Book opinions

I know that if everyone else is bored with this blog entry, my mom will like it, so this one's for you mom. When Chad wrote the last post about things he should do now that he has more time, I suggested to him (in person, the way we normally communicate) that he get a list of the 100 best novels of all-time and an AP reading list, read all of them, and then report back to me which ones are good. You're probably wondering why I can't just do this myself. The reason is simple: just because it made a "best" list does not mean it's any good. I think it just means that nobody wants to be the one to say, "Hey! Willa Cather is a really boring writer!" I didn't always like to read, because I my perception of "liking to read" was that one liked reading for the sake of reading, not for the sake of a good story. When I was in junior high and high school, one of my memories is of my mom reading books in the evenings. I couldn't understand how she could read so much! Now I realize (and this is what I tell my students) that you can enjoy reading without liking everything you read. Mom once said that she will read 100 pages into a book and if she's not interested, she'll move on. I thought that was a good idea. So, I looked up the definitive "100 Best Novels of All-Time" list (aka the first one that popped up when I typed it in Google). I have to say that I have read some of these and they are definitely not the best, but this was the modern library. I also looked up the AP suggested reading list, and I've bolded everything I've read, and maybe made a comment about whether I liked it or not. So I've decided to take it upon myself to read more of these books, but not just to check off the list. I only want to read the good ones. So I am inviting everyone who reads this blog to give their input: if you have read any of these and you really liked them, I'd like to know. Also, if I shouldn't waste my time, tell me that too. I'll give the rest to Chad to preview for me. Here they are:

The Modern Library's 100 best novels (reader's list) I haven't even heard of most of these books! If you have read any of these (which obviously lots of people think are really good), please enlighten me.

ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. My favorite book. If you haven't read it, you should.
1984 by George Orwell
ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
ULYSSES by James Joyce
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Skip it.
DUNE by Frank Herbert
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck. Not the best Steinbeck novel, but well-written nonetheless.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
SHANE by Jack Schaefer
TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
THE STAND by Stephen King
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
YARROW by Charles de Lint
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
TRADER by Charles de Lint
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
IT by Stephen King
V. by Thomas Pynchon
DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather. Sorry, was I snoring too loud?
MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie


The AP suggested reading list: Obviously, all my high school and college teachers saw this list too, hence the number of highlighted books.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain, Mark. This is a good book. Chad disagrees.
Aeneid Virgil
African Queen Forester, C. S.
Age of Innocence Hamilton, David
Agnes of God Pielmeier John
Agony and the Ecstasy Stone, Irving
Alias Grace Atwood, Margaret
All the King's Men Warren, Robert Penn
All the Pretty Horses McCarthy, Cormac. His weird sentence structure and punctuation bother me, but otherwise a good story teller.
America is in the Heart Bulosan, Carlos
An American Tragedy Dreiser, Theodore
The Andromeda Strain Crichton, Michael
An Enemy of the People Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Anna Karenina Tolstoy, Leo
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl Frank, Anne
Another Country Pipher, Mary Bray
Antigone Sophocles Just read this in sophomore English. Short, but a classic Greek tragedy (Antigone is Oedipus's daughter)
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Richler, Mordecai
As You Like It Shakespeare, William
As I Lay Dying Faulkner, William
Awakening Chopin, Kate
Bear Faulkner, William
Big Sky Guthrie, A.B.
Billy Budd, Sailor Melville, Herman
Birthday Party Pointer, Harold
Bleak House Dickens, Charles
Bless Me, Ultima Anaya, Rudolfo. Mrs. Fort forced me to read this in 9th grade. I didn't like the books she picked.
Bluest Eye Morrison, Toni
Bridge of San Luis Rey Wilder, Thornton
Bridge Over the River Kwai Boulle, Pierre
Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Caine Mutiny Wouk, Herman
Candide Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet
Canterbury Tales Chaucer, Geoffrey. Read it in high school. Vague memories of dad reciting some of it in some bad Old English.
Catcher in the Rye Salinger, J.D.
Cat on Hot Tin Roof Williams, Tennessee
Cat's Eye Atwood, Margaret
Catch-22 Heller, Joseph
Ceremony Silko, Leslie Marmon
Cherry Orchard Chekhov, P. Anton
Color Purple Walker, Alice
Count of Monte Cristo Dumas, Alexander
Crime & Punishment Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Crucible Miller, Arthur. Love this play. From what I hear from American Lit. teachers it is getting more and more difficult to explain the Red Scare metaphor as it relates to the play.
Cry, the Beloved Country Paton, Alan. Another Fort pick.
Daisy Miller James, Henry
Dead Joyce, James
Death of a Salesman Miller, Arthur. Not as good as The Crucible. Don't think I'd teach it by choice.
Delta Wedding Welty, Eudora
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Tyler, Anne
Diviners Laurence, Margaret
Doll's House Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Don Quixote (Don Quijote) Cervantes, Miguel
Dr. Faustus Marlowe, Christopher J.
Emma Austen, Jane
Equus Shaffer, Peter
Eumenides Aeschylus
Fifth Business Davies, Robertson
Frankenstein Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Friendly Persuasion West, Jessamyn
Gathering of Old Men Gaines, Ernest J.
Glass Menagerie Williams, Tennessee
Good Earth Buck, Pearl S.
Good Soldier Ford, Ford Madox
Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John
Ghosts Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Great Expectations Dickens, Charles
Great Gatsby Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Gulliver's Travels Swift, Jonathan
Hamlet Shakespeare, William. One of Shakespeare's best. I like the tragedies better than the comedies.
Handmaid's Tale Atwood, Margaret Eleanor
Heart of Darkness Conrad, Joseph
Heart Is a Lonely Hunter McCullers, Carson
Hedda Gabler Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Hound of the Baskervilles Doyle, Arthur Conan
House Made of Dawn Momaday, N. Scott
Iliad Homer
In the Lake of the Woods O'Brien, Tim
Invisible Man Ellison, Ralph
Ivanhoe Scott, Walter
J. B. McLeish, Archibald. Yet another Fort pick. It is supposed to be a modern-day rendition of the book of Job.
Jane Eyre Bronte, Charlotte
Jasmine Mukherjee, Bharati. American Ethnic Literature @ A&M.
Joe Turner's Come and Gone Wilson, August
Johnny Tremain Forbes, Esther
Joy Luck Club Tan, Amy
Jude the Obscure Hardy, Thomas. Hardy is a dense author, but I enjoy what I have read of his.
Julius Caesar Shakespeare, William. Awesome play! We just finished it in my class again. Et tu, Brute?
Jungle Sinclair, Upton B.
Kidnapped Stevenson, Robert L.
Kim Kipling, Rudyard
King Lear Shakespeare, William
Kon-Tiki Heyerdahl, Thor
Les Miserables Hugo, Victor
Lesson Before Dying Gaines, Ernest J.
Life & Adventures of John Muir Clarke, James
Light in August Faulkner, William
Light in the Forest Richter, Conrad
Little Women Alcott, Louisa May
Living Sea Cousteau, Jacques
Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner Sillitoe, Allan
Look Homeward, Angel Wolfe, Thomas
Lord Jim Conrad, Joseph
Lord of the Flies Golding, William G.
Love Medicine Erdrich, Louise
Lysistrata Aristophanes
Macbeth Shakespeare, William. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.
Madame Butterfly Puccini, Giacomo
