About This Blog

Mostly lists and information about award books and other interesting lists of books, color coded as follows:

RED–Read since ~2000
PINK–Read before that
BLUE–To Be Read and Added to Goodreads

NOTE: Listings may not be complete and sources aren't always quoted but I'm working on that.

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Book Montage

Catherine 's to-read book montage

The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden
Blitzcat
Only You Can Save Mankind
Nice and Mean
Cruisers Book 1
The City of Ember
Crispin: The End of Time
Lost Goat Lane
Amelia Rules! Volume 1: The Whole World's Crazy
Middleworld
How I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life
Crunch
Countdown
As Simple as It Seems
Wolf Brother
Lob
Sparks
The Ogre of Oglefort
The Pickle King


Catherine 's favorite books »

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sargent Prize (First Novel Prize)

Fiction Awards
The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction is pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for our fourth annual First Novel Prize. Established in 2005 as the Sargent Prize, the award was created by the Center as part of its mission to promote the art of fiction in the United States. The award continues to include a $10,000 prize. The shortlist for the award will be announced in September 2009 and the prize will be given at the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction’s Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner on November 9, 2009.

The Sargent Prize was created by the Center as part of its mission to promote the art of fiction in the United States. It is supported by members of the Sargent family, in recognition of John Sargent Sr.’s lifetime of reading and distinguished work as President and CEO of Doubleday and Company for many years.

2008 Winner John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize Finalists
The Story of Forgetting: A Novelby Stefan Merrill Block
Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel by Rivka Galchen
Dervishes: A Novel by Beth Helms
Songs for the Butcher's Daughter: A Novel by Peter Manseau
Personal Days by Ed Park
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski

2007 Winner John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize Finalist (2007)
Bearing the Body: A Novel by Ehud Havazelet
Fieldwork: A Novel by Mischa Berlinski
Finn: A Novel by Jon Clinch
Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon
The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

2006 Winner John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize Finalist (2006)
The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo by Peter Orner
The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger
Cellophane by Maria Arana
Send Me by Patrick Ryan

Friday, March 26, 2010

Compton Crook Award (1983-2010)

Nominees for the 2010 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, voted on by members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and honoring the best first novel in science fiction, fantasy or horror, are:
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Dying Bites by D.D. Barant
Soulless by Gail Carriger and Johannes Cabal
The Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

The winner receive $1,000, a plaque and will be invited to Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention, May 28–31.

2009
Paul Melko has won the 2009 Compton Crook Award, also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, for his novel, Singularity's Ring (Tor). Voted by the membership of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, the award honors the best novel of the year by a first-time novelist and carries a $1,000 prize.

Melko receives the award this evening at the opening ceremony of Balticon, aka the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention, sponsored by the Society.

The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best first novel of the year written by a single author: collaborations are not eligible: in the field of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc., at their annual Baltimore-area science fiction convention, Balticon, held on Memorial Day weekend in the Baltimore, MD area each year.

This prize, named after a Towson State College Professor of Natural Science named Compton Crook, who wrote under the name Stephen Tall, and who died in 1981, was first awarded in 1983 for a work published in 1982.

Previous Winners:
* 2009 - Paul Melko, Singularity’s Ring
* 2008 - Mark L. Van Name, One Jump Ahead
* 2007 - Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon
* 2006 - Maria V. Snyder, Poison Study
* 2005 - Tamara Siler Jones, Ghosts in the Snow
* 2004 - E. E. Knight, Way of the Wolf
* 2003 - Patricia Bray, Devlin's Luck
* 2002 - Wen Spencer, Alien Taste
* 2001 - Syne Mitchell, Murphy's Gambit
* 2000 - Stephen L. Burns, Flesh and Silver
* 1999 - James Stoddard, The High House
* 1998 - Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree
* 1997 - Richard Garfinkle, Celestial Matters
* 1996 - Daniel Graham Jr., The Gatekeepers
* 1995 - Doranna Durgin, Dun Lady's Jess
* 1994 - Mary Rosenblum, The Drylands
* 1993 - Holly Lisle, Fire in the Mist
* 1992 - Carol Severance, Reefsong
* 1991 - Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind
* 1990 - Josepha Sherman, The Shining Falcon
* 1989 - Elizabeth Moon, Sheepfarmer's Daughter
* 1988 - Christopher Hinz, Liege-Killer
* 1987 - Thomas Wren Doomsday Effect
* 1986 - Sheila Finch, Infinity's Web
* 1985 - David R. Palmer, Emergence
* 1984 - Christopher Rowley, War For Eternity
* 1983 - Donald Kingsbury, Courtship Rite

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Oprah's Book Club List

1996
The Deep End of the Ocean Jacquelyn Mitchard
Song of Solomon Toni Morrison
The Book of Ruth Jane Hamilton
She's Come Undone Wally Lamb
1997
Stones from the River Ursula Hegi
The Rapture of Canaan Sheri Reynolds
The Heart of a Woman Maya Angelou
Songs In Ordinary Time Mary McGarry Morris
Little Bill: The Meanest Thing To Say Bill Cosby
A Lesson Before Dying Ernest J. Gaines
A Virtuous Woman Kaye Gibbons
Ellen Foster Kaye Gibbons
The Treasure Hunt Bill Cosby
The Best Way to Play Bill Cosby
1998
Paradise Toni Morrison
Here on Earth Alice Hoffman
Black and Blue Anna Quindlen
Breath, Eyes, Memory Edwidge Danticat
I Know This Much Is True Wally Lamb
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day Pearl Cleage
Midwives Chris Bohjalian
Where the Heart Is Billie Letts
1999
Jewel Bret Lott
The Reader Bernhard Schlink
The Pilot's Wife Anita Shreve
White Oleander Janet Fitch
Mother of Pearl Melinda Haynes
Tara Road Maeve Binchy
River, Cross My Heart Breena Clarke
Vinegar Hill A. Manette Ansay
A Map of the World Jane Hamilton
2000
Gap Creek Robert Morgan
Daughter of Fortune Isabel Allende
Back Roads Tawni O'Dell
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison
While I Was Gone Sue Miller
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
Open House Elizabeth Berg
Drowning Ruth Christina Schwarz
House of Sand and Fog Andre Dubus III
2001
We Were the Mulvaneys Joyce Carol Oates
Icy Sparks Gwyn Hyman Rubio
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail Malika Oufkir
Cane River Lalita Tademy
The Corrections Jonathan Franzen
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
2002
Fall on Your Knees Ann-Marie MacDonald
Sula Toni Morrison
2003
East of Eden John Steinbeck
Cry, The Beloved Country Alan Paton
2004
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
2005
The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August William Faulkner
A Million Little Pieces James Frey
2006
Night Elie Wiesel
2007
The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography Sidney Poitier
The Road Cormac McCarthy
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez
The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett
2008
A New Earth Eckhart Tolle
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle[18] David Wroblewski

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards (2010)

Information accessed from Scottish Arts Council 3/20/10
Book Awards 2010 Shortlist

Since their establishment in 1972, the Scottish Arts Council Book Awards have recognised and rewarded literary excellence in literary fiction, poetry, and literary non-fiction by Scottish authors resident in, or out with, Scotland. In 2009 the book awards were re-branded the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards, to represent a long term sponsorship commitment. The Book of the Year award is worth £30,000, and is the biggest literary prize of its kind in Scotland.

Fiction
Non-Fiction
Poetry
First Book

Fiction
John Aberdein, Strip the Willow (Polygon)
Alan Bissett, Death of a Ladies’ Man (Hachette Scotland)
A L Kennedy, What Becomes (Jonathan Cape)
Liam McIlvanney, All the Colours of the Town (Faber)

Non-Fiction
Robert Crawford, The Bard: Robert Burns, a biography (Pimlico)
William Dalrymple, Nine Lives: In Search of the Modern India (Bloomsbury)
Donald Worster, A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir (Oxford university Press)

Poetry
John Burnside, The Hunt in the Forest (Jonathan Cape)
Thomas A Clark, The Hundred Thousand Places (Carcanet Press)Don Paterson, Rain (Faber)
Tom Leonard. Outside the Narrative (Word Power/Etruscan Books)
Richard Price, Rays (Carcanet Press)

First Book
Nick Currie (Momus), Solution 11-167: The Book of Scotlands (Sternberg Press)
Sarah Gabriel, Eating Pomegranates (Jonathan Cape)
JO Morgan, Natural Mechanical (CB Editions)
Andrew Philip, The Ambulance Box (Salt Publishing)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Florida BooK Awards (2006-2009)

Florida Book Awards (accessed 10/15/09)
The Florida Book Awards, coordinated by the Florida State University Library-- and co-sponsored by the Florida Center for the Book, the State Library and Archives of Florida, the Florida Historical Society, the Florida Humanities Council, the Florida Literary Arts Coalition, the Florida Library Association, "Just Read, Florida!," the Governor's Family Literacy Initiative, the Florida Association for Media in Education, the Florida Reading Association, the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, Friends of the Florida State University Libraries, Friends of the FSU Libraries, Program in American and Florida Studies at Florida State University, and the Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America -- is an annual awards program that recognizes, honors, and celebrates the best Florida literature published in the previous year.

