I have recently been aware of a 500 Books meme. It is compiled of books some book bloggers/readers have read and loved, and books they have heard about and felt they ought to read and love. I was overwhelmed to read the list of 500 books, so I will not impose the same pressure on you. I break it down to 10 lists of 50. Boldfaced are the ones I have read. Italicized are ones I intend to read.
1. Richard Adams – Watership Down
2. Douglas Adams – The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
3. Richard Adams – The Girl in a Swing
4. Jussi Adler-Olsen – The Keeper of Lost Causes
5. Aesop – The Fables of Aesop
6. Mitch Albom – The Five People You Meet in Heaven
7. Louisa M. Alcott – Little Women
8. Louise M. Alcott – Eight Cousins
9. Brian Aldiss – Hothouse
10. Elechi Amadi – The Great Ponds
11. Jonathan Ames – The Extra Man
12. Kingsley Amis – The Old Devils
13. Martin Amis – Experience
14. Hans Christian Anderson – Complete Fairy Tales and Stories
15. Laurie Halse Anderson – Speak
16. R.J. Anderson – Ultraviolet
17. V. C. Andrews – Flowers in the Attic
18. Anonymous – The Book with No Name
19. Isaac Asimov – Nine Tomorrows
20. Isaac Asimov – Foundation
21. Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
22. Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake
23. Jean M Auel – The Clan of the Cave Bear
24. Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice
25. Jane Austen – Northanger Abbey
26. Paul Auster – The Brooklyn Follies
27. Beryl Bainbridge – The Bottle Factory Outing
28. Calvin Baker – Dominion
29. Honore De Balzac – The Black Sheep
30. Iain Banks – The Wasp Factory
31. Iain M. Banks – The Player of Games
32. Lynne Reid Banks – The L-Shaped Room+B241
33. Florence L. Barclay – The Rosary
34. Clive Barker – Abarat
35. Pat Barker – Regeneration
36. J.M. Barrie – Peter Pan
37. Charles Baxter – A Relative Stranger
38. Samuel Beckett – Malone Dies
39. Alan Bennett – Writing Home
40. John Berendt – Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
41. Louis de Bernières – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
42. Mark Billingham – Sleepyhead
43. Maeve Binchy – Evening Class
44. Maeve Binchy – Scarlet Feather
45. Maeve Binchy – Quentins
46. Mikkel Birkegaard – Libri di Luca
47. James P. Blaylock – The Last Coin
48. Stefan Merrill Block – The Story of Forgetting
49. Judy Blume – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
50. Giles Blunt – Forty Words for Sorrow
My thoughts: This is obviously a non-conventional list that usually contains all the major classics and authors. I do not recognize most of the books and some of the authors. That Maeve Binchy (to my knowledge a supermarket novel writer) is strongly favored with three titles and Jane Austen only two makes me wonder if I should take the list seriously. What happens to Sense and Sensibility? The ultimate disappointment is that neither Death in A Family by James Agee and Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson are included. Russell Banks and Saul Bellow are also not represented. The Adventures of Augie March is shamefully left out.
On the list, however, are books that I have recognized and have long been wanting to read: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières, Watership Down by Richard Adams. Then there are authors I would read regardless of what the title might be, like Alan Bennett. It’s a workable list that contains books I would research after and see if I’ll include in my acquisition or library check-out list.
I’ve read 6 from this list and have 5 marked to read.
Watership Down was deceivingly simple but filled with meaning. You ought to enjoy that one.
What a strange list. So much on here that I would never consider reading.
I have read three (Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake, and Pride and Prejudice) and intend to read two (Asimov’s Foundation trilogy and Austens Northanger Abbey)