The World Book Night Long List - 2012

[lillibet]

http://www.worldbooknight.org/your-books/the-wbn-top-100-books

From 25 June - 31 August 2011 we asked readers to nominate the 10 books they most love to read, give and share. Over 6,000 people nominated more than 8,000 titles and the top 100 displayed

Comments

[ceelove]

I've read 42 of them (with surprisingly little overlap with you), and as usual, I obviously have differences in taste than some of the people who nominated these. (And is it me or is this kind of Brit-heavy?)

[lillibet]

I think WBN started in Britain. I found it through Gaiman's blog, which seems to be how many people got there, based on the number of hits he got on the list.

[minkrose]

I find it really odd that of the two Margaret Atwood books, one of them is Alias Grace. I recall really not enjoying that one, though it was borrowed from my friend's mother, and I felt I had to read & return it as quickly as possible. Everything else I've read by Atwood was either from the library or my own copy.

Actually, now that I'm reading the list again before I comment further, I see that "I Capture the Castle" is on there - the only book in my life that I deliberately refused to finish reading because I disliked it so much. I can't recall any other books that I didn't finish that aren't somewhere in our house, and all of those were for school. My sister read it, I started it, asked her about my issues with it and she said "don't bother finishing it." This had never occurred to me. I still try to finish what I start, if only so I can have a fully formed opinion on it (positive or negative!).

[thismightbejess]

I really loved the beginning of I Capture the Castle, but did not like the direction it took, or the ending, at all. I too try to finish books even when it is clear that I don't like them--I don't know why, really--I guess I just don't like leaving them unfinished. The book that often appears on these lists (although it is not on this one) that I am currently trying (and failing) to read is A Confederacy of Dunces. I've heard it's brilliant, but so far I just find it irritating.

[ayelle]

I LOVED I Capture the Castle. It shot immediately onto my list of all-time favorites. The movie's pretty good, too!

[lillibet]

In the past few years I've gotten bolder about not finishing books that are not engaging me.

And yeah, Alias Grace would not be on my Top Five Atwoods list, either.

[schmoomom]

Really? I'd have thought you'd have read To Kill A Mockingbird in high school. Damn, that's on my top 10. The Help was good too, but just good, not great (to me). Shadow of the Wind I loved, same with Memoirs of a Geisha. Brendan loved Cloud Atlas; loved to the point he couldn't stop talking about it for a week. LOVED. I'm reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo right now and, well, I don't see the excitement. But I'm only halfway, so maybe there's a thing coming.

[jostajam]

Read number 82. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It is one of those gorgeous, lyrical, beautiful, horrible books.

[moria923]

I've been meaning to for a long time. Maybe I can set a goal to read it before you come over with the apple cake, so we can talk about it.

[bex77]

Here's my strange results.

- Read myself
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Color Purple Alice Walker
Possession: A Romance A. S. Byatt

- Read aloud by me and N.
The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
Harry Potter Adult Hardback Boxed Set J. K. Rowling
The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling

- Forced to read in high school
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
Animal Farm George Orwell

- Seen the movie
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
The Notebook Nicholas Sparks
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Chocolat Joanne Harris
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
Dracula Bram Stoker
Persuasion Jane Austen
Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
The Princess Bride William Goldman
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
Tales of the City Armistead Maupin

- Have and need to read
The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger