A book club - anyone interested?

[missmissy 38]

My favorite Stephen King is "It", followed by "Shining". I didn't get into the Dark Towers, read the first one, wasn't attached.

I felt the same way...the first one was awful but I promise you, the rest of the series is great. If you liked It and The Shining, go for the second in the series - there are a lot of cross over charachters from his other books...he brings in people and places from almost all of his books.

[Ladylethal 12]

I see, might give it a try then.

Next in line for me is re-reading "The Winter King" first in the Arthur trilogy by Bernard Cornwell. Fantastic book! Bought it for my husband who never read it and since it's been over 5 years since I read it will read it again.

Progressing slowly with The Shadow of the Wind, it's good but not one to be devoured as I usually do.

[Ban Hammer 13,643]

does reading playboy count?

Only if you actually read it and not just look at the pictures!

ok

Man, does the fact that our conservative majority pride themselves on NOT reading bother anyone?

how did you draw those two flawed conclusions: conservatives a majority, and that they don't read?

does reading playboy count?

Only if you actually read it and not just look at the pictures!

ok

for you, big guy!

[Marina-Del 10]

Just a small example - a new book came out while I was there, Ken Follett's sequel to Pillars of the Earth....for me to buy it there in Copenhagen would have cost $60 U.S. - here I bought it at Sam's Club for $14.99. Not to mention only about 6 hours of daylight in the wintertime, freezing wet cold and windy.....We couldn't wait to get back to sunny Mississippi! I will never complain about how hot it is here, ever again!

I love both of the Ken Follet books too! While I loved those books, I woudln't recommend them for the book club though since they are extremely long and a bit technical at times (I used to work in a book store and I talked to a lot of people about them, they either hated them or loved them).

But I loved them!

[Marina-Del 10]

I thought this would be an appropriate place to put this:

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 of the books here.

I got 26 out of 100. So, way higher than the BBC reckons...but not nearly as high as I would like! I guess the BBC was trying to pick mostly classics and the newer books that are on the best sellers list, but there was tons of Dickens and Austen on there! (good thing I've read most Austen!)

Put an x next to the books you have read.

XX 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

XX 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

XX 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

XX 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

XX 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

XX 6 The Bible

9 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -(Own it, but haven't read it yet!)

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (On my list of things to read next)

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (Also on my list of things to read next)

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (read the back of this one a couple times, and it never interested me)

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (bits and pieces, but not the whole thing)

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

XX 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

XX 18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Travelers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

XX 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (AMAZING...one of my favorites!)

XX 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (I'm sure I'm get around to this one someday)

XX 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 (Not yet, I want to)

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (Also want to)

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

XX 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (really good!)

XX 34 Emma - Jane Austen (And I've seen Clueless too!)

XX 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

XX 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (didn't I already put an XX by this one??)

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini --

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

XX 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (ALSO one of my favorties! I recommend this to everyone!)

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (Also on my list of things to read)

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

XX 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude

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

XX 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

XX 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (REALLY GOOD, made me think for DAYS!)

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

XX 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 Jone's Diary

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby ####### - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

XX 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

XX 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

XX 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White

XX 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (really really should read this, I know- But so many books, so little time!)

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

XX 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

XX 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Edited March 29, 2009 by Marina-Del

[missmissy 38]

Put an x next to the books you have read.

XXX 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

XX 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

XXX 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

XX 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

XXX 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

XX 6 The Bible

X9 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -(Own it, but haven't read it yet!)

X8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (On my list of things to read next)

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations Charles Dickens

X11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (Also on my list of things to read next)

X12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

X13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (read the back of this one a couple times, and it never interested me)

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (bits and pieces, but not the whole thing)

X15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

XX 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

XXX 18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

X19 The Time Travelers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

XXX 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (AMAZING...one of my favorites!)

XXX 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (I'm sure I'm get around to this one someday)

XX 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

X28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

X29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (Not yet, I want to)

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (Also want to)

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

XXX 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (really good!)

XXX 34 Emma - Jane Austen (And I've seen Clueless too!)

XXX 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

XXX 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (didn't I already put an XX by this one??)

X37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini --

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

XXX 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (ALSO one of my favorties! I recommend this to everyone!)

X40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (Also on my list of things to read)

X41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

XXX 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

X43 One Hundred Years of Solitude

X44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

X46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

X48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

X49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

XXX 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

XXX 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (REALLY GOOD, made me think for DAYS!)

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

X53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

XX 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

X57 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

X60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

X61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

X64 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 Jone's Diary

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby ####### - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

X72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

X73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

XXX 74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

X76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

X79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

XXX 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

X83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

X85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

XXX 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White

XX 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

X89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

X92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (really really should read this, I know- But so many books, so little time!)

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

X94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

X97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

XX 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

XXX 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

WHEW!!

I have read a little more than half of them....pretty good!!

[Ladylethal 12]

XX 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

XX 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

XX 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

XX 6 The Bible

XX9 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

XX9 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

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

XX 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

XX19 The Time Travelers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

XX 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

XX 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 (Not yet, I want to)

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (Also want to)

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

XX 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (really good!)

