100 Books Suggested by the BBC

The BBC Book List Challenge

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books on this list. How many have you read?

According to Goodreads.com, "The average Goodreads member has read 23 out of 100 books on this list..."  Once again, how many have you read?  We have marked the books we've read with an asterisk *.  Two asterisks ** means we have read the book more than once.  Our grand total thus far is twenty-seven and a half (271/2) because we have read only three of the Harry Potter series.  However, many of the books listed here are on our list of TBR (To Be Read) books on our Classics Challenge Page, which means we will be ticking them off by 2017!  Don't forget to visit our  Classics Challenge Page.  Now here is the list...

The BBC Book List Challenge

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien-currently reading
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte* 
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (read first three) 
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee** 
6 The Bible-currently reading 
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman X
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens** 
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott* 
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy* 
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare 
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier *
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien *
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks 
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger 
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger 
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell**
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald* 
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll*  
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy*
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis* 
34 Emma - Jane Austen 
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen* 
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis 
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini*
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres* 
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden*
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown*  
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving*
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery* 
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood*
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan 
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel*
52 Dune - Frank Herbert 
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen *
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon 
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov* 
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt 
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold* 
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Aleandre Dumas 
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding* 
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie 
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson 
75 Ulysses - James Joyce 
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray 
80 Possession - AS Byatt 
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens *
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White*
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton 
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Eupery 
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks 
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole*
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare 
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl*
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo 

Again, let us know what you think of the list  Give us your grand total.  We'd love to know where you are in making it through this list.  Granted, not all the books on the list are books we might want to read, but most are.  

Happy Reading!

Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

The Classics Club Question for March 2013

Image Credit: Goodreads

Question

The Classics Club

Do you love Jane Austen or want to “dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone”? (Phrase borrowed from Mark Twain).

Why? (for either answer)?

Favorite and/or least favorite Austen novel?

Response

I do like Jane Austen.  I have no desire to, "dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone," per Twain's instructions.  My first exposure to Austen was not that long ago.  I am ashamed to say that I had somehow reached adulthood without ever reading Austen, so when I signed up to take an English literature graduate class in my pursuit of a Masters in English, our paths finally crossed.  One of the required readings was Persuasion.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the novel.  I recently read Sense and Sensibility  on my own.  Of the two, I preferred Persuasion.  On my Classics Challenge page, I have listed the entire portfolio of Austen's work. One of the reasons I enjoy Austen is that she creates strong female protagonists who use the rigid system in which they must live and maneuver to enhance their standing in the world.  I am not obsessed with Jane Austen, as some are, but I pursue the exposure to her body of work to enhance my growth as a reader.  Jane Austen was a writer  who chronicled  the world of her time.  A world where women did not possess the same freedoms that we do today.  You most definitely need to see Austen's novels through the "rose colored glasses" of her time or you might want to, "dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."  The events in her novels are particular to a world that is no-longer, and that is probably why some find Austen hard to swallow.  Relating to this foreign world is the problem.  The history of the time is important to allowing one to appreciate Austen.

 

Quotes

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” ― Jane Austen

“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” 
― Jane Austen, Jane Austen's Letters

“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!” ― Jane Austen, Sense And Sensibility

Biography From Goodreads.com

Jane Austen

Born

December 16, 1775 in Hampshire, The United Kingdom

Died

July 18, 1817

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Romance

About this author

:

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to her development as a professional writer. Her artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was about 35 years old. During this period, she experimented with various literary forms, including the epistolary novel which she tried then abandoned, and wrote and extensively revised three major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.

Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime, but the publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the 1940s she had become widely accepted in academia as a great English writer. The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the emergence of a Janeite fan culture.

Harvard University Press

Don't forget to check out our Classics Challenge Page, which lists all the classics we plan to read between September 14, 2012 and September 14, 2017.  Also, visit The Classics Club.  For more information on "What Makes Jane Austen So Great" Click Here!

Take the Jane Austen Character Quiz here!

Happy Reading!

Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Teaching Irony: "The Walrus and The Carpenter" from Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

We are big fans of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and we love to use it to teach English.  Currently, we are reviewing the concept of irony and here is one of our favorite poems, which contains several examples of irony.  On a more personal note, we are currently re-reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the big surprise is that we are enjoying it more as an adult than we did as a child. Has this ever happened to you?  Well, take a stroll or a retro-moment with a "favorite to you" children's classic, and see what happens. 

The Walrus and The Carpenter

The walrus and the carpenter

Were walking cross the land

The beach was wide from side to side

But much to full of sand

"Mr Walrus," said the carpenter,

"My brain begins to perk

We'll sweep this clear and in a year

If you don't mind the work."

