vilakins | The big read bookworm meme

Everyone seems to be doing this, so I will too.

I've highlighted the books I've read from the BBC Big Read Top 200. If you like:

Recommend a book that I haven't read and you have, and tell me why.

Ask me about one of the books I have read and you haven't.

The ones I've read are highlighted.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
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
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
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
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
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
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
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh my, you've read more than I have! (impressed)

So tell me, why should I read "The Name of the Rose"?

I don't really know your tastes so I can't say, but I enjoyed it. It was an intriguing mystery set in a monastery, rather slow-moving but very atmospheric and so vividly-described I actually drew myself a map of the interconnecting octagonal (or was it hexagonal?) library rooms and was both annoyed and pleased to find a map in the book some time later. Annoyed because I could have saved myself the trouble, and pleased because I got it right.

The characters, setting, and writing meant more to me than the murder mystery. I keep intending to read Foucault's Pendulum on its strength.

The trouble with this list is having read a book doesn't mean you liked it. Did you like Day of the Triffids? Have you read The Chrysalids by Wyndham?

You should try His dark materials, it is supposed to be for children, but I think your average 12 year old would struggle with the concepts explored. Not on the list, but have you read The dark is rising by Susan Cooper? It's 5 books in one, starts off like Enid Blyton and just gets darker and darker. I love it.

Other favs of mine on the list are Prayer for Owen Meany, The Wasp Factory and Good Omens.

Blimey, I read to cheer myself up!

OK, I read Day of the Triffids, Chrysalids and several other John Wyndham books when I was a teenager and enjoyed them. I have not and will not read His Dark Materials because I don't like the premise, and besides, I read for entertainment, not to depress the hell out of myself. A lot of people I know enjoy dark and tragic fiction and aren't worried at all by it. Perhaps it's cathartic for them; it upsets me and can depress me for days.

Want a challenge? Try The Master and Margarita--fascinating, brilliant, witty, and a damned good read. Or the wonderful Gormenghast--that's nice and dark for you, but also leavened by wit, a wild imagination, and the most marvellously eccentric characters.

PS Though I haven't read The Wasp Factory because it doesn't sound like the sort of thing I like, I do love Banks's SF.

I'll probably give that one a go, I'll let you know what I think.

Mostly I'll try anything unless it is Mills & Boon or about sport. I'm not sure about Gormanghast, only because I saw the adaptation on TV, and it would take a large investment of reading time for something I already have knowledge of. Probably on my list of big reads for when I have some enforced leisure time. I'd love to try War and Peace, but it's a time thing again.

Sometimes I find some great stuff just by stepping slightly away from what I would normally read, and that often happens by a recommendation from friends. I love stuff by Joe R Lansdale, Daniel Pennac and Christopher Brookmyer but I would probably never have picked one up in a shop on the off chance.

A shop? I read too much to support a habit like that. Books are expensive here; I use libraries unless I can find a bargain or it's a book I know I'll read again.

'War and Peace' is so good I've read it twice. I think the old jokes about it relate to length, and books are getting so long now, that shouldn't be a problem any more. I think there's some sort of rule that fantasies have to run to at least three books of 1000 pages each. :-( Anyway, 'War and Peace' has wonderful characters, enough tragedy to suit you, a dry wit, and an unusual view of war and the movements of human history--almost the psychohistory espoused in Asimov's Foundation series.

For shop you should read charity/secondhand or carboot sale! I rarely buy a book new, if I can possibly help it. I usually spend £1 or under, and often it is passed around all my friends before being sold on. I also use a great website called greenmetropolis.com where you can recycle books buy buying them for £3.75 P&P free (obviously UK only) then sell them on for £3. Also ebay is excellent, and I have the advantage of a best friend who loves books and has lots of disposable income. I do buy new, but usually only if it is an author I adore and I want to read it the moment it comes out (Phil Rickman or Jasper Fford for example) or I've been given book tokens, which are the motorway to my heart.
I think maybe I shall make this the year I read War and Peace then. I've listed The master and Margarita as one I'm looking out for on Ebay.

I do hope you like them. I've read them both twice for sheer pleasure.

You and I seem to read the same type of book so here goes.

Terry Pratchett
Any and all, you do have to have a certain sense of humour to really like him. Did you enjoy Hitch Hiker's? And have you watched and enjoyed Red Dwarf? If the answer to these questions is yes you will probably enjoy Terry Pratchet. They are good fantasy comic (on the whole but some are darker than others)adventure stories but part of my enjoyment is finding the paralels to modern history in them, twisted but there. If you do decide to read them start with The Colour of Magic. This introduces you to Disc World, I think it was the first one he wrote for adults after writing for children and it tends to be a little teenagey but needs to be read. Mort and Small Gods are one offs and can be read without reading any of the others. Hogfather takes some of its characters from Mort. Guards Guards and Men at Arms are part of a series and should be read in order but for the life of me I cannot remeber which comes first. Wyrd Sisters is the first in the Witches series so can be treated as a one off.

Good Omens is very English and you might not get some of the humour (eg the M25 bit) but isn't a Disc World book.

Gone With the Wind
I read this first as a 17 year old in my free periods at school, I was late for class more times than I could count in the 5 days it took to read it. I haven't read it since so I can't say if it would appeal to my adult mind.

The BFG
I read this to one of my visiting School classes in serial form in my last branch library. They enjoyed it at 10 and I enjoyed it at 45. He has a vivid childlike imagination and doesn't talk down to children so adults don't feel talked down to when reading it.

Rebbecca
Again read as a teenager and not read since. Loved it. Romance, mystery, suspected murder and possible ghost, what more could a teen want.

The Magic FarAway Tree
Probably my first foray into fantasy fiction. Read at 6 six years old, not read since. It's by Enid Blyton for heavens sake, I thought she wrote down to children at the age of 12, I just couldn't read anything by her now. The tree in question grows up through a cloud and every time you climb up into the cloud there was a different land there, the tree itself was inhabited by wierd characters, all of whom I've forgotten the names off. Only read it if you are reading it to a 6 year old.

Thanks for those! I never tried Terry Pratchett because of the sheer volume and not knowing where to start, and was initially put off by the covers. So many friends recommend them though, and I do love 'HHGTHG' and 'Red Dwarf'. Now I have some idea on where to start.

You know, I've never even seen 'Gone with the Wind'. I'm not a romantic and I suppose there are too many other books ahead on the queue.

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