2009 WINNERS:
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Gold Medal Winner: Joan Hiatt Harlow, Secret of the Night Ponies

FLORIDA NONFICTION
Gold Medal Winner: Jack E. Davis, An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century
Silver Medal Winner: Carlton Ward Jr., Florida Cowboys
Bronze Medal Winner: Todd T. Turrell, Naples Waterfront – Changes in Time

GENERAL FICTION
Gold Medal Winner: N M Kelby, A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts
Silver Medal Winner: Janet Burroway, Bridge of Sand
Bronze Medal Winner: Ana Menendez, The Last War
Bronze Medal Winner: A. Manette Ansay, Good Things I Wish You
Bronze Medal Winner: Michael Lister, Double Exposure

POETRY
Gold Medal Winner: Campbell McGrath, Shannon
Silver Medal Winner: Denise Duhamel, Ka-Ching!
Bronze Medal Winner: Jesse Millner, Neighborhoods of My Past Sorrow
Bronze Medal Winner: Peter Meinke, Lines from Neuchatel

POPULAR FICTION
Gold Medal Winner: Glynn Marsh Alam, Moon Water Madness
Silver Medal Winner: Diane A. S. Stuckart, Portrait of a Lady: A Leonardo DaVinci Mystery
Bronze Medal Winner: Jonathon King, The Styx
Bronze Medal Winner: Chris Kuzneski, The Lost Throne
Bronze Medal Winner: Tim Dorsey, Nuclear Jellyfish

SPANISH LANGUAGE BOOK
Gold Medal Winner: Juan Cueto-Roig, Veintiún cuentos concisos
Silver Medal Winner: José Alvarez, Frank País y la revolución cubana

YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Gold Medal Winner: Alex Sanchez, Bait
Silver Medal Winner: Rick Yancey, The Monstrumologist

2008 WINNERS:
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Gold Medal Winner:
Susan Womble Newt's World:Beginnings
Silver Medal Winner:
Donna Gephart As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running For President
Bronze Medal Winner:
Loreen Leedy Missing Math: A Number Mystery

GENERAL FICTION
Gold Medal Winner:
John Dufresne Requiem, Mass.
Silver Medal Winner:
Tony D'Souza The Konkans
Bronze Medal Winner:
Kristy Kiernan Matters of Faith
Debra Dean Confessions of a Falling Women

GENRE FICTION
Gold Medal Winner:
Deborah & Joel Shlian Rabbit in the Moon
Silver Medal Winner:
Lisa Unger Black Out
Bronze Medal Winners:
James Swain The Night Stalker
Patrick Kendrick Papa's Problem
Martha Powers Conspiracy of Silence

YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Gold Medal Winner:
John Tkac Whispers from the Bay
Silver Medal Winner:
Anne Ake Everglades
Bronze Medal Winners:
Julie Gonzalez Imaginary Enemy

2007 WINNERS:
Children's Literature
Gold Medal Winner:
Adrian Fogelin - The Sorta Sisters (Atlanta: Peachtree)
Silver Medal Winner:
N.E. Bode - The Slippery Map (New York: Harper Collins)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Ruth Vander Zee - Eli Remembers (Grand Rapids: Eerdman's Books for Young Readers)

Florida Nonfiction
Gold Medal Winner:
Cynthia Barnett - Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press)
Silver Medal Winner:
Bruce Hunt - Florida Then And Now (Boulder: Westcliffe)
Bronze Medal Winner::
Sudye Cauthen - Southern Comforts: Rooted in a Florida Place (Athens: University of Georgia Press)
Elna Green - Looking for the New Deal (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press)

General Fiction
Gold Medal Winner:
Enid Shomer - Tourist Season (New York: Random House)
Silver Medal Winner:
Leonard Nash - You Can't Get There from Here (Crawfordville, Kitsune)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Diana Abu-Jaber - Origin (New York: Norton)
Uthaya Kumar - Ticket to the Moon((Miami: Bouncing Ball Books)

Genre Fiction
Gold Medal Winner:
Thomas B. Cavanagh - Head Games (New York: St. Martin's Minotaur)
Silver Medal Winner:
James W. Hall - Magic City (New York: St. Martin's Minotaur)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Mary Anna Evans - Effigies (Scottsdale: Poisoned Pen Press)
Bob Morris - Bermuda Schwartz (New York: St. Martin's Minotaur)
Rhonda Pollero - Knock Off (New York: Kensington Books)

Poetry
Gold Medal Winner:
David Kirby - House on Boulevard Street (Baton Rouge: LSU Press)
Silver Medal Winner:
JReginald Shepherd - Fata Morgana (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Julianna Baggott - Compulsions of Silkworms and Bees (Warrensburg, OH: Pleiades Press)

Spanish Language
Gold Medal Winner:
Germen Guerra - Libro de Silencio (Los Angeles: Ediciones EntreRios)
Silver Medal Winner:
Ariel Gonzalez - Samuel Maximo y Niketon (Buenos Aires: Libros en Red)

Young Adult Literature
Gold Medal Winner:
Tracy A. Akers - The Search for the Unnamed One (Tampa: Aisling Press)
Silver Medal Winner:
Edward Bloor -Taken (New York: Random House)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Crissa-Jean Chappell - Total Constant Order ((New York: HarperTeen)

2006 WINNERS:
Children's Literature
Gold Medal Winner:
N.E. Bode (aka Julianna Baggott) - The Somebodies (Harper Collins)
Silver Medal Winner:
Laurie Friedman - In Business with Mallory. Illus. Barbara Pollak. (Lerner)

Florida Nonfiction
Gold Medal Winner:
Michael Grunwald - The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise (Simon And Schuster)
Silver Medal Winner:
Daniel S. Murphree - Constructing Floridians, Natives, and Europeans in the Colonial Floridas, 1513-1783 (University Press of Florida)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Bill Belleville - Losing It All to Sprawl (University Press of Florida)
Martin A. Dyckman - Floridian of His Century (University Press of Florida)
J. Stanley Marshall - The Tumultuous Sixties: Campus Unrest and Student Life at a Southern University (Sentry)

General Fiction
Gold Medal Winner:
Tony D'Souza - Whiteman . (Harcourt)
Silver Medal Winner:
Carl Hiaasen - Nature Girl . (Knopf)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Elizabeth Dewberry - His Lovely Wife. (Harcourt)

Genre Fiction
Gold Medal Winner:
James O. Born - Escape Clause (Putnam)
Silver Medal Winner:
Ward Larsen - The Perfect Assassin (Oceanview)
Bronze Medal Winner:
M.D. Abrams - Murder at Wakulla Springs (Booklocker)
Randy Wayne White - Dark Light (G.P. Putnam)
Brad Meltzer - The Book of Fate (Warner)

Poetry
Gold Medal Winner:
James Kimbrell - My Psychic (Sarabande)
Silver Medal Winner:
Jay Hopler - Green Squall ( Yale University Press)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Kelle Groom - Luckily (Anhinga Press)
Peter Meinke - The Contracted World (University Press of Pittsburgh)

Spanish Language
Gold Medal Winner:
Daina Chaviano - La Isla De Los Amores Infinitos (Random House)

Young Adult Literature
Gold Medal Winner:
Adrian Fogelin - The Real Question (Peachtree)
Silver Medal Winner:
Joyce Sweeney - Headlock (Henry Holt)
Bronze Medal Winner:
Caridad Ferrer - Adios to My Old Life (Simon And Schuster)
Tracy A. Akers - The Fire and the Light (Ruadora)

Hans Christian Andersen Awards (2010)

The shortlist for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards, given to an author and to an illustrator whose "complete works have made lasting contributions to children's literature, consists of:

Authors:

Ahmad Reza Ahmadi from Iran
David Almond from the U.K. -- Winner!   -- read Skellig 2/09, Savage on TBR
Bartolomeu Campos de Queiros from Brazil
Lennart Hellsing from Sweden
Louis Jensen from Denmark

Illustrators:

Jutta Bauer from Germany -- Winner!
Carll Cneut from Belgium
Etienne Delessert from Switzerland
Svjetlan Junakovic from Croatia
Roger Mello from Brazil

The awards are given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 23, at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Ridenhour Prizes (2004-2010)

Ridenhour Prize accessed 3/16/10

We are pleased to announce the 2010 recipients of The Ridenhour Prizes:

Historian and activist Howard Zinn has been posthumously awarded The Ridenhour Courage Prize for his determination to showcase the hidden heroes of social movements throughout history, his refusal to accept the history of only the powerful and victorious, his steadfast belief in the potential for a better world, his unflinching moral stance on fighting whatever he perceived was wrong in society and his fight to inspire students to believe that together, they could make democracy come alive. Zinn learned of this honor the week before his death.
Learn more…

The Ridenhour Book Prize honors Joe Sacco's tenacious reporting and recognizes Footnotes in Gaza as a work of profound social significance, one that explores the complex continuum of history. At a time when peace in the Middle East has never seemed more elusive, Sacco's illustrations bear witness to the lives of those who are trapped by the conflict. This marks the first time that the Ridenhour judges have awarded the prize to an illustrated book.
Learn more…

Matthew Hoh, the State Department official who resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan, has been awarded The Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling. At a time when Afghanistan was still looked at as the "good war," Hoh came forward, very publicly and at great personal risk, to question the war's fundamental rationale. His passionate and informed letter of resignation lit a spark and was, for many, the first extended argument against further escalation in Afghanistan.

Past winners (from Wikipedia)
The Ridenhour Courage Prize

* 2004 - Daniel Ellsberg
* 2005 - Seymour Hersh
* 2006 - Gloria Steinem
* 2007 - Jimmy Carter
* 2008 - Bill Moyers
* 2009 - Bob Herbert

The Ridenhour Book Prize

* 2004 - Deborah Scroggins, for Emma's War: An Aid Worker, Radical Islam, and the Politics of Oil – A True Story of Love and Death in the Sudan
* 2005 - Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, for Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx
* 2006 - Anthony Shadid, for Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War
* 2007 - Rajiv Chandrasekaran, for Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone,
* 2008 - James Scurlock, for Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit
* 2009 - Jane Mayer, for The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into A War on American Ideals

The Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize

* 2004 - Joseph Wilson
* 2005 - Kristen Breitweiser
* 2006 - Rick S. Piltz
* 2007 - Donald Vance
* 2008 - Matthew Diaz
* 2009 - Thomas Tamm

Monday, March 15, 2010

Best Teen of 2009

Postively, Absolutely the Best Young Adult Books of 2009. Guaranteed.
a book list by Flashlight Worthy's Favorite Young Adult Book Bloggers

Young Adult books, as a genre, has enjoyed a recent resurgence. It started with Harry Potter, survived a lean year or two, and then leapt back into the spotlight with Twilight.
But good Young Adult — or YA as it's known — is far, far more than just wizards and vampires. That's why I turned to the experts, more than a dozen Book Bloggers who focus on Yound Adult books, and asked them to name their pick for the Best Young Adult Book of 2009. Enjoy.

Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I by Lisa Mantchev
Adele from Persnickety Snark says:  Reading this book was like being dunked in a bath of classic literary characters, impish delight and roguish charm - it was delicious.
The magical Theatre Illuminata is a world where the surprising is always creeping up behind you, the bizarre is whirling around and in its centre is the spunky Bertie. Mantchev mines great plays of the past for their more fascinating characters and makes them contemporary in a fantastical setting... it's miraculous. Eyes Like Stars has great heart and humor amidst the distracting glitter and that's what makes this title such a smashing read.

Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
Sherry Early from Semicolon says:  Secret Keeper is a tale of love and loss, of traditional family and of new ways and mores creeping into and disrupting the old conventions. It’s a story that bridges cultures and creates understanding and makes even WASPs like me feel a twinge of identification with the characters and their very human situations.
The main character of the novel is sixteen year old Asha, the younger of two daughters in the Gupta family. As events unfold, Asha depends on her diary, nicknamed Secret Keeper, to hold her thoughts and dreams and to keep her sane in a tension-filled household.

Lips Touch: Three Timesby Laini Taylor
Lenore from Presenting Lenore says:  It's not a novel, but a collection of 3 short stories that all revolve around dangerous kisses. The first story, Goblin Fruit, was hands-down the best piece of writing I read in 2009. Its perfection is so intoxicating and amazing that I read the story several times in a row — once even out loud to savor the language.
The story concerns Kizzy, an "urgent, unkissed, wishful girl" growing up somewhere slightly outside modern day suburbia with her large, odd family of gypsies. Although her grandmother has warned her about goblins — and never tasting fruit out of season — Kizzy is charmed by a gorgeous new boy, Jack Husk, bearing a picnic of likely unearthly delights.

The Ask and the Answer: Chaos Walking: Book Two by Patrick Ness
Nymeth from things mean a lot says:  The sequel to Patrick Ness' The Knife of Never Letting Go is perhaps not quite as fast-paced as the first book, but it's just as intense. Todd and Viola's journey takes them — and the reader — to uncomfortable places, but great literature, after all, is often all about asking uncomfortable questions. Terrorism, violence, propaganda, sexism, control, fear, the dehumanizing effects of war — they're all carefully examined here. If this sounds dark, it's because it is. But it's also one hugely enjoyable book.

Gentlemen by Michael Northrop
Leila from Bookshelves of Doom says:  Gentlemen, a hard-boiled noir story set in high school, doesn't offer the usual fast-paced action adventure, but instead, an utterly believable narrator who spins out a slow build of tension that will have patient readers white-knuckled and sweating by the final, climatic scene. It's easily my favorite book of 2009.

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
Patti C from Oops...Wrong Cookie says:  This story of The Demon King is set in world where magic is a powerful presence. There's clan magic — tied to the earth and used for healing. And then there's wizard magic — which is a magic that must be controlled and channeled with talismans. Over time, these magics were bound together in a complicated and dark history... and now there are those who would like nothing more than to once again break them apart.

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker

Sarah Rettger from Archimedes Forgets says:  In Written in Bone, author Sally Walker tags along with archaeologists excavating settlements from the earliest days of colonial Virginia and Maryland — settlements where human remains now offer some stories of the past. Walker tells the stories of colonists from all walks of life, from members of the governor's family to indentured servants and slaves. Although we'll never know all the details of these lives, the book shows how much we can learn through research and analysis.

Willow by Julia Hoban
Alea from Pop Culture Junkie says:  Willow is a real, honest, and emotional book. From the moment you pick it up, you're invested in Willow and her well-being. Not only is this story about grief and guilt, it is about love and never giving up... it's beautiful.
I don't want to talk too much about the plot itself because I think this is one that's best discovered as you read, as you let it reveal itself to you. Reading Willow was definitely one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I've had in a long time. Every time I had to put the book down I daydreamed of picking it back up and re-joining Willow's world.

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers
Steph Su from Steph Su Reads says:  Courtney Summers' straight-up prose in her debut novel is unlike anything else that's out there in YA. It doesn't deluge you with florid descriptions of setting or character, but rather drops you into a story where you're literally assaulted with some of the most frightening of raw emotions: horror, fear, disgust, suspense, and — just perhaps — redemption.
I always say it's not the characters that matter, but the way in which the characters, good or bad, are presented to us. Parker and her "friends" are just like that group of popular, backstabbing social royalty students you knew/know in high school, and yet you will find yourself inevitably caught up in the story, breathlessly looking through Parker's eyes as you impatiently read to finally understand what's going on. Courtney's writing talent is the kind that sticks with you long after you've finished reading.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
Ali from Worducopia says:  This book is fabulous in its depth and character development. It features a strong female protagonist who walks a fine line between two worlds and ends up in over her head. It's historical fiction, set in World War II, that has contemporary appeal, and the author doesn't shy away from the racism that underlies so much of what happened during that era.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork
Doret from Thehappynappybookseller says:  One of my favorite handsells of 2009, Marcelo in the Real World is classified as Young Adult, but it's a lovely story for adults as well that shouldn't be ignored because of classification.
I was initially drawn to this book by Dan McCarthy's beautiful and irresistible cover and the beauty continues inside: 17-year-old Marcelo has a mild form autism, classified has Asperger syndrome. Marcelo's father wants his son to work at his law firm for the summer and get a taste of the real world. Francisco X. Stork created an amazing and unforgettable character in Marcelo.

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King
Lenore from Presenting Lenore says:  This high concept, genre-bending mix of historical fiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy has a mind-numbingly brilliant premise: famous pirate Emer is cursed to live 100 dog lives before being born in the 20th century as a poor girl (Saffron) whose goal in life is to get to Jamaica to dig up her long buried treasure.
Best of all, it delivers in its execution, with a rich story spanning four centuries and several continents with a focus on two very different (albeit mystically linked) heroines. It manages the spectacular feat of being epic and intimate at the same time. An absolute delight.

Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart
Melissa from Book Nut says:  This book is a lot of things: it's a mystery, but not an edge-of-your-toes compelling mystery. Like everything else in the book, it's reflective and poetic. It's a ghost story, but not a scary, supernatural one. And yes, there is a boy, so it does qualify as a romance, but it's not a swoon-worthy, heart-fluttery one. Across all of these genres, the one thing that stands out about this book is Beth Kephart's use of the English language. Haunting, beautiful in its simplicity, and effortlessly descriptive — her choice of words is what keeps you turning pages, what you remember, and what you savor when you finish this book.

Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine
Kelly Holmes from YAnnabe says:  Rowan is a girl dealing with grief and a depressed mother when a mysterious boy comes into her life. Sounds like a downer, but it's not. Rowan isn’t huddled in a corner, sobbing until dehydration sets in. She’s getting on with her life.
I think about this book at least once a week. If I’m at home when it happens, I wander over to the bookshelf and crack it open to re-read whatever part I was remembering. And it gets better every time.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Lorena from YAthenaeum says:  What's not to like about Hush, Hush? If its amazing cover doesn't just make you grab for it, the loaded content within its pages surely will. I literally couldn't put it down. The characters are so intricately crafted, but in ways that you just wouldn't expect.
Patch, at a first glance, seems like your everyday bad boy, but the layers of his character are just beautifully interlaced — I honestly felt he'd fly right out of the book. Hush, Hush isn't all rainbows and romance, though. It's dark, it's deep, and the mystery of the story is so rich, the whole "one more chapter before bed" thing isn't going to work. It's got action, it's got romance, it's got mystery, revenge, chases, true love, miracles. Point is, it has just a little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy.

Pick Yourself Up Books

10 Books to Pick Yourself Up With (And a Song of Resilience)
a book list by Cesca Janece Waterfield, author of the Bartab: An Afterhours Ballad
shelved under Self-Help

Manuals meant to motivate are never as plainly instructive as "How to Reinvent Yourself" or "The Art and Science of Starting Over." But that’s okay. Reinvention is a note passed between you and your essential self – the voice inside that just knows. Remember the woman you pictured when your grandmother enigmatically said, "Still waters run deep"? When launching your voyage to self-discovery, what you take along is between you and her – your original spirit, your sixth sense.

