Zee at Reading in the North posted about this and, like her, I can't resist a good list, either!
I guess Borders asked customers to vote for their favourite books, and this list is the result. So, just for the heck of it, I've bolded the ones I've read and italicized ones I'd like to read.
Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone – JK Rowling
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
Book Thief – Markus Zusak
1984 – George Orwell
Magician – Raymond E Feist
Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
Bronze Horseman – Paullina Simmons
Shantaram: A Novel – Gregory David Roberts
Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
Power of One – Bryce Courtenay
The Davinci Code – Dan Brown
Angels & Demons – Dan Brown
Alchemist – Coelho
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Cloudstreet – Tim Winton
Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
Holy Bible
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Fortunate Life – AB Facey
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
Cross Stitch – Diana Gabaladon
Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
Child Called It – Dave Pelzer
Mao’s Last Dancer – Li Cunxin
Tomorrow, When The War Began – John Marsden
Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt
Dune – Frank Herbert
Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
April Fool’s Day – Bryce Courtenay
Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer – Patrick Suskind
Ice Station – Matthew Reilly
Shadow of the Wind – Ruiz Zaf
Briefer History of Time – by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
Eragon – Christopher Paolini
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Tuesdays With Morrie – Mitch Albom
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
Atonement – Ian McEwan
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Clockwork Orange: Play With Music – Anthony Burgess
Little Prince & Letter to a Hostage
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Really Short History of Everything – Bill Bryson
Crime & Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Lion Called Christian – Anthony Bourke
God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Tully – Paullina Simons
Time to Kill – John Grisham
Marley & Me – John Grogan
A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Road – Cormac McCarthy
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
In Turkey I am Beautiful – Brendan Shanahan
Breath – Tim Winton
Jessica – Bryce Courtenay
Animalia – Graeme Base
Secret History – Donna Tartt
Godfather – Mario Puzo
Interview with the Vampire – Anne Rice
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
Stand – Stephen King
Bridget Jones' Diary – Helen Fielding
New Earth: Create A Better Life – Eckhart Tolle
Seven Ancient Wonders – Matthew Reilly
Wild Swans: Three Daughts of China – Jung Chang
The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks
American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
The Belgariad – David Eddings
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
Looking for Alibrandi – Melina Marchetta
PS I Love You – Celia Ahern
Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
Thorn Birds – Colleen McCullough
Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
Good Omens – Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S Thompson
Chocolat – Joanne Harris
The Princess Bride – William Goldman
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
So, a few of my actual all-time faves are on this list - The Princess Bride, Anne of Green Gables, Bridget Jones' Diary, and Pride and Prejudice. A couple of my guilty pleasures are, too - The Notebook and Angels and Demons. That's the cool thing about a list by "the public" - it's more likely to have popular fiction on it. They don't have to be "the best," they just have to be ones people enjoyed.
A lot of the books aren't surprising, but I have to say there are quite a few I've never even heard of. I'm also surprised about Animalia by Graeme Base - an awesome picture book, but I wouldn't have thought it had that wide an audience - not compared to, say, Where The Wild Things Are or Goodnight Moon.
So, what do you think? Any of the italicized ones that I should skip? Any that I didn't pick that I have to read? Did any of your faves make the list?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I read Wild Swans in college and LOVED it. If you love stories about women it is a great read. I also think that The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe is a great fantasy book (I know C. S. Lewis had other ideas about why he wrote it but for me it has always just been a great story).
My students love Child Called It, and I've read gobs of book reports on this book. So ask me why I haven't read it myself... I've steered clear because I've read the book reports! It sounds horribly, awfully, heart-breakingly SAD. So if you like that sort of thing (which I don't) it might be a great read.
As far as Twilight goes, I loved those books. And since you're a librarian, I'll also mention that our library is having a New Moon party in November (when the movie comes out). I was the party planner for this big event, and I've posted my party planner on my blog. Anyone who wants to steal my party ideas is welcome to. Here's the link: http://passinglovenotes.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/were-having-a-new-moon-party-how-should-we-celebrate-new-moons-arrival-in-theaters/
Zee - See, Wild Swans is one I'd never heard of! I might have to check it out.
Mechelle - Woo hoo, sharing program ideas is always appreciated! :) I've never read a Child Called It for the very same reason, yet I find that teens love it, as you say. They love that heartbreaking stuff.
I would highly recommend My Sister's Keeper. I LOVED that book. It remains one of my all time favs.
Thanks for the recommendation, Julie. So many people love Jodi Picoult, I've been meaning to check her out.
I started The Book Theif because it sounded really good, but I couldn't get into it. I found it in my bookbag about a week after I started it, I'd completely forgotton about it, I tried again, and my heart wasn't in it. For all I know it could be a great book, but it just didn't grab me. I have read A Child Called It, but it's not my type of book. It was very sad and depressing.
Post a Comment