Because I am really sick of studying for the bar, and because I somehow found a bookmark of heather's old blog on my Mozilla bookmark list, I am going to steal this from her and comment on the 100 top books which I read. Also to make believe that I do have some knowledge inside my head besides the garbage that I've been trying to cramp into it during this past month. I'm sure that this is going to be very boring, since I have a terrible memory.
1. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
(High school of course. Mostly I just remember watching the movie with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow(?). And also that I never understood what all these rich long island people were whining about. I have the same problem with other F. Scott Fitzgerald books too.)
2. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
(I read this one on my own since it's so famous and all the rebel/intellectual kids seemed to love it. And also my dad liked it even though he's not a rebel. I remember that there were mental problems and escaping from some school, and sleeping on benches in Central Park and a little sister. But I must confess I never understood what the big deal was about.)
3. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
(I didn't read this, but had to watch the movie in high school and that was painful enough.)
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
(Read this fairly recently and absolutely loved it. One of those really idealistic stories about a good-guy lawyer in the South. I especially liked how it was told from a child's perspective in a very realistic way.)
5. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, James Joyce
7. Beloved, Toni Morrison
(Read this in high school. I do not like her in general.)
8. The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
(high school again - something about little boys stranded on an island and a pig's head on a stick. I think it was scary.)
9. 1984, George Orwell
(i will never forget this book, if only because I read it for the first time during my memorable writing seminar at Cornell, where the very cruel professor lady tormented me and probably always will. Of course the book is genius and frightening. I read it again couple of years ago, hoping that I'd be able to appreciate it more w/o Mrs. Orlov's intimidating presence.)
10. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
11. Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov
(I don't even remember when I read it, but I know that when I did - I was so looking forward to all the illicit stuff, and was fairly disappointed that everything was so subtle and not that illicit.)
12. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web, EB White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
(I tried, but couldn't get past the first chapter.)
15. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
(also - couldn't get past the first chapter..)
16. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
(refer above to my "Utopian Dreams, Utopian Nightmares" freshman writing seminar. I should probably reread all the books I read during that class, so that I can appreciate them w/o the nasty memories.)
17. Animal Farm, George Orwell
(read this within last year. Good old communism on a farm. What's not to love?)
18. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne
(this I read as a really small child in Russia (and thus in russian). I'm sure I enjoyed it then.)
23. Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
(I know that there are 2 "Invisible Man" books - one is about a black man and how he's invisible in society (which I didn't read), and the other is about a man who actually becomes invisible - which I did read. I also saw the Invisible Man movie with my parents when I was about 6 and it was the scariest thing ever.)
25. Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
(I tried it, but couldn't do it. But it's on my bookshelf, awaiting the second attempt.)
31. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady, Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp, John Irving
(I read a whole bunch of John Irving books, and this one was not my favorite. But I love him in general. I do remember the crazy asexual mother character who made a dying soldier impregnate her. And something about bears walking on their paws, which was a story within a story. This is one of annoying things about John Irving - since he loves to write about writers, there are always stories within stories, and these internal stories are not as good as the main external ones.)
38. All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View , EM Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
41. Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
(I read this in high school when a very easily excitable friend recommended it. I think I was all into it, except for the crazy never-ending speeches without any paragraph breaks. But I remember that the main character was Howard Roark and how I felt very inferior. I didn't think there was any place for me in Ayn Rand's society. Good thing objectivism didn't catch on.)
44. Finnegans Wake, James Joyce
45. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
(I tried this while on a european trip, of course sadly after reading and watching "The Hours". But I couldn't get into it! I'm ashamed.)
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence
(I think i read this, but I can't remember anything at all.)
49. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia, Willa Cather
52. Howard's End, EM Forster
53. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey, JD Salinger
55. Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz, Toni Morrison
57. Sophie's Choice, William Styron
(I just read it a few months ago and it was absolutely amazing. Beautiful language, very complicated characters, very multi-faceted, and tons of graphic sex to boot.)
58. Absalom, Absalom!, William Faulkner
59. Passage to India, EM Forster
60. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
(It's one of the few books which I read in high school that I've never forgotten. Chilling. The one thing I particularly remember is that his invalid wife became completely useful and 100% better physically once she had 2 invalids to take care of herself. Very good lesson to learn.)
61. A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor
62. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando, Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers, DH Lawrence
(I probably read half of it, but don't remember a thing.)
65. Bonfire of the Vanities, Thomas Wolfe
66. Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
(I think I read it, and I'm pretty sure that I didn't understand it.)
67. A Separate Peace, John Knowles
68. Light in August, William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove, Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hithchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, DH Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
81. The Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
82. White Noise, Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers!, Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
(I actually read probably about two thirds of this. It was great in parts, but very hard to get through. I would try it again.. maybe.)
85. The War of the Worlds, HG Wells
86. Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians, Henry James
88. An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser
(I read this in Russian, and I think I really liked it, but have no recollection other than that. Should read it again.)
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles
94. Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run, John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread, EM Forster
99. Main Street, Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight's Children , Salman Rushdie
1. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
(High school of course. Mostly I just remember watching the movie with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow(?). And also that I never understood what all these rich long island people were whining about. I have the same problem with other F. Scott Fitzgerald books too.)
2. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
(I read this one on my own since it's so famous and all the rebel/intellectual kids seemed to love it. And also my dad liked it even though he's not a rebel. I remember that there were mental problems and escaping from some school, and sleeping on benches in Central Park and a little sister. But I must confess I never understood what the big deal was about.)
3. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
(I didn't read this, but had to watch the movie in high school and that was painful enough.)
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
(Read this fairly recently and absolutely loved it. One of those really idealistic stories about a good-guy lawyer in the South. I especially liked how it was told from a child's perspective in a very realistic way.)
5. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, James Joyce
7. Beloved, Toni Morrison
(Read this in high school. I do not like her in general.)
8. The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
(high school again - something about little boys stranded on an island and a pig's head on a stick. I think it was scary.)
9. 1984, George Orwell
(i will never forget this book, if only because I read it for the first time during my memorable writing seminar at Cornell, where the very cruel professor lady tormented me and probably always will. Of course the book is genius and frightening. I read it again couple of years ago, hoping that I'd be able to appreciate it more w/o Mrs. Orlov's intimidating presence.)
10. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
11. Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov
(I don't even remember when I read it, but I know that when I did - I was so looking forward to all the illicit stuff, and was fairly disappointed that everything was so subtle and not that illicit.)
12. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web, EB White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
(I tried, but couldn't get past the first chapter.)
15. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
(also - couldn't get past the first chapter..)
16. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
(refer above to my "Utopian Dreams, Utopian Nightmares" freshman writing seminar. I should probably reread all the books I read during that class, so that I can appreciate them w/o the nasty memories.)
17. Animal Farm, George Orwell
(read this within last year. Good old communism on a farm. What's not to love?)
18. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne
(this I read as a really small child in Russia (and thus in russian). I'm sure I enjoyed it then.)
23. Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
(I know that there are 2 "Invisible Man" books - one is about a black man and how he's invisible in society (which I didn't read), and the other is about a man who actually becomes invisible - which I did read. I also saw the Invisible Man movie with my parents when I was about 6 and it was the scariest thing ever.)
25. Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
(I tried it, but couldn't do it. But it's on my bookshelf, awaiting the second attempt.)
31. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady, Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp, John Irving
(I read a whole bunch of John Irving books, and this one was not my favorite. But I love him in general. I do remember the crazy asexual mother character who made a dying soldier impregnate her. And something about bears walking on their paws, which was a story within a story. This is one of annoying things about John Irving - since he loves to write about writers, there are always stories within stories, and these internal stories are not as good as the main external ones.)
38. All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View , EM Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
41. Schindler's List, Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
(I read this in high school when a very easily excitable friend recommended it. I think I was all into it, except for the crazy never-ending speeches without any paragraph breaks. But I remember that the main character was Howard Roark and how I felt very inferior. I didn't think there was any place for me in Ayn Rand's society. Good thing objectivism didn't catch on.)
44. Finnegans Wake, James Joyce
45. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
(I tried this while on a european trip, of course sadly after reading and watching "The Hours". But I couldn't get into it! I'm ashamed.)
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence
(I think i read this, but I can't remember anything at all.)
49. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia, Willa Cather
52. Howard's End, EM Forster
53. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey, JD Salinger
55. Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz, Toni Morrison
57. Sophie's Choice, William Styron
(I just read it a few months ago and it was absolutely amazing. Beautiful language, very complicated characters, very multi-faceted, and tons of graphic sex to boot.)
58. Absalom, Absalom!, William Faulkner
59. Passage to India, EM Forster
60. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
(It's one of the few books which I read in high school that I've never forgotten. Chilling. The one thing I particularly remember is that his invalid wife became completely useful and 100% better physically once she had 2 invalids to take care of herself. Very good lesson to learn.)
61. A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor
62. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando, Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers, DH Lawrence
(I probably read half of it, but don't remember a thing.)
65. Bonfire of the Vanities, Thomas Wolfe
66. Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
(I think I read it, and I'm pretty sure that I didn't understand it.)
67. A Separate Peace, John Knowles
68. Light in August, William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove, Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hithchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, DH Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
81. The Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
82. White Noise, Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers!, Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
(I actually read probably about two thirds of this. It was great in parts, but very hard to get through. I would try it again.. maybe.)
85. The War of the Worlds, HG Wells
86. Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians, Henry James
88. An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser
(I read this in Russian, and I think I really liked it, but have no recollection other than that. Should read it again.)
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles
94. Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run, John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread, EM Forster
99. Main Street, Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight's Children , Salman Rushdie
posted by SmallWonder at 8:07 PM
1 Comments:
Wow, you read all these books by Joice. I haven't. Tried "Portrait of an artist..." but couln't get through it. You should have rated the books so that I could read the ones that are good that I haven't read yet.:)
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