Gary at the Tainted Archive tagged me with this and I was in just the mood to play. Before I do, though, two quick comments.
1. Rick over at The Writer and the White Cat had some very kind things to say about Write with Fire and its author. Since I respect Rick's own writing ability I'm very flattered. Thanks, my friend.
2. I go back to work tomorrow and my commenting on blogs may be sporadic at best the rest of the week. And now:
The BBC believes the majority of people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
1) Look at the list and put an ‘X’ after those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.
3) Tag a few people you think would enjoy sharing similar information about their book interests.
I'm not going to tag anyone, but feel free to try it on for size yourself.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare X (some of them)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez X
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert X
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez X
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac X
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville X
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchel
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X (Some of them)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole X
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
I’ve read 31, plus 2 partials. Wow, I usually do pretty bad at these kinds of lists. I never was one to read a lot of what I was told I should read. Some day I’m going to post my own list of “required” reading.
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53 comments:
56. But I read mostly lit fiction for 30 years.
ACK! Many more than 6 but I'm not telling the number. Based on this list, I have some reading to do.
I hope that your first day back is great!
85 - I've impressed myself - or am I just showing my age?
Charles, I have read 19 of the books but have at least 10 more of them waiting for me and 10 more on my reading wish list.
An interesting exercise, Charles, but I'd rather see your list when you find the time. I know it would open my mind....as you often do.
Have a good week. We WILL be here when you return. Best to you & Lana
Aloha-
Comfort Spiral
Charles - I'm not supposed to be on the net but I had to comment. I've read 62 of these books. It is weird but it is such an eclectic mix that almost has no rhyme or reason you know? I mean the bible and Bridget Jones Diary on the same list? I think because it was such an odd mix I read a lot of them.
Now I have to prepare for the new semester. ARGH!!!
I've actually read 107 of these books, Charles. Really.
Pattinase, several of these I do think I should read, the C. S. Lewis stuff, and it's on my TBR pile.
Jennifer, I don't pay much attention to such lists. I always figure it's weird folks who develop 'em.
Leigh, I have a feeling the list was developed by a Britisher so I wonder if that would have any impact?
Jodi, I also want to read Catch 22 sometime. It's been so highly recommended to me that I am reluctant.
Cloudia, my list will be pretty strange.
I like the fact the list is an eclectic mix. I think that's why I did OK on it as well. My own list will be eclectic as well.
Rick, that sounds like Stephen Hawkings math to me. I don't have enough higher physics to understand it but I believe you implicitly.
Hm, I got 52, with quite a few more on the TBR-when-I'm-not-in-the-mood-for-more-hardboiled-noir shelves.
If this list is anything like the ones the big bookchains here do, it's compiled by reader-voting. Hence the Da Vinci Code sharing space with Middlemarch...
Is it just me, or does Ello's dancing pig crack anyone else up? :)
gonna try it, once i find the time ;)
I've read 27.
Enjoy your first day back!
ok... 58
have fun back in class, teach ;)
Steve Malley, voting sounds about right for what we got. I find such lists interesting although not compelling. Yep, I like the pig.
laughingwolf, it's kind of fun.
Travis, I'd like my first day better if it wasn't going to be all meetings.
Funny thing. Thirty-one for me as well,, though I have skimmed more.
Bored with the Rings!
Hey Charles, next year we have to find a way to get you and Lana to attend Conclave in Michigan. William Jones is organizing the writing panels this year, so you know it's going to be good.
I hit 40, even as a librarian. Man!
Sort of agree, though -- "required" usually means to me in reality, "maybe some day . . ."
If movie versions count, could add some more. But they don't, I suspect.
I stopped counting at 30...I think that perhaps the BBC is wrong in their estimation.
You enjoy your work Charles...you know you do.
I stopped counting after I hit twenty-five(but it wasn't a whole lot more). I wonder why no Hemingway. Is it because the lister didn't think he belonged or because he figured everyone reads Hemingway?
I'm going to insist you read "To Kill a Mockingbird" - it's Soooo good.
Looked over the list - read 52, tried to read about 10 more in the list and found them really Awful & could not finish them - can't imagine why Brigette Jone's diary, among others, is in there. Saw a few titles I'd never seen before (A Suitable Boy? Sounds familiar but can't place it.) Now have to go look it up, lol.
i only got 12. most of them were ones you've read too.
i've got my own list of books to read too. i started putting it together when i worked in a bookstore 10 years ago and i've been adding to it ever since then. got stuff like "uncle tom's cabin" and "the kite runner," but i also have on there "the day of the triffids" and "the time machine." i think it's a pretty good list.
ivan, but have you read Ulssyes? I tried. I did.
Rick, that would be a cool thing to do. I'll have to check out the schedule.
Erik, Some of these I don't intend to ever read. No interest at all. But others I will get to eventually.
Mark, it would seem so considering I've not seen anyone yet who hasn't read more than 6.
Randy Johnson, I don't know. Hemingway was definitly the biggest MIA on the list, I thought. I also suspect it's a British list.
Sam, I will probably read it some day. I think I have a copy around the house. Yeah, there are some clunkers. Why would the Da Vinci Code be on there?
Greg Schwartz, you should publish your list. I should do a list of books I 'intend' to read at some point, or feel like I should at least. Day of the Triffids is cool.
Charles,
Anybody who says he read Ulysses all the way through it a liar.
I finally bought, through the English Department, an old LP record with all of Mollly Bloom' soliloques on them. That was a gas!....But I have yet to buy the DVD.
So much easier to have things explained to you in the seductive and poetic voice of Molly Bloom:
i.e, "Men have this thing....And they're always trying to stick it into you." Hey, up and at 'em, Jakob Bloom."
Charles, I have to agree about Ulysses. I think I made it through page 4 the last time I tried to read it!
I think I have read 47 of these books, and own two or three others lurking in the tbr pile. I've started and dropped several more, finding them lousy (like Time Traveller's Wife. I just couldn't stand that book for some reason.)
Interesting ans eclectic list. I've read 32 of these titles. Still lots to go on this list and beyond!
28 for me plus 2 partials. Better than I expected since my reading leans heavily toward genre fiction.
Have a great first week of school. My husband still has a month to go but is fretting about getting his classes ready anyway. I'm back home and blogging again.
I'm um... catching up on the reading list. When I saw this list five years ago, I couldn't even say I really scratched the surface, but now, I'm glad to say that I'm making a very small dent and I've really enjoyed what I've read so far.
ivan, I don't remember how far I got with Ulysses. I soon realized I just wasn't man enough.
Writtenwyrd, see my comment above to Ivan. I haven't even tried the Time Traveler's wife and probably never will.
Minister of the Masochistic Truth, my list of what I want to read is 1000s strong. Thanks for visiting.
Shauna Roberts, cool. I'm looking forward to your reports.
Christina, I looked at a couple of these on my shelves today and thought about starting them. In the end I didn't. But I know exactly where they are when I want to.
Hmm, I'm not sharing until I've upped my number, Charles. LOL. I've got some reading to do. Still, it will only be the ones I'm interested in. Some were "required" reading in school. :-)
Is Write with Fire going to be released on Kindle?
I'm at 57. I'm surprised. This is awesome, though! This is perfect timing, because I've decided to read a ton this year. I'm only writing and not working a day job, and I've got no kids, and I really want to get better at this writing shtick. So why not? I hope you'll post more recommendations soon!
Charles,
I went over your list and list I had previously. Number 76 is different.
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (yours)
76) The Inferno-Dante (from another meme trail)
Intersting...
Charles, I put up my first post about Clarion on my personal blog today at http://shaunaroberts.blogspot.com/2009/08/home-from-clarion.html, and my second post will go up Sunday at the Novel Spaces blog (where Farrah Rochon and I blog regularly) at http://novelspaces.blogspot.com.
Pffft to that list, I say. If you posted everything you've read in your life, the internet would be ruined!
Demon Hunter ,I've always hated required reading. Not even completely sure why. That's intersting about the list being different. hum, curious.
Natasha Fondren, I don't think so. At least not right away. Wildside has been very cautious about going to kindle. I'm not sure why. I'm always recommending books. ;)
Shauna Roberts, cool. I'll check it out. I'm going to be guest blogging on Novel Spaces in September. Enjoying my reading over there.