"The time has come," the walrus said,

"To talk of other things

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax

Of cabagges and kings

And while the see is boiling hot

And wheather pigs have wings

Kaloo Kalay no work today

We're cabbages and kings"

Oysters, come and walk with us

The day is warm and bright

A pleasent walk

A pleasent talk

Would be a shear delight

(Yes and perhaps if we get hungery on the way

We coul stop and ah, have a bite!!)

But mother oyster winked her eye

And shook her weary head

She new too well it was much to soon

To leave her oyster bed

"The sea is nice

Take my advice

And stay right here" mom said

The time has come my little friends

To talk of other things

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax

Of cabbagges and kings

And while the sea is boiling hot

And wheather pigs have wings

Kaloo Kalay come run away

With the cabbagges and kings

Now ah, let me see

Ah!! A loaf of bread is what we cheerly need

(And how about some pepper, salt and vinagar?)

Ah yes yes of course of course

Now oysters dear, if you are ready

We shall begin the feed

(FEED!!)

Oh yes ah, the time has come my little friends

To talk of food and things

(Of pepper corns and mustard seeds

And other seasonings

We'll mix 'em all together

In a sauce that's made for kings

Kaloo Kalay we'll eat today

Like cabbagges and kings!!)

I, I wait for you I, oh excuse me

I deeply simplisize

For I've enjoyed you company

Oh much more than you realize

"Little oysters, little oysters??"

But answer there came none

And this was scarcly all because

They'ed been eaten

Every-one

THE TIME HAS COME!!!!

Were cabbagges

And kings!!!!

The End

Great Images from the ORIGINAL Alice in Wonderland: CLICK HERE

Soon to be released:  Alice in Wonderland: Norton 3rd Critical Edition

Enjoy!  Let us know all the examples of irony you find in the poem.

Edward Gorey's Alice

Happy Reading!
Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Words: Virginia Woolf Speaks

Virginia Woolf

We have a number of Virginia Woolf's novels nearing the top of our reading stack, so we are so happy to have found this recording of the author discussing the art of writing.  According to the description of the video clip: 

"This is the only surviving recording of Virginia Woolf's voice. It is part of a BBC radio broadcast from April 29th, 1937. The talk was called "Craftsmanship" and was part of a series entitled 'Words Fail Me'." 

We are about to start our huge Titanic Research Project:  Be on the outlook for samples from last year that will be posted in the coming days.  We are starting the process earlier this year after reflecting on our unit over the summer.  The research project is a several month process and "Craftsmanship of Words" is key to taking hours of research and developing a product that reflects the writer's topic in a fluid, interesting, and readable manner.

Quotes by Virginia Woolf

“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” 
― Virginia Woolf

“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” 
― Virginia Woolf

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” 
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Thanks to the folks over At This Now for sharing this great find!  To see the transcript of this interview click on over to At This Now.

Happy Reading!
The Things You Can Read

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The Penguin English Library

Again, classics, classics, classics and when it comes to classic the Penguin Group has it going on.  Their site offers all kinds of extras.  Take a peek at their cutting edge video below, which has been created in celebration of The Penguin English Library.  Here is how Penguin describes the video...

To celebrate the launch of the Penguin English Library, we commissioned this animation from award-winning director Woof Wan-Bau, of a peculiar journey for one particular Penguin.

The Penguin English Library opens its doors from Penguin English Library on Vimeo.

Visit the Penguin English Library where you can find 100 of the best novels in the English language.


In addition, check out the Video Radio Network at Penguin, this is a collection of video and radio shows dating from 2009-2011.  Take a listen to this one about the Bronte sisters.

Let us, here at The Things You Can Read,  know your favorite classics, and don't forget to visit our Classics Challenge page on The Things You Can Read.

Have a Classic Weekend!
Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Classics Club October Question: Why are you reading the classics?

Image Credit: Philipp Rumpf 1821 - 1896

Why are you reading the classics?

I love quotes.  I'm not sure why, but I do. I collect them. My favorites come in handy. The right quote used in the right situation is pure ecstasy, so when I read the Classics Club question for October, I knew I had the perfect quote that answers in part the question: Why do I read classics? "Reading has a history-The Kiss of Lamourette" and by reading classics, I am participating in the history of literature.

Let me try to explain this a bit more with an example.  I recently took a class in the history of English literature and the very first novel that we were required to read was Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, which some experts feel is the first English novel. Really, the first English novel!  I didn't know what to expect going into the book, but enjoyed the adventures of Moll.  Moll was one "bad mama jama".  She made today's reality television look tame, and this novel's setting was back in the 1700s.  When I finished reading about Moll, I sat back with complete satisfaction knowing that I had read something written in the eighteenth century, and liked it.  I had lived in Moll's world for the short time I was reading Defoe's novel, and now the history of Moll's world was inside my head.  I was forever changed by the reading experience.  In other words:

"Stories are powerful because they transport us into other people’s worlds— " Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human.

