Month: December 2010

BBC book list

Joey

“The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses.”

Sounds simple enough, but I am not very good at following directions. First, I looked the list up, and this list was compiled by The Guardian in 2007 as Books you can’t live without, and I didn’t see anything about only a 6% read-rate for the general population. The BBC has a similar list, from 2003, but it’s called The Big Read – Top 100, billed as “the search for the nation’s [i.e., U.K.’s] best-loved novel, and we asked you to nominate your favourite books.” Since the books in both lists are popular, presumably they are actually widely-read. For an American perspective, I also found and included two lists on Random House’s Modern Library site of 100 Best Novels, one by the board and one by readers.

Consequently, 400 books are listed, but many are duplicated in two or more lists (and a couple within the same list, like Hamlet and the Complete Works of Shakespeare). This looked like a job for a database, so I created a MySQL db with tables for the lists, the rankings, whether a book was read, and the books themselves (287 unique titles, but counting separately ones listed both as a set and independently). I also created a reader table so that more than just my results could be recorded. However, to implement that part I still have to learn some more PHP-MySQL integration and put the whole thing on a website.

My read count for each list is

  • Guardian (a/k/a “BBC-says-you’ve-only-read-6”) – 25
  • BBC – 25
  • ML/Board’s – 10
  • ML/Readers’ – 20

