50 Books for 50 Years...

Happy Birthday Aunty Karen!!!

For discussion...

In no particular order, 25 of the best books of all time (or, more accurately, 25 of the best books I’ve read so far):

1. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - what girl doesn’t want a Mr Darcy?!
2. Captain Correlli’s Mandolin by Louis de Berniers - fabulous book, awful film
3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – wonderful (though woeful) characters
4. Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransom – I never had this much fun in the Lake District!
5.Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenberger – about a time traveller, sounds odd but really loved this book
6. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - I know you’ll agree with me on this one
7, 8 and 9. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman – ok, so this is 3 books...
10. Wild Swans by Jung Chan – autobiographical account of life in China as the Communists came to power, this really made an impression on me
11. Atonement by Ian McEwan – Saturday’s a close second
12. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes – I’m a fan of Sebastian Faulkes in general
13. Testament of Youth by Vera Britain – very moving WW1 autobiography
14. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Time by Mark Haddon
15. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro – another one I know you’ll agree with
16. Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies – this is the one I got with you, loved it!
17. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner – really enjoyed this, especially the chapter on the impact your name can have on your likely “success” in life
18. Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson – always good for a laugh
19. The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella – complete trash in terms of “literature” but great fun (especially if you’re a sad lawyer)
20. Dracula by Bram Stoker –scary...
21. Last King of Scotland by Giles Fodden - flim good, book better
22. Natasha’s Dance by Orlando Figes – a cultural history of Russia, heavy going in places but fascinating nonetheless
23. Life on Air by David Attenborough – I love this man and his autobiography is great
24. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
25. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins – really thought-provoking

And now for the 25 worst/ most disappointing/overrated books so far encountered by me:

1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown – rubbish
2. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh – just didn’t really like the people in it
3. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – not actually managed to finish this...
5. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – peace bits are good, war bits are very, very ,very long-winded (the SECOND epilogue was the final nail in the coffin for me)
6. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – about a ridiculous silly girl
7. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – ditto comment re Northanger Abbey!!!
8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – may have to reconsider the categorisation of this as am going to be re-reading this for book club but didn’t like it when I first read it
9. Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernier – not nearly as good as Captain Correli
10. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan – I know you disagree..
11. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins – another drippy woman
12. God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy –just didn’t enjoy it (though admit, not read it for years)
13. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne –probably a controversial one but I couldn’t believe that Bruno was meant to be 9 and not have a clue as to what was happening
14. Watership Down by Richard Adams – about some really mean bunny rabbits, scared me to death when I was liitle!
15. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens – don’t know why, just don’t like this book
16. Animal Farm by George Orwell – had to read this at school very, very slowly and then analysed it to death
17. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
18. The Return by Victoria Hislop – enjoyed her other book (The Island) so was disappointed by this
20. 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez – even read this whilst in South America in the rainforest and was uninspired
21. Most of William Shakespeare’s plays – ok, another controversial one and a bit of a sweeping statement! But the stories are all the same; bit of cross-dressing and confusion and then it all turns out OK in the end (if it’s a comedy, or not if it’s a tragedy)
22. The End of Faith by Sam Harris – I know you’ll disagree with this one!! I got on much better with Dawkins though
23. Bleak House by Charles Dickens – like War and Peace, it’s just too long for me...
24. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni - this is only in this list as I loved The Kite Runner and was therefore disappointed by this in comparison
25. The Sea by John Banville – had to keep looking words up in the dictionary

Have a lovely day, lots of love Katiexxxxxxxxxxxxx