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I ended up with 29My Brilliant Friend ● The Warmth of Other Suns ● Wolf Hall ● The Known World ● The Corrections ● Never Let Me Go ● Gilead ● The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ● Pachinko ● The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ● The Sellout ● The Overstory ● Atonement ● Americanah ● Cloud Atlas ● Sing, Unburied, Sing ● Fun Home ● Between the World and Me ● A Visit From the Goon Squad ● Middlesex ● Demon Copperhead ● The Plot Against America ● Olive Kitteridge ● Exit West ● An American Marriage ● The Story of the Lost Child ● Station Eleven ● Bring Up the Bodies ● Bel Canto
BUT of those I only loved 4 - Station Eleven, Demon Copperhead, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and Cloud Atlas. I actively disliked The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, The Sellout, and A Visit from the Goon Squad. The others range from Meh to Pretty Good.
I've read 17. I'm still perusing the list. My want to read list will probably change. Like Robin, I've read these books, but I didn't love all of them. In face my least favorite was My Brilliant Friend. I'm not at all interested in reading the rest of that series and I feel offended that it's at #1 when All The Light We Cannot See didn't even make the list. My Brilliant Friend ● Never Let Me Go ● Gilead ● Lincoln in the Bardo ● The Overstory ● Cloud Atlas ● H Is for Hawk ● Small Things Like These ● The Fifth Season ● The Goldfinch ● Life After Life ● Tenth of December ● Far From the Tree ● Exit West ● Station Eleven ● Bel Canto ● How to Be Both
My final tally:I've read 29 - My Brilliant Friend ● The Warmth of Other Suns ● The Known World ● The Underground Railroad ● Never Let Me Go ● Gilead ● The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ● The Year of Magical Thinking ● The Road ● Pachinko ● Say Nothing ● Evicted ● Behind the Beautiful Forevers ● The Overstory ● Atonement ● Salvage the Bones ● Fun Home ● Small Things Like These ● The Goldfinch ● Life After Life ● Nickel and Dimed ● Middlesex ● We the Animals ● Olive Kitteridge ● Exit West ● An American Marriage ● The Emperor of All Maladies ● Station Eleven ● Bel Canto
Have 26 on TBR - The Corrections ● Austerlitz ● The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ● Lincoln in the Bardo ● Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage ● Americanah ● Sing, Unburied, Sing ● White Teeth ● Between the World and Me ● A Visit From the Goon Squad ● H Is for Hawk ● Trust ● Runaway ● Demon Copperhead ● Veronica ● The Great Believers ● Far From the Tree ● The Friend ● All Aunt Hagar's Children ● The Story of the Lost Child ● Hurricane Season ● The Return ● The Sympathizer ● The Days of Abandonment ● On Beauty ● Tree of Smoke
Holly R W wrote: "Question: How are people typing in the bullet points? Curious minds want to know..."Copy/paste from the end of the list where it give you your tally.
Well of those I read I hated Wolf Hall as you all know, also to a large extent A Visit from the Goon Squad and The Fifth Season. Others I liked a lot but the only ones I rank as brilliant and wonderful are A Brief History of Seven Killings, Bel Canto, and Station Eleven.
So glad to see The Road!Of the last 20, I'd read 19 of them and promptly added the 20th to my TBR. My final totals are:
I’ve read 56 books on the list ...
My Brilliant Friend ● Wolf Hall ● The Known World ● The Corrections ● 2666 ● The Underground Railroad ● Austerlitz ● Never Let Me Go ● Gilead ● The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ● The Year of Magical Thinking ● The Road ● Outline ● Pachinko ● The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ● The Sellout ● Lincoln in the Bardo ● Say Nothing ● Erasure ● Behind the Beautiful Forevers ● The Overstory ● Atonement ● Americanah ● Cloud Atlas ● Sing, Unburied, Sing ● White Teeth ● Salvage the Bones ● Between the World and Me ● A Visit From the Goon Squad ● H Is for Hawk ● Small Things Like These ● The Fifth Season ● The Goldfinch ● A Mercy ● The Vegetarian ● Trust ● Life After Life ● Train Dreams ● Middlesex ● Demon Copperhead ● 10:04 ● The Great Believers ● The Plot Against America ● Olive Kitteridge ● Exit West ● Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ● An American Marriage ● When We Cease to Understand the World ● The Emperor of All Maladies ● The Return ● The Human Stain ● Station Eleven ● On Beauty ● Bring Up the Bodies ● Bel Canto ● How to Be Both
.. and I want to read 12.