Lists

ranking title author list Read_Ind
1 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Books you can’t live without: the top 100
2 The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
3 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë Books you can’t live without: the top 100
4 Harry Potter series JK Rowling Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
5 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee Books you can’t live without: the top 100
6 The Bible Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
7 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte Books you can’t live without: the top 100
8 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman Books you can’t live without: the top 100
8 Night Watch Terry Pratchett Books you can’t live without: the top 100
10 Great Expectations Charles Dickens Books you can’t live without: the top 100
11 Little Women Louisa May Alcott Books you can’t live without: the top 100
12 Tess of the dUrbervilles Thomas Hardy Books you can’t live without: the top 100
13 Catch-22 Joseph Heller Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare William Shakespeare Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
15 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier Books you can’t live without: the top 100
16 The Hobbit JRR Tolkien Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
17 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks Books you can’t live without: the top 100
18 Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
19 The Time Travelers Wife Audrey Niffenegger Books you can’t live without: the top 100
20 Middlemarch George Eliot Books you can’t live without: the top 100
21 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell Books you can’t live without: the top 100
22 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
23 Bleak House Charles Dickens Books you can’t live without: the top 100
24 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy Books you can’t live without: the top 100
25 THE HEART OF THE MATTER Graham Greene Books you can’t live without: the top 100
26 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh Books you can’t live without: the top 100
27 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky Books you can’t live without: the top 100
28 Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck Books you can’t live without: the top 100
29 Alices Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll Books you can’t live without: the top 100
30 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame Books you can’t live without: the top 100
31 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy Books you can’t live without: the top 100
32 David Copperfield Charles Dickens Books you can’t live without: the top 100
33 Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis Books you can’t live without: the top 100
34 Emma Jane Austen Books you can’t live without: the top 100
35 Persuasion Jane Austen Books you can’t live without: the top 100
36 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe CS Lewis Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
37 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
38 Captain Corellis Mandolin Louis de Bernieres Books you can’t live without: the top 100
39 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden Books you can’t live without: the top 100
40 Winnie the Pooh AA Milne Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
41 Animal Farm George Orwell Books you can’t live without: the top 100
42 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez Books you can’t live without: the top 100
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney John Irving Books you can’t live without: the top 100
45 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins Books you can’t live without: the top 100
46 Anne of Green Gables LM Montgomery Books you can’t live without: the top 100
47 Far From The Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy Books you can’t live without: the top 100
48 The Handmaids Tale Margaret Atwood Books you can’t live without: the top 100
49 Lord of the Flies William Golding Books you can’t live without: the top 100
50 Atonement Ian McEwan Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
51 Life of Pi Yann Martel Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
52 Dune Frank Herbert Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
53 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons Books you can’t live without: the top 100
54 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen Books you can’t live without: the top 100
55 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth Books you can’t live without: the top 100
56 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon Books you can’t live without: the top 100
57 A Tale Of Two Cities Charles Dickens Books you can’t live without: the top 100
58 Brave New World Aldous Huxley Books you can’t live without: the top 100
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez Books you can’t live without: the top 100
61 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck Books you can’t live without: the top 100
62 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov Books you can’t live without: the top 100
63 The Secret History Donna Tartt Books you can’t live without: the top 100
64 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold Books you can’t live without: the top 100
65 The Count Of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
66 On The Road Jack Kerouac Books you can’t live without: the top 100
67 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy Books you can’t live without: the top 100
68 Bridget Joness Diary Helen Fielding Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
69 Midnights Children Salman Rushdie Books you can’t live without: the top 100
70 Moby Dick Herman Melville Books you can’t live without: the top 100
71 Oliver Twist Charles Dickens Books you can’t live without: the top 100
72 Dracula Bram Stoker Books you can’t live without: the top 100
73 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett Books you can’t live without: the top 100
74 Notes From A Small Island Bill Bryson Books you can’t live without: the top 100
75 Ulysses James Joyce Books you can’t live without: the top 100
76 The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath Books you can’t live without: the top 100
77 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome Books you can’t live without: the top 100
78 Germinal Emile Zola Books you can’t live without: the top 100
79 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray Books you can’t live without: the top 100
80 Possession AS Byatt Books you can’t live without: the top 100
81 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
82 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
83 The Clan Of The Cave Bear Jean M Auel Books you can’t live without: the top 100
84 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro Books you can’t live without: the top 100
85 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert Books you can’t live without: the top 100
86 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry Books you can’t live without: the top 100
87 Charlottes Web EB White Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven Mitch Albom Books you can’t live without: the top 100
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Books you can’t live without: the top 100
90 The Faraway Tree Collection Enid Blyton Books you can’t live without: the top 100
91 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
92 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
93 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks Books you can’t live without: the top 100
94 Watership Down Richard Adams Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
95 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole Books you can’t live without: the top 100
96 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute Books you can’t live without: the top 100
97 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas Books you can’t live without: the top 100
98 Hamlet William Shakespeare Books you can’t live without: the top 100 – Read
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl Books you can’t live without: the top 100
100 Les Misérables Victor Hugo Books you can’t live without: the top 100
1 The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
2 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen The Big Read – Top 100
3 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman The Big Read – Top 100
4 The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
5 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire JK Rowling The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
6 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee The Big Read – Top 100
7 Winnie the Pooh AA Milne The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
8 Night Watch Terry Pratchett The Big Read – Top 100
9 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
10 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë The Big Read – Top 100
11 Catch-22 Joseph Heller The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
12 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte The Big Read – Top 100
13 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks The Big Read – Top 100
14 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier The Big Read – Top 100
15 The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
16 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame The Big Read – Top 100
17 Great Expectations Charles Dickens The Big Read – Top 100
18 Little Women Louisa May Alcott The Big Read – Top 100
19 Captain Corellis Mandolin Louis de Bernieres The Big Read – Top 100
20 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy The Big Read – Top 100
21 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell The Big Read – Top 100
22 Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone JK Rowling The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
23 Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets JK Rowling The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
24 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban JK Rowling The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
25 The Hobbit JRR Tolkien The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
26 Tess of the dUrbervilles Thomas Hardy The Big Read – Top 100
27 Middlemarch George Eliot The Big Read – Top 100
28 A Prayer for Owen Meaney John Irving The Big Read – Top 100
29 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck The Big Read – Top 100
30 Alices Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll The Big Read – Top 100
31 The Story Of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson The Big Read – Top 100
32 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez The Big Read – Top 100
33 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
34 David Copperfield Charles Dickens The Big Read – Top 100
35 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl The Big Read – Top 100
