My gripe about the list is that Austen’s and Dickens’ books are parsed out instead of being included as a complete set of works. Why then clump all of Rowling’s and Shakespeare’s? And why list the Chronicles of Narnia and then single out Lion Witch and the Wardrobe? There are other books I think should have been included, maybe an Agatha Christie or two (or all of them, I read them all over 5 summers at summer camp as a waterfront counselor) and more detective fiction or espionage thrillers as well as the children's classic, A Wrinkle in Time, as well as....well, obviously I could go on and on with my critique of the list, but I'll stop now. So, here are the instructions for those of you not familiar with the rules about “The List”:
"The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your notes. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, and italicize the ones you started but didn't finish- or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses!"
1
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen Read it, watched every filmed version ever made, and purchased my very own copy of Penguin’s edition Jane Austin’s collection one afternoon while in London, England because I felt it was the quintessential English souvenir that was not only practical, but enjoyable for years to come….hello, Colin Firth is on the cover!!!
2
The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien My copies are the paperback editions that came out prior to the movies a few years ago and I donated them to the paperback book rack at the pool this summer. Yes, I read it before I saw the movies, but that was mostly because I wouldn’t go see the movies without reading the books and I loved The Hobbit as a kid.
3
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte I had a yellow paged paperback that I purchased after I fell in love with the story when I read it in Mr. Dean’s 7th grade English class. I might have donated it to the pool this summer.
4
Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (ALL 7) uhm, yeah - see my entry on
November 21 if you have any questions.
5
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee Read it last winter for the very first time. Have seen the movie in various 38 minute bites when I worked at S. Plainfield High School and had to cover English classes on my prep period (because we didn’t have substitutes enough to cover for teachers who were absent)
6
The Bible Yes, I’ve read it. I even own several translations. Some include a copy of the New International Version my Nana got me when I graduated college that I typically use for daily devotions, a New Interpreters Study in New Revised Standard Version I got while at St. James, I often use for Bible Study teaching, a thinline NIV embossed with my name I use in the pulpit, a NRSV I used throughout seminary highlighted with class notes and devotionals from professors, a Devotional Classics version I picked up along the way and a thinline Today's NIV in a three toned faux leather cover. My Wesley Study Bible (NRSV) is my most recent purchase because I am Methodist and I know several contributors as well as two of the editors were Sunday School teachers I had in Lexington, KY. I also own a version of The Message and a copy of the Good News Bible - love those illustrations!
7
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte No longer own a copy, but I used to. Might have fallen apart. Remember Mr. Dean was very hesitant when Charlotte Mosher and/or another classmate and I decided we would read it as our first Independent Reading book in 7th grade. Made us draw a character map to keep things plot and characters straight. Loved it.
8
Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell Don’t own a copy, never wanted to - but I read it long before I graduated high school in 1984. I actually attended a "1984" conference at S. Plainfield High School in 1983 as a high school Jr. for history class. The high school was 'revolutionary' for its 'open space classrooms' that were eventually closed up in all departments by the time I ended up teaching there ten years later. Guess what department remained open space? Yes, that was the science department, the one I taught in! They couldn't conform to fire code with walls in that area so we always had such great fun on lab days (and yes, I am being sarcastic about that happy teaching experience).
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10
Great Expectations –
Charles Dickens I am so not a fan of Dickens that I have only read parts under duress.
11
Little Women – Louisa M Alcott There's the pink paperback copy I had as a kid! Loved it. Read it over and over and over. Surprised there are still words on the page - I might have worn them off in reading it! Can still remember the line illustrations without looking at them and no actor has ever played Frederick Behr well in my opinion. Neither has any movie version done the book and characters justice….especially the most poignant scenes with Beth.
12
Tess of the D’Urbervilles –
Thomas Hardy I’ve read portions of this book when I stay at the Shive B&B. But more recently, since they’ve become grandparents, their daughter Amy’s books have been stashed away out of the main guest room for current bookshelf selections along the lines of Dr. Seuss and Mother Goose.
13
Catch 22 –
Joseph Heller Read this in Mr. Dean’s class. Another reason why I love Bob Newhart
14
Complete Works of Shakespeare Oh, dear. The high school teacher I had for 3 semesters was named Mrs. Milton and her fav was Shakespeare. In our high school we had to read a Shakespeare play each year of English - so that was four without trying or being in the electives I had. Before I graduated I know I read all of the comedies.
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien I simply love the watercolor on my paperback copy. No illustrations in this text, but Tolkien's words adequately tell the story in vivid detail.
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21
Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell Yes, I know I read it in middle school before the movie premiered on television.
22
The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald Read it, help students on home instruction with it, and I hate the book. I know I will get flack for that. I don't care. It has got to be one of the most depressing stories ever…..and Robert Redford does not help make it more palatable.
23
Bleak House – Charles Dickens I italicized this because I managed to listen to it on audiotape….I tried watching it with Gillian Anderson, but I have a hard time (get it!?!) with anything Dickens wrote.
24
War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy I thought it was important to read the book but I couldn't get through it and found something else more interesting to read on my own.
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams I have vague memories of someone reading this aloud from the book. I know I only read the parts that I didn't hear be preformed.
26
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh Bought this in high school with some friends because Anthony Andrews production was going to be on PBS. Who knew Jeremy Irons would totally eclipse him over the years….reread it one or two summers ago - but haven’t bothered to see the new picture….I was told it was a waste of time by Tina Fox. I highly value her literary opinion since we are in agreement about all things Harry Potter.
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29
Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll Actually read it as a kid, juvenile versions and the unabridged version a few years later.
30
The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame Read this for the first time a few years ago tutoring a 6th grader. Wonder why/how I missed it as a kid!
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens must I really tell you why?
