Nenia Campbell's Blog, page 64
November 4, 2012
The Rape Fantasy Epidemic
I have noticed a disturbing trend in fiction these days: a glorified and romanticized portrayal of abusive men as some kind of romantic ideal. It's becoming inescapable and, frankly, it makes me sick. Physically sick.
Now I'm not saying that these issues should be swept under the table. I know people who have experienced these types of things, and talking- telling your story- can be one of the best means of catharsis. I would honestly be glad to see more books about rape and abuse, if only to shed light on just how these sorts of vicious cycles come to fruition. Because knowing is half the battle. But portraying Joe Rapist as being sexy because he's pretty and rolling in money is not okay. Rape is still rape, whether you're rich or poor, beautiful or ugly.
But no always means no.
I'll be honest. Byronic heroes are fun to write. It's boring writing about nice people because nice people generally don't eff up their lives or the lives of the people around them. Mostly they just do stuff like chilling with their friends and family, going to work and/or school, and getting on with their own lives. This is not quite so interesting to read about in fiction. I like writing about disturbed characters because they have so much depth, and it's fun to explore their personalities, and find out what makes them tick.
But I also know the difference between fantasy and reality, and 99% of the men I read about in romance novels, I would never, ever date (Mr. Tilney and Mr. Darcy being exceptions, ofc). What worries me is that a lot of young women- and even not-so-young women- don't seem to be able to tell the difference. They get a false set of expectations propagating outmoded patriarchal chauvinism not much different than what we see happening in some third world countries right now. I see otherwise intelligent and savvy women date men who make them miserable, and they think it's true love because they've got physical chemistry and nothing else. Really?
I sometimes get asked if I would ever date any of the characters in my own stories. The answer is, of course, a flat-out no. In fact, if I ever (god forbid) encountered anyone like them, I'd most likely run the other way. I make a point of condemning the male characters in my books for their bad actions and insensitive choices. A point that some seem determined to ignore. One of the critical plotpoints in my book Cloak and Dagger actually revolves around the female main character being unable to forgive an irreparable act of cruelty.
Rape is not romantic. Abuse is not romantic. Stalking is not romantic. Fear is not romantic. Control is not romantic. Subjugation is not romantic. Rather than using these attributes to portray a man as "broken" "damaged" and "tormented", romance novels should focus on the tragic consequences that arise from these sorts of relationships, and just how difficult forgiveness and redemption really are to achieve.
The fact that these stories walk hand-in-hand with purity myths and slut-shaming just makes me ill.
Now I'm not saying that these issues should be swept under the table. I know people who have experienced these types of things, and talking- telling your story- can be one of the best means of catharsis. I would honestly be glad to see more books about rape and abuse, if only to shed light on just how these sorts of vicious cycles come to fruition. Because knowing is half the battle. But portraying Joe Rapist as being sexy because he's pretty and rolling in money is not okay. Rape is still rape, whether you're rich or poor, beautiful or ugly.
But no always means no.
I'll be honest. Byronic heroes are fun to write. It's boring writing about nice people because nice people generally don't eff up their lives or the lives of the people around them. Mostly they just do stuff like chilling with their friends and family, going to work and/or school, and getting on with their own lives. This is not quite so interesting to read about in fiction. I like writing about disturbed characters because they have so much depth, and it's fun to explore their personalities, and find out what makes them tick.
But I also know the difference between fantasy and reality, and 99% of the men I read about in romance novels, I would never, ever date (Mr. Tilney and Mr. Darcy being exceptions, ofc). What worries me is that a lot of young women- and even not-so-young women- don't seem to be able to tell the difference. They get a false set of expectations propagating outmoded patriarchal chauvinism not much different than what we see happening in some third world countries right now. I see otherwise intelligent and savvy women date men who make them miserable, and they think it's true love because they've got physical chemistry and nothing else. Really?
I sometimes get asked if I would ever date any of the characters in my own stories. The answer is, of course, a flat-out no. In fact, if I ever (god forbid) encountered anyone like them, I'd most likely run the other way. I make a point of condemning the male characters in my books for their bad actions and insensitive choices. A point that some seem determined to ignore. One of the critical plotpoints in my book Cloak and Dagger actually revolves around the female main character being unable to forgive an irreparable act of cruelty.