Madame Curie Curie, Eve
Main Street Lewis, Sinclair
Major Barbara Shaw, George Bernard
Martian Chronicles Bradbury, Ray
Mayor of Casterbridge Hardy, Thomas
Medea Euripides
Member of the Wedding McCullers, Carson
Merchant of Venice Shakespeare, William. Just finished this in honors English. A good one, but not the best.
Metamorphosis Kafka, Franz
Middlemarch Eliot, George
Mill on the Floss Eliot, George
Miracle Worker Gibson, William
Misanthrope Moliere
Moby Dick Melville, Herman
Moll Flanders Defoe, Daniel
Monkey Bridge Cao, Lan
Mother Courage and Her Children Brecht, Bertolt
Mrs. Dalloway Woolf, Virginia. Avoid Woolf at all costs.
Mrs. Warren's Profession Shaw, George Bernard
Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare, William
Murder in the Cathedral Eliot, T. S.
Mutiny on the Bounty Nordhoff, Charles
My Antonia Cather, Willa. Another one to avoid. Her writing is as stark as the landscapes she writes about.
My Brother Sam is Dead Collier, James L.
Native Son Wright, Richard A.
Native Speaker Lee, Chang-Rae. American Ethnic Literature @ A&M
Nineteen Eighty-Four Orwell, George. How did I graduate from high school without reading this book and Catcher in the Rye?
No-No Boy Okada, John. American Ethnic Literature @ A&M
Obasan Kogawa, Joy
Odyssey Homer
Oedipus Rex Sophocles. A seriously disturbed family.
Of Human Bondage Maugham, W. Somerset
Of Mice and Men Steinbeck, John
Old Man and the Sea Hemingway, Ernest
Old Yeller Gipson, Fred
On the Beach Shute, Nevil
Optimist's Daughter Welty, Eudora
Othello Shakespeare, William
Our Town Wilder, Thornton
Ox Bow Incident Clark, Walter Van Tilburg
Pale Horse, Pale Rider Porter, Katherine Anne
Passage to India Forster, E.M.
Pearl Steinbeck, John
Piano Lesson Wilson, August
Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde, Oscar
Pnin Nabokov, Vladimir
Portrait of a Lady James, Henry
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce, James
Power and the Glory Greene, Graham
Praisesong for the Widow Marshall, Paule
Pride and Prejudice Austen, Jane
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Spark, Muriel
Promise Potok, Chaim
Pygmalion Shaw, George Bernard
Raisin in the Sun Hansberry, Lorraine
Rebecca duMaurier, Daphne
Red Badge of Courage Crane, Stephen
Redburn Melville, Herman
Red Pony Steinbeck, John
Remains of the Day Ishiguro, Kazuo
Return of the Native Hardy, Thomas
Robinson Crusoe Defoe, Daniel
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Taylor, Mildred D.
Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare, William
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Stoppard, Tom
Saint Joan Shaw, George Bernard
Scarlet Pimpernel Orczy, Baroness
Scarlet Letter Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Sea Around Us Carson, Rachel L.
Separate Peace Knowles, John
Shipping News Proulx, Annie
Silent Spring Carson, Rachel L.
Sister Carrie Dreiser, Theodore
Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut, Kurt
Snow Falling on Cedars Guterson, David
Song of Solomon Morrison, Toni
Sound and the Fury Faulkner, William
Spy Who Came in From the Cold Le Carre, John
Stone Angel O'Connell, Carol
Story of My Life Keller, Helen A.
Stranger (L'Estranger) Camus, Albert
Streetcar Named Desire Williams, Tennessee
Sula Morrison, Toni
Summer of My German Soldier Greene, Bette
Sun Also Rises Hemingway, Ernest
Tales of the South Pacific Michener, James A.
Tartuffe Moliere
Tempest Shakespeare , William
Tess of the D'Urbervilles Hardy, Thomas. I really like this book. I did my H.S. senior research paper on this one.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston, Zora Neale
Things Fall Apart Achebe, Chinua
Thread That Runs So True Stuart, Jesse
To Be Young, Gifted and Black Hansberry, Lorraine
To Kill a Mockingbird Lee, Harper. Did I mention I love this book?
Tom Jones Fielding, Henry
Tom Sawyer Twain, Mark
Tortilla Flat Steinbeck, John
Travels with Charley Steinbeck, John
Treasure Island Stevenson, Robert L.
Trial Kafka, Franz
Trilogy of the Ring Tolkein, J.R.R.
Turn of the Screw James, Henry
Twelfth Night Shakespeare, William
Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Waiting for Godot Becket, Samuel
War and Peace Tolstoy, Leo
War of the Worlds Wells, H.G.
Warden Trollope, Anthony
Watch on the Rhine Hellman, Lillian
Watch That Ends the Night MacLennan, Hugh
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee, Edward
Wide Sargasso Sea Rhys, Jean
Winesburg, Ohio Anderson, Sherwood
Winter in the Blood Welch, James
Wise Blood O'Connor, Flannery
Wuthering Heights Bronte, Emily
Yearling Rawlings, Marjorie K.
You Can't Go Home Again Wolfe, Thomas
Zoot Suit Valdez, Luis

After looking at this list I realize that there are many books that I should have read at this point, but haven't. So that is what your comments are for. Let me know what is worth reading, and if there is something not on this list that I should read, tell me that too.

To those of you who don't care, sorry for the really long post. Scroll up to see a picture of a llama!