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

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *