Tell me what to read. Too many choices...

[flowrs4ophelia]

So about a week ago I posted this same entry in paintedponyxox (my RL journal) but I realized you people are probably more of the kind of crowd to talk to about this. :)

This is my big list of all the books I hope to eventually read. As I get through books, I'm likely to write a lot of reviews for some of them in this journal. But the point of posting this is to give you all the chance to look at this list and give me any input you have like "Eh, I read this one, it's okay but you may not want to waste your time with it when there's many better books on the list" or else recommend to me any books you've read that were so effing good you didn't know what to do with yourself anymore once you'd finished them and they changed your life. Or at least...close to that good. LOL.

As I read these (which is probably, sadly, going to happen veeery slowly) I'll be updating this list to strike out titles as I finish them and also to add links to reviews I write for them. Some of them I may only end up writing some brief thoughts about in my other journal and that's all I'll link the title to.



My List of Books, Plays, and Graphic Novels I Want To Read


* indicates something I've already read and want to read again
** indicates something I started but haven't finished

Stuff I've heard about from other people
-A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
-House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
-The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
-The Green Mile by Stephen King
-Wicked by Gregory Maguire
-Standish by Erastes
-Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
-The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
-Prey by Michael Crichton**
-Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
- Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

Just for fun, not-too-deep stuff (as far as I know...heheh)
-The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
-The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
-Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones**
-Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
-New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
-Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
-In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Classics I need to read just because I gotta
-The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brian
-Watership Down by Richard Adams
-The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
-The Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
-A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
-The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
- As You Like It by Will Shakespeare
-Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie**
-The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
-Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen**
-Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
-Emma by Jane Austen
-Persuasion by Jane Austen
-Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
-The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens*
-A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte

My usual cup of tea
-The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman*
-The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan*
-The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
-The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien**
-The L.A. Quartet series by James Ellroy**
-Because the Night by James Ellroy
-Angels In America by Tony Kushner**
-Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
-Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
-M Is For Magic by Neil Gaiman
-American Gods by Neil Gaiman**
-Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett*
-The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis**
-Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Lia Block
-Primavera by Francesca Lia Block
-The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block**
-A Widow For One Year by John Irving

Graphic Novels
-Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson
-Blankets by Craig Thompson
-Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
-The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman**
-The Ultimate Spider-Man Series**
-Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
-The Flight Series by various authors
-V For Vendetta by Alan Moore

Comments

[lastglances.livejournal.com]

i love francesca lia block! and i have yet to read "house of leaves." my friend is always demanding i buy it every time we go to a bookstore! but i still have twenty books in my "library" to go through so i resist.

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

I just love Block. She's probably been one of the most influencial authors to me that I've read. Echo is one of my favorite books ever.

I'm kind of scared to read House of Leaves and intrigued at the same time. It's supposed to be really mind-fuckingly freaky. Haha.

[lastglances.livejournal.com]

echo is my second favorite book ever; my first being camus' "the stranger."

my friend got really freaked out while reading it. i'll probably read it when i can devote a lot of time to it and be in a well lit area, lol.

[seamonkeyz27.livejournal.com]

Easy choice--- Catcher in The Rye
Such a classic--its snarky, and sortof political-- and just great

[trascendenza]

Hmmm, I'm not really too helpful with most of this list; all the ones I'd recommend are on your re-reading list. I did hear from a few Cricthon fans that Prey was sort of... bad, in certain parts.

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Hmm, my dad is who recommended Prey to me and he reads so many books that I take it kind of seriously when he finds something he likes so much he keeps talking about how good it is. I actually made a deal with him that if he tried reading a Harry Potter book I would take the time to read Prey, but it just wasn't grabbing me after a few chapters so I sort of gave up on that deal and keep meaning to give it more of a chance, but...I don't know if that'll happen. Heheh.

Your icon made me LOL. :)

[trascendenza]

Heh. I had a friend try to make a similar deal with Harry Potter; she was going to watch Threshold if I'd read all the HP books. I had to decline, though, because 13 episodes of a TV show doesn't seem equivalent to seven ginormous books.

Hee! Isn't it great? jadeblood knows me so well. I got the best birthday presents this year. *g*

[flying-colours.livejournal.com]

Definitely read the Dark Tower series, couldn't recommend it enough!

Watership Down is definitely worth a read. As for Notre Dame... I've heard it's very rambly. Victor Hugo has a tendency to be extremely long-winded, so you should probably only try that one if you've got a lot of patience. Or if you don't mind skipping entire chapters!