The Warmth of Other Suns ● The Last Samurai ● The Line of Beauty ● Postwar ● The Flamethrowers ● Far From the Tree ● The New Jim Crow ● All Aunt Hagar's Children ● Secondhand Time ● The Passage of Power ● The Sympathizer ● Tree of Smoke
Joy D wrote: "So glad to see The Road!Of the last 20, I'd read 19 of them and promptly added the 20th to my TBR. My final totals are:
I’ve read 56 books on the list ...
My Brilliant Friend ● Wolf Hall ● The K..."
Wow ! You are the champion.
My final tally is 13 read and 2 on the tbr:I’ve read 13 books on the list ...
The Warmth of Other Suns ● Wolf Hall ● The Underground Railroad ● The Road ● Sing, Unburied, Sing ● Fun Home ● H Is for Hawk ● Persepolis ● Life After Life ● Nickel and Dimed ● Middlesex ● Station Eleven ● Bel Canto
... and I want to read 2.
The Goldfinch ● Runaway
I’m glad to see Gilead finally. I’m not sure I agree with My Brilliant Friend as #1, but I agree it belongs on the list. I already own a few on my want to read list, but there are many I never heard of. I added other books based on the side recommendations.
MY TALLY
I’ve read 37 books on the list ...
My Brilliant Friend ● The Underground Railroad ● Gilead ● The Road ● Pachinko ● Behind the Beautiful Forevers ● Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage ● The Overstory ● Atonement ● Americanah ● Sing, Unburied, Sing ● White Teeth ● Salvage the Bones ● Fun Home ● Between the World and Me ● The Years ● A Visit From the Goon Squad ● Small Things Like These ● The Goldfinch ● Persepolis ● Trust ● Life After Life ● Train Dreams ● Runaway ● Nickel and Dimed ● Heavy ● Demon Copperhead ● The Great Believers ● The Friend ● Olive Kitteridge ● Exit West ● Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ● An American Marriage ● When We Cease to Understand the World ● The Sympathizer ● Station Eleven ● Bel Canto
... and I want to read 24.
The Warmth of Other Suns ● The Known World ● The Corrections ●🔅 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ● Lincoln in the Bardo ●🔅 Say Nothing ● Erasure ● Random Family ● The Last Samurai ●🔅 H Is for Hawk ● The Fifth Season ● Tenth of December ● Stay True ● 🔅Middlesex ● We the Animals ● The Copenhagen Trilogy ● 🔅Secondhand Time ● A Manual for Cleaning Women ● 🔅The Story of the Lost Child ● Detransition, Baby ● The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis ● Men We Reaped ●🔅 How to Be Both ● 🔅Tree of Smoke
For those of you who subscribe to the New York Times, you can vote for your own choices of best books of the 21st century. I just did - the NYT's made it very easy and fast to do it.
Looks like you might have to be a subscriber to do that, Holly, unless I've missed something.
Love the list with similar recommendations for each. Thanks for the heads-up, knew about the list but not the boxes!
Joy D wrote: "Looks like you might have to be a subscriber to do that, Holly, unless I've missed something."Joy, you do have to be a subscriber.
Holly R W wrote: "Joy D wrote: "Looks like you might have to be a subscriber to do that, Holly, unless I've missed something."Joy, you do have to be a subscriber."
If this is to vote for your favorite, Joy, I'm a subscriber and can vote for you. I haven't read enough of the books to justify voting for a favorite in my mind. Just message me.
Holly R W wrote: "For those of you who subscribe to the New York Times, you can vote for your own choices of best books of the 21st century. I just did - the NYT's made it very easy and fast to do it."Thanks for mentioning this Holly, I added my books.
So.... of the books you have read, which are your top 3? And which one do you want to read ASAP?I can start
Top 3
The Fifth Season
Cloud Atlas
Between the World and Me
Want to Read ASAP
Say Nothing
Top 3:Bel Canto
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
The Goldfinch
Want to Read:
Far from the Tree
Top 3 from read1. Bel Canto
2. A Brief History of Seven Killings
3. Station Eleven
Read next:
1. Demon Copperhead
2. Behind the Beautiful Forevers
3. Pachinko
The top 3 for me that I've read: The Warmth of Other Suns
Persepolis
Middlesex
My top 3Station Eleven
Demon Copperhead
The Goldfinch
I've read 10:1. Station Eleven
2. The Emperor of All Maladies
3. Exit West
4. Middlesex
5. The Fifth Season
6. H is for Hawk
7. Between the World and Me
8. Cloud Atlas
9. The Road
10. Never Let Me Go
Top 3: Emperor of All Maladies, The Fifth Season, Never Let Me Go
Top 3 of the 17 I've read :The Overstory
Far From the Tree
How to be Both
Read next:
I will eventually finish Demon Copperhead, and I'd also like to read
The Warmth of other Suns
Theresa wrote: "If this is to vote for your favorite, Joy, I'm a subscriber and can vote for you. I haven't read enough of the books to justify voting for a favorite in my mind. Just message me...."Thanks for the offer, but I found out that my library has provided NYT access! How cool!