36 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson The Big Read – Top 100
37 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute The Big Read – Top 100
38 Persuasion Jane Austen The Big Read – Top 100
39 Dune Frank Herbert The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
40 Emma Jane Austen The Big Read – Top 100
41 Anne of Green Gables LM Montgomery The Big Read – Top 100
42 Watership Down Richard Adams The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
43 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
44 The Count Of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
45 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh The Big Read – Top 100
46 Animal Farm George Orwell The Big Read – Top 100
47 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
48 Far From The Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy The Big Read – Top 100
49 Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian The Big Read – Top 100
50 The Shell Seekers Rosamunde Pilcher The Big Read – Top 100
51 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett The Big Read – Top 100
52 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck The Big Read – Top 100
53 The Stand Stephen King The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
54 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy The Big Read – Top 100
55 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth The Big Read – Top 100
56 The BFG Roald Dahl The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
57 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome The Big Read – Top 100
58 Black Beauty Anna Sewell The Big Read – Top 100
59 Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer The Big Read – Top 100
60 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Big Read – Top 100
61 Noughts And Crosses Malorie Blackman The Big Read – Top 100
62 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden The Big Read – Top 100
63 A Tale Of Two Cities Charles Dickens The Big Read – Top 100
64 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCollough The Big Read – Top 100
65 Mort Terry Pratchett The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
66 The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton The Big Read – Top 100
67 The Magus John Fowles The Big Read – Top 100
68 Good Omens Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
69 Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett The Big Read – Top 100
70 Lord of the Flies William Golding The Big Read – Top 100
71 Perfume Patrick Süskind The Big Read – Top 100
72 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell The Big Read – Top 100
73 Night Watch Terry Pratchett The Big Read – Top 100
74 Matilda Roald Dahl The Big Read – Top 100
75 Bridget Joness Diary Helen Fielding The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
76 The Secret History Donna Tartt The Big Read – Top 100
77 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins The Big Read – Top 100
78 Ulysses James Joyce The Big Read – Top 100
79 Bleak House Charles Dickens The Big Read – Top 100
80 Double Act Jacqueline Wilson The Big Read – Top 100
81 The Twits Roald Dahl The Big Read – Top 100
82 I Capture The Castle Dodie Smith The Big Read – Top 100
83 Holes Louis Sachar The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
84 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake The Big Read – Top 100
85 The God Of Small Things Arundhati Roy The Big Read – Top 100
86 Vicky Angel Jacqueline Wilson The Big Read – Top 100
87 Brave New World Aldous Huxley The Big Read – Top 100
88 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons The Big Read – Top 100
89 Magician Raymond E Feist The Big Read – Top 100
90 On The Road Jack Kerouac The Big Read – Top 100
91 The Godfather Mario Puzo The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
92 The Clan Of The Cave Bear Jean M Auel The Big Read – Top 100
93 The Colour Of Magic Terry Pratchett The Big Read – Top 100 – Read
94 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho The Big Read – Top 100
95 Katherine Anya Seton The Big Read – Top 100
96 Kane And Abel Jeffrey Archer The Big Read – Top 100
97 Love In The Time Of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez The Big Read – Top 100
98 Girls In Love Jacqueline Wilson The Big Read – Top 100
99 The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot The Big Read – Top 100
100 Midnights Children Salman Rushdie The Big Read – Top 100
1 Ulysses James Joyce 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
2 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
3 A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN James Joyce 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
4 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
5 Brave New World Aldous Huxley 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
6 THE SOUND AND THE FURY William Faulkner 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
7 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
8 DARKNESS AT NOON Arthur Koestler 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
9 SONS AND LOVERS D.H. Lawrence 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
10 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
11 UNDER THE VOLCANO Malcolm Lowry 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
12 THE WAY OF ALL FLESH Samuel Butler 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
13 1984 George Orwell 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
14 I Capture The Castle Dodie Smith 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
15 TO THE LIGHTHOUSE Virginia Woolf 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
16 AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY Theodore Dreiser 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
17 THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER Carson McCullers 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
18 SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE Kurt Vonnegut 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
19 INVISIBLE MAN Ralph Ellison 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
20 NATIVE SON Richard Wright 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
21 HENDERSON THE RAIN KING Saul Bellow 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
22 APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA John OHara 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
23 U.S.A.(trilogy) John Dos Passos 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
24 WIDE SARGASSO SEA Jean Rhys 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
25 A PASSAGE TO INDIA E.M. Forster 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
26 THE WINGS OF THE DOVE Henry James 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
27 THE AMBASSADORS Henry James 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
28 TENDER IS THE NIGHT F. Scott Fitzgerald 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
29 THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY James T. Farrell 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
30 THE GOOD SOLDIER Ford Madox Ford 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
31 Animal Farm George Orwell 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
32 THE GOLDEN BOWL Henry James 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
33 SISTER CARRIE Theodore Dreiser 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
34 A HANDFUL OF DUST Evelyn Waugh 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
35 AS I LAY DYING William Faulkner 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
36 ALL THE KINGS MEN Robert Penn Warren 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
37 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY Thornton Wilder 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
38 HOWARDS END E.M. Forster 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
39 GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN James Baldwin 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
40 THE HEART OF THE MATTER Graham Greene 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
41 Lord of the Flies William Golding 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
42 DELIVERANCE James Dickey 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
43 A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) Anthony Powell 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
44 POINT COUNTER POINT Aldous Huxley 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
45 THE SUN ALSO RISES Ernest Hemingway 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
46 THE SECRET AGENT Joseph Conrad 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
47 NOSTROMO Joseph Conrad 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
48 THE RAINBOW D.H. Lawrence 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
49 WOMEN IN LOVE D.H. Lawrence 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
50 TROPIC OF CANCER Henry Miller 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
51 THE NAKED AND THE DEAD Norman Mailer 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
52 PORTNOYS COMPLAINT Philip Roth 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
53 PALE FIRE Vladimir Nabokov 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
54 LIGHT IN AUGUST William Faulkner 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
55 On The Road Jack Kerouac 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
56 THE MALTESE FALCON Dashiell Hammett 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
57 PARADES END Ford Madox Ford 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
58 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE Edith Wharton 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
59 ZULEIKA DOBSON Max Beerbohm 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
60 THE MOVIEGOER Walker Percy 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
61 DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP Willa Cather 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
62 FROM HERE TO ETERNITY James Jones 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
63 THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES John Cheever 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
64 The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
65 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE Anthony Burgess 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
66 OF HUMAN BONDAGE W. Somerset Maugham 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
67 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
68 MAIN STREET Sinclair Lewis 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
69 THE HOUSE OF MIRTH Edith Wharton 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
70 THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET Lawrence Durell 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
71 A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA Richard Hughes 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
72 A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS V.S. Naipaul 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
