The Big Read

Erin posted this list on her blog, from the NEA's Big Read project.

I am a voracious reader - I even read the free copy of Field & Stream that for some reason keeps coming to my house (along with Men's Vogue - which if I could get beyond all the ads for clothes neither Himself, nor I have any use for, I might read as well ... where are these coming from?!). One never knows just how much knowing about tree stands and waders might come in handy.

Suffice it to say, reading is the one thing I do for myself each day. It is usually only a page or two before I fall asleep at night, but it's my favorite time of my day. I noticed there were many on here that I hadn't heard of or read ... and I'm always looking for new things ...

I'm also essentially lazy, so instead of doing all of the symbols, I'm just categorizing the list. * Indicates I've seen a movie/play taken from the book.

READ (31)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird*, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh*, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre*, Charlotte Brontë
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows*, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women*, Louisa May Alcott
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone*, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets*, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban*, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory*, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island*, Robert Louis Stevenson
41. Anne Of Green Gables*, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
47. A Christmas Carol*, Charles Dickens
51. The Secret Garden*, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
58. Black Beauty*, Anna Sewell (although it's been so long I couldn't even give you the plot synopsis - other than the fact it's about a black horse)
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
99. The Princess Diaries*, Meg Cabot

STARTED, NEVER FINISHED (10)
1. The Lord of the Rings*, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice*, Jane Austen (Here's where I enter into what most women consider blasphemy - I do not like Jane Austen - the books or the movies. I try and try and never can quite see the appeal they have over every one of my girlfriends).
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy (I've started this one five times. I own it - my grandmother gave it to me - the story's premise is fine, Thomas Hardy isn't. The only book of his which I've been able to make it through was required reading - had no choice).
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland*, Lewis Carroll
38. Persuasion*, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

WANT TO READ (7)
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha*, Arthur Golden
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
83. Holes, Louis Sachar

THE REST (?? = never heard of it (24))
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman??
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks??
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving (Note: John Irving is another author I really don't care for. The Ciderhouse Rules wasn't too bad - but then I read The Other Hand and it all went downhill from there. One more book by him and I gave up. I will probably never read this one).
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson??
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens --
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute ??
40. Emma*, Jane Austen
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh??
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian ??
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
53. The Stand, Stephen King
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome ??
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman ??
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton??
67. The Magus, John Fowles ??
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman ??
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett ??
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell ??
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt??
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson??
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake ??
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson ??
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley --
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons??
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist??
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac??
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel??
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett??
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton??
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson??
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

Clearly there are a few of these I should get working on!