The Big Meme

[altariel]

Snaffled from yonmei. From the BBC Big Read Top 200, recommend one book that I haven't read, and you have: give reasons for your choice. And/or: ask me about one of the books I have read and you haven't.

My list reposted under the cut.



1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
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
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
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
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
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
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
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
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
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
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
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
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

Comments

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Catch-22. It's funny and horrific and so much of it is still horribly prescient.

Anne Of Green Gables. Anne is an extraordinary character to capture: in a sense this is just another sentimental novel about a teenager, but it's also really not: get past the sentimental language, and it's real and strange. It's not just Anne: it's Marilla and Matthew and Rachel Lynde I remember.

I also seriously recommend The Count of Monte Cristo and Les Misérables - go for the modern Penguin translations in both cases. These are books that are worth the time they take up: magnificant enormous structures.

Tell me about The Woman In White, by Wilkie Collins.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Several people have urged both Catch-22 and Anne of Green Gables on me. The Count of Monte Cristo I'm coming to by an odd back-way: I've never read much historical fiction, but I've just discovered the delights of Dorothy Dunnett, and am craving more. (Plenty of Dunnett to go yet.) Thank you for the recs!


Tell me about The Woman In White, by Wilkie Collins.

Ooh, it's a good fifteen years since I read it, so the memory is pretty hazy, but I remember a very Gothic, satisfying book. It would be interesting to go back to it now I'm older and see the workings of the plot.

[trixieleitz]

Recommending:
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
because it's a lovely old-fashioned children's book of the kind that still appeals to adults.

Asking about:
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
This sounds pretty! The title looks like it's a fairy story/fantasy style of thing, sort of like the Narnia books - is it?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome

This is very high on my list of 'must reads'. I bought it for my nephew for Christmas.


The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton

I adored these books when I was a little girl! We had all of them read to us at school when we were 6 year olds, and I loved them! God only knows how they would stand up to re-reading now that I'm considerably older, but I still the basic idea is great: a magic tree in the trunk of which various interesting characters live, and at the top is a gateway into an ever-changing series of wonderlands and neverlands.

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

If you like magical realism, I'd recomment One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. A fascinating, weird South-American family chronicle.

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

I second this recommendation. I read this book many years ago. I recall that the narrative had absorbed me. A scene at the end had disturbed me a lot (you'll know which scene, if you read it), but it made the book stand out in my memory for a long-long time, among all the other novels by Marquez I read afterward.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I have only read Love in the Time of Cholera by Marquez, and from what Vasiliki says down-thread it sounds as if One Hundred Years of Solitude may in fact be his masterpiece. Thanks for the rec!

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

I'd be tempted to recommend Angus, Thongs..., for the laugh-out-loud moments, but it's one of the many things that I haven't finished yet. It's not something that'll stay with you, though. Or there's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, because it's sweet.

More seriously, I should probably recommend Catch-22, because it manages to be funny while portraying the blind, mad horror of war.

Oh, and there's Dune, though I have to admit that I haven't read it since I was maybe 11-12. But it was one of the first times that I felt that there was a universe in which story was taking place. If you read it, feel free not to read the sequels. At any rate, stop after the third book.

You are, of course, welcome to borrow any/all of the above!

Could you tell me about Barbara Kingsolver, either the one listed here, or another? This is yet another name on my list of 'people I get the impression I should try'.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Angus, Thongs...

What on earth is this about??!

I can't quite believe I've never got round to reading Dune. I'd like to borrow that (if you're going to let me borrow more stuff before returning the current pile!). And Catch-22 too. Thank you!

Could you tell me about Barbara Kingsolver, either the one listed here, or another?

I think she's terrific - lush but not overwritten prose, excellent characterization, and her books are well-structured (I like lots of symmetry), thematically interesting, and always very satisfying at the end. The Poisonwood Bible is big and I bet people would call it her 'masterpiece', but I think I liked Prodigal Summer more (recced to me by merrymaia. I have several of her books that you're welcome to borrow, although I think a Mutual Friend may currently have The Poisonwood Bible.

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

Well, you've read some of the best ones I have too, but here goes:

Certainly Anne of Green Gables. *sigh* I read it when I was 11 and have been going back to the nine-book series every year. Good old-fashioned story, all warmth and poetry and romance, and some of the loveliest descriptive writing I have ever read. I'm very sentimentally attached to her.

Oh, and The Godfather, if you're interested in some gritty potboiling. I know the movie mythified the Corleones, but the book is darker, grimmer, and pacier. Puzo never bettered it with any of his later books, but there was one he wrote before that was even better than The Godfather - it's called The Fortunate Pilgrim. That was a wonderful peeling off of the layers of Hell's Kitchen.

