Bookworm Part 2

I've lately been rediscovering my love of reading - after far too long forgetting how wonderful it is to lose yourself in an engrossing novel. I am pleased to report that since my last post, I have polished off the following amazing books:

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

This was just amazing. It was a page-turner right from the start, and the most bizzarrely wonderful book I think I've ever read. A friend at work gave me her old copy, and I'm now on the hunt for Murakami's back catalogue - the most recommended of which is already on my bedside table waiting it's turn - you'll see it at the bottom of this post..

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

This was just wonderful. I've not yet read The Kite Runner, by the same author, but it's on my list. A really intimate ad tragic telling of life under the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Mr Pip - Lloyd Jones

I was reading this when I wrote my last post, and it was fantastic! The film is being made in NZ - mostly being shot on location in PNG - really beautiful and visual and sad..

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro 

I was doing my regular check on Apple Trailers and came across the trailer for this film which is coming out soon - Never Let Me Go, directed by Mark Romanek - and it intrigued me so much. I immediately noted down in my diary the title and author of the book, and added it to my must-read list. Then a week later, I was perusing the DVD collection in my flat, and disappointingly realised that there was nothing new that I hadn't already seen. Then a moment later, my eyes flickered across the shelf to a stack of books, and I saw the words "Never Let Me Go". I can't tell you how excited I was! I started reading it straight away and finished it over three nights. I seriously recommend it!!

Somebody Loves Us All - Damien Wilkins

This is the book I've just started - my Boy's sister gave it to me for my birthday - Damien Wilkins is a Wellington author, and the story is so far based in Wellington, which is so strange, but nice as it feels like I know the characters already. I'll let you know what it's like when I'm done!

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

And this is next on my reading list - I'm itching to start it, knowing at least three people who say it is their favourite of all of Murakami's novels.

Bookworm

Many of my nights since my Boy has been away have been pleasantly spent reading. I go through phases of reading two or three books in a row, then not reading any for about 12 months. It's terrible! I was a little bookworm when I was a kid. I used to get sponsored for the MS Read-a-thon every year!

Anyway - Entertainment Weekly put out this list a couple of years ago. Yes, I'm way behind on my reading.. And I'm sure this list is as good as any to work from - I'm no book snob. I've read two of the Twilight books (that's my limit) and the occasional Marion Keyes so I have something to discuss with my gorgeously Philistine baby sister. I do love to get engrossed in another world - hence my love of films - so I'm usually more drawn to novels rather than non-fiction. Currently I'm reading a lovely Kiwi novel - "Mr. Pip"  by Lloyd Jones - it's in the process of being turned into a film. I'm loving it - it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize a few years ago. I recommend it!

So from this list following which I haven't properly perused as yet - what have I read...? I'm a little scared to find out how small the number is..!

The New Classics

The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)


Ok - the results.. I've read numbers 2, 19, 20, 34, 36, 72, 88 and 96. Shameful. I seriously need to sort this out! Once I've finished Mr Pip, I have Ian McEwan's "Atonement"  waiting patiently on my bedside table.

How many have you read?