The Caffeinated Reader

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

100 "Must Reads"

This list is from a note that travels around Facebook stating that the BBC believes most people have read only 6 of the following 100 books. I am not sure how or why these particular books have been selected but I have decided to make it a project to increase my number, which is 18, and work my way through the list.

There are some that I am sure I will not be reading in their entirety. I see no reason to read something just so I can say I have read it if I am not enjoying it. There are already a couple on this list that fall into that category. I'll try to organize my list to show read, not read, or tried to read & gave up.

I haven't read these:

Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen
Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter series, JK Rowling (I've read several but not the complete series)
The Bible (Again, I cannot claim I have read it completely)
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (3 book series)
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Little Women, Louisa M. Alcott
Complete Works of Shakespeare
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulk
Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
War & Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Crime & Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis (7 books)
Emma, Jane Austin
Persuasion, Jane Austin
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis (1 of the 7 Narnia books)
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meaney, John Irving
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
Far from the Maddening Crowd, Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
Life of Pi, Yann Martel
Dune, Frank Herbert
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind, Carolos Ruiz Zafron
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson
Ulysses, James Joyce
The Inferno, Dante
Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
Germinal, Emile Zola
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thaceray
Possession, AS Byatt
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Faraway Tree Collection, Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo

I have read these:

To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee
1984, George Orwell
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne (I have my Mom's copy given to her in 1927!)
Animal Farm, George Orwell
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Atonement, Ian McEwan
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Mark Haddon
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Charlotte's Web, EB White
Watership Down, Richard Adams

These I couldn't/wouldn't finish:

Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Thomas Hardy

I think I'd like to research a little more exactly where this list came from and if it's updated annually or what. If I do read some of these I I'll move them on this blog and date the entry for when I read it (or gave up), rather than repost the entire blog again. I think I have actually read more than I take credit for - I know some of these were read in my school years, but that is far too long ago to remember!

In the beginning....

I am starting a new blog for the book-lover in me. I've tried being in a book club and although I love talking about books, it just didn't work out for me. So this is my blog to track my reads, my opinions of what I've read and hopefully a few friends will join in the conversation, fulfilling my "bookclub needs."

My intention is to start with the book I just finished and go forward from there. If anyone suggests a book I have already read and reviewed in another forum I may backtrack and post about it.

A little about my love of books... I've always enjoyed reading and probably stuck pretty much to fiction novels. In more recent years I worked for Barnes & Noble for about 18 months and found that was a great inspiration to broaden my interests as pertains to reading. I really enjoy a good biography. History has enticed me into it's arms. I love picture books aka coffee table books. Travel, geography, science, crafts... You can lead me almost anywhere to read as long as the book is well written and the subject appealing.

Thank you for checking my new blog out! Please come back for more!

p.s. I probably won't be talking too much about caffeine. It's just that good coffee and a good book really go together!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The Zookeeper's Wife, A War Story by Diane Ackerman

Originally published on MySpace, Mar 4, 2009

This is a biographical story of Antonina Zabinski, a polish woman and the wife of a zookeeper in Warsaw, Poland. The story is told of their life and activities during WWII. The author tells the story through other biographies and journals kept by Antonina, and therein lies the 'problem' with this book.

For my tastes this is written much too much like a text book. Instead of creating the story around the events of their lives, the author is overly concerned with keeping to exact truth in her story and often uses quotes from the source or journal to be sure the reader knows how accurate it is. I found this disturbing and distracting from the tale.

The Zabinskis were active in helping many Polish Jews escape the Nazis by providing their villa and zoo as part of the underground resources. Mr. Zabinski battled and fought with the Polish Resistance and was, toward the end of the war, held prisoner. The story should be fascinating and exciting, but told in such a way that I never felt too concerned or frightened for those involved.

I can tolerate some author priviledge in embellishment as long as the basic facts of the story hold true. If the author would have chosen to expand on the horrors or emotions that were being experienced at that time, I would have forgiven her. But she tells only what she is absolutely sure of and I feel she missed making me feel all the empathy and passion I would otherwise have felt.

I give it a C. The content was excellent but the story telling lacked far too much.

1:09 PM

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Hour I First Believed

The Hour I First Believed

by Wally Lamb

It took me a long time to get through this book but I really enjoyed it. The subject matter is tough; surviving the Columbine shootings, drug dependency, alcoholism, PTSD, dysfunctional families...and the list goes on. Lamb's ability to write a story involving so many painful subjects and still keep me enthralled and hopeful says a lot about his abilities as a writer. There is also a 'story within the story' as the past is uncovered and revealed through the diaries, letters and archives of the main character's ancestors.

It's not a book to expect a happy ending from, it was actually more heartbreaking than I had anticipated. But the ending is appropriate to the story and isn't actually on a down note. Okay, that may sound contradictory, but it's the way I see it. Maybe because the heartbreaking part is not quite at the end of the book, but darn close.

