The Goodreads 100-book meme.

I'm borrowing this meme from DarwinCatholic, because I haven't managed to post in a couple of days and I feel bad about it.

In the spirit of the 100 book meme, Goodreads has posted a fairly diverse group of novels for its members to rank, drawn from both the most popular and the most highly rated books from its readers' libraries. And in the true internet spirit of borrowing, I've typed up the list for the rest of us to pass around. Goodreads reports that its average user has read 27 out of the 100; I've read 58 (and Darwin has read 31), and I find that most of the ones I haven't are books I've seen around but haven't felt a great compulsion to take and read.

I copied the list from MrsDarwin and highlighted according to my reading history.  Here's my key:

Here's my key.  Note that if I've read it all the way through, it's bolded; if not, it's unbolded.

 

Read it

Read it, returned, re-read it at least once

 I have read it, but I barely remember it

Never read it (asterisk means I started it but didn't finish)

Interested in reading, based on what I know of it

Don't know enough about it to know whether I want to read it or not

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Fellowship of the Ring
• Pride and Prejudice*
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Romeo and Juliet
• Jane Eyre
• 1984
• Hamlet
• The Hobbit
• Brave New World
• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
• The Great Gatsby
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Fahrenheit 451*
• Wuthering Heights
•  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• The Secret Garden
• Green Eggs and Ham
• Little Women* (in process of rediscovering by reading to children!)
• Of Mice and Men
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Lord of the Flies
• The DaVinci Code
• Frankenstein
• Dune
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Gone With The Wind
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• A Wrinkle in Time
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Slaughterhouse Five
• Anne of Green Gables
• Twilight
• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Le Petit Prince 
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• The Princess Bride
• The Picture of Dorian Grey
• The Hunger Games
• Sense and Sensibility
• The Golden Compass
• Dracula
• The Color Purple
• The Kite Runner
• The Odyssey* 
• Anna Karenina*
• And Then There Were None
• Interview with the Vampire
• The Book Thief
• One Hundred Years of Solitude
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• The Joy Luck Club
• Little House on the Prairie
• The Giver
• Life of Pi
• Rebecca
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes*
• Ender's Game
• A Tale of Two Cities
• L'Étranger
• East of Eden
• Les Miserables
• The Bell Jar
• Lolita
• The Road
• The Time Traveler's Wife
• A Prayer for Owen Meany
• The Stand
• Catch-22
• The Sun Also Rises
• The Pillars of the Earth
• Crime and Punishment
• The Good Earth
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being
• The Help
• Watchmen
• Lonesome Dove
• Water for Elephants
• Outlander
• American Gods
• The Poisonwood Bible
• My Sister's Keeper
• The Master and Margarita*
• The Notebook
• Like Water for Chocolate
• Beloved
• Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Invisible Man
• A Game of Thrones
• The Fountainhead
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• Ulysses
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
• The Brothers Karamazov
• The House of the Spirits
• Fight Club
• Middlesex
• Interpreter of Maladies

 Any comments, arguments, or willingness to take a stab?

Comments

[Kelly]

The Giver is a juvenile book that is a quick read, but definitely worth your time. It is often included in middle school reading lists. It has a lady and the tiger ending, but she ended up writing a sequel later. I decided not to read the sequel because I was certain I knew what happened and I didn't want that ruined by the sequel.

I also really enjoyed The Pillars of the Earth, but that book is huge, so it requires a lot more of a commitment.

[Tabitha]

At a quick glance I've read 35. I can't color code it so amazingly on my tablet and don't have time right now to make it happen on the computer. There are a few on here I never intend to read, others I've never heard of. It's an eclectic mix!

Tabitha

[MrsDarwin]

I'm impressed by how other bloggers have made the key so much more informative; I wish I'd thought to mark which books I re-read.

[bearing]

There's still time, MrsDarwin! Just add asterisks or something.

[Christy P.]

I weep that you have not read Ender's Game. This is among my top 5 favorite books of all time. Go ahead and read it first, and then give it to your oldest boy. He will likely then give it to his brother, or hide it so that he can keep it all to himself. (movie version coming soon!!!!)

I endorse for you The Poisonwood Bible.

Both of these are better than Fight Club.

Fascinating that we went to high school together and were in the same track of classes and yet I read Wuthering Heights and Lord of the Flies in 11th grade English and The Sun Also Rises in 12th grade.

Anne of Green Gables is a good read aloud for your 6 year old girl.

Despite my love of sci fi, I will admit to never having finished Dune despite multiple attempts. It is less sci fi and more poli-si fi. Sigh.

[Christy P.]

Hmmm, I lost a bit in my comment. The end of the paragraph about high school was supposed to have a parenthetical suggestion that GoodReads have a poetry list.

[Bearing]

I have read other stuff by Orson Scott Card and didn't' like it, that's why I have never felt moved to pick up Ender's Game.

I also *did* read Anne of Green Gables and Lord of the Flies -- does the boldface not show up well enough? Underlined means I read it more than once.

I like your idea of a poetry list.

[mandamum]

For what it's worth, I can't tell the difference between your "read it" and "never read it" typefaces, so unless there's an asterisk for "read part" they look the same on my computer.

Interesting list - I remember seeing this on Mrs. Darwin's post. I'll have to sit down and do my own - nice to have my own list to look at, instead of just the lists I keep putting together for the 10yo voracious reader.

[Lori]

Ooh...I need to save this list for myself. Thank you for sharing!

The Count of Monte Cristo is still one of my favorite books - it has a little of everything. We read the abridged version in high school, and I bought and read the full version a few years ago. The recent movie drives me insane because it changes the plot significantly. (Although, it was filmed mostly in Malta, so it's fun to watch and reminisce.)

Little Women and Little Men were also favorites of mine as a kid.

[Barbara C.]

I've read 42 on the list. I think I've read about 15 of the 42 more than once. I love book lists.

[JMB]

Rebecca is one of my favorite books of all time! The Hitchcock movie is also great. I've read 43 on the list, some I can't remember the story line (Unbearable Lightness) but I remember reading it. It's weird what sticks with you and what doesn't.