My 100...

[tarotgal]

Gacked from bookcrossing, their top 100 books and if I've read them, etc. The original list is at: http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/6/748949/subj_THE-BOOKCROSSING-100!

Key:
Bold type- read it
Italics- always wanted to read it or it's on my "read soon" list
Normal- have not read it
Red font- additional comments


1.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS- J.R.R. Tolkien *happy sigh*

2.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD- Harper Lee

3.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE- Jane Austen

4.
The "Harry Potter" series- J.K. Rowling *another happy sigh*

5.
JANE EYRE- Charlotte Bronte

6.
THE HANDMAID'S TALE- Margaret Atwood

7.
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY- Douglas Adams I haven't read the last 2 (if you're counting the series as having 6) but I've read the first one a dozen times over

8.
1984- George Orwell One of my favorite books!

9.
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY- John Irving
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE- Gabriel Garcia Marquez I must admit, I dig his short stories now but when I first read them they rather freaked me out

11.
THE STAND- Stephen King Okay, I bought it and started reading it, then listened to a lot of the audio version, but never finished it... but I'm still counting it as read for now
GONE WITH THE WIND- Margaret Mitchell

13.
LITTLE WOMEN- Louisa May Alcott Both book and audio book :-)
THE HOBBIT- J.R.R. Tolkien

15.
LIFE OF PI- Yann Martel I've never heard of this book, but sounds like something I'd like... I'll have to go look it up
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (book 1) - Lucy Maud Montgomery :-)

16.
THE NAME OF THE ROSE- Umberto Eco

17.
THE MISTS OF AVALON- Marion Zimmer Bradley
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE- J.D. Salinger Wonderful book!

19.
WATERSHIP DOWN- Richard Adams
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH- Ken Follett
PERFUME- Patrick Suskind

22.
THE DAVINCI CODE- Dan Brown
THE LITTLE PRINCE- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
THE GRAPES OF WRATH- John Steinbeck

25.
FAHRENHEIT 451- Ray Bradbury Never read, and never will now that Ray has been so mean to my Michael Moore! Growl!
The Narnia Chronicles- C.S. Lewis *yet another happy sigh*
HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE (SORCERER'S STONE) - J.K. Rowling
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN- J.K. Rowling

29.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS- Emily Bronte
DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL- Anne Frank

31.
DUNE- Frank Herbert

32.
THE POISONWOOD BIBLE- Barbara Kingsolver I read another Barbara Kingsolver book and loved it... I'd imagine I'd like this one as well
REBECCA- Daphne du Maurier LOVE this book! I've my mother to blame for that. I've seen 4 different movie versions...

34.
PERSUASION- Jane Austen
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA- Arthur Golden

36.
THE GREAT GATSBY- F. Scott Fitzgerald
A WRINKLE IN TIME- Madeleine L'Engle
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE- C.S. Lewis

39.
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND- Lewis Carroll Alice! *loves to death*
LORD OF THE FLIES- William Golding Another of my favorites
BRAVE NEW WORLD- Aldous Huxley And yet another favorite
ANGELA'S ASHES- Frank McCourt I bought it. It's on my bookshelf. I totally intend to read it
THE LOVELY BONES- Alice Sebold

44.
THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS- Isabel Allende
CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR- Jean M. Auel It's also on my bookshelf *stares* and I really want to read it
ENDER'S GAME- Orson Scott Card
GOOD OMENS- Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett I've heard *so* many good things about this series
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
ANIMAL FARM- George Orwell I read the play version while sewing a number of pig costumes- does that count?
OF MICE AND MEN- John Steinbeck Gifted and Talented (GT) classes weren't allowed to read this or any of the other "easy" Steinbeck novels. We had to read the others. So I missed out on the cute dead bunny action
THE COLOR PURPLE- Alice Walker

52.
THE NEVERENDING STORY- Michael Ende
FAUST- Johnann Wolfgang von Goethe
BLINDNESS- Jose Saramago
HAMLET- William Shakespeare
EAST OF EDEN- John Steinbeck
CHARLOTTE'S WEB- E. B. White I cry to this day...
The "Little House" series- Laura Ingalls Wilder YAY! :-)

