I took this awesome idea from Cagey (who got it from Pantalones del Fuego, and so forth).
- Mark in blue the ones you’ve read;
- Mark in green the ones that are your favorites;
- Mark in red the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole;
(You're also supposed to "+" the ones you have on your bookshelf, but between J and I, we have an assload of these books, so I didn't do that one.)
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
I’d never read the series, but J liked the movies. Apropos of which: One night, he settled in to watch one of them when I was going out to dinner with some friends. (This was many moons ago, pre-Toopweets, when I actually left my house at night.) I went out with my friends, did some grocery shopping, bumped into another friend there, got some coffee with her, went home, and the movie was still on. I then ran to the drugstore, came home, and it was still on. After which, I completed a thesis, got my Ph.D., evolved into a higher being of pure energy with telekinetic powers, came home and the movie? It was STILL ON.
8. Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery) Oh, how I used to love this book, and the corresponding PBS miniseries. I would quite literally dream about it. I longed for her high-button boots, and long red hair…
9. *Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) 10. *A Fine Balance(Rohinton Mistry) 11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) Yeah, I have many of the same issues with Harry Potter that I do with LOTR. I actually tried reading the first one, and was (BLASPHEMY!)…not impressed. I shall now duck to avoid the virtual rotten fruit and vegetables that you are mentally tossing my way. (Man, I’m getting brave lately, taking on Oprah and Harry Potter in the span of a week.)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) 13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) 14. A Prayer for Owen Meany(John Irving) 15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) 16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling) 17. *Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) 18. The Stand (Stephen King) 19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling) 20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) 21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) 22. The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger) 23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) 24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) This was one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read. 25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) I think I’m the only person in the galaxy who hated this and couldn’t get through it. Speaking of galaxies...
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) 27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) 28. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) 29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) 30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) 31. Dune (Frank Herbert) 32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) I, um, MAY have cried. (Upon finishing the book, as well as the movie.) I’m not proud. Their love was so pure! It knew not the bounds of tiiiiime! *sob*
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) 34. 1984 (Orwell) 35. *The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) 36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) 37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) 38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) 39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) 40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) I really really want to read this one. 41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) 42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) Haunting. 43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) 44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) 45. Bible (I mean, bits and pieces. Not the whole thing.) 46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) 47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) 48. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) 49. The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) 50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) 51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) 52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) Now and forever: SUCK IT, DICKENS!
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) 54. Great Expectations (Dickens) 55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) 56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) 57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
Jeebus! Enough with the Potter. Fine, list, you’ve forced me to tell another story. Early in my pregnancy with Toops, we went to see this movie. It was, I believe, payback for dragging J to see Memoirs of a Geisha with our friends A and T. (A is J’s best friend, and T is his wife, a very good friend of mine.) T and I were enthralled, loving every minute of the movie, while our husbands attempted to gouge out their eyes with movie theater straws. It was a nice moment. Anyway, that was how I ended up at this shitfest. I vaguely attempted to watch it, but after about 5 minutes of muggles, or quiddicks, or whatever the hell, I gave up. I folded J’s coat and my own into a neat little pillow, and quite literally passed out across two chairs for the duration of the movie.
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
My love for this book is such that despite it having in excess of 700 pages, and my copy being hardcover, I still carried it with me in my work bag every day to read during my commute. 59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) 60. The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) Looove this book; probably my favorite book ever. 61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) - 62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) 63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) 64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice) Hey, remember when we all thought Tom Cruise was cute? Just saying. 65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis) 66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
I adore him, every word he wrote, and the whole “magical realism” genre that he essentially invented.
67. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants(Ann Brashares) ) Didn’t read this, but saw the movie. And cried. Surprise! 68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) 69. Les Miserables (Hugo) Does seeing the play 4 times count? 70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) 71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) 72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez) Adore this. 73. Shogun (James Clavell) 74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) 75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) 76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) 77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) 78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) 79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) 80. Charlotte's Web (EB White) 81. *Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley) 82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) 83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) 84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) 85. Emma (Jane Austen) 86. Watership Down (Richard Adams) 87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) 88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields) 89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago) 90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) 91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje) 92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) Sucks to your asthma, Piggy! 93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) The foot binding! My god, the FOOT BINDING! 94. The Secret Life of Bees(Sue Monk Kidd) 95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) 96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton) "Do it for Johnnyyyyyyy!" (Okay, that's from the movie, but still. Awesome.) 97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)—Started this like a zillion times. It’s never going to happen.
From the "Please Tell Me I'm Not Alone" files: More than any other show on TV, America’s Next Top Model is crack to me. I simply cannot get enough. Unfortunately, my favorite so far in this “cycle” (WHY do they call it that?) is the source of much dissension between me and my friend K. I adore the awesomely bitchy Renee, for she is GORGEOUS. And CRAZY. I'm well aware that I could be the only one who loves her so;
(Is anyone else watching it this season? I must discuss this most pressing of issues.)
(Also, my god, there were nonstop formatting/font issues with this post, so it was published like 87 times. My apologies.)
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17 comments:
Oh, Piggy. My friends and I from high school will still tell each other "Sucks to your asthmar" rather than "shut up, we have stopped caring about this topic."
And my god, The Lovely Bones. I read that on a flight to Europe and wept the entire time. The guy next to me thought I was certifiably insane, definitely.
I taught Lord of the Flies last year during my student teaching semester. SUCKS TO YOUR ASSMAR! was belted out more times than I care to remember. Then there was always a student asked "What does that mean??" HA! Busted! YOU DIDN'T READ!!! Freshmen...