And I'd like to ask about All's Quiet... by Eric Maria Remarque. I've heard so much about it - what did you think?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Anne of Green Gables

I'm really surprised I've never read this, particularly as (I understand) it concerns a little girl with red hair ;-D And my cousin adores them. Still, it's good to know there's a whole set of books out there to read at some point. I have a copy of it, and it's now further up my pile of must reads.


The Godfather

It would be very interesting to compare book and film. Does the book cover the three films, or only parts?


And I'd like to ask about All's Quiet... by Eric Maria Remarque. I've heard so much about it - what did you think?

Deeply moving. Read it.

[ex-seasalt15.livejournal.com]

I´m going to gor for three, pushy creature that I am.
1) Vanity Fair, by Thackeray. Not only is it a many-splendored, shiny, sparkly thing in its prose and style, it is absolutely ruthless and heartless. But warm, humorous, sympathetic and wry at the same time. Does it make sense? Read it and it will.
2) Anna Karenina. You can´t be interested in the female psyche without having read this.
3) The Little Prince, by de Saint-Exupéry. The world classic par excellence in children´s literature.

There are a lot of books that I haven´t read in that list, but I´ll settle for The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, who is an author I avoid like the plague. I don´t think I will ever read anything by him, but I´m curious to know what led you to read any of his works.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Well, two out of the three I own copies of, so I've pulled them out and put them in one of the big piles next to my bed. (I don't own The Little Prince, although it's regularly recommended on the INFJ mailing list.)

I got a copy of The Alchemist free from one of my book clubs, and it sat on the shelf for ages. The reason I read it was that it was up against Ulysses in the BBC Battle of the Books, and I think it won. Because it was very short, I pulled it off the shelf and read it. Banal.

[teasel.livejournal.com]

Atonement, Ian McEwan

For two reasons. One, it is in many ways about becoming a writer, but not in one of these irritatingly obvious semi-autobiographical ways -- a female character's efforts to write fiction are thoroughly integrated into the plot and are by the end both destructive of those she loves and the basis of the book's title. Second, the book contains one of the best descriptions of war-from-a-soldier's-point-of-view that I've ever read.

I've never read Witches Abroad -- it's not available in the US! I'm a compulsive Pratchett fan. Worth ordering from overseas?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Atonement, Ian McEwan

I'm surprised this one hasn't come up in my offline reading group. I liked Enduring Love a great deal, and I don't know why I haven't read more by him. Your recommendation has made me very eager to read it, thank you.

Re: descriptions of war, have you read Birdsong? I don't think Sebastian Faulks is a particularly accomplished writer, but his subject matter makes him really raise his game in this.


Witches Abroad -- it's not available in the US! I'm a compulsive Pratchett fan. Worth ordering from overseas?

You know, I had blanked this one almost entirely. It's there on the shelf, and I know I've read it, but I couldn't for the life of me remember anything about it. Flicked through it just now and, to be honest, I don't think it's worth you spending the extra cash on it. Checked with Mr Altariel (who could remember more about it), who reminded me that Gollum makes a very brief cameo, but he didn't think even that was worth you shipping it in.

[stultiloquentia.livejournal.com]

Nobody's recommended Shogun yet, so I will. It's a doozy of an adventure story and a captivating picture of 17th C Japan. I bet you'll like it if you're enjoying Dorothy Dunnett: manipulations and machinations and cunning plans galore. Also, the tv series with Richard Chamberlain is really good, but make sure you get the whole thing, not the two hour cut.

Tell me about Perfume. It got recommended to me way back in high school by the really scary but actually pretty smart guy who sat behind me in math class.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Shogun ... I bet you'll like it if you're enjoying Dorothy Dunnett: manipulations and machinations and cunning plans galore.

Mm, yes! Thank you, good rec!


Tell me about Perfume.

Forgive me the terrible pun if I say I thought it stank. I really didn't get on with it at all. One of those books where the author (or, more particularly, the author's technique) is too present for me. (I feel this way about John Irving, btw - I feel manipulated by his books.)

Too much a book of the head, and not of the heart, I felt.

The rest of my reading group loved it - they liked the descriptions, and they were fascinated by the lead character. So it could just be me.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

Read The War of the Worlds, for fuck's sake! It is the absolute, archetypal tale of alien invasion, and the foundation for a huge chunk of 20th century SF. Despite this, it is also very good. I'm sure you'll enjoy the pessimistic portrayal of humanity in extremis, not to mention the slagging-off of comfortable clergymen and armchair social-engineers.

Should I give Wuthering Heights a go, or just stick with the Kate Bush version?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Read The War of the Worlds, for fuck's sake!

OK! (Although I'm sure I know enough about it to bullshit sufficiently well.)


Should I give Wuthering Heights a go, or just stick with the Kate Bush version?

Personally, I think it's dreary nonsense and you should stick with the Kate Bush version.