Lana Gramlich, you are the sweetest thing!
It's a strange list. All of Shakespeare is lumped together, yet there are lots of individual Dickens and Hardy and Austen. Even the recent pop culture selections strike me as a curious collection. Anyway, I've read 59, but only if I'm allowed to count the ones I "proctorized". Is that cheating?
Only nineteen. But I'm wondering why someone would find merit in the list itself. After all, a lot of the "classics" of literature (Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Frankenstein, etc.) are excluded here. Then, there are people like me who read mostly non-fiction.
If my count is right, I read 30.
I would have read more, but after Pride and Prejudice, I swore off Jane Austen and it seems the BBC is rather biased toward her...
Last week, while traveling, I read "Write with Fire" and will try to review it today or tomorrow.
Hey Charles,
Cool test -- 37, mostly in high school now that I think about it. I don't know what my list would be -- strange, I suspect. Hope your first week back is a good one!
Wow !!! I've read 3 of 'em. I'm so proud of myself !!!
I've read 44, but I'd take back ten if I had a do over. :)
Candy, hum, I don't know if procotorizing should count. Yes, it is a most strange list. I'm going to do my own list someday.
X. Dell, It would be interesting to see a nonfiction list. I plan to include both on my list someday. My reading division these days is probably about 1/3 nonfic and 2/3 fiction.
sage, Since some things on the list are lumped together it is a bit difficult to get an accurate count. You sound about where I am. Thanks for picking up a copy of Write With Fire! I appreciate it.
Michelle, your list my tell more about you than about the reading itself. I'm probably the same. :)
Heff, Well the BBC was close in your case then. They must have sampled Heff's to get their original estimate. ;)
BernardL, I would agree with that except that suffering is good for the soul. I suffered through Moby Dick and I damn well want everyone to know it. :)
I have to admit I scrolled through the comments just to get to Heff's response, LOL. I think 3 is pushing it. Ya know what's really scary, I don't recall reading any of these. God I'm such a peasant.
Wil Harrison.com
After a quick survey of the list, I went back and counted how many I read - 32. I was surprised at all the Jane Austen & Bronte books that I've read.
Yee gads! I hit 58! Truth be told, I would not have come close to that had I not been forced to read many of them in school. I read "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" in English and Russian. (Russian was forced, mind you.)
You know, what guy will pick up "Little Women" without a fight! After griping for a couple days, I found I actually enjoyed it.
Most of these are no longer on the lists for school kids. What a shame!
Now if I counted individual books of "Chronicles of Narnia", "Harry Potter" and individual works of Shakespeare, I'm probably near
85ish?
Good luck getting back into work!
I got 33, mostly because of the classics, Austen, Hardy, Bronte, Dickens...
This reminds me of how many books are out there and how little time there is to read...
Charles, No. 76 on Gary's list is Dante's Inferno, which I have read. Hmmm...
:-) :-) :-)
Wil, maybe we could revise the old saying, if you remember the 60s you weren't there. How about, if you remember the book you didn't LIVE the book?
JR, and there I am remiss. Never read anything by Austen or Bronte. I should kick myself.
J. L. Krueger, I do intend to read War and Peace and I see it is on the Kindle so maybe I'll try it. Yes, the Harry Potter and Tolkien would up my numbers if they were counted separately. I never read LIttle women either, though I've thought I should.
Vesper, Yes, I know. Reading time is getting away from me. Kind of weird about the different lists.
No dude you did excelent in your readings, they were all important books. I must say I read 40 books, but I do not even remember most of them, that was when I was a teenager and did not talk to anybody, just stay at home reading things (we did not use computers that much in those days).
Bye friend
Mariana, the books I tend not to remember were from the mid to late 1990s when I was under an incredible amount of stress and scarcely got more than a few hours of sleep a night.
You know, what guy will pick up "Little Women" without a fight! After griping for a couple days, I found I actually enjoyed it.
--
glovin
Are you scared to be alone at home need security
Glovin, I'll have to give it a try.
51, which surprised me. It's the old classics that I've read and on occasion reread for the sheer brilliance in the writing.
Barbara, I have to wonder about the lack of Hemingway and Steinbeck, though.
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