"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." - Ronald Reagan

Saturday, November 24, 2012

BBC's 100 Most Loved Books 1-25

Found another one of those "Top 100 Books" lists and I thought I'd take a look. I'd like to know who creates this lists. English teachers? Book sales? Because if it's the sales, then the English teachers totally rigged that one by making us read these. And I'd love to hear your thoughts, too.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien Read it. Love it
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Another really good one. 
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman Yeah, probably not gonna read this one, to be honest.
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams Read it in high school and really ought to read it again.
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling If all the books in this series are on the list, then that's an easy 7 books for me.
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee Once again, read it in high school, but this one I remember better. Probably because of the papers and tests.
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne Does it count if I've seen the cartoons?
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell So embarrassed that I haven't actually read this one.
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis On my bookshelf and shared with my daughter.
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë One of my very favorites!
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller Haven't read the book but I did the play.
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë Another good one. Reading it for a grade kinda ruined it for me, though.
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks Ummm…never even heard of this one...
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier Really good! I wonder if the movie captures the eeriness.
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger Ugh. Hated it.
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame Another one I introduced to my kiddo.
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens Liked this one. The Ethan Hawke/Gwenyth Paltrow movie is horrible, though.
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott Meh. It was okay but didn't change my life.
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres Another one I'll need to Google.
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy Never really wanted to crack this one, actually.
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell Seriously? Wasn't the movie torture enough?
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling Yep.
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling Yup.
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling Yuppers.
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien Love this one, too. But the cartoon version creeped me out for years.


Which ones have you read or plan to read?

2 comments:

Janell said...

#1. The Lord of the Rings. I haven't ever read these books! I started in on the Hobbit once, and was quickly bored by the abundance of descriptions. (Stop describing the grass and get to the action!)

#2. Pride and Prejudice. I haven't read it since High School, and at the time I had a miserable time keeping track of who was speaking and who was related to whom.

#4. Hitchiker's. Read it a few times. I never find it as funny as I would think I would, but it's essential geek-reference reading.

#5. Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. Ditto.

#6. To Kill a Mockingbird. Required reading and therefore I hated it. I've never returned ot it, but I've started to like watching the movie version.

#8. 1984. Started it, but somehow vgot busy and never finished it.

#9. Lion Witch and Wardrobe. Read it as a kid, and loved it then. Read it as an adult, and didn't find it as rich with action as I had remembered it being.

#10. Jane Eyre. Also one of my favorites!

#12. Wuthering Heights. Required reading and it bored me to death at the time. Required reading always bores me to death because I'm always busy wondering what silly nuance I'll be tested on rather than enjoying the book.

#15. Catcher in the Rye. Read 5 pages and refused to read further.

#21. Gone with the Wind. Just finished reading it recently. It's nice to have read it, but I doubt I'll ever read it again. By page 300 I was already sick and tired of Scarlett.

#25. The Hobbit. See also #1.

Jessica G. said...

Janell, you can totally borrow my LotR and Hobbit. I don't know if we can remain friends if you don't read them.

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