Monday, April 17, 2006

I'm better read than I thought

How many have you read?

From Crankyreader who picked it up from Jay who got it from Bookcrossing:

(Bolded titles are the ones I've read)
1. The Lord of the Rings- J.R.R. Tolkien (Sorry, tried very hard, but Could Not Deal.)

2. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD- Harper Lee (See my post on Mr. Cunningham. Love this book. And Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch is simply perfect. The best casting ever.)

3. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE- Jane Austen (But, of course.)

4. The "Harry Potter" series- J.K. Rowling (Yes, but lost interest partway through The Goblet of Fire which should have been two books or had the hand of a stronger editor. Skimmed the ones after it--Half-Blood Prince rekindled some interest.)

5. JANE EYRE- Charlotte Bronte (But only because I felt that I *should.* Don't remember liking it much.)

6. THE HANDMAID'S TALE- Margaret Atwood (Wanted to like this more.)

7. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY- Douglas Adams (Loved it.)

8. 1984- George Orwell

9. (tie)
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY- John Irving (ALTHOUGH THE PAGES AND PAGES OF INTERNAL MONOLOGUE ALL TYPED IN CAPS TO DEMONSTRATE THAT OWEN SHOUTS EVERYTHING HE SAID OR THINKS GOT REALLY ANNOYING AFTER THE FIRST DEMONSTRATION OF THIS TECHNIQUE.)
One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

11. (tie)
THE STAND- Stephen King (He's better at short stories)
Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell (I really should read this at some point.)

13. (tie)
LITTLE WOMEN- Louisa May Alcott (liked Little Men too.)
THE HOBBIT- J.R.R. Tolkien (Almost liked it)

15. (tie)
Life of Pi- Yann Martel
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (book 1) - Lucy Maud Montgomery

16. THE NAME OF THE ROSE- Umberto Eco

17. (tie)
THE MISTS OF AVALON- Marion Zimmer Bradley (liked it first time--any reread after, ugh.)
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger (Me bad)

19. (tie)
WATERSHIP DOWN- Richard Adams (reread this at least forty three times when I was a kid.)
The Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett
Perfume- Patrick Suskind

22. (tie)
THE DAVINCI CODE- Dan Brown (Yelled at the book a lot.)
THE LITTLE PRINCE- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (in the original French for French class. Yelled at the book a lot. Sappy crap is still sappy in French.)
The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck

25. (tie)
FAHRENHEIT 451- Ray Bradbury (Loved it, reread a lot too.)
THE NARNIA CHRONICLES- C.S. Lewis
HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE (SORCERER'S STONE) - J.K. Rowling (Fresh and snappy--wish the following were as spritely)
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN- J.K. Rowling (Probably the best of the series.)

29. (tie)
WUTHERING HEIGHTS- Emily Bronte (We once held a seance for Heathcliff's ghost as part of a final exam review. In Class! How come the famous movie adaptation ends with the first Catherine dying? Never understood that.)
Diary of a Young Girl- Anne Frank (But I saw the play--does that count?)

31. Dune- Frank Herbert (Nope--and have no interested either...)

32. (tie)
THE POISONWOOD BIBLE- Barbara Kingsolver
REBECCA- Daphne du Maurier

34. (tie)
PERSUASION- Jane Austen
Memoirs of a Geisha- Arthur Golden (I am trying so hard to get into this book. Will end up as a did not finish.)

36. (tie)
THE GREAT GATSBY- F. Scott Fitzgerald (But Tender is the Night is still my favorite Fitzgerald.)
A WRINKLE IN TIME- Madeleine L'Engle (Completely addicted to her books as a teeenager. Wanted to be Meg so badly.)
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE- C.S. Lewis (Only Narnia book I genuinely enjoyed--the others I read so that I could keep up with my C.S. Lewis obsessed friends.)

39. (tie)
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND- Lewis Carroll

LORD OF THE FLIES- William Golding (Note to self: letter our class wrote to Mr. Golding.)
Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
ANGELA'S ASHES- Frank McCourt
The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold


44. (tie)
The House of the Spirits- Isabel Allende
Clan of the Cave Bear- Jean M. Auel
Ender's Game- Orson Scott Card
Good Omens- Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Love in the Time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
ANIMAL FARM- George Orwell
Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck
THE COLOR PURPLE- Alice Walker
(Which started me on a big Toni Morrison Kick too.)

52. (tie)
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
(Prefer Trumpet of the Swan)
The "Little House" series- Laura Ingalls Wilder (Wanted to change my name to Laura when I was about ten. Was annoyed at Michael Landon for being clean-shaven in the TV series, but Ma was done well.)