I have a friend who did find the book too depressing to finish, and I never did find out how far she read. I, however, do recommend this book. It's worth reading past the pain of actual real life events incorporated into the fictional story. Lamb does an amazing job of developing characters that are likeable despite their weaknesses.

9:27 PM

Post a comment...
- Regina Dodson
  I enjoy reading about real-life events - especially if they are written by Christians. If you like the same, might I suggest the following:
  Why I Jumped, Tina Zahn -- she jumped from a bridge in Wisconsin and in a miracle of timing and determination, a policeman who had been chasing her snagged her as she started the plunge. She was dealing with severe postpartum depression.
  Let's Roll, Lisa Beamer -- story of Flight 93 (9-11) as told by the wife of one of passengers
  In The Presence of My Enemies, Gracia Burnham -- story of missionaries to the Philipines held hostage for a year and a half and a botched rescue attempt.
  - Reply(3)
  2 years ago
  - Betsy Gully
    LMAO!! Obviously you have a MySpace ghost living in your computer just to torment you. I noticed he/she didn't increase your font size when you complained about it... I'm thinking it's a youngish type gremlin! =)
    2 years ago
  - Betsy Gully
    Did you read "The Shack"? I thought that was amazing! I am now reading the Zoo Keepers Wife. Do you know that one? It's the biography of a christian woman who helped Jews in Poland. She and her husband ran the zoo and that's involved in their story. I'm not very far into it yet.
    2 years ago
  - Regina Dodson
    Ok, WHY are my posts in 36-point fonts now?!?!
    2 years ago
- ♥Cid not so Vicious♥
  I will write this one down and check it out. You have sparked my interest.
  - Reply
  2 years ago
- naoyuki kosaka
  Hello. Bets
  
  Is it a recommended book?
  
  For me, English is a beginner. ?I want to read if there is a Japanese version. hehe^^
  
  I wish you sweet dreams!
  
  nao
  - Reply(1)
  2 years ago
  - Betsy Gully
    This book is not for beginning English. It's very long and involved. I'll think about what I would recommend to you. What do you like to read about?
    2 years ago
- Kari Fisher Williams
  I love your book reviews. I may have to check this one out.
  - Reply(1)
  2 years ago
  - Betsy Gully
    Kari, doncha know I write my reviews just for you? *wink-wink*
    
    2 years ago

Friday, November 21, 2008

With a Hammer for My Heart

Originally published on MySpace, Nov 21, 2008

Current mood:content

With a Hammer for My Heart by George Ella Lyon

This is the Boone County (or is it Northern Kentucky? ....all of Kentucky?) selection for One Book One Community. So, many Kentuckians are reading this book.

Although I wasn't real excited to start it, the book is fantastic. It follows Lawanda, a poor 15 year old girl, as she befriends the reclusive town drunk. She sees something in him that only a few can. She doesn't know what draws her to the man, but she finds a person she can talk to and continues to visit. Garland, the drunk, has a dark violent past created by his time at war, WWII. Although many years have passed and his family has left him, pushed away by his demons, the war lives on vividly inside him.

The events that occur as a result of their friendship are heartwrenching. And yet, the story is uplifting and hopeful. The resilience of the human soul isn't always evident, but through Lawanda, Garland does find his way finally out of hell.

I couldn't put it down

Dewey

Originally Published on MySpace, Nov 21, 2008

Current mood:frisky

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicky Myron

For some reason I keep picking up animal books even though I haven't been particularly thrilled with some of them. Usually too much 'stuff' in the book that really has more to do with the author than the animals. I may have to try James Herriot for better luck....

But... Dewey didn't disappoint me. I have to say there was quite a bit of information about Iowa that I didn't think I really wanted or needed to know, however, I did end up finding it interesting. Interesting enough to want to go see small town America. (Is this where the "real" Americans live?)

Dewey's story starts when, as a kitten, he is found in the book drop on a freezing cold morning. The librarians take care of him, warming him up and nursing him back to health. Dewey stays on at the library for many years, worming his way into most everyone's heart.

The book is full of Dewey's personality, which is quite entertaining. He's finicky and demanding, which seems to be true of most cats I have known. But he's also very outgoing and has that sixth sense of knowing when someone needs him.

As the Director of the library, Vicky Myron was also Dewey's "Mom." She authored the book and basically managed to keep it about Dewey and his story. Her story is told in explaining how she came to be the Spencer Librarian and then a synopsis at the end of the story. I found myself thankful for the synopsis because I did have more questions about her story than I'd expected to.

Dewey is a quick and easy read and entertaining. If you have a soft spot for cats, I'd recommend it.