33
Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (All 7) Yes, first read in 6th grade and the proper order to read them in is in the order they were originally published, NOT according to Narnia chronology as Harper Collins insists on publishing. My hardcover copies are courtesy a small group Bible study I lead at St. James. I've given copies to several children I know and love. They Chronicles are not the only CS Lewis books I like or have read - the rest of the shelf is normally devoted to CS Lewis (I just stuck on my Lucy Maude Montgomery books for this photo.).
34
Emma – Jane Austen See #1.
35
Persuasion – Jane Austen See #1
36
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis D’oh, see #33!!
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40
Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne I think we all read this book when we were counselors at Camp Lou Henry Hover
41
Animal Farm – George Orwell I had already read 1984 and just didn’t enjoy it enough to finish it.
42
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown Read it as I prepared to leave St. James UMC and head back to graduate school. A parishioner abhorred the book and was happy to give me her copy. Interesting and light fluff. I gave the book away soon after I read it too. Could have skipped the movie.
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44
A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving I think I read every one of Irving’s novels in college. I think I donated 4 different novels of his to the pool this summer.
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46
Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery Long before Megan Follows perfectly incarnated the role, I read all of the Anne series. My ideal vacation would take me to Prince Edward Island and I think my favorite book of Montgomery's is The Story Girl.
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood So depressing I couldn’t get halfway through it.
49
Lord of the Flies – William Golding A required read in Mr. Lindbergh’s sophomore English class. I own a copy because I lost the classroom copy and then found it later in the year, but couldn't find it for the photo. Mr. Lindbergh told me to keep it and read it now and again and see what new themes I’d see. I did reread it in college and then again once more, but haven't cracked it open in years. I still remember that he introduced me to the term microcosm when presenting the book.
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52
Dune – Frank Herbert some guy I crushed on in high school was reading it and before I could finish the book my interests in him moved on....consequently so did my interest in finishing the book.
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen See #1
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57
A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens Ahh, it’s Charlie - do I have to tell you how I really feel about him?
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 I know I read it, but can’t remember when or where or for whose class it might have been. Don’t like watching movies because it is too heart-wrenching.
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65
Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas I am sure I read this in 8th grade and I am certain it was a blue hardcover book.
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68
Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding My friend Diane Coffin sent me this book when I was in seminary. It was literally nightstand reading I would do before nodding off - funniest book I've read as an adult and I really did laugh out loud a few times. Loved it so much I pre-ordered "Edge of Reason" but don't seem to currently have that book on my shelf.
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70
Moby Dick – Herman Melville Middle school required reading - Call me Ishmael….ugh.
71
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens First Dickens’ book I’ve read all the way through. I hated it on the printed page but don’t mind the musical so much.
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73
The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett I've owned my green paper back copy since childhood. Took me forever to get through the first 3-4 chapters. But I LOVE IT!!! So disappointed to find out it was already given to my niece by someone else.
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 Because of my sister-in-law’s love affair with the many movie versions, I decided to read it last year (and she realized she didn’t own a copy, so I read the one I bought her before giving it to her Christmas Day! now she knows!) My brother and I both hate the story. Mom thought she was doing us a favor by making us watch the t.v. version with George C. Scott, but we already hated it. Until last year, I’d never seen a single movie all the way through. Maybe because it was animated and I even though I am not normally a Jim Carrey fan, I agreed to go see it with her last year. It not only was the first Dicken's work I found palatable, I actually thought it was impressive and it did motivate me to finally read the story.
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
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 I am listing this as half-read, though I am sure I read it. Maybe my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Lebanon read it out loud to the class. Makes me cry whenever I see a beautiful spider web.
88
The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom Read it during my hospital chaplain internship as well as Tuesdays with Morrie by the same author. I think the latter is far better than the former.
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (ALL of them) No - but as I mentioned before, I've read all of Agatha Christie's books as well as the entire collection of Jack Higgins, Ken Follett, Tom Clancy and Colin Dexter - all superior thrillers and detective stories.
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92
The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Expery Yes, I read it. Even have covered a French class reading it in French.
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94
Watership Down – Richard Adams Read this book in middle/high school on my own. My granddad actually started reading it over my shoulder when I sat with him on his big La-Z-Boy. He got a kick out of the rabbits (he trained beagles) and he wanted the book when I was done reading it. It was so much fun watching him read that book!
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas Pretty sure read in tandem with Count of Monte Cristo in middle school
98
Hamlet – William Shakespeare Read in high school - maybe in Jr. year?
99
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl Yes, but couldn’t tell you when or why.
100
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo Read in advance when I thought I would be taking a required class in moral development in seminary. Later got waived out of the class because of my education background!!! Glad I read it though!
My total? Of the list the BBC provides, I've read 40 completely and 11 partial (didn't bother to count how many of them were books by Dickens). In my own public school education, I had to read more than a half dozen of them and I've picked up a few more because of the tutoring I do. So, I guess I would have been well read just by sticking with what was taught in school!
On the tenth day of Christmas, I like many of the rest of my friends, went back to the regular daily routine now that public schools have resumed session. With more than a week off, I needed to get my brain back into gear and find some focus...so after lunch I found myself a particularly pleasant place to do some reading....
And there it was, a nice sunny bright spot in which I could read and get my head back into concepts I only thought of peripherally during the past week. What I didn't count on was the sunny spot would concentrate the winter's rays and transform them into a narcotic and promptly put me to sleep.
Sure, I'd like to point fingers. However, I can't blame Randy Maddox, John Wesley or even God at all for my lack of foresight into the accidental napping that occurred. Truly, it was a case of "irresponsible afternoon reading " in unfiltered sunlight on my part. I am guilty....but thankful for the grace that will help me rise above these mistakes and find a better way tomorrow.
