Back in March, I posted a horrifying list of literary classics that, according to the BBC, I should have read prior to graduating from college or something. There were 100, I read like...27. While it is my intention in 2010 to get on my ass (you just can't read standing up) and read some "literary classics" (sarcasm implied by quotes), I frankly was excited when The Other Nate provided me with this improved list of Top 100 Books (or, as I've been referring to it, Top 100 Books People Actually Might Have Some Passing Interest in Reading). I still don't want to read any Jane Austen (unless improved by the inclusion of zombies) or anything at all by the Bronte sisters (even with zombies). My count is actually LOWER on this list than on the previous MeMe, but there are more things I would consider reading. The moral of this story is that romance from any era is just NOT FOR ME.
The Big Read Top 100
see the list for yourself, live, in-person
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien (no. I couldn't make it past the Fellowship.)
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (no. But I will read And Zombies this year)
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (yes. All three.)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (yes...but I remember next to nothing)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling (yes. Why are these separate, but Dark Materials are counted as one book?)
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (suprisingly, yes)
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne (does the cartoon count? Not a Pooh fan. Glutton.)
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (yes, and I loved the Apple commercial)
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis (yes)
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (hell to the no)
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller (hmmm...no, but maybe I will read it)
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (Bronte = no)
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks (who?)
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (Um, no.)
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (yes, but I wish I hadn't)
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (is this that thing with the frog?)
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (I read the first page.)
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (I tried, I really did. But failed)
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres (Nicolas Cage? No.)
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy (hahahahaha. No.)
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (No)
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling (yes. I read it in the original English.)
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling (yes)
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling (No...YES!)
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (yes. so boring.)
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy (no)
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot (no)
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving (no, but I own it - and intend to read it)
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck (no, but I own it and don't intend to read it)
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (yes)
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson (I went to high school with Tracy Beaker)
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez (no)
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett (No)
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens (Wasn't he married to a supermodel)
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl (yes, and the sequel. I love Roald Dahl.)
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (no)
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute (no)
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen (no)
39. Dune, Frank Herbert (yes. more than once.)
40. Emma, Jane Austen (no)
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery (yuck, no)
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams (no. I hate animals)
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald (no, but I bought it and intended to read it until Dad started rolling his eyes and told me how boring it is)
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (No, but I liked the movie)
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (no...)
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell (no, but I will)
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (No, but I've seen the Muppet version, the George C. Scott version, and possibly something involving Captain Picard, so that should count)
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy (no)
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian (no)
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher (no)
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (yuck, no)
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck (yes)
53. The Stand, Stephen King (yes, both versions)
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (no)
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth (no)
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl (I just can't remember, but I probably did at some point. I read alot of Roald Dahl.)
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome (no)
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell (Maybe?? Again with the animals)
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer (no...we do own it, though)
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (no)
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman (no)
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden (yes)
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (no)
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough (no)
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett (no, but I would. That guy is a rip)
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton (no)
67. The Magus, John Fowles (no)
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (my favorite book. I own two copies)
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett (no)
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding (yes)
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind (no)
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell (no)
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett (no, but I did recently see the unrelated Russian supernatural movie of the same name)
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl (yep)
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (love this book)
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt (love this book, too. She's a literary genius.)
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins (no)
78. Ulysses, James Joyce (no, but I read the Odyssey)
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (no, but wasn't Gillian Anderson in the movie?)
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson (no)
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl (yes)
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith (no)
83. Holes, Louis Sachar (yes)
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake (no)
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (Blink-182. No)
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson (no)
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (no, but I should)
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons (no, but I should because I loved the movie)
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist (no)
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac (hell to the no, no, no)
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo (no, but maybe this year)
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel (I don't like caves, bears or Darryl Hannah)
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett (again with Pratchett?)
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho (no)
95. Katherine, Anya Seton (no)
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer (no)
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (no, no, no)
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson (no)
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot (yes. and most of the rest of the series)
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie (no, but he was in the Bridget Jones movie, and that's awesome)
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