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

from Books: Books blog | guardian.co.uk by Alison Flood

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

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

Blue Peter Book Awards (2000-10)

2009-10 info from Booktrust.org accessed 3/6/10. 2000-2008 info from Wikipedia accessed 3/6/10.

The 2010 winners are:
Most Fun Story with Pictures: Dinkin Dings and the Frightening Things by Guy Bass (Stripes)

Best Book With Facts: Why Eating Bogeys is Good For You by Mitchell Symons (Random House Children’s Books)

Book I Couldn’t Put Down: Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes (Oxford University Press)

Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes won the Blue Peter Book of the Year award for children's fiction, which is judged by a panel of 8- to 9-year-old readers, the Guardian reported.

"I think if you asked any children's author which they thought was the most important prize for children's books, it's highly likely they would say the Blue Peter prize," said Sparkes.

"It's not the kind of book that I would have picked out in a shop," said Jamie Fenlon, one of the youthful judges. "The cover didn't persuade me and the blurb didn't persuade me, and the introduction [in which the two modern characters are stuck indoors on a rainy day in the summer holidays] was really dull. But the rest of the book is fantastic--it's outstanding."

The 2010 Blue Peter Book Awards Shortlist was:

Best Book With Facts:
Usborne Lift-the-flap Picture Atlas – Alex Frith & Kate Leake (Usborne)
Tail-End Charlie – Mick Manning & Brita Granstrom (Francis Lincoln Children’s Books)
Why Eating Bogeys is Good for You – Mitchell Symons (Red Fox)

Book I Couldn’t Put Down:
Cosmic – Frank Cottrell Boyce (Macmillan)
The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 – Harriet Goodwin (Stripes)
Frozen in Time – Ali Sparkes (Oxford)

Most Fun Story with Pictures:
Peter the Penguin Pioneer – Daren King (Quercus)
Spells – Emily Gravett (Macmillan)
Dinkin Dings and the Frightening Things – Guy Bass (Stripes)

The winners of the 2009 Blue Peter Book Awards were announced on the programme on 4 March.

Shadow Forest by Matt Haig was the Overall Winner and also won the Book I Couldn't Put Down category.

The Best Book with Facts was Planet in Peril by Anita Ganeri.

The Most Fun Story with Pictures was Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman.

The prestigious Blue Peter Book Awards were established in 2000. Winners are shortlisted by a panel of adult judges; then a group of young Blue Peter viewers judges the three categories:

Book I Couldn’t Put Down
Best Book with Facts
Most Fun Story with Pictures

The winners of each category then compete for the accolade Blue Peter Book of the Year.

The shortlists for the 2009 Awards were announced on 10 November 2008.

Best Book With Facts
Archaeology Detectives by Simon Adams (Oxford University Press)
100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet by Anna Claybourne (A&C Black)
Horrible Geography Handbooks: Planet in Peril by Anita Ganeri, illustrated by Mike Phillips (Scholastic)

Book I Couldn't Put Down
Abela by Berlie Doherty (Andersen Press)
Shadow Forest by Matt Haig (Corgi)
Foul Play by Tom Palmer (Puffin)

Most Fun Story with Pictures
Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman (Egmont)
Fleabag by Helen Stephens (Alison Green Books)
Lost! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong, illustrated by Rowan Clifford (Puffin Books)

List of Prize Winners
2007
* Book of the Year: The Outlaw Varjak Paw by S. F. Said, illustrated by Dave McKean
o Most Fun Story With Pictures: You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum by Andy Stanton and David Tazzyman
o Best Book with Facts: The Worst Children's Jobs in History by Tony Robinson
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: The Outlaw Varjak Paw by S. F. Said, illustrated by Dave McKean

2006
* Book of the Year: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins)
o Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins)
o Best Book with Facts: Spud Goes Green by Giles Thaxton (Egmont)
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: Blood Fever by Charlie Higson (Puffin)

2005
* Book of the Year: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo (Collins)
o Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud: The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler (Macmillan)
o Best Book with Facts: Explorers Wanted! At the North Pole by Simon Chapman (Egmont)
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo (Collins)

2004
* Book of the Year: Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram (Templar)
o Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud: Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram (Templar)
o Best Book with Facts: The Ultimate Book Guide edited by Daniel Hahn (A and C Black)
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: Montmorency by Eleanor Updale (Scholastic)

2003

* Book of the Year: Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Scholastic)

o Best Book to Read Aloud: Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler (Macmillan)
o Best Book with Facts: Pirate Diary by Richard Platt, illustrated by Chris Riddell (Walker)
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Scholastic)