59.
BRIDGET JONES' DIARY- Helen Fielding
SOPHIE'S WORLD- Jostein Gaarder
CATCH-22- Joseph Heller Actually, the GT classes didn't get to read this one, either. We were too busy reading Shakespeare.
THE SECRET HISTORY- Donna Tartt

63.
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING- Tracy Chevalier
MIDDLESEX- Jeffrey Eugenides
The "His Dark Materials" series- Phillip Pullman
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN- Betty Smith

67.
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY- Jane Austen
THE RED TENT- Anita Diamant
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT- Fyodor Dostoyevsky This was summer reading before 12th grade. Gods I ADORE this book! I am guilty of writing all over my mother's copy of it
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO- Alexandre Dumas
AMERICAN GODS- Neil Gaiman
THE CIDERHOUSE RULES- John Irving After seeing the movie Sunday night, I really want to read the book
SHE'S COME UNDONE- Wally Lamb
WINNIE-THE-POOH- A.A. Milne But of course!! One of my all-time favorites!
The "Anne of Green Gables" series- Lucy Maud Montgomery
NORTHERN LIGHTS/THE GOLDEN COMPASS- Phillip Pullman I'm dying to read The Golden Compass for some reason. Seems right up my alley...
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE- Anne Rice Mmmm sexy vampires...
ROMEO AND JULIET- William Shakespeare
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER- Mark Twain
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY- Oscar Wilde
THE SHADOW OF THE WIND- Carlos Ruiz Zafon

82.
EMMA- Jane Austen
GREAT EXPECTATIONS- Charles Dickens I really enjoyed reading it for school
A TALE OF TWO CITIES- Charles Dickens My stupid English teacher said we didn't have to read it, only made us watch the movie. Well, I went home and read it anyway. LOL
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE-STOP CAFE- Fannie Flagg
THE SCARLET LETTER- Nathaniel Hawthorne Sometimes a tree is just a tree and a forest is just a forest.
THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH- Norton Juster This book is definitely one of my top 10 favorites EVER. I ADORE it!!
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES- Sue Monk Kidd
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING- Milan Kundera
A FINE BALANCE- Rohinton Mistry
LAMB: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BIFF, CHRIST'S CHILDHOOD PAL- Christopher Moore ROTF... I've never heard of this book... may have to read it now...
THE BELL JAR- Sylvia Plath I started it, but never finished it
The "Discworld" series- Terry Pratchett
WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS- Wilson Rawls LOVED this as a kid. I remember I was allowed to buy one book from the school book fair every year and this was the one I picked in, um 4th grade? 5th? Something like that :-)
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS- Arundhati Roy
WAR AND PEACE- Leo Tolstoy

97.
THE EYRE AFFAIR- Jasper Fforde
NEVERWHERE- Neil Gaiman
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES- Thomas Hardy
STEPPENWOLF- Herman Hesse
HIGH FIDELITY- Nick Hornby
ULYSSES- James Joyce Yeah, I know, but I'm curious to try and read it...
METAMORPHOSIS- Franz Kafka
ATONEMENT- Ian McEwan
LONESOME DOVE- Larry McMurtry Having seen the miniseries, I don't think I could read it... too painful
THE ENGLISH PATIENT- Michael Ondaatje Never even saw the movie, sadly
THE SHIPPING NEWS- E. Annie Proulx
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM- William Shakespeare Another one that was considered far too easy for the GT kids. I've seen it in play form, but never read it.
DRACULA- Bram Stoker Again with the sexy vampire...
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN- Mark Twain


So that's... what? 51 out of 100? Not too bad! Assuming I counted correctly though it's possible I didn't...

Comments

[vatergrrl.livejournal.com]

My goodness, tg, you are QUITE well-read! I'd be too embarrassed to post my list of "have-reads" from that list, as it would be very, very short indeed!

