KateKintail's Book Journal

BookCrossers listed their top books. Here's the list.
Bold=I've read the book
Italics=It's on my Mount TBR
*=I voted for this one

*1. Harry Potter (series) by JK Rowling - Of COURSE. yay!
*2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien- harder to get through than the movies, but worth it for the book canon
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee- I really liked it
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - I was going through that phase ;-)
5. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - I liked it
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini- Earread this last year and loved it
8a. The Stand by Stephen King- I loved the miniseries
8b. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood- If I don't like it, I'm giving up on Atwood forever
10a. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden- Fantastic!
*10b. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell- Love it. Always sends shivers down my spine.
12. Life of Pi by Yann Martel- Read it in a bookring. Loved it for the ending.
13. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
*14. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by CS Lewis- Yay CON! :-)
15. Discworld (series) by Terry Pratchett- I need to read this series to maintain "geek" cred
16a. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
16b. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë- Oh, the angst!
16c. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (series) by Douglas Adams- I've read most of the series but not the last book; maybe the last 2. Can't remember.
*19a. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien- Thoroughly enjoyable
*19b. La sombra del viento/The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón- The best book I read in 2008!
19c. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
19d. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott- Beautiful
19e. Atonement by Ian McEwan
19f. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
25. His Dark Materials (series) by Philip Pullman- I liked the series a lot. Especially book 2
26. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - added in 7/31/09 edit
27. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier- Brilliant. If I'd have remembered this book at the time, I would have voted for it, but it slipped my mind.
28a. Le petit prince/The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry- Had a copy as a kid; read a lot of it but don't know if I finished it. Can't recall.
28b. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
30a. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
30b. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd- Just finished it and liked it a lot
30c. Watership Down by Richard Adams
30d. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
34a. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
34b. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
36a. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
36b. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck- Read it for school and actually liked it
38a. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides- Took a while to really pull me in, but I really enjoyed it by the end
38b. Persuasion by Jane Austen- To be honest, I remember the movie better than the book
38c. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
38d. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer- Read the whole thing. Didn't vote for it.
42a. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams- An absolute classic
42b. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger- I LOVED this when I was an angsty teen and read this!
42c. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
*42d. Anne of Green Gables (series) by Lucy Maud Montgomery- SUCH a great series!
42e. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
42f. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini- added in 7/31/09 edit
48a. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery- The first in the series, showing off so much of her character
48b. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
48c. Cien años de soledad/One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
48d. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley- Makes you think. I loved it.
48e. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
48f. Stephanie Plum (series) by Janet Evanovich
48g. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald- Not my thing, but it is my mother's favorite book
*48h. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll- Quirky, fun, and crazy. What's not to love? heehee
48i. Les Misérables/The Wretched Poor by Victor Hugo- one day, I'd like to read this
57a. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
57b. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
57c. Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks- I totally want to read this
57d. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
57e. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
57f. L'Etranger/The Stranger/The Outsider by Albert Camus
57g. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
57h The Dark Tower (series) by Stephen King- on my shelf but not sure if I'll get to it before I die
57i. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory- saw & liked the movie, does that cound?
57j. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - added in 7/31/09 edit
67a. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown- I started it but haven't finished it
67b. Das Parfum/Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
*67c. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley- Oh gorgeous!
67d. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
67e. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens- I really enjoyed this
*67f. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett- One of those childhood books that stays with you
*67g. The Little House Books (series) by Laura Ingalls Wilder- More of those childhood books that stay with you
67h. Het Achterhuis/The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank- I'm glad this made the list
67i. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters- Incredibly long but worth it :-)
67j. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
67k. Moby Dick by Herman Melville- I made it about a third of the way through
67l. Thursday Next (series) by Jasper Fforde
67m. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
80a. Artemis Fowl (series) by Eoin Colfer- I desperately want to read this series!
80b. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
80c. Il nome della rosa/The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
80d. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury- Liked it a lot. The movie, not so much
80e. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
80f. Emma by Jane Austen
*80g. Outlander/Cross Stitch (series) by Diana Gabaldon- One of my favorite book series ever
80h. El amor en los tiempos del cólera/Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
80i. La casa de los espíritus/The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
80j. Le Comte de Monte-Cristo/The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (père)
80k. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
80l. Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
80m. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
80n. PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern- LOVED the movie. Want to read this
80o. The Giver by Lois Lowry- read this as a child. Might be time for a re-read
80p. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
96a. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
96b. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman- Loved the tv show. Can't wait to read this!
96c. Dune by Frank Herbert
96d. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess- Liked the movie; totally crazy
96e. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
96f. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
96g. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire - Good, but I much prefer the original Oz series. Where's that? How did that not make the list? *cries*
96h. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
96i. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
96j. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain- Loved it
*96k. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens- I never get tired of this story, even after spending 3 months on it in 7th grade
96l. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
96m. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood- SO not my favorite book in the world
96n. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
96o. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
96p. Dracula by Bram Stoker- Started it, liked it, but never finished it. Want to try again
96q. Earth's Children (series) by Jean M Auel
96r. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg
96s. It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
96t. Marley and Me by John Grogan
96u. Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by JM Barrie- Simply loved earreading this when I was a kid. Violence, adventure, love, friendship- it's got it all!
96v. The Green Mile by Stephen King
96w. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
96x. The Vampire Chronicles (series) by Anne Rice- I've read some of the series, but not all
96y. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

I've read 50 of these. That's, what, 41% or so (considering I didn't finish all of the ones I read, I'll round down). Not too bad.

It's a nice list. I can't complain about much, though I do think Wizard of Oz should have made it. And A Separate Peace. Some others I remember nominating: Maus, Lady of the Glen, Ishmael, and I think HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban separate from the series though that might have been on the list of favorite books I gave the display chair at Kings Park who's making up a special section for favorite books of staff and volunteers.

7/31/09 edit: Bolded 3 more for a total of 53

Bah. I've been trying to delete a few books from the BookCrossing wishlist all day but the books won't delete! I can't remove them or grant the wishes. Whatever I try, every time I go back to the wishlist or refresh the page, they're right back there again. *heavy sigh* SO much for cleaning up my wishlist after buying myself presents this weekend! :-)