2002
* Book of the Year: Feather Boy by Nicky Singer (Collins)
o Best Book to Read Aloud: Crispin, the Pig Who Had It All by Ted Dewan (Random House)
o Best New Information Book: Ada Lovelace: The Computer Wizard of Victorian England by Lucy Lethridge
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: Feather Boy by Nicky Singer (Collins)
* Voter's Awards:
o Best Storybook: The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson (Yearling)
o Best Book With Facts In: Terrible Tudors by Terry Deary, illustrated by Martin Brown (Scholastic)

2001
* Book of the Year: The Wind Singer by William Nicholson (Egmont)
o Best Book to Read Aloud: The Bravest Ever Bear by Allan Ahlberg and Paul Howard (Walker)
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: The Wind Singer by William Nicholson (Egmont)
o Best Book to Keep Forever: The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean (Oxford University Press)
* Voters' Awards:
o Best Storybook: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling (Bloomsbury)
o Best Book of Knowledge: Rotten Romans by Terry Deary (Scholastic)

2000
* Book of the Year: A Pilgrim's Progress retold by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Jason Cockcroft (Hodder)
o Special Book to Keep Forever: A Pilgrim's Progress retold by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Jason Cockcroft (Hodder)
o Book I Couldn't Put Down: Shadow of the Minotaur by Alan Gibbons (Orion)
o Best Book to Read Aloud: The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler (Macmillan)
* Voters' Awards:
o Best Book With Facts In It: Guinness World Records 2000 (Guinness)
o Book that Made Me Laugh the Loudest: Matilda by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake (Puffin)
o Best Book to Share: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling (Bloomsbury)

Shortlists
2008
Most Fun Story with Pictures:
o Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton and David Tazzyman (Egmont)
o Fleabag by Helen Stephens (Alison Green Books)
o Lost! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong, illustrated by Rowan Clifford (Puffin Books)

Best Book with Facts:
o Archaeology Detectives by Simon Adams (Oxford University Press)
o 100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet by Anna Claybourne (A&C Black)
o Horrible Geography Handbooks: Planet in Peril by Anita Ganeri, illustrated by Mike Phillips

The Book I Couldn't Put Down:
o Abela by Berlie Doherty (Andersen Press)
o Shadow Forest by Matt Haig (Corgi)
o Foul Play by Tom Palmer (Puffin)

2007
Most Fun Story with Pictures:
Melrose and Croc Together at Christmas by Emma Chichester Clark
Charlie Cook's Favourite Books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum by Andy Stanton and David Tazzyman

Best Book with Facts:
Why is Snot Green? by Glenn Murphy
The Worst Children's Jobs in History by Tony Robinson
A Little Guide to Wild Flowers by Charlotte Voake

The Book I Couldn't Put Down:

Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce

The Bad Spy's Guide by Pete Johnson
The Outlaw Varjak Paw by S. F. Said, illustrated by Dave McKean

2006
Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud:
Traction Man is Here by Mini Grey
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins)
Guess Who's Coming for Dinner by John Kelly and Cathy Tincknell

Best Book with Facts:
Connor's Eco Den by Pippa Goodhart
Poo by Nicola Davies and Neal Layton
Spud Goes Green by Giles Thaxton (Egmont)

Book I Couldn't Put Down:
GRK and the Pelotti Gang by Joshua Doder
Blood Fever by Charlie Higson (Puffin)
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo

2005
Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud:
The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Biscuit Bear by Mini Grey (Red Fox)
Aristotle by Dick King-Smith, illustrated by Bob Graham (Walker)
Rapunzel: A Groovy Fairy Tale retold by Lynn Roberts, illustrated by David Roberts

Best Book with Facts:
Explorers Wanted! At the North Pole by Simon Chapman (Egmont)
What's My Family Tree? by Mick Manning, illustrated by Brita Granström
Art Fraud Detective by Anna Nilsen, illustrated by Andy Parker
Rome in spectacular cross-section by Andrew Solway, illustrated by Stephen Biesty

Book I Couldn't Put Down:
Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Macmillan)
SilverFin by Charlie Higson (Puffin)
Thora by Gillian Johnson (Hodder)
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo (Collins)

2004
Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud:
The Woman Who Won Things by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Katharine McEwen
Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram (Templar)
Quiet! by Paul Bright, illustrated by Guy Parker Rees (Little Tiger Press)
Atticus the Storyteller's 100 Greek Myths by Lucy Coats, illus. by Anthony Lewis
The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler

Best Book with Facts:
Journey into the Arctic by Bryan and Cherry Alexander (OUP)
Brilliant Brits: Shakespeare by Richard Brassey (Orion)
Who is Emily Davison? by Claudia Fitzherbert (Short Books)
The Ultimate Book Guide edited by Daniel Hahn (A and C Black)
I Spy: Shapes in Art by Lucy Micklethwaite (Collins)

Book I Couldn't Put Down:
Stealing Stacey by Lynne Reid Banks (Collins)
Fat Boy Swim by Catherine Forde (Egmont)
The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan)
When Mum Threw Out the Telly by E. F. Smith (Orchard Books)
Montmorency by Eleanor Updale (Scholastic)

Golden Kite Awards (1973-2006,2009-10)

2009-10 info from SCBWI website accessed 3/6/10.  1973-2006 info from Wikipedia accessed 3/6/10.