I'm reminded of a book display I saw yesterday at a local bookstore. They had Harold Bloom's pontificatory "World's Best Poems" tome, and beneath it, G. Keilor's "Good Poems". The shift in register alone, "World's Best" to "Good" was enough for me, but knowing what a pompous windbag Harold Bloom is (he considers the Potter series anathema and gets his graduate students to do most of his work) made it all the more sweet to see him get a gentle comeuppance. Keilor is literary in a more subtle, share-the-wealth way, which is the school of thought I align myself with. Why be an elitist snob about literature -- isn't it meant to be enjoyed and shared by everyone?

Off to read about shame, stigma and affect psychology - do you think I can absolve myself of shame by *reading* about shame? ;D

[tarotgal]

Yep, I saw that you bought Anne... that series is so charming *sigh*

As for Chronicles of Narnia, there are two orderings: the original publication ordering and the evil, stupid, horrible chronological ordering. The ordering that Lewis thought them up and released them, and the order the new movies are going to be in is the original ordering (not the ordering most modern sets are numbered in!) so that's:
1-The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
2-Prince Caspian
3-The Voyage of the Dawn Tredder
4-The Silver Chair
5-The Horse and His Boy
6-The Magician's Newphew
7-The Last Battle
The problem with reading them chronologically as most sets are numbered now (with Magician's Nephew as number 1) is that you learn how the world was created before you really even care about the world or know the being who created it. And that makes NO sense to me! So read it in the original order, which is also the order the movies will come out in (at least the first couple books... they haven't decided if they're making all 7 into movies yet)

Thanks for the info on Lamb and Life of Pi! :-)

[tarotgal]

ALSO the good thing about reading them in the order I gave you is that it's the order of the 3 movies already made... and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is EXCELLENT as a stand-alone. So if you don't feel like immediately diving into the whole series now, you can read LWW and enjoy it without any problem and then go on to others later (or never, if for some reason you don't fall in love). If you read Magician's Nephew first, you sort of have to read the others to understand what was going on and who was who and what importance it all has. If you read it as the 6th book, you already understand all that by the time you get to it in the series.

So... yeah... go with the ordering I gave you. It's more enjoyable and less pressure... and less confusing if you want to watch the BBC movies (available to rent or buy on DVD) or the new movies they're filming now.

[tarotgal]

It's mostly high school that did that to me. I don't think any of the books on the list I read for my English minor in college (I bought Angela's Ashes for a college course- Irish Lit but we never got around to reading it)
But, yeah, while all my high school friends thought it stupid we had to read so much and purchased the Cliff's Notes of everything, I read every word of everything... because I didn't think it was fair to the authors to talk about their books without having first read them. I know I'd be mighty pissed if classes were taking apart one of my books without having read it first! So I read a lot. Though some of that list was purely for pleasure, obviously. (Like Anne, Little House series, the Phantom Tollbooth, Narnia, LotR, and HP)

I grew up on Prarie Home Companion! Keilor is like a gd to me! LOL I love how he reads a poem every morning on Public Radio. Used to listen to it in the car on the way to school every morning. But, yeah. Even though I've read a lot of the classics, my favorite books range from obscure to classic. And I think good art=enjoying the book. If you can get something, feel something- ANYTHING- while reading then the book has done its job, no matter what it is. And should definitely be experienced by all because everyone has the potential to get something different out of it!

[http://users.livejournal.com/-circe-/]

I'm at 42. Not bad, imo. :)

Oh, my, I HAVE to recommend a few of the ones that you haven't read. My personal favorites.

A Handmaid's Tale. It. Is. Amazing. I'm sure you know the summary, as you plan to read it, but that does nothing for how wonderful the novel is. The first person pov just intensifies her suffering. Porn on wheels, women whose only use is to bear children, Jezebell's...Oh, all coming back, such a good book!

The DaVinci Code. Let me just say this. The DaVinci Code is the only book, aside from the Harry Potter series, that I have EVER read straight through, no eating, no sleeping, no bathroom breaks. Though be aware that it is the second in a series, the first titled Angels and Demons. The DaVinci Code is 99% stand alone, but there's an allusion to an childhood incident that is explained in A&D. But Very Good.

