Tag: books

1. The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2. Falling Angels, ibid
3. Chronically Happy: Joyful Living in Spite of Chronic Illness, Lori Hartwell
4. Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament Types, David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates
5. Katherine, Anya Seton
6. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott
7. Victorian London: The Life of a City, 1840-1870, Liza Picard
8. Elizabeth’s London: Everyday life in Elizabethan London, ibid.
9. Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey, Allison Weir
10. The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece, Jonathan Harr
11. Thunderstruck, Erik Larson
12. Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Storm in History, ibid
13. The Warrior Queens, Antonia Fraser
14. Mary, Queen of Scots, ibid
15. Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King, ibid
16. Journey From the Land of No, Roya Hakakian
17. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells
18. Little Altars Everywhere, ibid
19. Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal, Alexandria Johnson
20. The Hidden Writer: Diaries and the Creative Life, ibid
21. Wisdom of the Celtic Saints, Edward Sellner
22. Open the Door: A Journey to the True Self, Joyce Rupp
23. Praying by Hand: Rediscovering the Rosary as a Way of Prayer, Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.
24. The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society, Henri J.M. Nouwen
25. Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life, Nouwen, et al
26. Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir, Joan Chittister
27. The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully, ibid
28. There is a Season, ibid
29. The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman’s Life, ibid
30. The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Inner Growth, Gerald May, M.D.
31. Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal, Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.
32. How Much is Enough? Hungering for God in an Affluent Culture, Arthur Simon
33. The Challenge and Spirituality of Catholic Social Teaching, Marvin L. Krier Mich
34. Cloud of Witnesses, Jim Wallis and Joyce Hollyday
35. Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint, Donald Spoto.
36. The Bible: A Biography, Karen Armstrong
37. How Firm a Foundation: Leaders of the Liturgical Movement, Robert L. Tuzik, ed.
38. Prayers of the Women Mystics, Rhonda De Sola
39. Woman, Why Do You Weep? Spirituality for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Sandra M. Flaherty
40. Touching the Holy: Ordinariness, Self-Esteem, and Friendship, Robert J. Wicks
41. Thirsty for God: A Brief History of Christian Spirituality, Bradley P. Holt
42. Pilgrim’s Almanac: Reflections for Every Day, Edward Hays
43. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
44. Hitler’s Willing Executioner’s: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
45. Wait ‘Til Next Year, Doris Kearns Goodwin
46. Light a Penny Candle, Maeve Binchy
47. Tara Road, ibid
48. Quentin’s, ibid
49. Scarlet Feather, ibid
50. Silver Wedding, ibid
51. Evening Class, ibid
52. The Glass Lake, ibid
53. Firefly Summer, ibid
54. Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, Geraldine Brooks
55. People of the Book: A Novel, ibid
56. The Chronic Illness Experience: Embracing the Imperfect Life, Cheri Register
57. Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits: A Multicultural Adoption, Myra Alperson
58. Lincoln: A Novel, Gore Vidal
59. Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents, Deborah D. Gray
60. Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest, Christina Baldwin
61. Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language From the South of France, Kristin Espinasse
62. Coastliners: A Novel, Joanne Harris
63. Five Quarters of the Orange, ibid
64. Chocolat, ibid
65. A Vision of Light: A Margaret of Ashbury Novel, Judith Merkle Riley
66. In Pursuit of the Green Lion: A Margaret of Ashbury Novel, ibid
67. The Water Devil: A Margaret of Ashbury Novel, ibid
68. The Birth of Venus: A Novel, Sarah Dinanat
69. Murder in the Rue De Paradis, Cara Black
70. Murder in Belleville, ibid
71. Murder in the Marais, ibid
72. Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis, ibid
73. Murder in Clichy, ibid
74. Murder in Montmartre, ibid
75. Entre Nous: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl, Debra Oliver
76. Hardball: How Politics is Played by One Who Knows the Game, Christopher Matthews
77. Lean Forward Into Your Life, Mary Anne Rademacher
78. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
79. Good Living With Fibromyalgia, Arthritis Foundation

All while typing this list I kept thinking of two of my favorite readers: Emilie, and my mom. “Oh, I’ve got to tell Emilie about this one,” I’d think, only to remember…I’ve had more time to get used to my mom’s death, but I still can’t help wanting to call her on the phone to tell her every time I discover an especially intriguing, complex, mystery story.

But still. Today, this is how I honor them, and the legacy they’ve left me, a legacy filled with love and appreciation for the power and mystery of language. And I’m grateful, too, for the many friends with whom I still share a mutual love of books, of delight in a cleverly turned phrase, in that magical feeling of discovering something new and traveling on a magic carpet–all thanks to our common love of the written (and spoken!) word.

And mom, it’s taken me many years, but I finally–well, mostly–forgive you for all those horrible puns.

(For an example of another friend who loves words, too, check out Liz’s beautifully written recent post.)

Finally back on the internet, and eager to re-involve myself with the wider world, I’ve decided to follow the lead of my literary friends Emilie, Liz, and Liz by jumping on the bandwagon of the The Big Read. Apparently, the Big Read (a program of the National Endowment for the Arts) guesses that the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books on this list. I didn’t do too badly, I guess, but not as well as I would have liked. Oh well–I won’t have any trouble coming up with new books to read over the rest of the summer!

Here are the instructions:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline (or mark in a different color) the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
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 (I’ve read quite a few of Shakespeare’s plays, yet I certainly can’t claim of have read all of them–but then who can, apart from Shakespearean scholars?)
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 Meany – 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 – Alexandre 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 Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
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 – Ronald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

I have to admit I’d like to have a little chat with whoever compiled this list, though. WAY too much Dickens. And including The DaVinci Code but NO Hemingway, Faulkner, Twain or Vonnegut–come on, people!!