73 THE DAY OF THE LOCUST Nathanael West 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
74 A FAREWELL TO ARMS Ernest Hemingway 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
75 SCOOP Evelyn Waugh 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
76 THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE Muriel Spark 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
77 FINNEGANS WAKE James Joyce 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
78 KIM Rudyard Kipling 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
79 A ROOM WITH A VIEW E.M. Forster 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List – Read
80 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
81 THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH Saul Bellow 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
82 ANGLE OF REPOSE Wallace Stegner 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
83 A BEND IN THE RIVER V.S. Naipaul 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
84 THE DEATH OF THE HEART Elizabeth Bowen 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
85 LORD JIM Joseph Conrad 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
86 RAGTIME E.L. Doctorow 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
87 THE OLD WIVES TALE Arnold Bennett 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
88 THE CALL OF THE WILD Jack London 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
89 LOVING Henry Green 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
90 Middlemarch George Eliot 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
91 TOBACCO ROAD Erskine Caldwell 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
92 IRONWEED William Kennedy 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
93 The Magus John Fowles 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
94 WIDE SARGASSO SEA Jean Rhys 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
95 UNDER THE NET Iris Murdoch 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
96 SOPHIES CHOICE William Styron 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
97 THE SHELTERING SKY Paul Bowles 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
98 THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE James M. Cain 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
99 THE GINGER MAN J.P. Donleavy 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
100 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS Booth Tarkington 100 Best Novels – The Board’s List
1 ATLAS SHRUGGED Ayn Rand 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
2 THE FOUNTAINHEAD Ayn Rand 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
3 BATTLEFIELD EARTH L. Ron Hubbard 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
4 The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
5 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
6 1984 George Orwell 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
7 ANTHEM Ayn Rand 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
8 WE THE LIVING Ayn Rand 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
9 MISSION EARTH L. Ron Hubbard 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
10 FEAR L. Ron Hubbard 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
11 Ulysses James Joyce 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
12 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
13 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
14 Dune Frank Herbert 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
15 THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS Robert Heinlein 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
16 STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND Robert Heinlein 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
17 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
18 Brave New World Aldous Huxley 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
19 The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
20 Animal Farm George Orwell 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
21 GRAVITYS RAINBOW Thomas Pynchon 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
22 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
23 SISTER CARRIE Theodore Dreiser 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
24 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
25 Lord of the Flies William Golding 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
26 SHANE Jack Schaefer 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
27 TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM Nevil Shute 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
28 A Prayer for Owen Meaney John Irving 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
29 The Stand Stephen King 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
30 THE FRENCH LIEUTENANTS WOMAN John Fowles 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
31 BELOVED Toni Morrison 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
32 THE WORM OUROBOROS E.R. Eddison 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
33 THE SOUND AND THE FURY William Faulkner 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
34 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
35 MOONHEART Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
36 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
37 OF HUMAN BONDAGE W. Somerset Maugham 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
38 WISE BLOOD Flannery OConnor 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
39 UNDER THE VOLCANO Malcolm Lowry 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
40 FIFTH BUSINESS Robertson Davies 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
41 SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
42 On The Road Jack Kerouac 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
43 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
44 YARROW Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
45 AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS H.P. Lovecraft 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
46 ONE LONELY NIGHT Mickey Spillane 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
47 MEMORY AND DREAM Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
48 TO THE LIGHTHOUSE Virginia Woolf 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
49 THE MOVIEGOER Walker Percy 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
50 TRADER Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
51 THE HEART OF THE MATTER Graham Greene 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
52 THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER Carson McCullers 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
53 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
54 BLOOD MERIDIAN Cormac McCarthy 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
55 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE Anthony Burgess 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
56 ON THE BEACH Nevil Shute 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
57 A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN James Joyce 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
58 GREENMANTLE Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
59 ENDERS GAME Orson Scott Card 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
60 THE LITTLE COUNTRY Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
61 THE RECOGNITIONS William Gaddis 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
62 STARSHIP TROOPERS Robert Heinlein 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
63 THE SUN ALSO RISES Ernest Hemingway 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
64 THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP John Irving 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
65 SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES Ray Bradbury 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
66 THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE Shirley Jackson 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
67 AS I LAY DYING William Faulkner 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
68 TROPIC OF CANCER Henry Miller 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
69 INVISIBLE MAN Ralph Ellison 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
70 THE WOOD WIFE Terri Windling 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
71 The Magus John Fowles 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
72 THE DOOR INTO SUMMER Robert Heinlein 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
73 ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE Robert Pirsig 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
74 I Capture The Castle Dodie Smith 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
75 THE CALL OF THE WILD Jack London 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
76 AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS Flann OBrien 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
77 FARENHEIT 451 Ray Bradbury 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
78 ARROWSMITH Sinclair Lewis 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
79 Watership Down Richard Adams 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
80 NAKED LUNCH William S. Burroughs 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
81 THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER Tom Clancy 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
82 GUILTY PLEASURES Laurell K. Hamilton 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
83 THE PUPPET MASTERS Robert Heinlein 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
84 IT Stephen King 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
85 V. Thomas Pynchon 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
86 DOUBLE STAR Robert Heinlein 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
87 CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY Robert Heinlein 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
88 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
89 LIGHT IN AUGUST William Faulkner 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
90 ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST Ken Kesey 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
91 A FAREWELL TO ARMS Ernest Hemingway 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List – Read
92 THE SHELTERING SKY Paul Bowles 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
93 SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION Ken Kesey 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
94 MY ANTONIA Willa Cather 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
95 MULENGRO Charles de Lint 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
96 SUTTREE Cormac McCarthy 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
97 MYTHAGO WOOD Robert Holdstock 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
98 ILLUSIONS Richard Bach 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
99 THE CUNNING MAN Robertson Davies 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List
100 THE SATANIC VERSES Salman Rushdie 100 Best Novels – The Readers’ List