Oh, there is so much to comment on. I have to open this post in another window.
Time Traveler's Wife was a great book. I admired the originality of the plot and the burning LUV between the main characters. The only thing that bothered me a tad was that the female author liked to use the C word a lot. Heeby jeebs!
Okay, I'm rambling. I'll wrap this up. And yes, I'll be stealing this list from you soon. I'll let you know when I do.
I haven't caught ANTM this "cycle," but usually I end up watching the marathons on VH1 instead. It always makes me laugh how Tyra repeats the same laundry list of prizes each judging session, and the girls look surprised and amazed every time. Like they haven't heard it before! And is it just me... I can't stand it when Tyra refers to someone/some pose/some picture as FIERCE.
We like a lot of the same books, plus you've listed some others I have on my "to read" as YOUR favorites (100 Years, The Red Tent, She's Come Undone). Based on your list, maybe I'll give The Notebook a chance. ;-) We definitely have similar tastes. I hope you check out the online book club thingie I am trying out - I'd like your vote, too.
Ah, another "Thornbirds" fan!!! I have been meaning to go back and re-read that book, since the last time I read it was about seven years ago!
Very neat meme - I'm going to have to do this, but it's going to take some time!
I absolutely loved A Prayer For Owen Meany. But then, I really like John Irving.
Came here via Cagey's.. and just wanted to say that I'm an ANTM addict. Just the soothing sounds of screaming Tyra in the background is all it takes to make my Wednesday evening complete.
I don't know why blogger doesn't show my web page even though I type it out, so I'll include it here: www.marylandmacaca.wordpress.com
i'm a major ANTM fan. haven't missed a one!
jael, for the love of god, would you annuciate and blow your nose?
is it me or was this the worst season of makeovers?
I don't understand the whole Lord of the Rings thing. Hobbit Schmobbit whatever.
Random comments:
You know that I share your love for The Time Traveler's Wife... And I actually just picked up The Lovely Bones yesterday and re-read it, crying the whole time.
I also could not get through Life of Pi.
I would have NEVER thought you would be a Nicholas Sparks fan!
And you should definitely read The Secret Life of Bees- I think you would really like it.
Magical realism is my favorite, favorite genre. Have you read any Rushdie? He does it beautifully as well, as does Alice Hoffman (oh how I love The River King...)
I actually do like the LOTR series and The Hobbit. My aunt bought them for me when I was a reading fool in grade school. Having read them as a child and then seeing the movies years later made me feel very nostalgic.
You must read The Alchemist now!! I finished it in one day... loved it so much. We have many of the same favorites...
Okay, chickadee, I am now fighting the urge to mail you Fall On Your Knees, The OUtlander, The Poisonwood Bible, and Secret Life of Bees. All are delicious in their own right, and you must read them. NOW.
(Is it just me, or am I a little scary?)
I'm not much of a reader...this is extremely evident when I tell you that I've only read 4 books on that list. Yes, only 4. On the other hand, I've seen 20 of them in movie form ;)
Christine -- Ha! We also used "sucks to your [fill in the blank]" incessantly after completing that book in high school.
LVgurl -- I can't believe that kids actually asked that; it's the most famous line in the book! (Or, the only one I remember, anyway...) And YES, now that I think about it, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife did use that word a lot...(it's okay, though--my love for that book knows no bounds). Definitely let me know when you do the list!
Cagey -- All those books were great...except The Notebook; I HATE myself for reading it, and hate myself even more for crying while doing so. (It's pure trash, but I must admit, it was entertaining trash.) I have much to say on your book thing, so I'll be by soon to leave my comment. ;)
Chickadee -- Seriously, how good is that book?! :) (It took forever to do this meme, but it's a fun one, I think.)
Steve -- Awesome; it's definitely going on my "to read" list then; I love John Irving, too.
Md. Macaca -- Hi! Ah, Tyra...I adore her "serious" speeches more than anything, though her screaming fits are awesome in their own right.
Gorillabuns -- I totally think Jael is perpetually stoned. Also: Re: the makeovers-- I agree! Where were the tears?! The tantrums? It's not a makeover until someone weeps.
OTJ -- And...there's another reason to love ya.
Est -- Woo! Glad that you also had an issue with Life of Pi...See my comment to Cagey--NOT a Nicholas Sparks fan...it just sucked me in, dammit!
Jonniker --YES, I love Rushdie; I actually haven't read any Alice Hoffman, but I will now. :)
DCMM -- I can't wait to read The Alchemist; it looks fantastic!
GG -- I trust your taste; which one from that list should I read first?!
Kim -- No shame in that! Sometimes, I think I've read a book, and it turns out that I've just seen the movie (and vice versa).
There is an entire grade of children who would agree with you that Life of Pi is by far the most stodgy piece of stand-by T.P. in literary history. As far has Harry Potter...agree to disagree. I will say, don't judge by the movies. Mitch Albom is a really entertaining author though. They tried to make a movie out of that book, though I don't believe it did very well. I'm guessing they didn't capture the tripiness. He has another book "Tuesday's With Morrie", though I never read it....I didn't see any Vonnegut on this list. A mistake, I'm sure.
all those font colours hurt my head but books are good and good for you for reading them. I like books too.
my tifaux has been f-ing up recording ANTM this "Cycle" (it's because of our PERIODS) but I went to the link and sweet jesus what is UP with the photography? it's like someone slipped a bunch of acid in the ice water.
renee is nice. I mean deranged. I like the short haired girl. I always like the short haired girl. but isn't it a black girl's turn to win? last cycle was caridee.
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