Friday, November 27, 2009

100 Books to Read Before You Die

So, Ivana from Willing to See Less posted this list on her blog, but that's definitely not where it originated. I think it's actually Border's 100 Favorite Books of All Time. Let's analyze it, shall we! I'll cross out books I've read and put in bold books on my wishlist or in my TBR pile.
N.B. I actually really didn't like a couple of these books; those will have frowny faces beside them.

1. Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice
2. Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird
3. JRR Tolkien – Lord Of The Rings
4. Jodi Picoult – My Sister’s Keeper
5. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga
6. JK Rowling – Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone
7. Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
8. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
9. George Orwell – 1984
10. Raymond E. Feist – Magician
11. Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns
12. Paullina Simons – Bronze Horsemen
13. Gregory David Roberts – Shantaram
14. Margaret Mitchell – Gone With The Wind
15. Bryce Courtenay – Power of One
16. Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code
17. Dan Brown – Angels & Demons
18. Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
19. Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
20. Tim Winton – Cloud Street
21. Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
22. Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
23. Arthur Golden – Memoirs of Geisha
24. LM Montgomery – Anne Of Green Gables
25. Joseph Heller – Catch-22
26. Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love :-(
27. Niv Mass Market Bible With Bible Guide – International Bible Society Staff and International Bible Society
28. JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit
29. Yann Martel – Life of Pi
30. AB Facey – Fortunate Life
31. Douglas Adams – The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
32. Lewis Carroll – Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass
33. Diana Gabaldon – Cross Stich
34. Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
35. David Pelzar – A Child Called It
36. Li Cunxin – Mao’s Last Dancer
37. John Marsden – Tomorrow, When The War Began
38. Frank McCourt – Angela’s Ashes
39. Frank Herbert – Dune
40. JD Salinger – A Catcher In The Rye
41. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
42. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years Of Solitude
43. Bryce Courtenay – April Fool’s Day
44. Ken Follet – Pillars Of The Earth
45. Patrick Suskind – Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer
46. Matthew Reilly – Ice Station
47. Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow Of The Wind
48. Stephen Hawking – A Brief History Of Time
49. Christopher Paolini – Eragon
50. Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
51. Mitch Albom – Tuesdays With Morrie
52. Jane Austen – Persuasion
53. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
54. Ian McEwan – Atonement :-(
55. Leo Tolstory – Anna Karenina
56. George Orwell – Animal Farm
57. Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
58. Antoine de Saint Exupéry – The Little Prince
59. Roald Dahl – Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
60. CS Lewis – The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
61. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Love In The Time Of Cholera
62. Bill Bryson – A Short History Of Nearly Everything
63. Fyodor Dostoevsky – Crime And Punishment
64. Anthony Bourke – Lion Called Christian
65. Arundhati Roy – The God Of Small Things :-( WORST BOOK EVER!
66. Paullina Simons – Tully
67. John Grisham – A Time To Kill
68. John Grogan – Marley & Me
69. Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy
70. Alexandre Dumas – Count Of Monte Cristo
71. Neil Gaiman – American Gods
72. Cormac McCarthy – The Road :-(
73. Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
74. Brendan Shanahan – In Turkey I Am Beautiful: Between Chaos And Madness In A Strange Land
75. Tim Winton – Breath
76. Bryce Courtenay – Jessica
77. Graeme Base – Animalia
78. Donna Tartt – The Secret History
79. Mario Puzo – The Godfather
80. Anne Rice – Interview With The Vampire
81. Steig Larrson – The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo
82. Stephen King – Stand
83. Helen Fielding – Bridget Jones’ Diary :-(
84. Eckhart Tolle – New Earth
85. Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
86. Jung Chang – Wild Swans
87. Nicholas Sparks – The Notebook
88. Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho
89. David Eddings – Belgariad Vol. 1: Pawn Of Prophecy; Queen Of Sorcery; Magician’s Gambit
90. Louis De Bernieres – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
91. Melina Marchetta – Looking For Alibrandi
92. Celia Ahern – PS I Love You :-(
93. John Irving – A Prayer For Owen Meany
94. Colleen McCullough – The Thorn Birds
95. John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy Of Dunces
96. Terry Pratchett – Good Omens
97. Hunter S. Thompson – Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas
98. Joanne Harris – Chocolat
99. William Goldman – Princess Bride
100. Charles Dickens – Great Expectations

