Friday, August 14, 2009

NPR's 100 Best Beach Books Ever

I needed something 'uncomplicated' to talk about, and Bonnie posted this list and bolded the ones that she has read. I decided to see how many I have read.

1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling (I didn't read all of them)
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee - On my TBR
3. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
4. Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding
5. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg - On my TBR
10. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver - On my TBR
11. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
12. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel - On my TBR
13. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan - On my TBR
14. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
15. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
16. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell - On my TBR
17. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett - On my TBR
18. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
19. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
20. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
22. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
23. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith
24. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
25. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
26. The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy
27. Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
28. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
29. The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler
30. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
31. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
32. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck - On my TBR
33. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
34. Beach Music, by Pat Conroy
35. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
36. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier - On my TBR
37. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
38. Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
39. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough - On my TBR
40. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon - On my TBR
41. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett- On my TBR
42. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy - On my TBR
43. Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice
44. Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
45. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo - On my TBR
46. Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes
47. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
48. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins
49. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb
50. Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
51. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
52. The Stand, by Stephen King
53. She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb
54. Dune, by Frank Herbert - On my TBR
55. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
56. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - On my TBR
57. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
58. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
59. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
60. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
61. Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver - On my TBR
62. Jaws, by Peter Benchley
63. Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner
64. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
65. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
66. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
67. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
68. Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut
69. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
70. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
71. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
72. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
73. Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns
74. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
74. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe [tie]
76. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte - On my TBR
77. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
78. The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver - On my TBR
80. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett
81. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck
82. The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve [tie]
83. All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy - On My TBR
84. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson - On my TBR
85. The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
86. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
87. One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich
88. Shogun, by James Clavell
89. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
90. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
91. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow
92. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
93. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt - On my TBR
94. Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
95. Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume
96. The Shining, by Stephen King
97. How Stella Got Her Groove Back, by Terry McMillan
98. Lamb, by Christopher Moore
99. Sick Puppy, by Carl Hiaasen
100. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

So, I have read 40 out of 100. If you look at how many are unread on my TBR pile, though, I could almost have read all 100. *ahem*

12 comments:

  1. oh my.. i've only read 3 plus the harry potter books, and only have 2 in my tbr pile.. but boy I have seen many of them as movies! does that count? lol.

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  2. 40!!! I'm seriously impressed! But honestly not at all surprised.

    If I counted correctly, I've read 15 (plus part of the HP series and two-thirds of LOTR but I didn't count them). What's really weird is that we have very few overlaps in the ones we've read. Well, at least I thought it was weird. ;)

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  3. You haven't read all the HP? get to it missy!

    Also, To Kill a Mockingbird is absolutely wonderful. Move it up your TBR. I never read it in school, but as a substitute teacher, I was working through it one day with a class and took it home to read. Fab! Plus the movie is truly a classic.

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  4. Hmmm. I think I'm going to post my list on my blog. What a great idea! I doubt I've read 40 of them though. :( We'll see.

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  5. 40...that's pretty good. I've read 39 of them. And there were plenty on that that I want to read.

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  6. I've read 31 of the books on the list and several others are in my TBR pile.

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  7. I didn't end up counting to see how many I've read as I was too stunned by the thought that you haven't read all of the Harry Potter books yet! What?!? Threw me for a bit of a loop...LOL!

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  8. I'm going to have to count and see how many.

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  9. cool list. Didn't count the reads/no reads, but I like this list. Thanks for sharing this one. And what did you think of the GUERNSEY POTATO PEEL book? I'm on the verge of getting it...just need a gentle "push!"

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  10. 14 for me! I'm not sure I would consider many of these books to fit the definition of what I thought 'beach reads' meant, but it is a damn good list nonetheless!

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  11. I've read quite a few on this list (didn't do a count, though) with many on my TBR.

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  12. I've read 27 - plus way too many are on my tbr shelves too!

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