What have you read lately? I borrowed this book list from Tristi Pinkson's blog and found it interesting. Three years ago, I started a book club here in Paradise with one of my favorite books, "The Secret Life of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd. Back then, the only common link between the group of about eight women was me. We met in my living room and laughed and cried as we discussed the book for over two hours. We've been together ever since, although the group has changed somewhat. The book doesn't matter as much as sharing. There's something about getting together with women that satisfies a deep need that only other women can. I think my husband is secretly envious when I tell him some of the stories that came from our group. One of my favorite is about one of our members telling about the time she got into the bath tub and remembered her book was downstairs. She ran down to get it without bothering to cover up and met her daughter and her date walking into the house. The daughter eventually married the young man and we like to tell "Sue" that she may have led to the happy marriage. Don't they always say, the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, or like mother, like daughter, or don't get married until you see your future mother-in-law naked. Well, maybe that last one is a stretch, but still . . . only in a book club where women feel really comfortable with each other will someone share a story like that. So read the list and see what you've read; whether you read it in your bath tub or for high school English isn't important.
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) (Tried it, but couldn't get into it. The movie is great though.)
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 Goblet of Fire (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 Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling) (is this one out yet?)
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) (I don’t apologize for not reading this one, I just can’t get into 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 (sort of I listened to it--thought it was weird.)(Douglas Adams) (see #2)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)I love him **
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)**
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)A litte sappy, but will definitely make you cry.
33. ATLAS SHRUGGED (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of Earth (Ken Follett) (started, didn’t finish)
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)**highly recommend!
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible **I highly reccomend this one :-)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) (see #2)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) I liked this book, but everyone else I know hated it, so read it to see what you think. **
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)**I love all of her books.
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) (see #2)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) (see #2)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)not my favorite author
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 (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. THE FOUNTAINHEAD (Ayn Rand)**
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. FIFTH BUSINESS (Robertson Davis)
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 (Hugo)(Didn't finish - I couldn't get into the language)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (Marquez) (sounds horrible)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)**ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD BOOKS
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)**good book and good movie.
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)** I loved this story about rabbits as a teenager, but then found out it was really a dark allegory. **
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)First book that really shocked me as a teen. Never forgot it. **
88. THE STONE DIARIES (Carol Shields)
89. BLINDNESS (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) (Disturbing but beautifully written)**
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)** LOVED IT!
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)I remember reading this in sixth grade and thinking it was the greatest book in the world. **
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
To blog: copy the list and...
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in
* Highlight those you haven't heard of (I'm going to put in capitals. I haven't figured out how to type in color yet!)
* Put a couple of astericks by the ones you recommend. (Rule added by Framed and Booked - I like it!)
3 comments:
Carole, that story of your friend is so funny! my mom did that once in front of my husband . . . only she'd wandered into the hallway in the middle of the night to turn up the heat, not realizing he hadn't gone home yet. I think she's still traumatized.
My Relief Society just started a book club and it is so much fun. If my daughter brings a boy home, I'll make sure he doesn't see me naked or she'll never get married.
Enjoyed your book list. I have Outlander on my TBR list because I hear it's wonderful. I agree with many of your choices. Just saw this list on another blog where she categorized the books (all the read books were listed together, etc.) instead of using capitals, bolds and italics. So much easier to follow. Wish I had done my meme that way.
I found your website on google and I am trying to find someone from Paradise, UT. My dad was in the Navy from 1951 to 1955 with a man named Scott Baer from Paradise. My dad is now 77 and just survived a brain tumor and asked me if I could find out if he is still alive or not? Could you help me? My email is bfmagdiel@msn.com. Thank you.
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