Rare events today

Joey

I had four rare phenomena happen today. Any one by itself would not be remarkable, but all four together warrant a blog posting that few people will read.

  1. I got new contact lenses. I usually only wear contacts for bicycling with sunglasses or days when I’m outside a lot, like at the beach. When I do wear them, I seem to be fairly light on them, and they last well: I still had 3-1/2 pair of disposable lenses left from when I last got them two or three years ago, and at the same prescription. So my eyes are in good health and have not changed much–don’t need bifocals quite yet. With no reason to get new glasses, I used my vision benefits to get contacts instead. My optometrist suggested daily wear, which seem ideal for what my usage pattern and carry no marginal cost. I’ve been wearing a trial pair today, despite no bike riding, and I’m looking forward to just taking them out and throwing them away rather than going through the cleaning routine. Rarity: getting new contacts as well as wearing contacts when I’m in the office all day.
  2. When I got to the office after my appointment, I felt a static shock as I put my computer in it’s port at my desk, and then it would not turn on. I called the company Helpless Desk, and they referred me to another number. Fortunately, it was easily remedied with that Help desk (yea Lenovo support in ATL). At their instruction, I unplugged it, removed the battery, pressed the power button 10 times quickly, then held it the 11th time for 30 seconds. All this was to discharge any static buildup, or something like that. When I plugged the AC cord back in, it worked fine. Rarity: My computer not powering on and having to call the Help(less) desk(s).
  3. We had to get a new toilet in the kids’ bathroom, which is the first toilet we’ve every bought that didn’t come as part of a house. It supposed to be a nice one, and we got a good deal on it. Still, pretty hard to get excited about a toilet. Rarity: eh…
  4. I stayed in the office on a Friday night until almost 8pm. Working into the night is not as uncommon as I would like these days, but I’m working from home more often than not these days, and almost always at home if it is night. So being there after 6pm on a Friday was unusual, and the buildings seemed strangely deserted when I realized what time it was and eventually left. Even though it was dark outside, I have to look on the bright side and be glad I wasn’t my co-worker in the UK who was still online at 1:30am there when I got home here at 8:30pm here.