Still... a little direction, a favorable wind or whisper can clarify the rhythms and blues of living through inevitable storms, or at least help you find a groove in the sway.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones
Virginia Woolf famously said, "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." We often save the good stuff for when guests visit. This cookbook asks, why wait? Jones, who was editor for both Julia Child and James Beard, offers delicious recipes and dozens of tips for experimentation so that when dining alone, you can fix food as fine as the company.

Kinky by Denise Duhamel
Instead of taking lessons from Barbie, like most every American girl has since 1959, we could all learn a thing or two from Denise Duhamel. In Kinky, the poet gives us 43 poems about Barbie that, like their curvaceous protagonist, are neatly accessorized — with social commentary and playful charm. It’s not all dreamhouse bliss, however. Duhamel inventively explores and challenges issues of sexuality, body image, race and culture in a way that, unlike those dreary statistics and documentaries, you’ll want to return to.

The Blessing: A Memoir by Gregory Orr
In this haunting memoir, acclaimed poet Gregory Orr describes the defining moment of his early life — when he accidentally killed his brother in a hunting accident. With candor and lucid insight, he reveals how the tragedy would influence every moment that followed and ultimately lead him to a life of poetry and civil rights activism. Even when describing unimaginable grief, The Blessing is wrought with beautiful prose and is a lesson to anyone of the mysterious triumphs even our darkest days can yield.

Appetites: Why Women Want by Caroline Knapp
Knapp provides compelling evidence for what social science data has incontrovertibly shown — a woman’s drives are limited and directed by the culture-at-large. While its premise may sound academic, Appetites is accessible and readable; its face sadly familiar. By the time they’re toddlers, girls have been saturated in biased edicts. As women, they’re targets of powerful messages at odds with their well-being and fulfillment. Rising in this dissonance, how does a woman know what it is she needs? What she wants? It’s difficult to imagine a more important topic or a writer more capable than Knapp of illustrating what can happen when our instincts for survival — for food, love, self-worth, success — are distorted. More importantly, Appetites will prompt you into making your own discoveries of what sustains your soul.

Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers by Lois P. Frankel
It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, this book offers guidance on how to avoid unconscious self-sabotage and stake a claim to the prime real estate of self-confidence. While Frankel focuses on professional judgment calls, she follows each common "mistake" with coaching pointers that are practical and realistic steps in a lifestyle of self-respect and assurance. That kind of guidance can empower every corner of living.

I'll Be Your Mirror edited by Nan Goldin, David Armstrong, Hans Werner Holzwarth
Not only is photographer Nan Goldin one hell of a survivor, she documented her life in provocative images that resonate with the spontaneity and intimacy of snapshots. From her bohemian drift through New York City's demimonde to her rise as an international star in the art world, I’ll Be Your Mirror collects some of Goldin’s most memorable images. These questions of sexuality, desire and the quest for beauty feel familiar. They may remind you that each day of your life comprises a narrative of your making and even your most personal experiences have universal value.

Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg
A series of short timed writings, this old friend gets you writing immediately. The writing prompts are excursions into your life and memories. The advice of Goldberg — a widely respected writing instructor and proven memoirist — can lead you to a new way of looking; a new awareness of sensual details. And whether you aim to explore your life in the pages of a private journal or share your story with the world, you’ll take from this book what you put into it.

Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex by Nina Hartley
No matter what your flavor, this straightforward and informative book has something for everyone. Written by registered nurse, former stripper and porn star, this book is adventurous, funny and easy to read. It’s an essential tool for improving, intensifying or renovating your sex life.

Life: Heaven on Earth: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime by Editors of Life Magazine
If you don't have a dream destination, how will you know when you arrive? This book is 128 pages of breathtaking landscapes, pulse-soothing seascapes, and stunning panoramas. It can inspire your next vacation or simply offer a relaxing respite on a hectic afternoon.

The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying by Suze Orman
Any revision of your life has to include an evaluation of your relationship to money and investing. Orman’s straightforward advice emphasizes overall accountability and includes specific tips anyone can implement.

Pick Yourself Up with Anita O'Day
In the school of hard knocks, jazz singer Anita O’Day could be headmistress. But she’s unlike any disciplinarian you remember. This Mistress of Reinvention devised an innovative and signature vocal style because a botched throat surgery left her unable to sing conventionally. She changed her last name from Colton to O’Day, which is Pig Latin for "dough," or slang for "money." O’Day was pioneering, witty, bold, hip, irreverent and gorgeous. Although she died in 2006, performances like those on Pick Yourself Up have immortalized the "Jezebel of Jazz."

Best Books About Love

9 of the Best Books About Love... that Your Book Club Probably Hasn't Read
a book list by Flashlight Worthy's favorite book bloggers

Love. What topic could possibly generate more discussion in your book club than that?
With that simple premise I asked some of the most prolific book bloggers I know to share their picks for the most romantic titles your book club would enjoy. I'm happy to say the result is quite a diverse list — there are a number of (dare I say it?) lovely titles I'm confident that your club hasn't read.

Blankets by Craig Thompson
Shannon Rigney Keane from I'm thinking... says: Books about first love aren't hard to find, but I've never encountered one like this. This 600-page memoir in graphic novel form is heart-breakingly true. Thompson's book is the best that a story can be — the details and authenticity bring his world alive, while the universal ideas about growing up, yearning, and love will take the reader on a nostalgic journey back to her own first, transformative, love. And while I've never read this title in the context of a book club, bringing up memories of your first significant love should provide more than enough fodder for discussion.

O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell
Julie from Booking Mama says: "The funny thing about O, Juliet is that I knew how the story was going to end (O happy dagger!); and I still couldn't put this book down. I liked that this story had the traditional passion between Romeo and Juliet, and yet there was also the good versus bad element. I definitely was intrigued by the story (and the suspense), and I really enjoyed the character of Juliet and how Ms. Maxwell developed her.
O, Juliet would make a fabulous book club selection in my opinion. Since the book is based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet there are many things to compare and contrast between the two works. In addition, some other topics you might consider are true love, family obligations, parent/child relationships, friendship, and betrayal.

My Life in France by Julia Child, Alex Prud'Homme
Heather J. from Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books says: Just about everyone in the world has at least heard of Julia Child, the famous "French Chef," though I'll bet that there are a lot of things about Julia that you don't know. This book is an exploration of love — how she came to fall in love with French cooking, her love of learning, and the amazing love between Julia and her husband, Paul.
Adventurous book groups could make her recipes for their meeting, but all book groups will find fodder for discussion in Julia's passion and drive, her commitment to her work, and her successful marriage. Why can't more people be like Julia?

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Cindy Hudson from Mother Daughter Book Club.com says: This young adult title tells the story of two sisters who live with their family in a crumbling castle in the English countryside. They survive on the dwindling royalties of a best-selling book their father wrote years ago, but times are tight now. When two American men inherit their grandfather's estate down the road, one of the sisters sees the possibility of love while the other sees a way out of their genteel poverty.
All of the characters grow and change in complex ways throughout the book though the narrative focuses on the younger sister maturing into adulthood. We read this in our mother-daughter book club when our daughters were 13 and discussed the changing role of women in society, love and marriage, money, children and their parents, moral and ethical decisions, what part religion plays in our lives and more.
The book is so well-written that when we talked about our favorite scenes in the book all twelve of us named a difference scene. I think that's amazing depth for one book. Finally, adult book clubs should enjoy it just as much, if not more, than mother-daughter book clubs.

Katherine
Philippa Gregory, by Anya Seton
Shannon Rigney Keane from I'm thinking... says: You've heard of The Other Boleyn Girl, but chances are you've never heard of author Anya Seton. Seton's historical romances are well-researched, exquisitely told stories. Katherine, first published in the mid-1950s, is the story of two people who fall truly, deeply in love, even though they shouldn't. Seton writes of a love that is imperfect and inopportune, but worth protecting no matter the cost. Although no one gets beheaded, your book club will still find itself breathless at the end, and eager to discuss all the complexities — adultery, obligation, loyalty, even murder — of this real historical romance.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, edited by Angus Easson
Suey from It's All About Books says: My book club has been going strong for about six years now, and Wives and Daughters was one of our most favorite reads. It has so many different relationships to explore. Of course, there's the obvious between Mr. Gibson and his new wife and Mr. Gibson and his daughter. But then there's also the friction between Molly and her new stepmother and Molly and her stepsister, Cynthia. But the part where love comes in is the complicated relationship between Cynthia and Roger, and Molly and Roger. It's a perfect book for Valentines Day reading!

The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel by Alain De Botton
Gayle Weiswasser from Everyday I Write The Book says: Alain de Botton's The Romantic Movement, a philosophical yet light-hearted analysis of a modern, urban love affair from start to finish, is a perfect Valentine's Day read. de Botton's smart, witty writing, complete with diagrams, equations, and short (but accessible) detours into philosophy, make The Romantic Movement an unforgettable novel about the ups and downs that relationships take. I could read this one over and over again.

