To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeFar too much Dickens for my taste. In fact, the list is pretty heavy on the 19th century stuff. It's interesting that 'Gone With the Wind' makes it since a lot of people think of it as a glorified romance novel (I loved it). Solzenhitsyn is another interesting addition. I wonder what a US version would include?
The Bible
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All Quite on the Western Front by E M Remarque
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Must Read List
While looking at background for 'To Kill a Mockingbird' I ran across this list of the 30 most must read books from Britain's librarians. I was naturally excited to see a new booklist. Here it is:
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3 comments:
His Dark Materials but not The Chronicles Of Narnia? Color me unsurprised.
Incidentally, and this may surprise you, I agree on the over-inclusion of the 19th Century novelists; a lot of them are as dull as dishwater. However, you'd think that an association of librarians could at least spell the author of The Wind in the Willows' name right...
Poisonwood Bible. I loved that book. Said everything I ever thought was true about missionaries. I felt vindicated. AND I couldn't put it down.
I've read 12 of the list(if you count the trilogy as one). "A Prayer for Owen Meany" would be a nice addition. I am currently reading "The Reserve" by Russell Banks (just finished), "The Betrayal" By Kathleen O'Neal-Gear and W. Michael Gear and "Skeletons at the Feast" by Chris Bohjalian. Oh yeah, and "Kalimantaan" by C.S. Godschlalk. I guess I'm in the mood for historical novels. Ahhh.... FALL!
Take care you two, Lia
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