Rape is not romantic. Abuse is not romantic. Stalking is not romantic. Fear is not romantic. Control is not romantic. Subjugation is not romantic. Rather than using these attributes to portray a man as "broken" "damaged" and "tormented", romance novels should focus on the tragic consequences that arise from these sorts of relationships, and just how difficult forgiveness and redemption really are to achieve.
The fact that these stories walk hand-in-hand with purity myths and slut-shaming just makes me ill.
October 30, 2012
Why I Am Appalled By High School English
Seeing as how I love both reading and writing, you'd think that English would have been my favorite subject back in high school. Nope! In fact, in many cases, it was my least favorite class. Why? Because of the choices of books my school implemented in the curriculum.
I feel like in order for something to be classified as worthy of our time, it has to be either (a) depressing as eff (case in point: Sophocles, R+J, John Steinbeck, Brave New World, etc.), (b) disturbing as eff (case in point: American Psycho, Clockwork Orange, 1984, Titus Andronicus, etc.), or boring as eff (case in point: all the other books).
And what is the result? A whole lotta high school kids who, under the books section of their Facebooks and Myspaces (assuming they are even literate enough to get to this point), have written things like:
"i dont read."
"books r gay."
"twilite and fiftey shades of grey i gess. i dont rlly red much, tho."
"whats a book? oh u meen movies."
Every time you say these things, a hoverball kitty deflates. :(
Kids learn to associate books (which they hate) with school (which they hate even more), and exams (which they hate most of all). The result is a knee-jerk Pavlovian reaction that induces cold sweats, test-taking anxiety, and the disturbing feeling that somehow, somewhere, your junior English teacher is lurking behind you like a vulture, waiting for your head to turn even slightly so she can bust you for cheating.
1. Antigone.
Why on earth would you choose this play? What kind of a message is this to send to young women? If you stand up for your beliefs, you'll die- so you better get your ass back to the kitchen? Also, it's depressing as hell (all the Sophocles plays are, and really, it's a play: it should be seen on stage, and not read in some stuffy English classroom.
Suggested replacement: Lysistrata.
Which brings us to:
2. Pretty much anything by William Shakespeare.
He is a playwright. Plays are meant to be seen and not read. I hate Romeo and Juliet; I get why they teach it, since it's one of the few classic works teens actually feel simpatico with, it really sends a bad message. I am appalled by how many people consider Romeo and Juliet the "ultimate" love story. Then again, I'm appalled by how many people are saying the same thing about The Book that Shall Not Be Named.
Suggested replacement(s): The Taming of the Shrew (paired with 10 Things I Hate About you, ofc) and Twelfth Night. Also, poetry by John Dunne. He's my favorite.
Or, conversely, teach Romeo and Juliet, and then juxtapose it against Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice. ("This is how it's done, ladies. Don't marry the first guy who tells you that you're hot- especially if his wedding vows could also be read as a suicide pact.")
3. Candide.
I had to read this book twice- once in college, once in high school. I disliked it equally both times. It's not fun. In fact, it's pretty much the ANTITHESIS of fun. The book basically makes fun of poor Leibniz's philosophies of optimism. Maybe it's just me, but Voltaire kind of sounds like an @$$h*le. And a bitter one, at that. I certainly wouldn't invite him to my parties. Maybe that's why the French tossed him in jail. Maybe he was going around telling people that this wasn't the best of all possible words, and would find themselves afflicted with syphilis, multiple gang-rapes, and having to settle for less. Hooray?
Suggested replacement: Don Quixote. It's just as satirical, and provides just as much of a running commentary, but it's fun! Adventures, swashbuckling, loose women, a fat guy on a donkey- this book has everything. And the best part is, the first book is light-hearted and funny, and the second book is bitter and jaded. There's something for everyone!
4. Pretty much anything by John Steinbeck, but especially Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's fantastic that Steinbeck manages to capture the voices of the disenfranchised folk of the dustbowl times, but a lot of high school students aren't going to want to read about a bunch of old fogeys whining about how their crops won't grow. Lord knows, I was bored stiff, and kept sneaking Stephen King under the table until it eventually got me in trouble. Teach Steinbeck in college- especially graduate school; there, at least, the students will have some idea of what it means to be dirt poor and exploited.