I'll  take this a step further, Virginia Woolf, the author of a few classics herself, said that Moll Flanders is one of the, "...few English novels which we can call indisputably great."  Why does this matter? Because I am connecting through literature with other readers and with greatness.  Now, consider this, Virginia Woolf and I have a shared reading experience.  How great is that?  I'm not the first person to like this novel.  In fact, greater minds than mine have said it's an outstanding piece of literature, and I now have a shared reading experience with all those who have read this work before me.  We can talk Moll Flanders, because we have a common source of words.

I reread the classics too, and according to Alberto Manguel, the author of A Reader on Reading, "A book becomes a different book every time we read it," so even when I reread a classic, I see the book through new eyes or older, and hopefully more mature, eyes because I bring to the book all the additional experiences that the years have offered me, since I last read the book, which is why I like to reread To Kill a Mockingbird every five years.  One of my favorite classics remains fresh and new with each read, and my most recent life experiences offer me the ability to recognize something I may have missed in my previous readings of the classic.  Again, how great is that?

Another reason I read the classics is that I find them challenging.  The challenge depends on the classic.       Take War and Peace for example, I have tried unsuccessfully on two different occasions to read this novel.  The first time was after completing Anna Karenina, which is by the same author.  However, each occasion has met with failure.  I am looking forward to my third attempt, because we all know that the third time is the charm.  Again, Alberto Manguel, the author of A Reader on Reading, reminds us that, "...the best guides...are the readers whims-trust in pleasure and faith in haphazardness--which sometimes lead us into a makeshift state of grace, allowing us to spin gold out of flax."  So, I wait for the magical moment whereby I "spin gold out of flax" and I win the  War and Peace battle. 

I also believe the words of Gore Vidal--who stated that “The unfed mind devours itself.”   So, I feed my mind with the the very best--the classics.

Finally, let me say that books have always been my friends-my companions, but the classics have always been my best friends.  As Christopher Paolini, the author of Eragon said, "They [books] make me laugh and cry and find meaning in life.”  All the more reason to read them.

I'm sure as I mull this question over in my mind, I will want to add to this post, but for now this will suffice.  Let me know your thoughts on this response, and don't forget to check out the Classic Challenge page on The Things You Can Read.

Happy Classics Reading!
Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Day 7 of Banned Books Week: September 30-October 6, 2012

Image Credit:Banned Book Week

In celebration of Banned Books Week, The Things You Can Read has been sharing  quotes from 
authors of banned works...

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.” ― Toni Morrison

What do you think of these quotes from , Toni Morrison, an author of banned works?  Let us know your thoughts by sharing a comment!

Image Credit: Beloved

Hard to believe that this is the last day of Banned Book Week.  We, here at The Things You Can Read, continue to read works of banned or censored authors.  If you haven't already, check out our Classics Challenge page, where you will see many works that have been banned through the ages, and consider joining the Classics Club!

Post a comment sharing your successful celebration of Banned Book Week.  We'd love to know.  

Happy Banned Books Week Reading!
Things You Can Read

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Day 3 of Banned Books Week: September 30-October 6, 2012

Image Credit:Banned Book Week

In celebration of Banned Books Week, The Things You Can Read will be sharing quotes 
from authors of banned works...

“Kill all my demons, and my angels might die too.” 
― Tennessee Williams author of A Streetcar Named Desire

What do you think of this quote from Tennessee Williams, an author of banned works?  Let us know your thoughts by sharing a comment!

Image Credit: A Streetcar Named Desire

Take a look at what Bill Moyer said about Banned Book Week:

Just in case you are unfamiliar with Banned Book Week here is some information from their site:

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2012 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 30 through October 6. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here.

We shared how we plan to celebrate Banned Book Week, are you celebrating Banned Book Week?  If you are, let us know how by posting a comment!

Happy Banned Books Week Reading!
Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Day 2 of Banned Books Week: September 30-October 6, 2012

Image Credit:Banned Book Week

In celebration of Banned Books Week, The Things You Can Read will be sharing quotes 
from authors of banned works...

“Bitterness is the coward's revenge on the world for having been hurt.” 
― Zora Neale Hurston, Author of Their Eyes Were Watching God

“Those that don't got it, can't show it. Those that got it, can't hide it.” 
― Zora Neale Hurston,  Author of Their Eyes Were Watching God

What do you think of these quotes from Zora Neale Hurston, an author of banned works?  Let us know your thoughts by sharing a comment!

Image Credit: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Take a look at what Katie Couric said back in October 2007:

Just in case you are unfamiliar with Banned Book Week here is some information from their site:

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2012 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 30 through October 6. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here.

Help celebrate this worthwhile event by reading a banned book. Below you will find a list of the most challenged books in 2011, according to the American Library Association. Their data shows that there were 326 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2011, however many more go unreported. The 10 most challenged titles of 2011 were:

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle 
Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: offensive language; racism

We shared how we plan to celebrate Banned Book Week, are you celebrating Banned Book Week?  If you are, let us know how by posting a comment!

Happy Banned Books Week Reading!
Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!