1:38 AM

Twilight by Stepheny Meyer

Originally published on MySpace, Nov 21, 2008

Twilight? NOT

Current mood:confused

Am I the only person in the world that is not completely head over heels in love with Stephenie Meyers and her Twilight books/now movie?

For me it all started at Barnes & Noble in Utah. One of the employees was a Twilight fanatic and it hadn't even become the mega hit it is now. At that time there was only one book out in the series and she begged EVERYONE to read it. I thought she was annoying (sorry J) and refused for a long time. Just to reiterate how obsessed this girl is with Twilight, she had the cover tattoo'd on her. Twilight tattoo

Then my daughter gave in and read it.

"Oh, Mom! You have to read this book!" Okay, so I gave in and read it. It was a cute story but not particularly gripping or developed as far as I was concerned. The thing I liked most about it was the location. It takes place in Forks, WA. I know that area. Hubby and I were in that area on our first anniversary and it was completely stormy and the power was out. We were in a small resort just west of First Beach, mentioned in the book. There is also a Second Beach and a Third Beach. As a child we camped in the area and hiked to all three beaches. As an adult with our first newborn baby, G'ma & G'pa camped in the RV and took care of baby while hubby and I backpacked up the beach. The area is rich with indian history, including petroglyphs on the beach.

So, yea, a story taking place in that location was kinda cool. Too bad SM had never even been there!

Working at the bookstore in a the center of the LDS universe and SM being LDS - well of course there were a number of people that shopped there that had to tell you they were related to Stephenie, or went to school with her at BYU.

So what is the attraction to these books and stories of hers? I don't know. I'm not a vampire fan, even if they don't suck human blood. I'm just not into these books, and SM is as famous as JK Rowlings now because of them. Maybe there is a pattern here - I didn't get past the 3rd HP book either....

7:15 PM

Post a comment...
- Mimi
  Kudo's to you Betsy. I as well came into the Twilight phenom. from miss "J". I resisted as long as I could be eventually picked them up. I almost feel guilty still when people come in and ask what I thought, clearly thinking that I am going to start screaming and drooling over my love for them, and I dash their expectations. I highly recommend it everyday, but not for serious readers who want something more than just a fun read.
  I know that you aren't a HP fan, but I swear to you that if you finished them, you would be appalled at the compairison. I am a HP fan FOREVER, and would never even think that they were even close to the same level.
  Pick up the book "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris. This book inspired the new HBO series True Bloods. The overall premise is very similar to SM novels. Female mind reader can't read her love interests mind. Sound familar?!
  I love the fact that not EVERYONE is enthralled by this series. Makes me feel like not so much of a loser.
  - Reply
  2 years ago
- Connie
  I'm back because I just read a blog about Twilight by one of my other favorite bloggers, and I really liked what she had to say - particularly this part. I think she's on to something:
  
  "When I first wrote about the book I said that it wasn't high brow reading. That the dialogue wasn't great. But something about the book tapped into that teenage girl I used to be. I remembered what it was like to be excited to go to school the next day just to be with your new love/crush. The feeling of "will this day ever end" when he's not around. What Twilight captured was this amazing first love experience for those that never experienced it. When you're of a certain age (teens) your worldview is shaped by the environment you're in, the type of books you read, and/or what you see on T.V. More often than not, teenagers base their opinions on what's hot, funny, how love should be, how marriage works, the best way to talk to boys, etc., on media because real life usually isn't as exciting. Then, when you know better (get older) you do better."
  
  BTW I did wonder while reading if Forks was a real place or not. (Yeah I could have looked it up but I was lazy!) How cool that you've been there! I bet it'll become a pretty hot tourist spot! (Did you know they actually do Harry-Potter themed tours of England now?) ;o)
  - Reply
  2 years ago
- Connie
  Ha! I *am* a huge vampire-novel fan (love Anne Rice, Laurel Hamilton, etc) but I resisted reading Twilight for a long time because it seemed like much more of a young-teen novel than the Harry Potter series. And it definitely IS aimed more at young teens. I don't think SM is as good a writer as Anne Rice or JK Rowling. But I can definitely see the appeal in the story for young teens. She does capture the realm of teen fantasy and teen angst quite well, particularly in the second book. I see it as a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story; star-crossed lovers and all that. It's very...what's the word I want...archetypal in it's appeal. And if you love stories about vampires and werewolves, all the better. I'm not surprised it's popular, but I am amazed at what a HUGE phenomenon it's become. I would have said the same about the book - good, not great - the depth of the angst inspired a bit of eye-rolling at times, although again, I can see how teens would relate. But I found that the characters do suck you in (no pun intended) and I confess that I am getting very excited about seeing the movie!! I guess I'm still a teen at heart! ;o)
  - Reply
  2 years ago