The winners of the 2010 Golden Kite Awards, presented to children's book authors and artists by their peers and sponsored by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, are:

Fiction: Sea of the Dead by Julia Durango (S&S Books for Young Readers)
Nonfiction: Ashley Bryan: Words to My Life's Song by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/S&S)
Picture Book Text: The Longest Night by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ted Lewin (Holiday House)
Picture Book Illustration: Gracias Thanks, illustrated by John Parra, written by Pat Mora (Lee & Low Books)
Golden Kite Honor Recipients

Fiction: Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle by Nan Marino (Roaring Book Press)
Nonfiction: Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef (Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Picture Book Text: Bella & Bean by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illustrated by Aileen Leijten (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/S&S)
Picture Book Illustration: Bad News for Outlaws, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Carolrhoda Books)
The Golden Kite Awards will be presented to at the Golden Kite Luncheon during SCBWI's 39th Annual Conference on Writing and Illustrating for Children, which takes place in Los Angeles July 30-August 2. For more information and lists of previous winners, go to scbwi.org.

2009 Winners:
GOLDEN KITE AWARD WINNERS:

Fiction: Down Sand Mountain by Steve Watkins
Candlewick Press
Editor: Kaylan Adair

Nonfiction: A Life in the Wild: George Schaller's Struggle to Save the Last Great Beasts by Pamela S. Turner
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Editor: Melanie Kroupa

Picture Book Text: A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker
Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Candlewick Press

Picture Book Illustration: Last Night by Hyewon Yum
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Designer: Irene Metaxato

GOLDEN KITE HONOR RECIPIENTS:

Fiction: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Henry Holt & Co.

Nonfiction: The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes by Ellen Jackson
Photographed & illustrated by Nic Bishop
Houghton Mifflin

Picture Book Text: Before John was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Sean Qualls
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Picture Book Illustration: I Love My New Toy illustrated and written by Mo Willems
Hyperion

2006

* Fiction: Firegirl, Tony Abbott

* Nonfiction: Wings, William Loizeaux
* Picture Book Text: Jazz, Walter Dean Myers (illustrated by Christopher Myers)
* Picture Book Illustration: Not Afraid of Dogs, Larry Day (authored by Susanna Pitzer)

2005

* Fiction: A Room on Lorelei Street, Mary E. Pearson

* Nonfiction: Children of The Great Depression, Russell Freedman
* Picture Book Text: Doña Flor, Pat Mora (illustrated by Raul Colón)
* Picture Book Illustration: Baby Bear's Chairs, Melissa Sweet (authored by Jane Yolen)

[edit] 2004

* Fiction: Bucking The Sarge, Christopher Paul Curtis
* Nonfiction: Dust To Eat: Drought And Depression In The 1930s, Michael L. Cooper
* Picture Book Text: Apples to Oregon, Deborah Hopkinson (illustrated. Nancy Carpenter)
* Picture Book Illustration: The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson, Jean Cassels

[edit] 2003

* Fiction: Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli
* Nonfiction: After The Last Dog Died: The True-Life, Hair-Raising Adventure Of Douglas Mawson And His 1911-1914 Antarctic Expedition, by Carmen Bredeson
* Picture Book Text: The Dirty Cowboy, by Amy Timberlake (illus. Adam Rex)
* Picture Book Illustration: I Dream Of Trains, by Loren Long (author Angela Johnson)

2002
* Fiction: Fresh Girl, by Jaïra Placide
* Nonfiction: This Land Was Made For You And Me: The Life And Songs Of Woody Guthrie, by Elizabeth Partridge
* Picture Book Text: George Hogglesberry, Grade School Alien, by Sarah Wilson
* Picture Book Illustration: Mrs. Biddlebox, by Marla Frazee

2001
* Fiction: True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff
* Nonfiction: Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
* Picture Book Text: The Shoe Tree of Chagrin, by J. Patrick Lewis
* Picture Book Illustration: The Lamp, The Ice, And The Boat Called Fish, by Beth Krommes

2000
* Fiction: The Boxer, by Kathleen Karr
* Nonfiction: Darkness over Denmark, by Ellen Levine
* Picture Book Text: River Friendly, River Wild, by Jane Kurtz
* Picture Book Illustration: The Rain Came Down, by David Shannon

1999
* Fiction: Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
* Nonfiction: Space station Science: Life in Free Fall, by Marianne J. Dyson
* Picture Book Text: A Band of Angels, by Deborah Hopkinson
* Picture Book Illustration: The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza), by Amy Wolrod

