24 -- unless they are counting each book, then it's 30, since "His Dark Materials" and "The Lord of the Rings" are both trilogies. I own a few more on the list, but haven't had the time to read them yet.
Hamlet Quotes Just finished Hamlet, and that makes it 32! I’m curious; do you guys understand Shakespeare without any external help? I understand most of the plot, but I’ve realized that I miss a lot of the symbolism, double meanings, and intent if I don’t use a website like Shmoop as a reference. Anyway, this play had some insane lines; one of my favorite Hamlet quotes is, “Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die/ Passing through nature to eternity.”
Read them all at your peril! This list has a quite convoluted history (via Facebook, the BBC etc)..but what it most certainly is not is a list of books that people should have read, or a list of must-read classics. (Or a vehicle for poseurs to appear well read etc etc) Many in that list are obviously trash. Dan Brown, Rushdie etc Simply, a list of pretty famous books.
His prose is abominable...barely readable...though clearly my inclusion of his name had an element of mischief-making about it. Had I been entirely straight I would have have said Tolkien and Rowling and Kerouac.
hmmm.... i thought midnight's children was masterful, but i can agree with what you are saying as it applies to shalimar the clown and the satanic verses...
Originally the list was from the BBC and it was made up of votes from members of the British Public - and it was called Greatest Book or something, but it was more like Favourite Book. But it was before the Da Vinci Code was published I'm sure. It was also before people really started using the internet because I remember filling out a paper slip and handing it into the library. Can't remember what I voted for though? Although as I wasn't much older than 10, it wasn't anything too heafty.
I heard somewhere you should read some books for their stories, some books for their prose and technical mastery, and every book that does both. Rowling may not be a good writer, but she certaintly knows how to tell a story to children. I read HP when I was younger and enjoyed it. I cannot say much on Tolkien, but I've read On The Road, and despite the way-faring prose, found the story fascinating- some of the scenes I pictured are still with me. The same could be said for James Joyce, whose writing, whilst technically excellent, is argued to beincomprehensible to a lot of people.
^ Didn't they consider Joyce to be a spy during one of the World Wars because of the difficulty in understanding his prose? Of the list - and I just gave it the briefest of glances - I must say I've only read between 10 and 20 of them. But then I don't like such lists, particularly. Still of the ones on the list I have read, several of them really did open my eyes.
Whoa. That's like a whopping 37 for me. I mean, I could only start to read English book and understand the whole thing properly when I was 10. I am not even a native English speaker. O.O The first book I read was Sherlock Holmes. XD Couldn't agree with that more. Though a few of the titles listed I have actually never heard of 'em before...
Hmm I've read 4 Harry Potter series – (some of them, i usually just watch the movies ) 5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 6 The Bible 8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell 33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis 42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown 49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon (halfway when i was in grade 7 )
The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien Harry Potter series – J.K Rowling To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte Little Women – Louisa M Alcott The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis Persuasion – Jane Austen The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens Dracula – Bram Stoker The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett Charlotte’s Web – EB White Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery Hamlet – William Shakespeare I have read 21!
These are the ones I've read: 4 Harry Potter series – J.K Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis 40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne 50 Atonement – Ian McEwan 61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett 83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker 87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl I want to read all of them though.
I've read 45 pf them: 1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 2 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 3 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 4 The Bible (Yep, read the whole thing) 5 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 6 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell 7 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 8 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy 9 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller 10 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 11 Middlemarch – George Eliot 12 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald 13 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy 14 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky 15 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck 16 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 17 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 18 Emma – Jane Austen 19 Persuasion – Jane Austen 20 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden 21 Animal Farm – George Orwell 22 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery 23 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy 24 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood 25 Lord of the Flies – William Golding 26 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen 27 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley 28 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon 29 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 30 Moby Dick – Herman Melville 31 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens 32 Dracula – Bram Stoker 33 Ulysses – James Joyce 34 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath 35 Germinal – Emile Zola 36 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray 37 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens 38 The Color Purple – Alice Walker 39 Charlotte’s Web – EB White 40 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 41 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad 42 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery 43 Hamlet – William Shakespeare 44 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl 45 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo Also... Harry Potter series – (Just read one of them) Complete Works of Shakespeare (another few plays and I'll be there)
1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series – 5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare 15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien 17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger 20 Middlemarch – George Eliot 21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell 22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald 23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens 24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams 26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh 27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame 31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis 34 Emma – Jane Austen 35 Persuasion – Jane Austen 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis 37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini 38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres 39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne 41 Animal Farm – George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving 45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins 46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery 47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy 48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood 49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding 50 Atonement – Ian McEwan 51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel 52 Dune – Frank Herbert 53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons 54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen 55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth 56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon 57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez 61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 62 bleep – Vladimir Nabokov 63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt 64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold 65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac 67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding 69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie 70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens 72 Dracula – Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett 74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson 75 Ulysses – James Joyce 76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath 77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome 78 Germinal – Emile Zola 79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray 80 Possession – AS Byatt 81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens 82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchel 83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker 84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro 85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert 86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry 87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton 91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad 92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery 93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks 94 Watership Down – Richard Adams 95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole 96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute 97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas 98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl 100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo seems like i have read a lot of the dystopias
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series – 5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell 10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare 16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams 28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame 40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne 41 Animal Farm – George Orwell 49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding 57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley 61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas 72 Dracula – Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett 81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens 94 Watership Down – Richard Adams 98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare 100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 6 The Bible 8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell 10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott 15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien 28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame 32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne 41 Animal Farm – George Orwell 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving 49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding 52 Dune – Frank Herbert 57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley 70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens 72 Dracula – Bram Stoker 81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens 87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery 94 Watership Down – Richard Adams 98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare