Wednesday, March 4, 2009

BBC's 100 Favorite Books Meme

Caught this meme from Silver Fox. The list is from The BBC, the result of a poll of their readers' 100 favorite books.
The rules:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. (I'll bold those I've read and italicize those of which I only read part.)
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
Note: everyone seems to be making a modification to the meme; I'm going to add CF for childhood favorites that I really have no more interest in.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien +
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's 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 CF
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (Great book, but I can't say I "loved it;" too depressing.)
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis CF
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller +
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
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 CF
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling (Meh. If these had come out when I was a teen, I'm sure they'd all have CF, but I doubt I'll ever read the whole series)
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling [movie]
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling [movie]
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien CF
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, 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 García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl +CF
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert + (I'm in the process of re-reading this series for the umpteenth time; I just finished Children of Dune last night)
40. Emma, Jane Austen [saw movie for sure]
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 Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's 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 (Dark, but an amazing world of amazing characters; the other two members of the trilogy turn into horrific tragedies. Like 1984, a great story, but not "enjoyable.")
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 García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

There are several Roald Dahl books here that I'm unfamiliar with- but I'm certain I haven't read them. Likewise with Terry Pratchet, except I can't remember the names of the two or three of his books I have read. So I may have read one or more in the above list. But counting only the "certains," I get 26.

I tend to be an opportunist when it comes to reading- I read what I come across. So I don't really plan on reading anything in the list, but I might read just about anything up there I haven't read.

As I mentioned with Dune, I tend to re-read favorites every couple years. Lord of the Rings is on that list, as is the Hyperion series (4 books) by Dan Simmons. If you like scifi/fantasy with a literate take, you will like this latter series. I describe it as a cross between The Canterbury Tales, The Bible, and Star Wars.

Holy Cow! I don't have tag for "books" or "reading."

Followup: The Guardian has a timely article, titled "Reading Between the Lines," on what you should read while waiting on a date to impress him/her. Ahem. I did have a copy of Bridget Jones' Diary before my apartment flooded. (Honestly, it's not a "romance" per se, it's about the trials and tribulations of a young woman in modern society- and yes, romance would be a part of that, just as it would be for a young man. You might think that men would be interested in having some understanding and empathy with their counterparts' situations, and that women might find that attractive. I don't pretend to understand other people.)

4 comments:

  1. There's a lot to like on that list (who doesn't like Pooh?)

    I was addicted to Potter myself. I love the little world Rowling created.

    Tolkein belongs on top.

    Along these lines- I'm reading Dan Simmons new book "Drood" which is a fictional account of Dickens' obsession after he survived a train crash. I'm enjoying it so far. If you enjoyed "The Terror" then you'll like this book. Same mix of historical fact and conjecture.

    (I only bring this up because I think I saw you write somewhere that you enjoyed Simmons' Hyperion books.)

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  2. Dean- I read a review of Drood just a couple of days ago... it was quite positive. I was a little disappointed in the Ilium pair- nice set up that devolved into chaos and triteness. But I haven't read either of his two later pieces. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  4. It's huge listing of great books!! Some of them is my favorite... Thanks for sharing them!!

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