59. (tie)
BRIDGET JONES' DIARY- Helen Fielding
Sophie's World- Jostein Gaarder
Catch-22- Joseph Heller
The Secret History- Donna Tartt


63. (tie)
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING- Tracy Chevalier (Also read Girl in Hyacinth Blue, just to fill out the Vermeer theme.)
Middlesex- Jeffrey Eugenides
The "His Dark Materials" series- Phillip Pullman
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn- Betty Smith


67. (tie)
Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen (Somehow missed this one--but I"m reading it now.)
The Red Tent- Anita Diamant
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO- Alexandre Dumas
(Went through a Huge Dumas period when I was young too. Loved This Book)
American Gods- Neil Gaiman
THE CIDERHOUSE RULES- John Irving
She's Come Undone- Wally Lamb
WINNIE-THE-POOH- A.A. Milne
The "Anne of Green Gables" series- Lucy Maud Montgomery
Northern Lights/Golden Compass- Phillip Pullman
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE- Anne Rice
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. (tie)
EMMA- Jane Austen
GREAT EXPECTATIONS- Charles Dickens
A TALE OF TWO CITIES- Charles Dickens
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE-STOP CAFE- Fannie Flagg
THE SCARLET LETTER- Nathaniel Hawthorne
THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH- Norton Juster
The Secret Life of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd
The Unbearable Lightness of Being- Milan Kundera
A Fine Balance- Rohinton Mistry
Lamb: The Gospell According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal- Christopher Moore
THE BELL JAR- Sylvia Plath
The "Discworld" series- Terry Pratchett
Where the Red Fern Grows- Wilson Rawls
The God of Small THings- Arundhati Roy
War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy


97. (tie)
The Eyre Affari- Jasper Fforde
Neverwhere- Neil Gaiman
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES- Thomas Hardy
Steppenwolf- Herman Hesse
High Fidelity- Nick Hornby
ULYSSES- James Joyce (Just stick with The Dubliners, really.)
METAMORPHOSIS- Franz Kafka
Atonement- Ian McEwan
Lonesome Dove- Larry McMurtry
The English Patient- Michael Ondaatje
THE SHIPPING NEWS- E. Annie Proulx
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM- William Shakespeare
DRACULA- Bram Stoker
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN- Mark Twain

6 comments:

Megan Frampton said...

I posted over in Jay's blog that I had read 71--although i did not count Marquez. I HATE MAGICAL REALISM (and I don't think I'll read Owen Meany, either, now that I think about it. The spouse did, didn't like it).

Suisan said...

Magical realism--My father's a big Conrad fan, so I've read most of his (except Nostromo--snore). Somehow my father tried to convince me the other day that one of the reasons COnrad si so amazing is because he's a magical realist. Somehow I tried to argue back that Conrad just told a really good story. Somehow we started throwing around examples of magical realism. Such a freaking stupid discussion--couldn't have stopped "arguing" about what was or was not magical realism to save my life, because, of course, I was fighting with my Dad. What IS is about parents anyway? No more magical realism for me, thanks.

CW--my grandmother used to take me once a year to the Children's Concert at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, then to Public Garden for a ride on the Swan Boats, then for Tea at the Ritz (no watercress sandwiches unfotunately). Make Way for Ducklings is most everyone's favorite children's book set in Boston, but for me it's Trumpet of the Swan.

Lyvvie said...

I grew up in Massachusetts and never rode the paddleboats...I'm feeling cheated of a perfect childhood moment now.

I like the list, but I was going through it saying "school read" many, many times. And a lot of "Movie" too, where I saw the movie but not read the book.

I think this could be a great 1 year challenge, to read them all in one year. But I woulld struggle with some; like The Hitchhiker's Guide... because I've tried it many times and got so bored! And The life of Pi is a book by it's cover reject because I hate math. LAME - I know but we all have our vetting systems.

Please read Cathcher in the Rye I think it's right up your alley.

Megan Frampton said...

Lyvvie:

Life of Pi has no math. Lots of philosophy, and extended metaphors, but no math. Promise. I liked it, although I didn't like the end.

And I don't think I ever went on the paddleboats, either, despite growing up in Mass., too. Feh on you, parents!

Suisan said...

Well, I didn't say MY PARENTS took me to the swan boats! Pul-eese! And my grandmother only took me on the swan boats AFTER an educational concert at Symphony Hall. We do have our standards.

My parents did take us out--to Handel and Haydn Society Concerts.

Never been inside Fenway Park either, and only went to the Bsoton Garden when Ringling was in town. Sports were not to be endured. (Except my dad had this funny way of disappearing into the basement with a radio on Saturday afternoons. Hmm.)

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