Not sure where this meme originated, but it looks like fun. I found it via a link off the Daily Meme site (a meme is a list or quiz or other odd little writing prompt).
The object is to look over the list of 100 books, bold the ones you've read, italicize ones you've started but not finished, and leave the rest as is. Then add three books you've read that aren't already on the list to the bottom. Here's mine!
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerers Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The DUrbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones' Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
102. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
103. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
Hmmm...interesting list. Nice of them to go so heavy on Austen and Rowling, which makes me look better. :-) I confess that three of these were read to me, by my husband: Hitchhiker's Guide, Lord of the Flies, and Animal Farm. I put Animal Farm in italics because I think I slept through most of it (sorry, honey!). My DH has read just about everything of Orwell's and I gave Orwell a mighty try when we were first married, but have really only gotten through 1984 and Keep the Aspidistra Flying (which isn't on this list)!
I was happy to be able to bold Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Once upon a time, when I was in high school, I would have had to put it in italics because I'd started but not finished it. I finally read it all the way through while in my 20s. I should have read all of Middlemarch in my college Vic. Lit. class but didn't (sorry, Nancy!). It's one of those books I keep meaning to get back to.
I clearly need to read more Dickens. I honestly don't know if I've read all of Great Expectations because when I did read it, I was in 8th grade. I think we may have read a shortened version. But I love A Christmas Carol and I really enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities when I finally read it last year. I have a feeling I am overdue for a Dickens year. Any suggestions as to which of his books to read next gratefully accepted!
5 comments:
My list would be very similar. I noticed that one un-bolded "His Dark Materials" in the middle of all that dark print. Those books are exquisitely written, but I'm conflicted about them because Pullman clearly has an anti-Christian axe to grind. There have been so many complaints from certain Christian camps about Harry Potter, which I of course disagree with, but I do think Pullman's trilogy could well be considered dangerous...
I wholeheartedly recommend "Watership Down," though, and not just because the movie features Art Garfunkel singing "Bright Eyes"! It's one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, and I think it takes the prize for my favorite book ending ever.
It's interesting you list "Ender's Game"; my brother just read that and lent it to my dad, who is now in the middle of it. Benjamin got the book after he was in some sort of Marine outfit and he noticed multiple copies of this in the library. The CO explained all the newcomers had to read it, and that intrigued Benjamin enough to pick it up. He really liked it, but I haven't read it yet. What did you think of it?
Okay, that was a rather long-winded comment. Happy reading!
I've purposely stayed away from Pullman! I'm not trying to condemn him without a trial (as so many folks erroneously do with the Harry Potter books) but I've read an essay or two by him, and he seems very proud of selling himself as an "anti-Lewis" and makes no bones that his books are steeped in materialism. Which makes me think that, no matter how beautifully they're written, in terms of style (and you're not the first person whose told me they're well written) that the substance would chill me to the bone.
One of my favorite of John Granger's creative speculations about the Harry Potter books is that Rowling bases the character of Gilderoy Lockhart on Pullman. Rowling's gone on record as saying that Lockhart is the only character she's ever written that was consciously based completely on someone she knew, and John makes a very compelling and very funny case that it's Pullman. :-)
Dana read Watership Down last year and loved it, and he's recommended I read it to, so I really must get to it -- though my reading list seems to get longer and longer all the time!
And speaking of recommedations, YES, I highly recommend Ender's Game. It's an amazing book. I'm not a sci-fi fan at all, but this book came close to changing that. Card is an amazing writer and I was really stunned by how well done the book was. Given its content, I'm really intriged that your brother's CO said all newcomers have to read it...that's intriguing. (I won't say more, if you read it, I'd love to talk more about it.) I've read Ender's Game three or four times, actually, and some of the sequels -- there are two sequel or companion series Card spun off in different directions. The companion book I liked most was Ender's Shadow, which is essentially Ender's Game told from the POV of another character. One of the most daring and creative writing feats imaginable, and by golly, he pulled it off. I reviewed that one for Epinions.
OK, my reply is now more long-winded than your comment! I'll sign off for now! :-)
Very interesting what you say about the Lockhart connection. I remember reading that he was based on a particular person, and I wondered whether it might be anyone famous. I have to admit, though, that Lockhart is probably my favorite of the DADA teachers. I think Lupin was definitely the best person, but Lockhart was the most entertaining. :-P
(I wish there was an "edit" option on here; I noticed a typo after I posted! ;) )
Lockhart *is* the most entertaining of the DADA teachers :-) though there's something a bit sinister about him too. I think Kenneth Branaugh captured that well in the movie version.
As I'm working on my essay about memory/memories in the HP series, I've been revisiting Lockhart a bit. Despite the fact that Rowling uses him for comic relief, at heart I think she really dislikes him and wants us to realize how dangerous he is, not only because he's not very smart, but because he tampers with people's memories. Memory, as it shapes one's story, is so key and important to Rowling...but I don't want to give away too much my essay in progress! :-)
Yah, I wish I could edit comments too. I see I had a typo in my last one. I've been on a writing tear recently and the fingers are really flying at the keyboard, but sometimes they slip up!
Beth
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