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

I'll reiterate the recommendations for Catch-22 (possibly my favourite of all novels), and Dune (epic universe building with philosophical stuff). And for something no-one else has picked out, Goodnight Mr Tom is worthy of its children's classic status, and it's one of those novels tangled in serious themes that can be read with just as much pleasure by the grown-ups. I had to 'learn' it for a book knowledge quiz when I was at school, and having read it n times for that I could still simply enjoy it :)

For the second part: is Bridget Jones' Diary better than the sequel? I read the sequel first and didn't find it all that funny.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Goodnight Mr Tom is worthy of its children's classic status

I had a peek at it on Amazon and it looks like a gorgeous story. Have you read Carrie's War, by Nina Bawden? Another one about evacuees.

Thank you for the recs!


For the second part: is Bridget Jones' Diary better than the sequel? I read the sequel first and didn't find it all that funny.

I found the first one absolutely hilarious - I sat and read it through in an afternoon, and had tears in my eyes from laughing (the thought of her birthday dinner of blue soup, omelette, and marmalade still has me giggling). The second book is more of the same, but not as slickly done, I think. If the humour didn't appeal in the second one, the first might not work.

[kathyh]

I'm going to put in a good word for David Copperfield. I was completely put off it at school by being forced to read the section on David Copperfield's childhood and swore I'd never touch it again. I started to read it a few years ago when stuck with a long commute and found myself absolutely loving it. It has some of Dickens's best characters, both humorous and villainous. The story of Steerforth and Little Emily is tragic, and despite some mawkish bits, it's a very entertaining read.

Is A Prayer For Owen Meany worth reading? I know absolutely nothing about it.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm going to put in a good word for David Copperfield.

I definitely haven't read enough Dickens. My parents had a hardback set when I was a kid (my sister has them now), but they looked so terribly forbidding that I never summoned up the nerve to read any of them!


Is A Prayer For Owen Meany worth reading? I know absolutely nothing about it.

I'm probably not the best person to ask about John Irving books, as I find him a manipulative (and mawkish) writer. But I know that many, many people love his books.

[(Anonymous)]

(Katlinel at work)

Recommending: 'Diary of a Nobody' which is a trillion times better than BJD. Yes, it's the tale of an innocent at home. You can't help becoming fond of Pooter and his bumbling attempts at being a paterfamilias to his wife (Carrie) and son (Lupin - great name).

Tell me about: Virginia Andrews' 'Flowers in the Attic'.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Recommending: 'Diary of a Nobody' which is a trillion times better than BJD.

Another one of which I actually own an - unread - copy. Pulled out and on the pile!


Tell me about: Virginia Andrews' 'Flowers in the Attic'.

One of those potboiling books that you read as a teenager because everyone else is reading them. Really pretty twisted now I come to think about it: a sick family saga.

[(Anonymous)]

(Katlinel at work)

Project Gutenberg have the 'Anne' books available online:

http://www.gutenberg.net/browse/IA_M.HTM

Scroll down to 'Montgomery'

And on a related conversation elsewhere):

http://www.gutenberg.net/browse/IA_B.HTM

Scroll down for Baum's Oz books.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the recs!

Love in the Time of Cholera: I enjoyed it, but it hasn't sent me sprinting out to read more Marquez. Other posts to this thread lead me to believe he's better read in the original, and that One Hundred Years of Solitude is a better book.

The Poisonwood Bible: Terrific, giant family saga, set in the Congo. The first one of her books I read - I didn't think I was going to enjoy it, but I got completely addicted. I do like Prodigal Summer more, but I like her writing full stop.

The Picture of Dorian Grey: Oh... a long time since I read this. And I've seen so many adaptations or rip-offs that it's hard now to remember what I'm taking specifically from the book.

Brideshead Revisited: A bit of a shameless wallow, and not the kind of biting satire one would associate with him. Not his best, but worth a read. (Decline and Fall and A Handful of Dust are my favourites of his.)

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

I'm so late with this - but I didn't have an LJ when you posted it!

I'd recommend Bleak House, my favorite Dickens. it's complicated and haunting. Dickens invented a structure for his novel known as the "Bleak House" structure!): alternating sections in first perston and omniscient narrator. It works.

I'd also recommend A Suitable Boy, sort of Trollopean but set in India. Fun. Umm..for those who sometimes like a throwback to 19th c. novels! You might not (notes lack of Dickens in bold print....).

Re:

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I have Bleak House on a pile next to my bed - everyone who has read it raves about it and I know I have to get round to reading it soon.


(notes lack of Dickens in bold print....)

Like Westerns, I don't like Dickens - except for the ones I've seen/read! ;-)

A Christmas Carol must count as one of my all-time favourite stories. (Since you're a Faramir fan, and I don't think you were on LJ when I posted this, here's some Dickensy fic...)