XX 34 Emma - Jane Austen (And I've seen Clueless too!)

XX 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

XX 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (didn't I already put an XX by this one??)

XX37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini --

38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

XX 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (ALSO one of my favorties! I recommend this to everyone!)

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (Also on my list of things to read)

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

XX 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

XX 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude

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

XX 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

XX52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

XX 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

XX 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

XX 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

XX 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

XX 68 Bridget Jone's Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby ####### - Herman Melville

XX 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

XX 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

XX 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

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

XX 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I've read I think 30 of them in full, and some others in part 'cus I couldn't get caught into the story at the time I read it.

Some of my favorite books are listed though.

[truffles 2]

"Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 of the books here."

I am not sure how the BBC went about compiling the list - other than people were asked to nominate their favourite book - if the voters had to vote for ONE book then it is no suprise the list is so varied. Also possible that although - if it is true that most people have only read 6 of the 100 they may well have read other books not in the 100.

On personal note - when the group of work colleagues decided to do this challenge they agreed as a group that they could scratch off any on the list they had read in the last 2 years - and once it got underway it was amazing how many people said they had a copy of a certain book/s and willingly lent it out - it was also suprising how little anyone had to buy or borrow books from the library - it seemed a lot of people had a reading habit!

[MsMariah 0]

Miss Missy, that is an insane price difference. Surely, not everything was so markedly increased?

Most of the ones I read on that list were so long ago, so long ago. But one caught my eye I read less than two years ago was "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". Really, it's so amazing. It was very provocative on how we can deeply effect the lives of people in ways we don't even realize, and yet none of it is for naught. Someone gave me that book on the train from Cairo to Alexandria.. and I gave it to someone else on the plane ride home. Another one I read during that vacation... actually on the bus from Siwa back to Alexandria was the Yacoubian Building by Ala Al Aswany. It's heartwrenching.

I've actually never been part of a book club before, what does one actually discuss? Is there a format?

Embarassingly enough I could have read a lot more meaningful books but I have this tendancy to devour a steamy romance in an overnight fit of indulgence far too often. hehe

Also, recently I read this biography of the Bronte family, it was really interesting surprisingly enough it struck me however much things have changed since the victorian era, the frustration people go through when struggling for their rights remains painfully similar. It definitely gives new insight into Wuthering Heights in ways that my Eng Lit class didn't delve into so well.

Anyway, I just ordered Life of Pi for me, and A Wrinkle in Time for my 8 yo daughter. When I was her age I was hooked on Roald Dahl (he's norwegian I think) books, I've read and now bought most of them.

BTW, reading The Stand traumatized me when I was maybe 13. My mom is addicted to Steven King and I used to always read the ones she bought after she was finished. But now I have an aversion for horror so I can't read them anymore.

[Ladylethal 12]

I'm one of those readers without much of a taste, so you'll see me equally enjoying something written by Nora Roberts, Tom Clancy or Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I go by state of mind, mood, title, not by author or style. I must say though, I can't stand Paulo Coelho and fail to see how such mediocre writing get international recognition. Can't stand his books or his person. It is a personal thing for me as, like I said, I will read cheap novels and bad writing as long as the story entices me, but Paulo Coelho ...

[Scott & Lai 12]

Next in line for me is re-reading "The Winter King" first in the Arthur trilogy by Bernard Cornwell. Fantastic book! Bought it for my husband who never read it and since it's been over 5 years since I read it will read it again.

I recently finished Pendragon, the fourth of Stephen R. Lawhead's Arthur series. Next will be Grail. I'm currently reading Homer's The Odyssey. Last I read that was in college, including parts in the original Greek

does reading playboy count?

Only if you actually read it and not just look at the pictures!

ok

Man, does the fact that our conservative majority pride themselves on NOT reading bother anyone?

how did you draw those two flawed conclusions: conservatives a majority, and that they don't read?

I was wondering about that, too

Edited March 30, 2009 by Scott & Lai

[maya62 7]

Please count me in, too.

Of the books on the list, my favorite was A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry... but I'm partial to books about that part of the world

I prefer books that are somewhat introspective and/or biographical (loved Eat Pray Love) over those that are basically historical or fantasy (although I loved the Pern series). But I'll read anything...

Anyone have an idea about how to choose a book and get started?

Maya

[missmissy 38]

Please count me in, too.

Of the books on the list, my favorite was A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry... but I'm partial to books about that part of the world

I prefer books that are somewhat introspective and/or biographical (loved Eat Pray Love) over those that are basically historical or fantasy (although I loved the Pern series). But I'll read anything...

Anyone have an idea about how to choose a book and get started?

Maya

I open the floor for nominations - I don't mind reading something that I have already read.

Lets see if we can get about 10 books nominated and then we can vote. Agreed?

[Yoink 7]

read 16 on the list...

anyone ever get into the Hornblower Series by C.S. Forrester

[missmissy 38]

read 16 on the list...

anyone ever get into the Hornblower Series by C.S. Forrester

No....and as much as I love really big, brick-like books....Tolkein has really intimidated me over the years. I have tried several times. I really want to read the Trilogy but it's soooo big!