The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams
Heather J. from Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books says: It is the late 16th century in Seville, Spain when we meet Don Juan de Marco. We learn of his childhood living in a convent, his training as a swordsman and spy, and his love of beautiful women. And we see this legendary seducer fall in love himself. Although a bit flowery at times, this book provides amazing descriptions of life in the 1500s and also explores whether true love and passion can last a lifetime, giving book groups much to discuss.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Lisa Munley from Books On The Brain says: On Monday nights, Lillian teaches a cooking class at her restaurant. Eight students make their way to class, coming through the side gate and following the golden glow to the kitchen in back, where they will learn to cook from a woman who knows how to inspire her students to create food from the heart and from their memories rather than from a recipe. Reminiscent of Garden Spells and Like Water for Chocolate, there is a bit of magical realism to the book — but just a touch — not overdone at all. Bauermeister’s vividly detailed descriptions of food leave your mouth watering and put you right into Lillian’s kitchen. The writing is richly textured, lush and sensual — really quite beautiful. Themes for discussion in book groups could include long term relationships, dating, the role of food in families and in courtship, what essential ingredients are needed for love, romance, marriage, happiness. A lovely debut novel that felt like it was written by a wise old soul, foodies and romantics alike will enjoy this story.

Best Books Set in India

10 of the Best Books Set in India (with all its Multitudinous Mysteries and Maladies) a book list by J.M. Donellan, author of A Beginner's Guide to Dying in India

When I first arrived in India I was working on a novel about a rockstar sliding into insanity. When I returned home four months later I was inexplicably carrying the fast-forming foetus of my novel: A Beginner’s Guide to Dying in India. To put it simply, India was a country that I couldn't NOT write about. Of course, the very word 'India' is really only a working title for a story which contains a multitude of races, languages, religions and cultures so varied that referring to it by simple terms such as 'nation' or 'country' is really like referring to the hundred years war as "a little scuffle between rivals."

I thought I'd describe a few of the books that led to my fascination with India, and in turn chip in my two cents (or rupees as the case may be) in the form of my first novel. Some of these books have won the Booker Prize and the like, which is nice. Mine received no such accolades, but I did have a girl send me a naked photo of herself reading it. I bet Salman Rushdie can’t claim that now can he?
Shantaram

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
I thought I’d mention this one first, because every time I tell someone that I’ve written a novel set in India their immediate reaction is "Oh! So it’s like Shantaram!" To which I typically respond "Yeah, it’s set in India so it’s therefore exactly the same story. Just like how Sleepless in Seattle and Terminator 2 are both set in America and therefore virtually indistinguishable." Griping aside, this is an excellent novel. And as an added bonus it’s thick enough to beat a man over the head with, should the situation ever arise.

Shiva 3000 by Jan Lars Jensen
Basically just your ordinary, run of the mill, monkey-warrior-waging-war-on-Hindu gods-that-are-actually-giant-mechanical-constructs-in-the-distant-future type story.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
This book not only won the Booker prize, but the Booker of Booker prizes, meaning that it was judged to be the best novel to win the prize in its 25 year history. Fair enough, Rushdie is a master storyteller and this is arguably the greatest of his many brilliant novels. However, a part of me wonders whether the prize shouldn’t have gone to Booker T and the MGs for their classic song 'Green Onions.' Sure, it’s not technically a novel, but the aptness of the titling just seems too good to go past.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
This is another novel that also presents itself as a viable option for use in hand-to-hand combat. Seth’s epic tale of love, marriage and family values weighs in just shy of 1,500 pages. It’s a pretty good read, but the main reason I put this book on the list is because a friend I traveled with in Bolivia met Mr. Seth on a tour and subsequently spent the next three days fielding hilariously extravagant sexual advances from the much older literary genius. You’ve got to admire an author who not only has the courage to pen an epic masterpiece, but also hit on a very clearly heterosexual man over thirty years his junior in the middle of the Bolivian salt flats.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
I bought this book after misreading the title as Life of Pie. After spending the first 200 pages becoming increasingly frustrated with the complete absence of any kind of baked product, it gradually dawned on me that this was nevertheless a brilliant piece of fiction.

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald
Like my own novel, this is the story of an Australian who unexpectedly finds themselves in India and has a series of strange and marvelous adventures. Unlike my novel, this is a true story that sold bazillions of copies.  Once, at a book signing at an abandoned lunatic asylum in Sydney, I had a woman pick up my novel and say "I loved your reading! Your book sounds AMAZING! Is it a true story?" And I replied, "Well, it was influenced by my time in India and some of the characters are based on real people but no, its essentially fiction." To which she answered, "Oh. I thought it was a true story." And put the book down and walked away.

The Bhagavad Gita translated by Eknath Easwaran
I know what you’re thinking: "Hey! This is the novel that those bloody shaved-headed Hare Krishna's shove in my face when I’m just minding my own business and trying not to have my materialistic self-serving values called into question, the jerks!" And you’d be right.
Often when they try and offer it me I respond "Oh, I’ve already read that." To which they reply "But this a NEW edition!" Really? So suddenly a text that has been around for over two thousand years has a NEW edition?! Give me ten copies!
They are right about one thing though; you should read this. In a nutshell, it’s allegorical tale of war which sums up the Hindu philosophy and world view in the form of an epic poem. Basically one of the cornerstones of all Hindu teaching.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
When I was working at a volunteer operation in India I met a lovely librarian (doesn’t that just roll off the tongue?) named Heather who told me of all the thousands of books she’d ever read, this was her favorite. I can see why. Not only is this compelling writing with a strong narrative, it also sums up life in Mumbai in the 1970s more succinctly than any history book you could ever hope to read.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Ralph Freedman, Joachim Neugroschel
Often listed on those "100 books you must read before you die" type lists, this is a classic philosophical/allegorical tale that explores Indian culture and Buddhist philosophy. Also it’s not very long, so if you ARE about to die and are trying to get through 100 books before that happens, you should probably put this one on your reading pile.

Gitanjali: A Collection of Indian Poems by the Nobel Laureate by Rabindranath Tagore, William Butler Yeats
They don’t hand out Nobel prizes to just any old chump, and indeed "chump" is a term that, until about thirteen words ago, had never once appeared in close proximity to the name of the revered Mr. Tagore. The Calcuttan poet’s influence on Indian culture is immeasurable, and this is well known as his masterpiece.

Adventurous Books

11 Long-Neglected Candidates for Adventurous Book Clubs
a book list by Brad Bigelow, editor of The Neglected Book Page

For every new title that makes it onto Oprah's Book Club list, there are a hundred other worthy books that go unread for no other reason than that seemingly unpardonable sin of having been more than a year or two on the shelves. If a book's not in the best-seller lists, on the new releases table, or on the required reading list of some class, its chances of being read rest on word-of-mouth recommendations and the occasional serendipitous discovery of a dedicated browser.
For book clubs willing to look past the obvious and reach past the last year's worth of releases, here are eleven titles that will definitely repay their readers and generate plenty of discussion.

The Lake by George Moore
The novelist Kay Boyle once said that throughout her life, this book gave her courage as an artist. The story of a frustrated priest trapped in a little Irish town, it's also a parable about the cost of settling for less and the rewards of taking a chance. Anyone who ever thought about living their life over should read this quietly powerful novel.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
This book, written in the 1920s by an American, anticipates much of the "magic realism" of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and other South American writers forty years later. It's astonishing to think that a reserved Yale graduate wrote this novel when he was short of thirty, because it exhibits a wisdom about the human spirit that is sometimes jaw-dropping in its depth and insight. A bridge in colonial Peru breaks, casting a carriage full of people into a chasm. Why did it happen? What caused them all to be there? Wilder manages to turn the incident into a remarkable meditation on the meaning of life. A masterpiece.

Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton
One of Wharton's last books, written in the late 1920s when more than a few people probably thought she was already dead. It's about New York society, as usual, but during the Jazz Age, when the Four Hundred were being cast aside by a new generation. Yet even though Wharton was 60 when she wrote this, she shows a fine currency with the ideas and ways of a much younger generation. It's a Fitzgerald novel written by someone who strolled arm-in-arm with Henry James. A rich, fascinating book.

The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
This novel was made into a stunning film starring Liv Ullmann and Max van Sydow back in the 1970s. The first volume of a quadrilogy, it tells the story of a poor Swedish farm family who leaves the old country, endures constant hardship, sickness, death, and disappointments in their journey to found a new home in Minnesota. Yet as grim as that sounds, Moberg writes a narrative that's as gripping at points as the best thriller. How will the family make it? How will they make sense of the strangeness of their new land? You will definitely come away with profound respect for the toughness and endurance of our ancestors.

The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig, translated by Joel Rotenberg
Zweig has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the last few years, and this recent release by New York Review Classics is one of the highlights of the spate of Zweig reissues.
Christine, a poor clerk in a little Austrian post office, is suddenly pulled into the highest tier of society thanks to a long-lost cousin. The luxury and comfort are intoxicating, but just as suddenly she is tossed aside and back in the gloomy post office. Then a man of questionable motives comes along with a plan to get back in the money.
Will she go along? Will it work? Zweig's hypnotic storytelling will have you finishing this book before you even realize it.

Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell
This is considered one of the all-time great Canadian novels, but few Americans have ever heard of, let alone read it — which is our loss.  It's the story of a young boy growing up in a small town on the prairies of Alberta, and Mitchell's gentle but profoundly beautiful prose makes his simple tale deeply moving and unforgettable. It belongs on the shelf next to To Kill a Mockingbird and William Maxwell's They Came Like Swallows. I don't know how I happened to come across this book, but it's one of the best accidents in my reading life.

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage, afterword by Annie Proulx
This novel about the tension between two brothers on a Montana ranch over a woman is what Steinbeck could have accomplished in East of Eden if he hadn't lost all sense of control and artistry. Savage's characters could easily rub elbows with Annie Proulx's cowboys, so it's no surprise that Proulx wrote the afterword when this book was reissued a few years ago. Critic Roger Sale once called it, "the finest single book I know about the modern West."  Savage unreels the story through the eyes of at least a dozen different people, displaying a subtlety that provides an effective contrast to the rough and violent events.

The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss
A one-time Pulitzer Prize winner, this is one of the best books by America's most prolific novelists of society, the acknowledge successor to Edith Wharton.  This story of the headmaster of one of the East Coast's most prestigious boarding schools — modelled on Endicott Peabody, the legendary headmaster of Groton who presided over FDR's wedding — demonstrates Auchincloss's remarkable technical skills. But even better, it benefits from his perspectives as an insider, always able to see both the facade of manners and the underlying compromises, shams, and hypocrisies.

Missing Person by Grumbach Doris
This is the life of Marilyn Monroe as told by Dorothy Kilgallen — not that anyone remembers who Dorothy Kilgallen was. To me, this is hands-down best novel inspired by Monroe's life. It's also a reflection on what it meant to be a working woman in the 1950s by a writer who 'd been a working woman herself for over fifty years by the time she wrote this.

The Death of the Detective by Mark Smith
For the more ambitious book clubs. This book weighs in at over 600 pages, and those pages are packed with some of the most atmospheric and intense prose written in America in the past forty years. But there's also a cracking good story about a madman at loose, slitting throats, and a veteran detective hot on his trail. There's corruption, suggestions of incest and addiction, neon lights reflecting off rain-soaked streets, and the noise and smoke and smell of a city bursting with life and activity. There's so much going on here that other books seem like 98-pound weaklings after you finish it.

Selected Short Stories of John O'Hara by John O'Hara
Short stories are notorious as the loss leaders of the publishing business, and I doubt that one in a hundred book clubs ever pick a short story collection. But O'Hara's stories are the literary equivalent of potato chips: I defy you to stop after one. They're full of sex and booze and money and passion and play out with the speed of a bootlegger on a back road.

World War II & Holocaust Fiction and Non-Fiction

World War II & Holocaust Fiction (and Non-Fiction) for Your Book Club
a book list by Serena Agusto-Cox & Anna Horner, bloggers at War Through the Generations

History is important for societal and personal growth, and book clubs will find that these selections will challenge not only their perceptions, but also their beliefs. Both fiction and non-fiction, these books are thought provoking and heartbreaking, yet hopeful in some cases. Lively discussion about the horrors of which humanity is capable and how people can survive against all odds are expected when reading these books.

He Was My Chief: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Secretary by Christa Schroeder, Roger Moorhouse
The memoir of one of Hitler's personal secretaries gives readers a behind-the-scene glimpse of one of the most evil men to have ever lived. Schroeder is never apologetic, and in a gossipy tone, she talks about Hitler as a person, detailing his personality, his mannerisms, his mood swings, his iron will, his food and conversation preferences, and his relationships with women.
Seeing Hitler through the eyes of someone who worked with him, respected him, and challenged him does not alter the common perception of him as a madman but provides a fuller picture of one of history's most notorious mass murderers and is bound to generate discussion.


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
A novel in letters between writer Juliet Ashton, her friends Sidney and Sophia, and her new friends from the Guernsey Channel Islands. Letters from the remaining residents of Guernsey and their exploits as part of a literary society during the German occupation begin pouring in to help Ashton with her series of articles and spur her muse into action. Lively and real, these character leap off the page.

Night of Flames of World War II by Douglas W. Jacobson
This is a gritty "spy" novel set during World War II beginning in 1939 during the invasion of Poland by the Nazis. The main protagonists Anna and Jan Kopernik are separated by war and face near misses with the wrath of the Germans. This is a fast-paced novel that pushed through the front lines and skulks in the shadows of the resistance, detailing the lives of ordinary citizens who rise up to reclaim their homeland and their dignity in the face of adversity.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Jamie Ford's novel is a love story that begins in 1942 when Chinese-American Henry meets Japanese-American Keiko. Love blossoms amid discrimination and is put to the test when Keiko's family is sent to an internment camp. Henry's story moves between the past and his failed relationship with his father and his love for Keiko to the present in which he is a widower on a mission to reclaim the past after the belongings of several Japanese families are found in the basement of Seattle's Panama Hotel. The book touches upon several subjects: war, romance, family conflict, racial tension, and the immigrant experience.

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
A novel set in Colorado shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and narrated by a young teen who is confused by the world around her, particularly a home town that rounds up the Japanese and places them in an internment camp near her home called Tall Grass. It also touches upon the harm caused by wrong-headed government policies, the fear that leads to prejudice and hatred, and the impact a war can have on everyone.

Coventry by Helen Humphreys
A slim novel that tells the story of the German bombing of Coventry, England, on Nov. 14, 1940, through the eyes of Harriet, a widow of the Great War, and Maeve, an artist and single mother whose son is a fire watcher. Humphreys brings a sad day in history to life with vivid imagery, making readers feel as though they are in the city with the bombs falling around them. The book shows ordinary people pushed into action during wartime and how horrific events can bring strangers together.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Sarah's Key is a heartbreaking novel that centers on a real but little known incident that occurred in France during World War II.  The Vélodrome d'Hiver roundup on July 16, 1942, involved thousands of Jewish families being taken from their homes and housed for days in disgusting, degrading conditions in the Paris stadium before they were taken to the Auschwitz gas chambers. More than 4,000 Jewish children ages 2 to 12 were killed.
Tatiana de Rosnay tells the story of the roundup through a fictional little girl who tries to protect her younger brother by locking him in a secret cupboard in their bedroom, believing that she and her parents will return home in a matter of hours. Six decades later, Sarah's story is uncovered by an American journalist living in Paris, who gets wrapped up in her investigation at the same time she is trying to save her marriage. The book shows how well-meaning people can spend their lives trying to cover up wrongdoing, but shining the light on such events can both destroy lives and set people free.

Words that Burn Within Me: Faith, Values, Survival by Hilda Stern Cohen
A collection of photographs, essays, stories, snippets of interviews, and poems detailing Cohen's experiences during the war and the Holocaust as a German resident. Hilda talks about happier times in her village and with her sister, the trials of childhood and being bullied, but soon the reality of politics sets in and her family is forced to leave their ancestral home. Cohen's writing is sparse but detailed in its observations of those around her in the ghetto and the concentration camps. Her keen eye examines the impact of starvation on her fellow neighbors and on her family members, and it also sheds light on how well her family and herself cope with their situation.

Night by Elie Wiesel

Wiesel's recollections of his experiences during the Holocaust are vivid and haunting. His words are heavy with darkness, desolation, and the loss of faith in the midst of evil. It is among the most well-known Holocaust memoirs.

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
A time travel novel that finds a 12-year-old Jewish girl tired of hearing the same family stories over and over again transported from her home in New York to a Polish village in 1942. She knows the history of the Holocaust and the fate of the Jews, but she cannot convince the Jews of the village to run when they encounter Nazis who tell them that they must relocate. Though targeting middle grade readers, the book gives readers of all ages a detailed description of life in the concentration camps and emphasizes the importance of remembering.

Penguin's decade-defining books (1950s-80s)

Penguin's decade-defining books

The publisher has selected its 'landmark' titles from four decades to celebrate its 75th birthday, but how smart is the premise?
t seems like no time at all since Penguin was celebrating its 70th birthday, but the publisher has now made it to 75 years of age and is about to roll out its latest promotional celebration. This time around, it's decided to select the books it published which "helped shape modern Britain", picking five novels from each of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and publishing them in April with new introductions from the likes of Ali Smith and Jeremy Paxman.
"When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood," Penguin says. "All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling."
Now, this is a tricky business. Not only is Penguin limited to its own titles for its choice, but its selectors will have wanted to steer clear of any controversy: last time round, on its 70th anniversary, the publisher received some flak for only choosing two non-white authors for the 70 Pocket Penguins it released to mark the occasion. I think the selectors have done ok, considering – there's lots of books I've read and loved on the list (hurrah for Susan Hill, whose I'm the King of the Castle absolutely terrified me, Angela Carter, who surely anyone sensible can't get enough of, and Barry Hines's unforgettable Kes), and there's also lots there which I've been intending to read for ages. A Clockwork Orange works well for the 60s, I think, and From Russia with Love fits with the 50s.
That said, though, they probably set themselves an impossible task – is it really feasible to choose the books which defined a decade? I found it tough enough to choose my favourite book of the year in December, and I'd be hard pressed to steer away from personal preference in order to choose a defining title of the year, let alone the decade. Should it give the flavour of the period? Be the most high-profile title? The best?
The choice of decades reflects this dilemma to some extent. Penguin said that the 90s and 00s were excluded for being "a little too recent; the books that defined those decades hadn't quite been settled on." They also decided not to include the 1940s because, "being Penguin's first full decade the list was relatively narrow, and the Penguin Modern Classics list has managed to represent that decade quite fully already".
Still, good on Penguin for trying, I say, and for reminding us of a brilliant backlist rather than just focusing on the new. I'd love to hear about other decade-defining titles out there, Penguin or otherwise, which you think were missed – and also what you make of Penguin's selections.
The list:
1950s
Scenes from Provincial Life by William Cooper
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
1960s
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
The British Museum is Falling Down by David Lodge
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
Another Part of the Wood by Beryl Bainbridge
1970s
I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill
Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter
The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
Treasures of Time by Penelope Lively
1980s
A Month in the Country by JL Carr
An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
Paradise Postponed by John Mortimer
Latecomers by Anita Brookner

Sunday, March 14, 2010

1000 Novels everyone must Read

Read in the last ~5 years
Read before that
To Be Read – Added to Goodreads

Comedy (149) - have read 4, currently reading 1
Crime (148) - have read 8, currently reading 1
Family and self (146) - have read 14, currently reading 0
Love (141) - have read 17, currently reading 0
Science fiction and fantasy (149) - have read 16, currently reading 1
State of the nation (134) - have read 16, currently reading 1
War and travel (133) - have read 18, currently reading 0
2nd (more exact) count = 974 - better try again!, 1st count totals 999 -- off only 1 in my counting.
Selected by the Guardian's Review team and a panel of expert judges, this list includes only novels – no memoirs, no short stories, no long poems – from any decade and in any language. Originally published in thematic supplements – love, crime, comedy, family and self, state of the nation, war and travel – they appear here for the first time in a single list.

