Hi everyone! How has your Saturday been? I think I am ready for February to be over now, because as much as I love jumpers and sweaters and blankets, I am not about cold winds, cold rain, or dark nights AND dark mornings. The sun this week has made me ready for spring. Thankfully, February has pancake day, it has just 28 days, and this year, it has the Winter Olympics. Emma and I are borderline Curling experts now! What is it about pushing stones, and then brushing some ice, that is so captivating?
Last week, I did a blog meme based on amazon.com’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime and it’s safe to say that I had not read many of the books on the list. I actually hadn’t heard of many of the books, embarrassingly, but also didn’t feel like it was a list that was truly reflective of what I thought a top 100 books should be, so I’ve also decided to do the amazon.co.uk list too.
1. Include a link back to Amazon’s official 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
2. Tag Perfectly Tolerable, the creator of this meme
3. Tag the person who nominated you (I wasn’t nominated by anyone, but saw this on Lucinda is Reading)
4. Copy the list of books and indicate which titles you have read.
5. Tally up your total.
6. Comment on the post you were tagged in and share your total count.
7. Tag five new people and comment on one of their posts to let them know.
Let’s get on with the list:
1984 George Orwell
A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
A Game of Thrones George R R Martin
A History of the World in 100 Objects Neil MacGregor
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
American Gods Neil Gaiman
American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis
Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer
Atonement Ian McKewan
Bad Science Ben Goldacre
Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
Brideshead Revisted Evelyn Waugh
Bridget Jones’s Diary Helen Fielding
Brighton Rock Graham Greene
Casino Royale Ian Fleming
Catch 22 Joseph Hellier
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevesky
Dissolution C J Sansom
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K. Dick
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian
Great Expectations Charles Dickens
Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone J K Rowling
High Fidelity Nick Hornby
In Cold Blood Truman Capote
Knots and Crosses Ian Rankin
Last Orders Graham Swift
Little Women Louise May Alcott
Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
London Fields Martin Amis
London: The Biography Peter Akroyd
Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela
Lord of the Flies William Golding
Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie
My Man Jeeves P G Woodhouse
Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami
Notes From A Small Island Bill Bryson
Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz
Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
The Book Thief Markus Zusak
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne
The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett
The Commitments Roddy Doyle
The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank
The Enchanted Wood Enid Blyton
The English Patient Michael Ondaatje
The Fellowship of the Ring J R R Tolkien
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Oliver Sacks
The Mill on the Floss George Eliot
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
The Road Cormac McCarthy
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Sue Townsend
The Secret History Donna Tartt
The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins
The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes
The Stand Stephen King
The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson
The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter
The Tiger Who Came to Tea Judith Kerr
The Time Machine H G Wells
The Worst Witch Jill Murphy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John Le Carré
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf
The Wasp Factory Iain Banks
Trainspotting Irvine Welsh
Venice Jan Morris
Watchmen Alan Moore
Watership Down Richard Adams
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Helen Oxenbury
White Teeth Zadie Smith
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Jung Chang
Winnie the Pooh A A Milne
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
I still don’t think that 22 books out of 100 books is a particularly great score, but it’s much higher than last week’s total. I feel like there is a larger number on this list that I have actually heard of and plan to read, whereas last week there was a heap of books that I have never heard of and will probably never hear of again. There are some crossovers though, and those are some of my favourite books, so that makes me happy.
Yes, there are a lot of British Authors on here, and there were a lot of US authors on the US list, but I can’t help but feel that his list is more representative of wider literature than the amazon.com list. I’m really pleased that I decided to do both lists, I think it highlights the huge differences between UK and US preferences.
I didn’t tag anyone last week, so I have decided to tag a few people here. If you’ve done it, or don’t fancy doing it, then please ignore it, and as ever, if you’ve seen it and fancy ago, then please consider yourself tagged:
Emma @ The Terror of Knowing
Jessica @ Ever the Crafter
Lucinda @ Lucinda is Reading (fancy a go at the UK list?)
You, reading this, please consider yourself tagged!
How many of these books have you read?
If you fancy doing this, or the post last week, please tag me so I can take a look!
65!!
Sent from my iPad
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Alright show off!
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I’m not going to be able to do it over the next few weeks so I’m just going to answer here. (Plus I’m a little embarrassed at how bad I am at reading classics haha) but thanks for the tag!
I think I said I’d read 15 when you posted the US list and for this one I’ve read……14!!!! Haha. Oh dear. There ARE quite a few I’d like to read but then there are more than quite a few books I want to read not on the list too so if I’ll ever get around to them remains to be seen!
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We need to read more ‘respectable’ books clearly haha. There are a few I’d like to read, I’m sure I’ll cross a couple off in the next year or so!
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I have so many books I want to read I think I’m just going to embrace being not respectable haha. Are you taking part in indieathon next month?
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My TBR just seems to grow at a much faster rate than I can actually read 😕
I’ve not heard of It, what is It?
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Mate you’re the only bookathon person in my life I just assumed you would haha. I’ve never taken part in a bookathon before.
It’s reading indie/self pub’d or small pub’d books in March. I saw it over on Twitter #indieathon and I’m pretty sure it’s being run by jennily? Don’t quote me on that though!
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I’ll definitely look it up, sounds interesting, I don’t read enough self pub/indie pub stuff!! Thanks for the heads up!!
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Yes I do fancy having a go at this but only because I’ve read quite a few of these and it gives me a chance to show off, mwahaha! Thank you for tagging me lovely lady! 💜
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Haha, that’s how i felt, you can have a higher score on this list.
Awww you’re welcome!
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Wow,I have read like 10, I did better on the US one (19). Good luck! A couple of them I started but never finished, some I really do need to read!
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Ahhh you’re the opposite way round to me!! Thanks!
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Haha yes. But I plan to read more on both. Good luck to you too.
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23! Pretty happy with that, but have still added a few to my TBR 🙂
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That was a great idea to do the UK list!!! I have read 23 from the UK list which is 2 more than I have read from the American List (and I am american 😀 ) Thanks for doing this!
P.S. Curing is my favorite Olympic sport!
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Haha no problem. I liked doing the US list but I felt like it missed a lot out, so I thought I’m British, I’m’a do the UK one too!
I literally have lived for the curling and figure skating over the last 2 weeks haha!
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