Saturday, February 17, 2007

Tagged by the Superfast Reader!




I'm excited, because this is my first meme! I know what they are and I enjoy reading them, but I still don't know how to say that word. Is it pronounced "meem" "mehm" "me me" or "memmy"???
Great list...nice to see the Canadians so well-represented. My co-workers CanadaBoy, Baldy, and Newfie would be pleased.

"Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of. "

[I still haven't grasped how to do strikeovers, so if I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole, I'll just turn it red]

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) +
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) *
10.A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) *
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) I've tried to read it, but that typing in capital letters to represent Owen's voice really has put me off. Still, I like Irving and want to give him every chance.
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) + A gift from my co-worker, Baldy.
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) Les reviewed As The Crow Flies, and got me interested in Ann-Marie MacDonald.
18. The Stand (Stephen King) +
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) +
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) +
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) Pablo loaned it to me. I liked it a little better than he did.
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) Maybe it's unfair of me, but I really don't want to read anything by this author. He strikes me as sort of a slick character that finally stumbled onto what tugs at readers' heartstrings, and now he's capitalizing on it.
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) >:- (
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) +
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) *
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) I've got to read at least one book of his, just to see what all the international fuss is about.
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) See #30
45. Bible +
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) +
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) +
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) + I really love this book. It's one of my re-reads, but honestly, as I get older, I just find myself wanting to reach into the novel and slap hell out of and sense into many of the characters!
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)+
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) +
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) I'm really pissed at her for Atlas Shrugged, but I did enjoy this novel.
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) +
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) +
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies) * I know who Robertson Davies was; I've just never never heard of this particular novel.
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) I don't think I should have to read anything with "sisterhood" in the title. Or "ya-ya", for that matter.
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) +
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)+
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell) +
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) *
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) +
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley) *
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams) +
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) +
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje) *
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) I've started this book a couple of times, but something's put me off each time. I hope to one day read it successfully.
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) +
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) +
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

12 comments:

Michele said...

You were right with the first guess. It's pronounced "meem." And I think I'm going to borrow this one. I see I have lots of reading to do . . .

Lotus Reads said...

Bybee, it's weird, but every single book you indicated you wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole would be on my "never read" list as well!

And I didn't realize that in "A Prayer for Owen Meany" Owen's voice was in capital letters - that would put me off too!

Chris said...

Hello, from another Canuck.
Has anyone read Ulysses? I don't think I've met anyone yet who has.

kookie said...

Don't let the capitals in "Owen Meany" throw you off, it is a wonderful book. You should hear Irving read Owen's part...OMG hilarious.

You are right about Mitch Albom 'Tuesdays with Morrie' and his other books are so much manipulative clap-trap. I wish more people would see through him.

I don't know how to cross-out either. Might have to run some tests.

Chris said...

I just figured out the strike outs:
put the word strike between <> at the start of the thing you want crossed out. Then /strike between <> at the end.

Bybee said...

Michele,
Sorry, I don't know how to accent your first e, but rest assured, I've got the french accent going on in my brain. Thanks for helping me with the pronunciation of "meme".

Lotus,
Every book? That is strange, but gotta tell ya: Atlas Shrugged is more of a 100 foot pole. A fresh thought occured to me regarding that rotten book: I wonder how many innocent baby girls have ended up being named Dagny?

aart,
I didn't know Paulo Coelho had a new book coming out. That's great that he's launching it on his blog. I think I'll go with one of his earlier ones and a paper copy.

Chris,
I *kind of* read Ulysses. The Molly Bloom part...the final section of the novel.

Kookiejar,
Hmm, maybe I should experience A Prayer For Owen Meany as an audiobook.

I don't know how I got my bad impression of Mitch Albom -- I haven't read a word he's written. Glad it's not just me.

Chris,
Thanks for the strikeover help. I'll give it a whirl.

Anonymous said...

I love the comments you've included on various books, and agree with you on your view of Mitch Albom.

The Alchemist is a book I've debated about reading, but it seems a bit too much along the lines of new-agey fluff to me. But I could be wrong!

Anonymous said...

Take my advice as a life-long lover of the written word:give"...Owen Meany"any chance you possibly can.Amazing story.I'd also highly recommend Irving's"A Widow for One Year".

MissMiller said...

A great meme. I thought The Alchemist was ok-like quest-type discovery in the vein of The Little Prince . I may borrow this meme also.

Anonymous said...

Lovely site,we're glad that people still love reading,but why NAKED without books?Nudity in a non-sexual context gets such a bad rap in this society.Feeling 'naked' is a GREAT feeling.Why not 'empty' or 'incomplete' or 'lost' without books?Read Susan Stanton's"Being Nude"for more on this.Might improve your' life.:)

Amy said...

Bybee,
I give you a huge thumbs up for being able to remember what represents what. I had to keep referring to the top to see if you liked, had read, or wouldn't touch a book.

BTW...totally agree with you about Mitch Albom.

Bybee said...

Lesley,
I hesitated to say what I did about Mitch A. I thought I might get flamed; so far so good.

Acquisitionist,
It is a great meme, isn't it? And the Canadian slant to it gave me many good reading ideas!

M,
Yet another person for Owen Meaney. This may get read in 2007.

Jay/Suzi,
I'm really repressed and shy and modest and all that jazz. Except for bathing, I'm not a big nudity fan. Many nightmares I've had include being late for work or a job interview or a test and having only a ripped half-slip to wear. Thanks for your suggestions; none of those other words quite conveys the precise image I'm going for. If you're ever in Korea, you'll feel right at home with public bathhouses everywhere!

Amy,
I was starting to confuse myself, I have to admit. Proofreading that entry was work.