Books, Books And More Books

I found this today and thought it interesting! Here is a list of 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users. I suppose they could have been purchased by consumers to sit on the shelf in hopes that those titles would make said consumers look ever so intelligent or oh so sophisticated! Especially if they came with those pretty leather bound covers and all....hmmm....oooh. Or, better yet, antique ones that are sweetly musty smelling with delightfully frayed corners. I love those!

But, just for fun, let's see. I will highlight those I HAVE read in RED and any I own, but have NEVER actually read, in PINK. Those that I started but never finished will be highlighted in PURPLE!

Please play along if you wish!

• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell~ Anna Karenina~ Crime and Punishment~ Catch-22~ One Hundred Years of Solitude~ Wuthering Heights~ The Silmarillion~ Life of Pi : a novel~ The Name of the Rose~ Don Quixote~ Moby Dick~ Ulysses~ Madame Bovary~ The Odyssey~ Pride and Prejudice~ Jane Eyre~ A Tale of Two Cities~ The Brothers Karamazov~ Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies~ War and Peace~ Vanity Fair~ The Time Traveler’s Wife~ The Iliad~ Emma~ The Blind Assassin~ The Kite Runner~ Mrs. Dalloway~ Great Expectations~ American Gods~ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius~ Atlas Shrugged~ Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books~ Memoirs of a Geisha~ Middlesex~ Quicksilver~ Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West~ The Canterbury Tales~ The Historian : a novel~
• Brave New World~ A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man~ Love in the Time of Cholera~ The Fountainhead~ Foucault’s Pendulum~ Middlemarch~ Frankenstein~ The Count of Monte Cristo~ Dracula~ A Clockwork Orange~ Anansi Boys~
• The Grapes of Wrath~ The Once and Future King~ The Poisonwood Bible : a novel~ 1984~ Angels & Demons~ The Inferno (and Purgatory and Paradise)~ The Satanic Verses~ Sense and Sensibility~ The Picture of Dorian Gray~ Mansfield Park~
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest~ To the Lighthouse~ Tess of the D’Urbervilles~ Oliver Twist~
• Gulliver's Travels~ Les Misérables The Corrections~ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay~ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time~ Dune~ The Prince~ The Sound and the Fury~ Angela’s Ashes : a memoir~ The God of Small Things~ A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present~ Cryptonomicon~ Neverwhere~ A Confederacy of Dunces~ A Short History of Nearly Everything~ Dubliners~ The Unbearable Lightness of Being~ Beloved~ Slaughterhouse-five~
• The Scarlet Letter~ Eats, Shoots & Leaves~ The Mists of Avalon~ Oryx and Crake : a novel~ Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed~ Cloud Atlas~ The Confusion~ Lolita~ Persuasion~ Northanger Abbey~ The Catcher in the Rye~ On the Road~ The Hunchback of Notre Dame~ Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything~ Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values~ The Aeneid~ Watership Down~ Gravity’s Rainbow~ The Hobbit~ In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences~ White Teeth~ Treasure Island~ David Copperfield~ The Three Musketeers~

Here is where I should note that "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an inquiry into values" makes a wonderful book title when you are playing Charades! Now, I must say that some of those HAVE READ titles were during High School and College but I suppose that still counts right? I guess I need to work on those pink and purple titles and check into those that remain in the black. I read a lot but not as often as I once did I am sad to say. My favorite novel remains "To Kill A Mockingbird" and I re-read it every year. Harper Lee created some of the strongest characters ever written. In my humble opinion, it is literary perfection! Another favorite book is the poignant and powerful "Anne Frank : The Diary of a Young Girl" which I read every year as well. Being able to visit her hideaway in Amsterdam was one of the highlights of my life. I adore anything written by Jane Austin, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway. I love E.M. Forster, Edith Wharton, C.S Lewis, Alex Haley, Charles Dickens, John Irving. And how I love to read the work of Pearl Buck, J.K. Rowling, John Berndt, Frank McCourt and Arthur Miller. I have read everything by Bill Bryson, Nora Ephron, Shel Silverstein, Roald Dahl, A,A Milne, Eugene O'Neill, William Faulkner and James Herriot. ....and isn't Janet Evanovich fun? I often find myself happily engrossed in delicious biographies, the life stories of politicians, actors and even the authors themselves. And oh those fantastic books on history! I have my favorite children's books...how I adore so many stories and aren't the beautiful illustrations in many children's picture books delightful? I cherish many books from childhood...Anne of Green Gables, The Little Princess, The Secret Garden. Oh yes, there is also my love for decorating and travel books. At last count, we owned 232 decorating books and YES! I do actually read each one and am often dragging out one or two for inspiration or just the pure joy of reading it again. Right now I am enjoying Mary Emmerling's new "Beach Cottages: At Home By The Sea". I have long been a fan of her books. I also adore Mary Englebreit's decorating books, her children's books and her cookbooks! She has a book to fit into each of my favorite genres! I may not be the best cook in the world but oh how I love my collection of cookbooks! Just try to take away my Paula Deens! Thankfully, I am married to a die hard bookworm. He usually has two to three books going at once. He is reading through "Finnegan's Wake" now. And although I think James Joyce is brilliant, that is one novel I have yet, or probably will ever try, to tackle!

What are some of *your* favorite books?

Reading can be a pleasure like no other! Can you remember discovering a fantastic new author or one that was new to you? How sweet it is to cozy up with a good book and a cup of tea on a weekend or a rainy day. Try it...become life-long friends with a great character or simply lose yourself in the worlds created by books.

There is nothing like the printed word...

Love and Hugs, Susie Q