Wow! I've read 51 of them! Definitely not bad. And I think I only really disliked 4 of those that I've read. Most of the ones that aren't in my TBR pile or on my wishlist I've never heard of, but I guess I'll have to check them out.

How did you do?

14 comments:

ninefly said...

hmm, I'm usually wary of these "must read" lists because they're usually supposed popular "classics" or books I think are rather overrated =T
that said, I probably still read 10 or so, most for classes though XD;

Kirthi said...

I highly disagree with the cross-out of #6, but the rest I totally agree with :)I love #3 and #49

I was thinking about reading a few books that have been crossed out, but I was never interested in it, and I'm glad someone agrees with me :)

brizmus said...

2ninefly I actually posted this list because I thought it was different. For the most part, it wasn't classics at all. It was good books that I love or want to read.
@Kirthi I think you misunderstand. :-) The cross-outs are the ones I have read. The bold (such as 3 and 49) are ones that I have on my tbr list. This cross-outs with the frowny faces are the ones I didn't like. So I did love the #6. :-P

Justine said...

Wow, I probably read like.....say, a couple of these. I've got some books ahead of me, that's for sure.

Audrey said...

*gasp* you haven't read the Book Thief?! (not to sound mean)
haha, I would seriously recommend it, along with Eragon :)
and The Notebook!
But either way, you've still read loads more 'classics' than me, I'm very impressed!

Lauren said...

I've read 38 of those. To be honest, there's only about three or four others that I'd want to read - although about ten of those I have started and not finished. (It's actually pretty unusual for me not to finish a book, so I guess I just started those because they're spoken highly of, even knowing I probably wouldn't like them.) Like you, I wasn't into The God of Small Things or Atonement at all.

Actually, now I think about it, most of the non-children's titles I've read here are ones that were required reading for uni.

Anonymous said...

I've only read a handful of the books on the list. I'm surprised to see some books on the list (Twilight, The Notebook). Don't get me wrong - I loved those books! I'm just surprised to see them on the list.

I remember reading Animal Farm in 9th grade English. I didn't enjoy it them. Highly unlikely that I'd enjoy it now. LOL

Jessica said...

Wow! What a list. You did great! I'll have to re-post this when I get a chance. :)

Kath said...

Great list - good mix of all sorts of books :) Good ol' Border, eh?

I've read 21 of these, have nine of them on my more immediate TBR pile and I know I will never read about six of them (cos I've got zero interest or I've seen the movie version already which ruins the book for me).

It's so interesting seeing different tastes and points of view on books. You disliked Eat, Pray, Love (can I ask why, out of interest?) and hated God of Small Things but both of these books I absolutely loved. That's what makes talking about books so fun, don't you think :)

Thanks for another awesome post!

Rhiannon Hart said...

I think you would love A Short History of Nearly Everything. The title is a little misleading, it's more a history of science and scientists, what they discovered and so on. It's fascinating not only for the science but for the way Bryson brings these guys and girls to life. Hubble, for example, was a huge egomaniac apparently. It's a very amusing book!

I'm listening to the audio of Bryson reading his book on Shakespeare. He's just so entertaining in this dry humoured, well written way.

Great list! I might post mine.

AnAddictedBookReader said...

Wow, you have read a lot of them. I own a lot of them, but only have read a few.

Alyssa Kirk said...

You're doing great on your list!

Tales of Whimsy said...

Impressive! *high five*

Mandy said...

Hm, I've only read like 10, and most I never really finished, thats not good

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