Feel we've left off a crucial book? Email to us with your nomination and an explanation in no more than 150 words at review@guardian.co.uk, or post your submission to The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, by 4 February.

Comedy (149) - have read 4, currently reading 1

1.Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
2.Money by Martin Amis
3.The Information by Martin Amis
4.The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge
5.According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge
6.Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
7.A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes
8.Augustus Carp, Esq. by Himself: Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man by Henry Howarth Bashford
9.Molloy by Samuel Beckett
10.Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm

11. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Queen Lucia by EF Benson
The Ascent of Rum Doodle by WE Bowman
A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd
The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
No Bed for Bacon by Caryl Brahms and SJ Simon
Illywhacker by Peter Carey
A Season in Sinji by JL Carr
The Harpole Report by JL Carr

21. The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary
The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
Just William by Richmal Crompton
The Provincial Lady by EM Delafield
Slouching Towards Kalamazoo by Peter De Vries
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

31. Jacques the Fatalist and his Master by Denis Diderot
A Fairy Tale of New York by JP Donleavy
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle
Ennui by Maria Edgeworth
Cheese by Willem Elsschot
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Caprice by Ronald Firbank
Bouvard et Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert

41. Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn
The Polygots by William Gerhardie
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Brewster's Millions by Richard Greaves (George Barr McCutcheon)
Squire Haggard's Journal by Michael Green
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene

51. Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgkins
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal
The Lecturer's Tale by James Hynes
Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
The Mighty Walzer Howard by Jacobson

61. Pictures from an Institution by Randall Jarrell
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
The Castle by Franz Kafka
Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (Gil Blas) Alain-René Lesage
Changing Places by David Lodge
Nice Work by David Lodge

71. The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay
England, Their England by AG Macdonell
Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie
Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf by David Madsen
Cakes and Ale - Or, the Skeleton in the Cupboard by W Somerset Maugham
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
Puckoon by Spike Milligan
The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills
Charade by John Mortimer

81. Titmuss Regained by John Mortimer
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul
The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin
La Disparition by Georges Perec
Les Revenentes by Georges Perec
La Vie Mode d'Emploi by Georges Perec
My Search for Warren Harding by Robert Plunkett

91. A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell
A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym
Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau
Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler
Alms for Oblivion by Simon Raven
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
The Westminster Alice by Saki
The Unbearable Bassington by Saki

101. Hurrah for St Trinian's by Ronald Searle
Great Apes by Will Self
Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe
Blott on the Landscape by Tom Sharpe
Office Politics by Wilfrid Sheed
Belles Lettres Papers: A Novel by Charles Simmons
Moo by Jane Smiley
Topper Takes a Trip by Thorne Smith
The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett #3
The Adventures of Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett #1

111. The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett #2
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett #4
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
White Man Falling by Mike Stocks
Handley Cross by RS Surtees

121. A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift
Penrod by Booth Tarkington
The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell
Tropic of Ruislip by Leslie Thomas
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
Venus on the Half-Shell by Kilgore Trout
The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

131. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon
Tono Bungay by HG Wells

141. Molesworth by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle
The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams
Anglo-Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson
Something Fresh by PG Wodehouse (#18: SOMETHING NEW in USA)
Piccadilly Jim by PG Wodehouse (#20)
Thank You Jeeves by PG Wodehouse (#51)
Heavy Weather by PG Wodehouse (#50)
The Code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse (#60)
149. Joy in the Morning by PG Wodehouse (#65)

Crime (148) - have read 8, currently reading 1

1. The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
2. Fantomas by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre
3. The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler (published in USA as Coffin for Dimitrios)
4. Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler
5. Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler
6. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
7. Trent's Last Case by EC Bentley
8. The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
9. The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake
10. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary E Braddon

11. The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
Greenmantle by John Buchan
The Asphalt Jungle by WR Burnett
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain
Double Indemnity by James M Cain
True History of the Ned Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

21. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase
The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

31. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad
Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Poetic Justice by Amanda Cross

41. The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter
The Remorseful Day by Colin Dexter
Ratking by Michael Dibdin
Dead Lagoon by Michael Dibdin
Dirty Tricks by Michael Dibdin
A Rich Full Death by Michael Dibdin
Vendetta by Michael Dibdin
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

51. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Pledge by Friedrich Durrenmatt
The Crime of Father Amado by José Maria de Eça de Queiroz
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
LA Confidential by James Ellroy
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
A Quiet Belief in Angels by RJ Ellory
Sanctuary by William Faulkner

61. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene
The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene
The Third Man by Graham Greene
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
The King of Torts by John Grisham

71. Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Black Sunday by Thomas Harris
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V Higgins

81. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill
A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles
Silence of the Grave by Arnadur Indridason
Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes
Cover Her Face by PD James

91. A Taste for Death by PD James
Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman
Misery by Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
The Constant Gardener by John le Carre
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
52 Pick-up by Elmore Leonard

101. Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Cop Hater by Ed McBain
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
Sidetracked by Henning Mankell
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
The Great Impersonation by E Phillips Oppenheim

111. The Strange Borders of Palace Crescent by E Phillips Oppenheim
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Toxic Shock by Sara Paretsky
Blacklist by Sara Paretsky
Nineteen Seventy Four by David Peace
Nineteen Seventy Seven by David Peace
The Big Blowdown by George Pelecanos
Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos
Lush Life by Richard Price
The Godfather by Mario Puzo

121. V by Thomas Pynchon
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Black and Blue by Ian Rankin
The Hanging Gardens by Ian Rankin
Exit Music by Ian Rankin
Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell
Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell
Dissolution by CJ Sansom
Whose Body? by Dorothy L Sayers
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers

131. The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon
The Blue Room by Georges Simenon
The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
The Getaway by Jim Thompson

141. Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine
A Fatal inversion by Barbara Vine
King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine
The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Native Son by Richard Wright
148. Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

Family and self (146) - have read 16, currently reading 1

1. The Face of Another by Kobo Abe
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
4. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
5. Epileptic by David B
6. Room Temperature by Nicholson Baker
7. Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac
8. Le Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac
9. The Crow Road by Iain Banks
10. The L Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks

11. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett
A Legacy by Sybille Bedford
Herzog by Saul Bellow
Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett
G by John Berger
Extinction by Thomas Bernhard
Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
Any Human Heart by William Boyd

21. The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch
Evelina by Fanny Burney
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
The Sound of my Voice by Ron Butlin
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Wise Children by Angela Carter
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Les Enfants Terrible by Jean Cocteau

31. The Vagabond by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett
Being Dead by Jim Crace
Quarantine by Jim Crace
The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir
Roxana by Daniel Defoe
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
My New York Diary by Julie Doucet
The Millstone by Margaret Drabble

41. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Silence by Shusaku Endo
The Gathering by Anne Enright
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
Howards End by EM Forster
Spies by Michael Frayn
Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud

51. The Man of Property by John Galsworthy
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Immoralist by Andre Gide
The Vatican Cellars by Andre Gide
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
The Shrimp and the Anemone by LP Hartley
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

61. Narziss and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
The Three Paradoxes by Paul Hornschemeier
Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Ambassadors by Henry James
Washington Square by Henry James
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
The Unfortunates by BS Johnson
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Ulysses by James Joyce

71. Good Behaviour by Molly Keane
Memet my Hawk by Yasar Kemal
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
How Green was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
Martin Eden by Jack London

81. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
The Chateau by William Maxwell
The Rector's Daughter by FM Mayor
The Ordeal of Richard Feverek by George Meredith
Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo

91. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Who Do You Think You Are? by Alice Munro
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil
A House for Mr Biswas by VS Naipaul
At-Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness by Kezaburo Oe
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

101. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
The Good Companions by JB Priestley
The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
A Married Man by Piers Paul Read
Pointed Roofs by Dorothy Richardson
The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney by Henry Handel Richardson
Call it Sleep by Henry Roth
Julie, ou la Nouvelle Heloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

111. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Unless by Carol Shields
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Three Sisters by May Sinclair
The Family Moskat or The Manor or The Estate by Isaac Bashevis Singer
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

121. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
Confessions of Zeno by Italo Svevo
The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
Death in Summer by William Trevor

131. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
Peace in War by Miguel de Unamuno
The Rabbit Omnibus by John Updike
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Jimmy Corrigan, The Smarest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
Morvern Callar by Alan Warner
The History of Mr Polly by HG Wells
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
Frost in May by Antonia White
The Tree of Man by Patrick White

141. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
I'll Go to Bed at Noon by Gerard Woodward
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
146. Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

Love (141) - have read 21, currently reading 0


1. Le Grand Meaulnes by Henri Alain-Fournier
Dom Casmurro Joaquim by Maria Machado de Assis
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

11. The Garden of the Finzi-Cortinis by Giorgio Bassani
Love for Lydia by HE Bates
More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow
Lorna Doone by RD Blackmore
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Vilette by Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Look At Me by Anita Brookner

21. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Possession by AS Byatt
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
A Month in the Country by JL Carr
My Antonia by Willa Cather
A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
Claudine a l'ecole by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
Cheri by Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette
Victory: An Island Tale by Joseph Conrad

31. The Princess of Cleves by Madame de Lafayette
The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Adam Bede by George Eliot
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald

41. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
A Room with a View by EM Forster
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
Strait is the Gate by Andre Gide
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Goethe

51. Living by Henry Green
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
The Go-Between by LP Hartley
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

61. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer
Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer
The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest by WH Hudson
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James

71. The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
Beauty and Saddness by Yasunari Kawabata
The Far Pavillions by Mary Margaret Kaye
Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
Moon over Africa by Pamela Kent
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre-Ambroise-Francois Choderlos de Laclos
Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence
The Rainbow by DH Lawrence

81. Women in Love by DH Lawrence
The Echoing Grove by Rosamond Lehmann
The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
Zami by Audre Lorde
Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
Samarkand by Amin Maalouf
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
The Silent Duchess by Dacia Maraini
A Heart So White by Javier Marias

91. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
So Long, See you Tomorrow by William Maxwell
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
The Egoist by George Meredith
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

101. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Lolita, or the Confessions of a White Widowed Male by Vladimir Nabokov
The Painter of Signs by RK Narayan
Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
All Souls Day by Cees Nooteboom
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

111. Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Maurice Guest by Henry Handel Richardson
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
Light Years by James Salter
A Sport and a Passtime by James Salter

121. The Reader by Benhard Schlink
The Reluctant Orphan by Aara Seale
Love Story by Eric Segal
Enemies, a Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer
At Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Waterland by Graham Swift
Diary of a Mad Old Man by Junichiro Tanizaki

131.Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
First Love by Ivan Turgenev
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Graduate by Charles Webb
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
East Lynne by Ellen Wood
141. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Science fiction and fantasy (149) - have read 23, currently reading 1

1. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Non-Stop by Brian W Aldiss (USA title = Starship?)
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster
The Drowned World by JG Ballard
Crash by JG Ballard
Millennium People by JG Ballard
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

11. Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Darkmans by Nicola Barker
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Vathek by William Beckford
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite
Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown

21. Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Coming Race by EGEL Bulwer-Lytton
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The End of the World News by Anthony Burgess
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Erewhon by Samuel Butler
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

31. The Influence by Ramsey Campbell
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
The Man who was Thursday by GK Chesterton
Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Hello Summer, Goodbye by Michael G Coney

41. Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R Delaney
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick
Camp Concentration by Thomas M Disch
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Under the Skin by Michel Faber
The Magus by John Fowles

51. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Red Shift by Alan Garner
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Light by M John Harrison
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein
Dune by Frank L Herbert
The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse

61. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
Atomised by Michel Houellebecq
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Children of Men by PD James
After London; or, Wild England by Richard Jefferies
Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones

71. The Trial by Franz Kafka
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Shining by Stephen King
The Victorian Chaise-longue by Marghanita Laski
Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The Earthsea Series by Ursula Le Guin
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing
The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

81. The Monk by Matthew Lewis
A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
The Night Sessions by Ken Macleod
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Ascent by Jed Mercurio

91. The Scar by China Mieville
Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Mother London by Michael Moorcock
News from Nowhere by William Morris
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Ada or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

101. Ringworld by Larry Niven
Vurt by Jeff Noon
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
The Famished Road by Ben Okri
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and CM Kornbluth
A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys

111. The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett -have read some 25%?
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Female Man by Joanna Russ

121. Air by Geoff Ryman
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Blindness by Jose Saramago
How the Dead Live by Will Self
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula by Bram Stoker

131. The Insult by Rupert Thomson
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Institute Benjamenta by Robert Walser
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Affinity by Sarah Waters
The Time Machine by HG Wells

141. The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
The Sword in the Stone by TH White
The Old Men at the Zoo by Angus Wilson
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
149. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

State of the nation (134) - have read 19, currently reading 0

1. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe
London Fields by Martin Amis
Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand
Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
La Comedie Humaine by Honore de Balzac
They Were Counted by Miklos Banffy
A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn

11. Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
Room at the Top by John Braine
A Dry White Season by Andre Brink
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
The Virgin in the Garden by AS Byatt
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
The Plague by Albert Camus
The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier

21. What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe
Disgrace by JM Coetzee
Waiting for the Barbarians by JM Coetzee
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Underworld by Don DeLillo
White Noise by Don DeLillo
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

31. Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
Sybil or The Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
The Book of Daniel by EL Doctorow
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
USA by John Dos Passos

41. Sister Carrie by Theodor Dreiser
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert
Effi Briest by Theodore Fontane
Independence Day by Richard Ford
A Passage to India by EM Forster
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

51. The Recognitions by William Gaddis
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide
The Odd Women by George Gissing
New Grub Street by George Gissing
July's People by Nadine Gordimer
Mother by Maxim Gorky
Lanark by Alastair Gray
Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood

61. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
Chronicle in Stone by Ismael Kadare
How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman
The Leopard by Giuseppi di Lampedusa
A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin

71. Passing by Nella Larsen
The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Amongst Women by John McGahern
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Of Love and Hunger by Julian Maclaren-Ross

81. Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Time of Indifference by Alberto Moravia
A Bend in the River by VS Naipaul
McTeague by Frank Norris
Personality by Andrew O'Hagan
Animal Farm by George Orwell

91. The Ragazzi Pier by Paolo Pasolini
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
The Moon and the Bonfire by Cesare Pavese
GB84 by David Peace
Headlong Hall by Thomas Love Peacock
Afternoon Men by Anthony Powell
Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
The Human Stain by Philip Roth

101. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Shame by Salman Rushdie
To Each his Own by Leonardo Sciascia
Staying On by Paul Scott
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr
The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon
God's Bit of Wood by Ousmane Sembene
The Case of Comrade Tulayev by Victor Serge
Richshaw Boy by Lao She
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe

111. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovtich by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
This Sporting Life by David Storey
The Red Room by August Stringberg
The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

121. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Couples by John Updike
Z by Vassilis Vassilikos
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

131. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
Germinal by Emile Zola
134. La Bete Humaine by Emile Zola

War and travel (133) - have read 20, currently reading 0

1. Silver Stallion by Junghyo Ahn
Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington
Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge
Darkness Falls from the Air by Nigel Balchin
Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard
Regeneration by Pat Barker
A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
Fair Stood the Wind for France by HE Bates
Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

11. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd
When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Auto-da-Fe by Elias Canetti
One of Ours by Willa Cather
Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

21. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell
The History of Pompey the Little by Francis Coventry
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Bomber by Len Deighton
Deliverance by James Dickey
Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos
South Wind by Norman Douglas

31. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Justine by Lawrence Durrell
The Bamboo Bed by William Eastlake
The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford
The African Queen by CS Forester
The Ship by CS Forester
Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

41. The Beach by Alex Garland
To The Ends of the Earth trilogy by William Golding
Asterix the Gaul by Rene Goscinny
The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
Count Belisarius by Robert Graves
Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman
De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage
King Solomon's Mines by H Rider Haggard
She: A History of Adventure by H Rider Haggard
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton

51. Covenant with Death by John Harris
Enigma by Robert Harris
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes
Rasselas by Samuel Johnson
From Here to Eternity by James Jones
Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor

61. Confederates by Thomas Keneally
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
Day by AL Kennedy
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

71. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
La Condition Humaine by Andre Malraux
Fortunes of War by Olivia Manning
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat
Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville
Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener

81. The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat
History by Elsa Morante
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Burmese Days by George Orwell
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell

91. The Soldier's Art by Anthony Powell
The Military Philosophers by Anthony Powell
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolp Erich Raspe
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Crab with the Golden Claws by Georges Remi Herge
Tintin in Tibet by Georges Remi Herge
The Castafiore Emerald by Georges Remi Herge
The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by Joao Guimaraes Rosa
Sacaramouche by Rafael Sabatini

101. Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer
The Hunters by James Salter
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
The Rings of Saturn by WG Sebald
Austerlitz by WG Sebald
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Maus by Art Spiegelman

111. The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal
Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson
A Sentimental Journey by Lawrence Sterne
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

121. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
Williwaw by Gore Vidal
Candide by Voltaire
Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh
Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh
The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells
The Machine-Gunners by Robert Westall
Voss by Patrick White

131. The Virginian by Owen Wister
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
133. The Debacle by Emile Zola