Suggested replacement: Pretty much anything by Willa Cather. She also writes about the American frontier, but her characters are far more likable and younger, too. Her writing is absolutely gorgeous, and she could write anything from a poignant love story to an epic slice-of-life. Start the kiddies with My Antonia (especially after R+J), and then when you've got 'em hooked, spring Death Comes for the Archbishop.
5. Brave New World.
I really don't like this book. It's one of my least favorite dystopian novels. In fact, for the longest time, I thought I hated science-fiction because I couldn't stand the crap they were force-feeding me in my Satire and Humanities courses in high school. What the hell. Brave New World, 1984, Cat's Cradle- I don't want to read that sh*z! I'm in high school for god's sake; don't you think I'm depressed enough already?
Suggested replacement(s): Blindness (it's foreign and it's dystopian- two birds with one stone! Give them culture while scaring the poo out of them!), Anthem (it precedes both BNW and 1984, and it's super short), The Road, and Oryx and Crake. If you haven't read Oryx and Crake, check that sucker out right now, as well as it's sequel, Year of the Flood. I can't wait for the third book. I CAN'T-
6. The Miracle Worker.
Now hold on a second, you're thinking. The Miracle Worker is about Helen Keller; surely you're not about to discriminate against a deaf person! A deaf AND blind person who taught herself to speak!
Of course not! But instead of reading a shitty, hackneyed play about Helen Keller, why not actually read about Helen Keller? She wrote her own book about her own life- and a whole lot of it appears to have gotten lost in translation (which doesn't really say much for the hearing/seeing world, if you ask me).
Suggested recommendation: The Story of My Life. I always thought she was interesting, but I fell in love with her a little more when I found out via Lies My History Teacher Told Me that Helen Keller was also a feminist AND an activist, who fought for the rights of other minorities caught on the fringe! What a bad-ass!
7. The Crucible, Inherit the wind.
[Comment has been deleted for violating the English language and pretty much all sense of common decency- rather like these books]
Suggested replacement:
I feel like in order for something to be classified as worthy of our time, it has to be either (a) depressing as eff (case in point: Sophocles, R+J, John Steinbeck, Brave New World, etc.), (b) disturbing as eff (case in point: American Psycho, Clockwork Orange, 1984, Titus Andronicus, etc.), or boring as eff (case in point: all the other books).
And what is the result? A whole lotta high school kids who, under the books section of their Facebooks and Myspaces (assuming they are even literate enough to get to this point), have written things like:
"i dont read."
"books r gay."
"twilite and fiftey shades of grey i gess. i dont rlly red much, tho."
"whats a book? oh u meen movies."
Every time you say these things, a hoverball kitty deflates. :(
Kids learn to associate books (which they hate) with school (which they hate even more), and exams (which they hate most of all). The result is a knee-jerk Pavlovian reaction that induces cold sweats, test-taking anxiety, and the disturbing feeling that somehow, somewhere, your junior English teacher is lurking behind you like a vulture, waiting for your head to turn even slightly so she can bust you for cheating.
1. Antigone.
Why on earth would you choose this play? What kind of a message is this to send to young women? If you stand up for your beliefs, you'll die- so you better get your ass back to the kitchen? Also, it's depressing as hell (all the Sophocles plays are, and really, it's a play: it should be seen on stage, and not read in some stuffy English classroom.
Suggested replacement: Lysistrata.
Which brings us to:
2. Pretty much anything by William Shakespeare.
He is a playwright. Plays are meant to be seen and not read. I hate Romeo and Juliet; I get why they teach it, since it's one of the few classic works teens actually feel simpatico with, it really sends a bad message. I am appalled by how many people consider Romeo and Juliet the "ultimate" love story. Then again, I'm appalled by how many people are saying the same thing about The Book that Shall Not Be Named.
Suggested replacement(s): The Taming of the Shrew (paired with 10 Things I Hate About you, ofc) and Twelfth Night. Also, poetry by John Dunne. He's my favorite.
Or, conversely, teach Romeo and Juliet, and then juxtapose it against Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice. ("This is how it's done, ladies. Don't marry the first guy who tells you that you're hot- especially if his wedding vows could also be read as a suicide pact.")
