Thursday, December 16, 2010

Goal #16: Top 100 Books

A portion of my Project 101 in 1001 list. Read about my journey here. 

Now that all that Twilight nonsense is behind me, I thought I'd start on Goal #16: Read ten books off of the BBC’s Top 100 Books list. You know, get some real literature into my brain. ;-)

I love to read. When I was younger, I would literally get grounded from reading because I would hide in my closet and read novels when I should have been doing do homework. (I know, I was such a rebel.) With my love for literature still firmly intact, I am extremely excited to start this goal and what better time to start then when I have an 18-hour, van-at-maximum-capacity ride to Dallas looming before me? (Never mind that I tend to get extremely car sick while reading - I'll figure something out.)

I'm not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed that I have only read eleven out of one-hundred of these "must read" classics? Oh well, I'll have ten more under my belt after this goal is completed! 

Thus far, I've chosen nine-of-ten books to read and I just picked up Jane Eyre at the library to get me started. Now I want your feedback as to what my tenth book should be.

Here's my list so far:

#1 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams [check!]
#2 - Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell [check!]
#3 - Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë  [check!]
#4 - Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
#5 - The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger 
(EDIT: I'm replacing Catcher with A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving due to some questionable content of the aforementioned book)   [check!]
#6 - The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas [check!]
#7 - Animal Farm, George Orwell [check!]
#8 - Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
#9 - Holes, Louis Sachar [check!]
#10 - Chosen by my readers. What book off this list do you think I should read? 
(The books I've already read are: Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Great Expectations, Persuasion, Emma, Anne Of Green Gables, A Christmas Carol, The Secret Garden, Memoirs Of A Geisha, and Lord Of The Flies)

Can't wait to see your suggestions! 

EDIT 12/27/10: Based on feedback here and on my facebook page, an overwhelming majority is recommending/almost demanding that I read The Great Gatsby, so my list will be completed with is book! Thanks everyone for your recommendations!
 

7 comments:

  1. @Shelby Elise Thanks Shelby! I'm glad to have someone with common interests pipe in. :-)

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  2. Curious why you chose this particular book list. I know there's so many out there and have always had trouble finding just the right list to work from (for both myself and my 5 children). Bought the book "Who Should We Then Read?" by Jan Bloom but was saddened to find I can't get a lot of the books at the library and will need to purchase them. Already have thousands of books and no shelving possibilities left! This "1,000 great books" list intrigues me (and thankfully doesn't contain Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, or Vampire yuck :)

    http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html

    Catcher in the Rye: good book but so much filth...wish I hadn't read it. 1984: I read it in 1984! before the internet, before so much of that seemed possible...would be fun to read it again now. Count of Monte Cristo--my favorite book in high school! I don't remember seeing The Jungle (a doozy!) or Silent Spring...those usually make it onto best book lists. In my quick skim I only saw The Grapes of Wrath that rang a bell as being enjoyable...liked it better than Of Mice and Men but can't remember why.

    I'd really like to read this book before making future decisions about what my teens should read: Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature by Gene Edward Veith
    http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/prodinfo.asp?number=RBTL

    An aside regarding your project 101 in 1001: Moriah is putting together a 35 in 365 list--she's been copying you for so many years! Thanks for being a good role model, even if it's from afar (love the internet :)

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  3. @Kim N in Tucson I mainly chose BBC's list because it seemed the most comprehensive and had a lot of classics on it. That... and I copied some Project 101 ideas from others' lists and that goal came up a lot so I was interested in doing it as well. Honestly, it never occurred to me to search for a different list of classics. Hmmm...

    Thanks for the heads up about "Catcher" - I'll consider that.

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  4. Little Women and Black Beauty are classics from my youth. I read the first three Harry Potter books along with my son and really enjoyed them, actually. If you view them from a purely fantasy genre (along the lines of Lord of the Rings, etc.), I think they are great.

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  5. I LOVE The Great Gatsby! Little Women is also an excellent choice, in my opinion.

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  6. I'm not sure what "questionable content" you are avoiding by not reading Catcher in the Rye, but you should probably look to see if A Prayer for Owen Meany has the same type of content. It certainty has profanity, sexual themes, death, irreverence, etc. (much the same as Catcher in the Rye). Off the top of my head, I'd say A Prayer for Owen Meany is the more offensive of the two - although I think they are both fantastic and worth reading and John Irving is one of my favorite authors. But again, I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to so I can't say for certain.

    Also, we haven't met (I wandered over from SheWorships) but your blog introduced me to the 101 in 1001 concept which I am now undertaking, so thank you!

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