Top 50 reads – list mania
Over at Book Riot, they’ve posted their readers top 50 reads. I’m a sucker for lists like this and usually end up with a fairly respectable score. Not this time – I came in with a paltry 15 that I’ve read from the list of 50. Some of the others are on my TBR list but even if I get around to all of those I’m still not even at the half way mark. Some of the books I can’t ever see me wanting to read (Douglas Adams for example or Frank Herbert) and I’m astonished that some titles are even on the list (Gone with the Wind, Time Traveller’s Wife).
Better get reading…….
How would you fare with this list?
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (read the first only)
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien (not read even one of them)
- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
- The Stand by Stephen King
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (got no further than about page 50)
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
- The PIcture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams (unlikely to ever read this)
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
mine was 28…I am surprised to see The Night Circus on that list. I didn’t realize it was so popular.
its a shame that i never even gt to know abt it…bt the list looks quite updated in its own way..vat are u planning to read from the list??
Donna Tartt’s book has been on my bookshelf for about five years so I included it in my classics club list knowing that would push me to actually read it. The Toni Morrison one keeps cropping up on various book blogs so I might have a closer look.
28/50..i haven’t even come across The poisonwood bible and hitchhijer’s guide is something which I would never lay my lands upon..though few in the list are predictable few like the grapes of wrath made to the list…this is making me to re read Lolita, its been a while….Though harry potter makes it to every top list my interest ebbed away from the fourth..But first one is undoubtedly my favourite of all..
Poisonwood Bible had a lot of exposure when it was published (1998) particularly because it was a selection from the Oprah Winfrey book club. It’s about a family of missionaries in the Belgian Congo. I didn’t get into it that much but its so long ago that I can’t remember why it didn’t interest me much.
I’ve read 14 of them, although does seem a bit unfair as a lot of them are series but the list only counts them as one.
I won’t tell if you double count the series titles!
27/50
Crumbs, that’s impressive WordsandPeace….
It’s an interesting list. Some of it strikes me as very American High School / college and pop culture. Often we get stuck on a “favorite” book because we read it in school or college with some wonderful teacher and the whole experience, rather than just the book, is remembered. I love The Scarlet Letter for this reason.
Or a dear friend loves the book and passes it on and the book is loved for the aura of friendship it exudes.
I have read many of them — but there are is one I have never heard of — Secret History of Donna Tartt..
interesting that neither you nor Angus have heard of The Secret History.It was published in the early 1990s I think. I’ve not read it myself so can’t comment on whether it should be on the list or not. She also wrote another one to great acclaim The Little Friend.
I’ve crossed out 21. 19 if you will not consider the ones I am still currently reading. Here’s my list:
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien (First book only.)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (currently reading)
1984 by George Orwell
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams (First book only..)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses by James Joyce (currently reading)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
where there any surprises on this list for you Angus – titles that you wouldn’t have expected to see? Karen Heenan-Davies
________________________________
There are two that surprised me: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (because I haven’t heard of this) and The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (I didn’t realize that the author is popular enough to land a spot on the list.)