1998

* Fiction: Rules of the Road, by Joan Bauer

* Nonfiction: Martha Graham: A Dancer's Life, by Russell Freedman
* Picture Book Text: Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems, by Kristine O'Connell George
* Picture Book Illustration: Snow, by Uri Shulevitz

1997
* Fiction: Stones in Water, by Donna Jo Napoli
* Nonfiction: Carmine's Story: A Book About a Boy Living With AIDS, by Arlene Schulman
* Picture Book Text: The Paper Dragon, by Marguerite W. Davol
* Picture Book Illustration: The Paper Dragon, by Robert Sabuda

1996
* Fiction: The Moorchild, by Eloise McGraw
* Nonfiction: Small Steps, by Peg Kehret
* Picture Book Text: Saving Sweetness, by Diane Stanley
* Picture Book Illustration: Market Day, by Holly Berry

1995

* Fiction: The Watsons Go to Birmingham — 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis

* Nonfiction: Abigail Adams, by Natalie S. Bober
* Picture Book Illustration: Fairy Wings, by Dennis Nolan and Lauren Mills

1994

* Fiction: Catherine, Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman

* Nonfiction: Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor, by Russell Freedman
* Picture Book Illustration: Big Fat Hen, by Keith Baker

1993
* Fiction: Make Lemonade, by Virginia Euwer Wolff
* Nonfiction: Eleanor Roosevelt, by Russell Freedman
* Picture Book Illustration: By the Light of the Halloween Moon, by Kevin Hawkes

1992
* Fiction: Letters From a Slave Girl, by Mary E. Lyons
* Nonfiction: The Long Road to Gettysburg, by Jim Murphy
* Picture Book Illustration: Chicken Sunday, by Patricia Polacco

1991
* Fiction: The Rain Catchers, by Jean Thesman
* Nonfiction: The Wright Brothers, by Russell Freedman
* Picture Book Illustration: Mama, Do You Love Me, by Barbara Lavallee

1990

* Fiction: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by Avi

* Nonfiction: The Boy's War, by Jim Murphy
* Picture Book Illustration: Home Place, by Jerry Pinkney

1989
* Fiction: Jenny of the Tetons, by Kristiana Gregory
* Nonfiction: Panama Canal: Gateway to the World, by Judith St. George
* Picture Book Illustration: Tom Thumb, by Richard Jesse Watson

1988
* Fiction: Borrowed Children, by George Ella Lyon
* Nonfiction: Let There Be Light, by James Cross Giblin
* Picture Book Illustration: Forest of Dreams, by Susan Jeffers

1987

* Fiction: Rabble Starkey, by Lois Lowry

* Nonfiction: Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark, by Rhoda Blumberg
* Picture Book Illustration: What the Mailman Brought, by Tomie DePaola

1986

* Fiction: After the Dancing Days, by Margaret Rostowski

* Nonfiction: Poverty in America, by Milton Meltzer
* Picture Book Illustration: Juma and the Magic Jinn, by Charles Mikolaycak

1985

* Fiction: Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan

* Nonfiction: Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun, by Rhoda Blumberg
* Picture Book Illustration: The Donkey's Dream, by Barbara Helen Berger

1984
* Fiction: Tancy, by Belinda Hurmence
* Nonfiction: Walls: Defenses Throughout History, by James Cross Giblin
* Picture Book Illustration: Little Red Riding Hood, by Don Wood

1983
* Fiction: The Tempering, by Gloria Skurzynski
* Nonfiction: The Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary, by Helen Roney Sattler
* Picture Book Illustration: Little Red Riding Hood, by Trina Schart Hyman

1982

* Fiction: Ralph S. Mouse, by Beverly Cleary

* Nonfiction: Chimney Sweeps, by James Cross Giblin
* Picture Book Illustration: Giorgio's Village, by Tomie de Paola

1981
* Fiction: Little, Little, by M. E. Kerr
* Nonfiction: Blissymbolics, by Elizabeth Helfman

1980
* Fiction: Arthur, For the Very First Time, by Patricia MacLachlan
* Nonfiction: The Lives of Spiders, by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

1979

* Fiction: The Magic of the Glits, by C. S. Adler

* Nonfiction: Runaway Teens, by Arnold Madison

1978
* Fiction: And You Give Me a Pain, Elaine, by Stella Pevsner
* Nonfiction: How I Came to Be a Writer, by Phyllis Reynolds

1977
* Fiction: The Girl Who Had No Name, by Bernice Rabe
* Nonfiction: Peeper, First Voice of Spring, by Robert McClung

1976 * One More Flight, by Eve Bunting

1975 * The Garden Is Doing Fine, by Carol Farley

1974 * The Girl Who Cried Flowers, by Jane Yolen

1973 * Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Greene