3. Candide.
I had to read this book twice- once in college, once in high school. I disliked it equally both times. It's not fun. In fact, it's pretty much the ANTITHESIS of fun. The book basically makes fun of poor Leibniz's philosophies of optimism. Maybe it's just me, but Voltaire kind of sounds like an @$$h*le. And a bitter one, at that. I certainly wouldn't invite him to my parties. Maybe that's why the French tossed him in jail. Maybe he was going around telling people that this wasn't the best of all possible words, and would find themselves afflicted with syphilis, multiple gang-rapes, and having to settle for less. Hooray?
Suggested replacement: Don Quixote. It's just as satirical, and provides just as much of a running commentary, but it's fun! Adventures, swashbuckling, loose women, a fat guy on a donkey- this book has everything. And the best part is, the first book is light-hearted and funny, and the second book is bitter and jaded. There's something for everyone!
4. Pretty much anything by John Steinbeck, but especially Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's fantastic that Steinbeck manages to capture the voices of the disenfranchised folk of the dustbowl times, but a lot of high school students aren't going to want to read about a bunch of old fogeys whining about how their crops won't grow. Lord knows, I was bored stiff, and kept sneaking Stephen King under the table until it eventually got me in trouble. Teach Steinbeck in college- especially graduate school; there, at least, the students will have some idea of what it means to be dirt poor and exploited.
Suggested replacement: Pretty much anything by Willa Cather. She also writes about the American frontier, but her characters are far more likable and younger, too. Her writing is absolutely gorgeous, and she could write anything from a poignant love story to an epic slice-of-life. Start the kiddies with My Antonia (especially after R+J), and then when you've got 'em hooked, spring Death Comes for the Archbishop.
5. Brave New World.
I really don't like this book. It's one of my least favorite dystopian novels. In fact, for the longest time, I thought I hated science-fiction because I couldn't stand the crap they were force-feeding me in my Satire and Humanities courses in high school. What the hell. Brave New World, 1984, Cat's Cradle- I don't want to read that sh*z! I'm in high school for god's sake; don't you think I'm depressed enough already?
Suggested replacement(s): Blindness (it's foreign and it's dystopian- two birds with one stone! Give them culture while scaring the poo out of them!), Anthem (it precedes both BNW and 1984, and it's super short), The Road, and Oryx and Crake. If you haven't read Oryx and Crake, check that sucker out right now, as well as it's sequel, Year of the Flood. I can't wait for the third book. I CAN'T-
6. The Miracle Worker.
Now hold on a second, you're thinking. The Miracle Worker is about Helen Keller; surely you're not about to discriminate against a deaf person! A deaf AND blind person who taught herself to speak!
Of course not! But instead of reading a shitty, hackneyed play about Helen Keller, why not actually read about Helen Keller? She wrote her own book about her own life- and a whole lot of it appears to have gotten lost in translation (which doesn't really say much for the hearing/seeing world, if you ask me).
Suggested recommendation: The Story of My Life. I always thought she was interesting, but I fell in love with her a little more when I found out via Lies My History Teacher Told Me that Helen Keller was also a feminist AND an activist, who fought for the rights of other minorities caught on the fringe! What a bad-ass!
7. The Crucible, Inherit the wind.
[Comment has been deleted for violating the English language and pretty much all sense of common decency- rather like these books]
Suggested replacement:
October 29, 2012
It's a Subtle Difference, Indeed.
My reaction when someone likes one of my reviews on GoodReads:
My reaction when someone comments on one of my reviews on GoodReads:
My reaction when someone rates one of my books on GoodReads:
My reaction when someone reviews one of my books on GoodReads:
My reaction when someone comments on one of my reviews on GoodReads:
My reaction when someone rates one of my books on GoodReads:
My reaction when someone reviews one of my books on GoodReads:
October 26, 2012
Testing, testing, 1...2...3...
Apparently, I get a blog now. Depending on how annoying you find me and my posts, this could be a glorious super-happy-fun-time thing, or an oh-no-it's-the-end-of-days thing.
Because I'm apt to screw up anything even vaguely technology-related, I'm doing a test post. And what better post to test than one with a meme about... BOOKS?
The BBC apparently believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here:*
Bold the books you've read; italicize the ones started but not finished.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy.
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
*List is not actually affiliated with the BBC. Spoilers!
Because I'm apt to screw up anything even vaguely technology-related, I'm doing a test post. And what better post to test than one with a meme about... BOOKS?
The BBC apparently believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here:*
Bold the books you've read; italicize the ones started but not finished.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy.
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
*List is not actually affiliated with the BBC. Spoilers!