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have heard Hugo gets kind of rambly from people who have tried to read Les Miserables. Maybe I'll just read a Cliff Notes summary of it instead, LOL.

[ellcrys70]

I've read the Narnia books(which I love) and the LOTR (ditto). Of Mice and Men is great, though it makes me cry.

Joy Luck Club is good, as is the Hundred Secret Senses. Try Amy Tan's, "The Kitchen God's Wife" too, if you like the other two.

I love Wuthering Heights in the classics as well as MacBeth.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a must though, it's my favourite book. And if you're into fantasy "The Fionavar Tapestry" by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's a fabulous trilogy, meshes modern day with the past, and the first of all the worlds. It's great!

Cheers!
Nik

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

To Kill a Mockingbird is a must though, it's my favourite book.

Oh yes, I've read it and loved it. That's something I should probably think about reading again sometime.

Thanks for the recommendations. :)

[evrdream33.livejournal.com]

Wicked by Gregory Maguire
People either seem to love or hate this book. I'm unfortunately of the latter. It seems to appeal to people who really like satire. I wasn't really impressed with his writing or story structure. I felt like he tried to tell a complex message and looked at it too simply, and the sympathy I thought I was suppose to feel for the main character was lacking because it didn't switch to her POV until maybe a third or halfway through the book. That's just me though. I know a lot of people who really loved it.

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
I don't usually care for suspense crime thrillers, but I really liked this one. Very intelligently written. Lots of twists and turns. I was really drawn to the theological ideas, but then again I'm agnostic.

Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones
I liked the book more than the movie, but I didn't like the book very much. I'd say I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the book, but the ending seemed really confused. A very cliche sort of battle that brought up plot points that weren't very developed throughout the book.

The Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
My very favorite Shakespeare comedy. Gender-bending and questionable sexualities. It's great.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Very fun and amusing. I like this one a lot too.

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Ehhh ... It's funny, but the ideas may be the most outdated of all his plays. The ending is a bit difficult for modern day audiences to accept. 10 Things I Hate About You does a really good job of adapting the story into modern day ideals.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Well written, but another one of those I feel like people either love or hate, and another one I fall under the latter category, but it may just because I really dislike the Victorian age. The characters and their motivations really annoyed me, but again, it's probably just a historical thing. The main character basically wants to become rich to get the snooty girl. I think the point is that he becomes unlikable, but I personally can't do with unlikable main characters. He has very long-winded descriptions as well which are easy or not easy to get through depending on how much you like the book.

The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
I just finished The Subtle Knife this morning. So brilliant. I need to go out and get the third book later. The challenges to religion remind me of The DaVinci Code actually.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Good book, but something about her writing didn't sit with me well, but I think I was just really young when I read it. I'll need to reread this as well someday.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
A lot people seem to start it and can't seem to get through it. Tolkien's long-winded descriptions are comparable or worse than Dickens, but if you can get through the long-winded descriptions it's worth it. The movie is pretty true to the book while sparing you the lengthy descriptions, but there are still so so many good parts missing.

Angels In America by Tony Kushner
Depressing, but brilliant. Definitely finish this.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
I don't know why, but I've never been able to get through more than half of this series, though I've read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe maybe about three or four times.

Recommendations(if you haven't read already): Macbeth by Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare, Hamlet by Shakespeare, White Oleander by Janet Fitch, The Princess Bride abridged by William Goldman, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Animal Dreams by Barbra Kingsolver, Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, Fallen Angels by Tracy Chevalier, Kindred by Octavia Butler, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

[realmer06.livejournal.com]

A Great and Terrible Beauty is a must read, as is its sequel, Rebel Angels. Just be warned -- there is a third book that is not yet titled and when you finish Rebel Angels, you'll reeeeeeally want it.

Wicked - I liked it, but it's not one I'm dying to read again.

The DaVinci Code - good, good book. Just make sure you've got a good slot of time open because past a certain point (like, seriously, page 5), you're not going to want to put it down.

Twelfth Night, Midsummer, and Shrew are three of Shakespeare's best. I recommend them to anyone and everyone.

Jane Austen - Persuasion and Mansfield Park are . . . eh. My least favorite of her stuff. Emma is good. Sense and Sensibility is good. My two favorites are the ones not included here - Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice.

Angels in America -- OMG, so beautiful and powerful and moving! And utterly depressing. But definitely worth the time it takes to read it.

This is a really great list! *goes off to add some titles to her own list*