The List
I have a list of books that I created 9 years ago – books that I want to read in my lifetime. Not all the books are literary fiction, nor are they classics. Very few are main stream books, at least they weren’t at the time they were added to my list. Some actually have been turned into movies…Life of Pi, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Lovely Bones to name a few. Some of the books I added because they were so original – The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse, and some actually are classics – To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984.
Today I decided to show the Little Professor my book list. He was really impressed by the idea. I encouraged him to make a list of his own and he thought it was a great idea. That, of course, made me smile.
Not every book I read is from my list. In fact, the majority of books I’ve read have nothing to do with my list. I’m not sure how to explain what qualifies a book to make the list. Each book has earned it’s place because something about it spoke to me, whether it’s the title, the description or the author. Some books I read years ago and added them on my list to read again – The Handmaid’s Tale. Not every book has started off great, some were very slow going at first but I’ve yet to finish a book and find it not worthy of being read. I haven’t read every book on the list yet, but I’ve read quite a few of them.
I’d like to share my list with you….
Title | Author |
Life of Pi | Yann Martel |
Diary | Chuck Palahniuk |
Fahrenhiet 451 | Ray Bradbury |
The Five People You Meet in Heaven | Mitch Albom |
The Dogs of Babel | Carolyn Parkhurst |
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell | Susanna Clarke |
The Know-It-All: One Mans Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World | A. J. Jacobs |
The Hollow Choclate Bunnies of the Apocalypse | Robert Rankin |
Brave New World | Aldous Huxley |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Mark Haddon |
The Stones of Summer | Dow Mossman |
Shade | Neil Jordan |
The Secret Life of Bees | Sue Monk Kidd |
The Alchemist | Paulo Ceollio |
East of Eden | John Stienbeck |
The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger |
Grapes of Wrath | John Stienbeck |
Saint Training | Elizabeth Fixmer |
Flyboys | James Bradley |
The Great Divorce | C.S. Lewis |
Blessings | Anna Quindlen |
Unless | Carol Shields |
To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee |
Great Gasby | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini |
Lord of the Flies | William Golding |
The Time Machine | H.G. Wells |
The Eyre Affair | Jasper Fforde |
The Lovely Bones | Alice Sebold |
The Time Traveler’s Wife | Audrey Niffenegger |
1984 | George Orwell |
Water for Elephants | Sara Gruen |
The Help | Kathryn Stockett |
The Handmaid’s Tale | Margaret Atwood |
The Chrysalids | John Wyndham |
The Night Circus | Erin Morgenstern |
Anna Karenina | Leo Tolstoy |