Lisa Samson tagged me with this one, and it looks like fun, so I'm giving it a go. BTW, I understand that "meme" isn't pronounced mee-mee, but rhymes with "gene." If that's true, why didn't they spell it MEEM? That would make more sense.
But I digress. Here are the rules, so if you have a blog and you want to play, consider this another "blanket tag." (Boy, aren't we hard up for material?)
Books, books, books
* Bold the ones you’ve read. (Even IF I disliked it, I presume.)
* Italicize the ones you want to read. (I'm italicizing if it's in my TBR stack.)
* Leave in normal text the ones that don’t interest you.
* Put in ALL CAPS those you haven’t heard of.
* Put a couple of asterisks by the ones you recommend.
I put a ++ by those I started but didn't finish.
I put a :-) by the ones where I saw the movie. :-)
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) :-)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) **
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) (I have sections of this one memorized!)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) ++
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)**
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) **
10. A FINE BALANCE (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Rowling)**
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix** (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) **
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)**
16. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
17. FALL ON YOUR KNEES (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)**
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)**
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)**
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)**
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) :-)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. THE POWER OF ONE (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much Is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) **
43.Confessions of a Shopahaulic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible **
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) :-)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)**
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)**
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) ++
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)**
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) **
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)**
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) **
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)**
56. THE STONE ANGEL (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)**
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) **
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
5. FIFTH BUSINESS (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)**
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden(Frances Hodgson)**
76. THE SUMMER TREE (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving) :-)
79. THE DIVINERS (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)**
81. NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)**
83.Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. WIZARD'S FIRST RULE (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. THE STONE DIARIES (Carol Shields)
89. BLINDNESS (Jose Saramago)
90. KANE AND ABEL (Jeffrey Archer)
91. IN THE SKIN OF A LION (Michael Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)**
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) :-)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) :-)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch) :-)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
You clearly need more exposure to Canadian writers - Margaret Laurence and Carol Shields, to be specific (although I noticed Guy Gavriel Kay slipped under your radar as well, but that's understandable, he writes fantasy. Sort of.)
ReplyDeleteDo you know how this list was generated? I'm curious because The Summer Tree is probably the least well-known of Kay's books, for instance.
Hi Angela!
ReplyDeleteI hopped online to see when the next Christian Writers' Conference in Oregon would be. I'm too late to attend this year but noticed you are the featured speaker. So, I googled your name and found your blog. I didn't see 'Women Who Run With The Wolves' on your reading list. If you haven't read this book, you must. I am almost to the end and have become so much more awake to the River that runs beneath the river because of the unfoled mystery of a parable.
ps. that was 'unfolded' :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where this list originated--and please, don't think that I endorse everything on this list! (Far from it.) It's just one of those anonymous things that gets started somewhere. :-)
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't read many Canadian authors, though I have picked up a couple when I was in a Canadian bookstore. I discovered Marian Keys in an Irish bookstore, so I do enjoy reading local lit. :-)
Angie
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI did this meme as well. How do you answer a commenter that is upset that you recommended Harry P? Just curious. I answered, but wondered how you would handle it.
About Harry P:
ReplyDeleteI used to be on the faculty of the Young Writer's Institute, and once this question came up as Bill Myers (who is a dear brother/friend) and I were doing a Q&A with parents.
Bill said that he would not recommend the Potter books because he does not want to do anything to encourage children toward the occult. I admire and respect his conviction.
I said that I read the first three books and found them delightful--and no more occultic than "The Wizard of Oz."
Bottom line: parents are responsible for their own children. If you, as a parent, don't want your children reading even "The Wizard of Oz," I will respect your right to take a stand.
I raised my children while thinking of Jesus' prayer in John 17: "I pray not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one . . ."
I had friends who would not take their children to see POCAHONTAS because the movie talks about the native Americans' pantheism. I took my children to see the film, and on the way home we talked about how the native Americans really were pantheists, but later Pocahontas became a Christian and was baptized.
I believe that most children can differentiate between truth and fiction . . . especially when parents are present to point out that the occult is real and dangerous and not to be trifled with. But in my reading of the Potter books, the story was more about the struggle between good and evil.
(Plus, I've always had this idea that Rowling is going to set Harry up as a Christ figure--I haven't heard the plot of the last book yet, but I'm thinking that Harry is going to die some sort of sacrificial death and be "resurrected" by the power of love . . . or something like that. Someone who actually has TIME to read the thing--please let me know if I was right!)
So--to summarize: I believe as parents and believers, we can do more good by educating ourselves about what is going on in the world and NOT by putting our heads in the sand. We are not to be OF the world, but we have to be IN it. So I read a lot, frankly, that might bother people who are younger in the faith, but I've been a believer for lots of years--if I were still a "weaker brother" at this point, I'd be seriously growth-stunted!
If you do not want your children to read ANY book, you have the right to make that decision. But with a book as prevalent in our culture as Harry is, I would welcome the opportunity to read the book WITH my children--to thrill at the story while pointing out how the author used something that could be dangerous in real life--magic--to paint a struggle between good and evil.
Angie
Angie,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you could've written my latest parenting book. Thanks for your perspective. Very well articulated.
Mary
Angie, you're definitely on the right track regarding the last HP book! I just finished it last night.
ReplyDeleteShauna, you are FAST! :-) And I'm glad to know I was on the right track. I could see it coming . . .
ReplyDeleteAngie, who used to write parenting books . . . until my kids reached a certain age and I decided I don't know a thing about it . . .
I just finished the new HP last night, and she very much used him as a sacrificial figure. One reason I have enjoyed these books is she does not portray magic as a cure to every problem, in fact it often increases the characters problems and they must think outside the magic. I love the morality play and I look forward to sharing these with my children as they get older (only 5 and 3 now). I will wait until they are firm in their faith and have a foundation of truth in their heads and hearts.
ReplyDeleteMuch more than HP, I look forward to introducing Anne of Green Gables to my kids. I have read these books so many times I start crying 3 or 4 chapters before Matthew dies in the second book! I'm glad to find a kindred spirit in you and I look forward to reading your blog!
Angela