Have you read these 100 books?

In Nov. ’09 I read the following article, and when checking it over I found  that I can easily check a dozen books that I have read completely (inc. the Bible), a couple I’ve read in part and another dozen that I’ve seen on TV – but that doesn’t count.  So, which ones do you believe are must reads?

The BBC believe most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?
Instructions: Look at the list and mark the books you have 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 – Philis 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
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’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 – CS 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 – 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’s 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 Inferno – Dante
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

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

12 thoughts on “Have you read these 100 books?”

    1. I am glad it is helpful to you, Jaclyn. I am going to try to make my way through the ones I have not yet read. That could take years!

      I took a peek at your blog and wow! Love your photography. I seem to be the artistic type as I tried my hand at sketching (not too bad) which was to lead in to painting (hmm, not so much), but I always enjoyed photography (have some nice shots and would love to have time to do that more), but my romance with words has always floated to the top. We shall see how that turns out. 🙂

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      1. I have read 15 books on that list and I see several on there that I have been meaning to pick up. Of course I have seen a lot of the movies that go along with them, but their just not the same!

        I seem to be the artistic type too. It comes in handy being a Cosmetologist. Just like you, painting and sketching (not to bad), but writing, I have always had some little fear for some reason. I don’t mind writing, its just that I never thought I was that great. I let my pictures tell the story for me, but I am tyring to right more. I recently started another blog on here…jrbell.wordpress.com, if you would like to check it out sometime. =)

        Thank you for looking at my photography blog! It really means a lot to me. I just recently really started to get into photography. I have always loved taking pictures. Now I am actually taking the time to learn what all the gadgets on my camera really mean, and I am having a lot of fun with the cool effects that I have been getting out of it. I still have a lot to learn, but it’s a really fun hobby that I wouldn’t mind turning into a career someday.

        I look forward to reading more book and more of your blog. =)

        Have a great evening,
        Jaclyn

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        1. Maybe what you need, Jaclyn, is to have someone do the writing for your photography or you do the photography for a writer. 🙂
          I’m happy to have you as one of my readers. Thanks!

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  2. I’ve read 18 on this list, if my memory serves me correctly. That still leaves a ton to read, doesn’t it? 🙂 I wouldn’t read some of the books on this list, but others I’ve had on my ‘to be read’ list for a long time. 🙂

    peace,
    Donna

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    1. I had not even heard of a few of them and some others I can’t recall what they are about so I would have to find that out before buying or borrowing. I think a couple were reading to be done in school (so long ago!) but I probably could not get all the way through those books if they didn’t have pictures. (j/k) 🙂 If they didn’t hold my interest then I likely didn’t finish, and I fear that was the case. By choice I definitely would not tackle some on this list, either, but that still leaves many more for me to read, too. 🙂
      Thanks for your comment, Donna.

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  3. 30 of ’em Now I shouldn’t admit this but – 28 of the 30 were by male authors (#s 4 & 5 the exceptions) & only 2 would fall under the fantasy catagory (#2 & 4? – 4 being a stretch). Wonder if that means anything?

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  4. hmm … what do YOU think it means, Dave? 🙂
    Do you specifically look for books by male authors, or does it just happen that way? OR, do male authors write more of what interests you than do female authors?

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    1. Welllllll…… I dunno. There are 3 authors of the female persuasion that I intend to read very soon – all of ’em online friends. The cool part is – I’ve read excerpts so I already know that I’m going to like the books. Haven’t ordered anything online lately because of travel.

      I don’t/won’t/couldn’t read romance so that eliminates lots of authors.

      Demons – nope.

      Not a big fan of anything with a medical / coroner theme.

      Many of the classics are great, some – not so much. I’ve read lots of them because, uh, well, everyone has & I wouldn’t want to sound like a schmuck. Steinbeck is probably my favorite.

      I have a hard time ‘getting’ fantasy or sci-fi but plan to give them another shot.

      Vampires – nah.

      Oddly enough, I liked Harry Potter – My wife (Deb) bought me all 7 books for my birthday & I read them all in about 2 weeks. Didn’t write much during that time.

      Maybe I’m a Neanderthal.

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      1. Nawww, I don’t think you are a Neanderthal — or you are a well read one! 🙂 I have MUCH reading to do yet, according to this list. We shall see what success I have this year tackling the ‘heavy’ reading.
        Thanks, Dave. I enjoy your comments.

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  5. What I noticed was I have many of those books but haven’t yet read them all!!! Although one of my intentions is to read more that I was able to last year.

    I especially loved “Memoirs of a Geisha.” I was totally wrapped up in that story.

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    1. I am glad to hear that, Laura! 🙂 I have SO MANY books that I’ve collected over the years and have not yet read. As for this list, Great Expectations would fall into that category.
      Thanks for your input. 🙂 I’ve been wondering where to start on the list … or maybe I should first read the other books I already have. (sigh) so many books, so little time!

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I look forward to reading your greatly appreciated comments. Thanks for making my day! :)

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