If you like science fiction, buy that. If you like biographies ... etc. Later, you can worry about building up your library of indispensable Esperanto books.

But for reference, here are some classics; I will keep it to original literature, although there are some very fine translations as well:
"Vivo de Zamenhof" by Privat - a biography of Zamenhof. A little "propagandish" but interesting. "La Infana Raso", an epic poem by William Auld, a work of original Esperanto literature. Various works by Julio Baghy, accounts of life in a siberian prison camp, etc.

Reference works - the Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko. The Plena Ilustrita Vortaro (PIV). I personally like "Lingvo kaj Vivo", a collection of essays about Esperanto, including interesting stuff about its history and development, linguistic aspects of it, etc. I'm sure others have suggestions. But I wouldn't worry about any of that until you speak the language better. It is frustrating and demoralizing to slog your way through a work of literature that is too difficult for your language level. You might come out disliking the work, even if it were something that you might have really enjoyed, if only you understood it more easily.

I'm soon going to finish «Gerda Malaperis!». I've read a small porton of «Sankta Biblio».

I'm thinking of getting a collection William Auld's short stories from Esperanto-USA. Does anyone who's read them have anything to recommend above them?

I recommend "Vere aŭ Fantazie" de Claud Piron. Easy to understand since it uses a restricted vocabulary. You can find it at lernu: http://de.lernu.net/biblioteko/rakontoj/vere_aux_f...

Some time ago I picked up an interesting little book by William Auld called "Traduku", you can see a short review here.

Though perhaps not "required reading" and certainly not a classic, it is nevertheless a very useful book for advancing your translation skills and general vocabulary.

jchthys:I'm soon going to finish «Gerda Malaperis!».

Good, that enables me to answer the question in your case. There's plenty of recommendations in the 'Beginner' and 'Intermediate' parts of the 'Library' section of this website that would be suitable (but in my opinion, Vojaĝo en Esperanto-lando should be classified as 'advanced').

I agree altogether with Erinja's advice about not trying to read books till you are ready for them. One book worth considering which has texts organised in parallel with the chapters in Gerda and uses the same vocabulary but in other ways, is Claude Piron's Lasu min paroli plu. His Vere aŭ Fantazie has already been mentioned and is an ideal follow-up to Gerda.

After the above you will be ready for an easy Esperanto magazine like Juna Amiko which should suffice for a year or so, and at the same time as starting to read Juna Amiko, I suggest starting a vocabulary notebook, just for your own use. That means acquiring a dictionary, if you haven't already done so. Wells is ideal, but if you cannot get hold of it, I suggest McLinen as the next best thing.

That should do for now, but just to give you an idea of what could lie ahead, once you are comfortable with the material in Juna Amiko, You may wish to begin Marjorie Boulton's Faktoj kaj Fantazioj for something a bit more challenging.

OK, I’m done Gerda Malaperis and before I get William Auld, I would like to know which of the following I should read first. (I’m not too keen on reading Gerda again, as there’s so much else to read.)
[LISTO]
Fajron sentas mi interne by Ulrich Matthias
Dankon, amiko by Claude Piron
La viro kun la tordita lipo by Arthur Conan Doyle, translated by Sylvan Zaft
Another work by Piron available from lernu.net, such as Vere aŭ fantazie[/list](The first three I found available as PDF.)

jchthys: I've read a small porton of «Sankta Biblio».

I have found an Esperanto Bible to be a good buy. There is plenty to read. Also if I have a problem, the verse system makes it easy to find the same passage in an English translation, of which there are many.

I hated "Fajron sentas mi interne", that was the book I referred to in my previous post, the first full book I read. A friend who really likes it gave me his copy. The plot is basically "teenager feels alienated at school and then he learns Esperanto and then suddenly everything is all better". Gack!

Some people really like it though. Read it if you like teen angst novels.

I personally suggest short stories. It gives you a good feeling of accomplishment when you finish a story; you don't get bogged down like with a book. Sten Johansson has written a number of books of Esperanto short stories, which I enjoyed. Some of his stories are available online, google it.

I enjoyed "La viro kun la tordita lipo". I have always been a fan of Sherlock Holmes, though.

One person suggested to me that a useful thing when learning a foreign language is to read a work that is a translation from your native language, that is a story or book that you have read many times and are very familiar with. It helps you pick up new vocabulary while still not having to look up a lot of stuff in a dictionary, because you are very familiar with the context.

Check out Don Harlow's Esperanto literature archive, lots of great stuff there. William Auld wrote a famous poem called "Ebrio", which is funny and well-known (don't look up all the words in the dictionary though, some of them are "drunk" versions of real words). There are many downloadable audio versions of it online as well (and also on Youtube)