100 Books Meme

That's 99. Where's the 100th?

It is interesting how many on this list I own and want to read yet have not read yet! I better get busy.

wow, that's a good question. since i copied and pasted the entire document, and just now double-checked the list, i don't see how anything could be missing but apparently, something is. hrm.

You missed "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" in the #67 spot.

Nice meme. I've picked it up at my blog also, and given you credit as my inspiration.

I also have a suggestion! I propose that commenters on this meme should pick out a book that you have marked as "not interested", and suggest why you should be interested. I'm guessing "not interested" includes "don't recognize"; so I've asked anyone commenting on my blog to educate me in this way as well.

I now provide for you this same service! It was a tough call, as for the most part the ones you have left are one I also don't recognize or else don't move me much. But one exception is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I see that you've read the two Jane Austens in the list; Emily Bronte is another English Victorian female novelist, of comparable caliber and with a totally different style.

While I am on the subject of Victorian female novelists I can't resist a quick plug for "George Eliot", author of one of my faves -- "Silas Marner". This was my muse when I adopted "Sylas" as a pseudonym on webforums. This one is a cheat: it's not on the list and it would be absurd to try and enumerate such omissions: but wotthehell wotthehell

George Eliot was a pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans. She would be of interest to some sciencebloggers because she was a "religious dissenter", an unbeliever in the notion of God.

Catch-22 is one of my favourite books. You need to read it soon!

Lord of the Flies was required in English class at school, a very disturbing and insightful book.

Shogun I found great, all James Clavell's stuff is good. Interesting insight into Japanese and British/Portuguese cultures as well as being a great adventure story, I originally read it over two days. My advise, read it and then read TaiPan.

The hitchhiker books are humorous, but I think you have to be in the right mood (slightly drunk :o)).

Suprised not to see any Discworld books, but it is only 100 books long.

I would have replaced The Hobbit with The Silmarillion. I know that I am probably in a minority in liking it, but the Silmarillion is full of wonder.

Ah, Chris - you did 'O' level English Lit as well!

I can heartily recommend A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry). I bought it in a sale (for 19 Markkaa), but the end has stuck with me: it's an interesting take on how we perceive life.

More generally, India has produced a lot of good literature over the last 20 years of so (e.g. Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy).

Oh, and don't read any Jeffrey Archer. Except, perhaps, his evidence in court.

Bob

Bob, I did not!!
I did 'O' Grade English.

Scots wahay and all that jazz :o)

Three books I have found almost unputdownable:

War & Peace, Tolstoy (on the list)
Catch-22, Joseph Heller (not on the list)
Shogun, James Clavell (not on list)

Shogun is a fascinating look into 16th century Japan, on the eve of the Tokugawa shogunate. While lacking the depth of the other two, its re-creation of a lost culture (and I can't vouch for its accuracy) is irresistible.

Also, Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-5" is worth a read.

Toby - War & Peace unputdownable? You must have strong wrists!

Bob
Psst: Catch 22 is at 67 and Shogun at 72.

okay, now there are 100 titles, since i added sisterhood of the traveling pants. so i am going to look around for lord of the flies, catch-22 and shogun, right?

and i am a huge vonnegut fan, having read all his books. unfortunately, i seem to lost his books when i made my cross-country move, so they appear on my wishlist at this time (although i have recently received several of them from my readers and of course, i devoured them immediately).

what is "O" level english? is this part of your "Ordinary Wizarding Level" classes?

...what is "O" level english? is this part of your "Ordinary Wizarding Level" classes?
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | May 20

'O' Level is what the English do before doing 'A' level exams at secondary school.
'O' Grade is similar to 'O' Level but done in Scotish secondary schools prior to doing 'H' Grade and/or CSYS.

They've introduced some different exams since I was at school.

Not sure what the US equivalents would be.

Wizard exams are normally taken outside the state school system.

okay, now there are 100 titles, since i added sisterhood of the traveling pants. so i am going to look around for lord of the flies, catch-22 and shogun, right?
....Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | May 20, 2007

Fair warning. Don't read "Lord of the Flies" if/when you are feeling depressed. It is a brilliant piece of writing but likely to depress rather than uplift ones spirit.

Those are some good suggestions. I really enjoyed Catch-22, and I've wanted to read Shogun, but have not yet. There are a ton of other books I would love to recommend, having worked at a bookstore for over 4 years, but I can't get my thoughts in order on it right now.

To play an opposing role, I would like to NOT recommend the following book:

#44 - Mitch Albom. He writes the same book over and over again. Its vapid, feel-goody nonsense.

See, the problem with this particular list is that, were I to take you up on it, I would bold approximately half and leave the rest untouched, having no interest in them. Does that reflect some kind of snobbish self-satisfaction about my literary education on my part? Well no: there are literally hundreds of books that I absolutely need to read (right now!;)), but I should build a list of my own to even remember what they are. And that is entirely too much work...