2011 - The Year of Books
Okay. I am going to go for it.
2011 will be the year I actually will read all the things I have been meaning to read. I'll make sure I speed up my reading and finish at least a book a week. I'll expand my interests, read from genres I don't usually venture into, such as sci-fi, biographies, and the bestsellers everyone but me seems to read.
Sure, I say this every year, but this year will be different.
For one thing, I have already started collecting books for my reading list.
For another, I am actually in a country where English Language books are plentiful and relatively cheap.
Yeah, I am blaming Japan for my lack of reading last year, rather than my characteristic laziness I claim to be so proud of in my favourite avatar.
I figured a good starting point would be the BBC Big Read Top 100 Books List (from 2003)
Sure, it's now nearly 8 years out of date and there have been many amazing books since then, but I figured this would give me a good selection and cover the basics. I have gather some more contemporary books too, so it's not like I will miss out on the current trends.
The list is as follows (with books I have already had the pleasure of reading being struck through)
________________________________________________________________________
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (Hmm.. I have read the 1st two but not the last)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6.To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (started, but not finished)
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (started, but not finished)
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (started, but not finished)
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (started, but not finished)
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (started, but not finished)
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell (started, but not finished)
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
________________________________________________________________________________
So of the Top 100, I have already read only 18, though I had previous read part of 6 books on the list, and I've read 2/3 of the His Dark Materials Trilogy. I own copies of 29 books on the list.
The Twits has me puzzled, as I think I may have read it in primary school once, but have so vague a recollection of it that it can't hurt to read it again.
In addition to this reading list, I hope to start The Hunger Games, The Millenium Trilogy, some Haruki Murakami (namely Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood) an array of Gothic Novels (as part of my Gothic Novel module) and some more Banana Yoshimoto, since I really enjoyed Kitchen and Asleep. I picked up a sci-fi novel called The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto, and I have to re-read the Twilight Saga for my Independent Study Project (Oh noes! What have I gotten myself into!?)
I've also got some feminist texts to read, like The Second Sex and Vindication of the Rights of Women, and I have told myself I must read classic children's books that I never read as a child for some reason. The list is so staggeringly long that I feel I must have had a deprived childhood - despite the fact I was always reading when I was younger. What did I actually read?!
Anyway, to kick off the New Year I will be trying to get ahead in my Gothic Novel module with reading Frankenstein, Dracula, The Castle of Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Monk, Carmilla and The Private Memories and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.
Lots of books to read before my first lecture on February 2nd, but I should be able to make a dent in the list.
I'll try and do reviews for as many books I read as possible.
Bring on the New Year! Target: 100 books
Oh yeah, I am ambitious this year.
(What is wrong with me? That is 4 times what I was able to read in 2010!!)
PS: All the best for 2011! May this new decade bring much awesomeness your way!
2011 will be the year I actually will read all the things I have been meaning to read. I'll make sure I speed up my reading and finish at least a book a week. I'll expand my interests, read from genres I don't usually venture into, such as sci-fi, biographies, and the bestsellers everyone but me seems to read.
Sure, I say this every year, but this year will be different.
For one thing, I have already started collecting books for my reading list.
For another, I am actually in a country where English Language books are plentiful and relatively cheap.
Yeah, I am blaming Japan for my lack of reading last year, rather than my characteristic laziness I claim to be so proud of in my favourite avatar.
I figured a good starting point would be the BBC Big Read Top 100 Books List (from 2003)
Sure, it's now nearly 8 years out of date and there have been many amazing books since then, but I figured this would give me a good selection and cover the basics. I have gather some more contemporary books too, so it's not like I will miss out on the current trends.
The list is as follows (with books I have already had the pleasure of reading being struck through)
________________________________________________________________________
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (Hmm.. I have read the 1st two but not the last)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6.To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (started, but not finished)
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (started, but not finished)
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (started, but not finished)
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (started, but not finished)
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (started, but not finished)
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell (started, but not finished)
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
________________________________________________________________________________
So of the Top 100, I have already read only 18, though I had previous read part of 6 books on the list, and I've read 2/3 of the His Dark Materials Trilogy. I own copies of 29 books on the list.
The Twits has me puzzled, as I think I may have read it in primary school once, but have so vague a recollection of it that it can't hurt to read it again.
In addition to this reading list, I hope to start The Hunger Games, The Millenium Trilogy, some Haruki Murakami (namely Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood) an array of Gothic Novels (as part of my Gothic Novel module) and some more Banana Yoshimoto, since I really enjoyed Kitchen and Asleep. I picked up a sci-fi novel called The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto, and I have to re-read the Twilight Saga for my Independent Study Project (Oh noes! What have I gotten myself into!?)
I've also got some feminist texts to read, like The Second Sex and Vindication of the Rights of Women, and I have told myself I must read classic children's books that I never read as a child for some reason. The list is so staggeringly long that I feel I must have had a deprived childhood - despite the fact I was always reading when I was younger. What did I actually read?!
Anyway, to kick off the New Year I will be trying to get ahead in my Gothic Novel module with reading Frankenstein, Dracula, The Castle of Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Monk, Carmilla and The Private Memories and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.
Lots of books to read before my first lecture on February 2nd, but I should be able to make a dent in the list.
I'll try and do reviews for as many books I read as possible.
Bring on the New Year! Target: 100 books
Oh yeah, I am ambitious this year.
(What is wrong with me? That is 4 times what I was able to read in 2010!!)
PS: All the best for 2011! May this new decade bring much awesomeness your way!