And The Poisonwood Bible - another fantastic read. It’s set up in first person pov also, in the past and present. The mother, I believe, is the only narrator to speak in the present, and her four daughters speak in the past, telling the tale. Adah speaks backwards in type, but speaks very little to others. In Rachel’s books, malapropisms abound. It’s just so good!

Also, Gabriel García Marquez. I adore him. He is by far one of my favorite authors. LOL, his short stories. I’ve read them in both in English and Spanish. Actually, I wrote a final term paper in Spanish on him and Eva Is Inside her Cat (Eva está dentro su gato). That story just…I mean wow, I loved it. So much packed into so few pages. I also like Eyes of a Blue Dog and, oh, I think it was The Woman who Arrived at Six o’clock. Really, everything he writes…I wish I had his brain. :)

Wait. I haven’t returned those books I borrowed from the library yet. Ahhhh, no! The fines! Argh!

[tarotgal]

A Handmaid's Tale. It. Is. Amazing. I'm sure you know the summary, as you plan to read it, but that does nothing for how wonderful the novel is. The first person pov just intensifies her suffering. Porn on wheels, women whose only use is to bear children, Jezebell's...Oh, all coming back, such a good book!
I have heard such incredible things about this book. I think it's one of those I need to be in a good state of mind before going into it (i.e. it's not going to be one of those I read just before going to sleep at night) But I've definitely been told I need to read it, and your information here certainly makes me want to go out right now and borrow it!

The DaVinci Code. Let me just say this. The DaVinci Code is the only book, aside from the Harry Potter series, that I have EVER read straight through, no eating, no sleeping, no bathroom breaks.
I took bathroom breaks with HP... but that's because I read slowly when I really want to absorb a good book, and I can't go 2 days without some things *G* I'm like that with the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I carry the books everywhere- in the car, during meals, etc. so I can read every possible second. But I'm like that with SO few books... I know what you mean :-)

Though be aware that it is the second in a series, the first titled Angels and Demons. The DaVinci Code is 99% stand alone, but there's an allusion to an childhood incident that is explained in A&D. But Very Good.
Ohhhhh- you know, I didn't know that *makes note* I hate reading things out of order, even if they can be. Just don't see the point- it's not like I hate reading and can't stand 2 books instead of just reading the one ;-)

And The Poisonwood Bible - another fantastic read. It’s set up in first person pov also, in the past and present. The mother, I believe, is the only narrator to speak in the present, and her four daughters speak in the past, telling the tale. Adah speaks backwards in type, but speaks very little to others. In Rachel’s books, malapropisms abound. It’s just so good!
Sounds a lot like the Sound and the Fury- which I adored to high heavens and which my classmates thought was rubbish and got confused by. I had problems going from the chapters of mixed up sentences and time jumps during passages to the linear chapters. Just felt weird to be reading normal narration by that time. I definitely prefer strange storytelling and perspectives!
*suddenly feels VERY stupid and goes to look up malapropisms in the dictionary*
Oh... ohhhhh LOL! Wow, now that would make a very interesting narrator indeed! *really wants to go borrow this book NOW*

Also, Gabriel García Marquez. I adore him. He is by far one of my favorite authors. LOL, his short stories. I’ve read them in both in English and Spanish. Actually, I wrote a final term paper in Spanish on him and Eva Is Inside her Cat (Eva está dentro su gato). That story just…I mean wow, I loved it. So much packed into so few pages. I also like Eyes of a Blue Dog and, oh, I think it was The Woman who Arrived at Six o’clock. Really, everything he writes…I wish I had his brain. :)
Ugh, I know! There are just some people's work you can read and reread and still not understand how something so genius, fascinating, creative, and utterly beautiful came from a person. I think I was freaked out a little at first because he writes in a genre I was completely unfamiliar with. But now... yeah... incredible, he is. Though I'm sure the original Spanish is even more fantasic.