Monday, August 4, 2008

The Big Read: The Big Stupid

I thought this list had a ripe smell to it. Turns out this list isn't from the Big Read at all, just a mish-mash list compiled by whomever decided to send it out there. I wondered why the "Chronicles of Narnia" and " The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe" were listed separately and why the likes of Fahrenheit 451, Call of the Wild, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter were omitted. Go directly to The Big Read to learn more about the program. Anyway, I spent a lotta time on this, so here it is.

The Big Read thinks the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books they’ve printed below.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you read part of but never finished.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Strikethrough those you hope to never read again, and sometimes wish you could un-read.

  1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
  2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
  3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
  4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
  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 (The Tempest, Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night / What You Will, Henry IV, part 1, Henry V, Richard III, Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline)
  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 - C.S. 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. Lolita - 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’ 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 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
  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

Just got my new glasses, so I am ready to mark bold more of these suckers by Summer's end, but this time it will be from the BIG READ list.

And so it goes.
*
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3 comments:

  1. HAPPY IN NEVADAAugust 6, 2008 at 8:08 AM

    # Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
    # The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
    # Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

    # To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
    # The Bible
    # Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
    # Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

    # Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
    # Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
    # Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
    # Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
    # Complete Works of Shakespeare (The Tempest, Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night / What You Will, Henry IV, part 1, Henry V, Richard III, Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline. I can't do 'BOLD' on a comment, but I can tell you I have the entire library of Shakespeare thanks to my great grandmother giving it to me when I was 16 years old - read them all; some more than once of course.

    # Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
    # The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
    # Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
    # Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
    # The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

    # Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
    # The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
    # Bleak House - Charles Dickens
    # War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
    # The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
    # Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
    # Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    # Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - surprised there weren't more on the list for Steinbeck.
    # Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
    # The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

    # David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
    # Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
    # Emma - Jane Austen
    # Persuasion - Jane Austen
    # The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
    # The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
    # Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
    # Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
    # Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
    # Animal Farm - George Orwell
    # The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
    # One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    # A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
    # The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
    # Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
    # Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
    # The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
    # Lord of the Flies - William Golding
    # Atonement - Ian McEwan
    # Life of Pi - Yann Martel
    # Dune - Frank Herbert

    # Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
    # A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
    # The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
    # A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
    # Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
    # The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
    # Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    # Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
    # Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov


    # Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
    # On The Road - Jack Kerouac
    # Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
    # Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
    # Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
    # Moby Dick - Herman Melville
    # Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
    # Dracula - Bram Stoker
    # The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
    # Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
    # Ulysses - James Joyce
    # The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath - LOVED THIS, LOVED THIS!!!!
    # Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
    # Germinal - Emile Zola
    # Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
    # Possession - AS Byatt
    # A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
    # Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
    # The Color Purple - Alice Walker - LOVED THIS, LOVED THIS!
    # The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
    # Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
    # A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
    # Charlotte’s Web - EB White - LOVED THIS, LOVED THIS!
    # The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
    # Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
    # The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
    # Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
    # The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
    # The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
    # Watership Down - Richard Adams
    # A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
    # A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
    # The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - LOVED THIS!
    # Hamlet - William Shakespeare - LOVED THIS!
    # Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
    # Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

    Very surprised to find little/nothing by Hemingway. Nothing by Vance Packard. Nothing by Ghandi - and my favorite is THE ESSENTIAL GHANDI - probably the most brilliant and beautiful piece of work I've ever read.

    Stunned to see nothing by Kahlil Gibran - I've read every single book of his; THE PROPHET is kind of the 'main-stay' to his works I think. Another is JESUS - THE MAN.

    I think FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON should be on this list......

    I think THE RICH AND THE SUPER RICH should on this list....that would give us REAL insight as to what's been fouling up this country for years!

    Glad my eyes have held out for the 'big read' - and hope to read more on-line now that Google offers this feature, and I imagine other web-sites as well.

    Regards, Diane

    ReplyDelete
  2. HAPPY IN NEVADAAugust 8, 2008 at 4:40 PM

    I thought my comment might be confusing in that I didn't note I was listing all the ones I'd read (using a cut and paste from your list), and deleting the ones I haven't read (thus, those gaps in the list).

    I would be nice if Google would offer the 'bold' feature; even some color (just for fun).

    Anyway, back to read your updates - sorry about that crap in Louisiana; I think the whole USA is surprised at this, and of course everyone's praying their area doesn't get this type of devastation, because they can expect to be ignored and neglected, as this whole situation has been (it will be 3 years on the 29th of this month).

    I hope there are no MORE hurricanes that add to this mess, in the coming weeks. Diane

    ReplyDelete
  3. the cajunAugust 8, 2008 at 6:58 PM

    Never you mind, Diane. Your point was made very well.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete

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