Of those I've read, these are my favorites:The Goldfinch
Atonement
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Middlesex
A Mercy
Wolf Hall
The Plot Against America
The Road
The Great Believers
Bel Canto
Cloud Atlas
Never Let Me Go
My Top Reads wereThe Overstory
The Underground Railroad
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Exit West
Small Things Like These
Station Eleven
Of the want to read most of them have languished on my tbr for a reason, but I would really like to read
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Joy D wrote: "Theresa wrote: "If this is to vote for your favorite, Joy, I'm a subscriber and can vote for you. I haven't read enough of the books to justify voting for a favorite in my mind. Just message me......."That's wonderful! Do they also have similar for the Washington Post?
Jason wrote: "Karin wrote: "I won't be able so see it since I don't subscribe, but it sounds cool :)"I was able to see without subscribing."
Thanks, I saw it. As usual, there are many on there I DNF, didn't like or (mostly) am not interested in because I don't like the author or else just am not interested in at this point in time, BUT there were a few I really liked and 7 I want to read that I could remember.
FavoritesThese five had a strong impact on my world view:
● When We Cease to Understand the World ● The Sympathizer ● Station Eleven ● Behind the Beautiful Forevers ● The Overstory
● Gilead ● Sing, Unburied, Sing ● Salvage the Bones ● Small Things Like These ● Trust ● Life After Life ● Train Dreams ● Demon Copperhead ● Olive Kitteridge ● Exit West ● Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ● An American Marriage ● Atonement ● Americanah
Top three for me:The Road
When We Cease to Understand the World
Olive Kitteridge
But the Saunders short story collections were hard to leave off. Very hard.
@Anita - Olive Kitteridge was hard for me to leave off.
Funny, I felt "meh" about Olive Kitteridge. I think the interlocking stories didn't grab me like a straight narrative would. I loved the later Lucy by the Sea.
A lot more on my want-to-read than read, only 10 that I've read :OI’ve read 10 books on the list ...
Pachinko ● Between the World and Me ● A Brief History of Seven Killings ● Heavy ● The Great Believers ● Far From the Tree ● Exit West ● Detransition, Baby ● The Sympathizer ● Station Eleven
My personal favorites are highlighted in bold.
I really liked Station Eleven, but best of the 21st century!? Really?
Is it bad that now I do want to read the whole list just so I can compare notes with all of you and discuss your favorites?? ARGH!!!!
I've read 34, and DNF'd a bunch more. I tried Wolf Hall so many times I feel like it should count. That book is reading torture for me. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow being on that list is a travesty
Re: Olive KitteridgeHappy to see your love, Theresa - - Elizabeth Strout is definitely one of my favorite authors!
Robin, I get what you are saying. I'm a fan of short stories in general, so the narrative worked for me in that form. But as I mentioned, I just love Strout in general. Very realistic, character-driven fiction is my favorite!
UPDATE: I just looked to see how I rated Olive Kitteridge, and I gave it 4 stars. I think maybe I just love Strout in general and that love has enhanced the book in the rear-view mirror. I liked the sequel to Olive more.
Nicole D. wrote: "I've read 34, and DNF'd a bunch more. I tried Wolf Hall so many times I feel like it should count. That book is reading torture for me. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow being on that list is a travesty"
I have not been jumping on the T3 train, and comments like this one ensure I will stay off it.
I had to try Wolf Hall twice as well. Not a huge fan despite having some appreciation for the writing itself. I did finish it. Finally. I think I would have liked it a lot more if I had a better handle on the history from the jump.
I took a stab at doing my own top 10 for the century thus far. It was extremely difficult, and I'm not sure this is quite right, but here we go!• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
• Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
• Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
• A Swim in the Pond by the Rain by George Saunders
Nicole D. wrote: "I've read 34, and DNF'd a bunch more. I tried Wolf Hall so many times I feel like it should count. That book is reading torture for me. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow being on that list is a travesty"
Another for Hates Wolf Hall Club! Yay!
Meli wrote: "A lot more on my want-to-read than read, only 10 that I've read :OI’ve read 10 books on the list ...
Pachinko ● Between the World and Me ● A Brief History of Seven Killings ● Heavy ● The Great Be..."
I was hoping you would pop in with A Brief History of Seven Killings. We did read and love it together!
Anita wrote: "I took a stab at doing my own top 10 for the century thus far. It was extremely difficult, and I'm not sure this is quite right, but here we go!• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• The Namesake by Jhu..."
Nice list, Anita!
I didn't hate Wolf Hall, but it literally took me months to read it between other books. Bring Up the Bodies was way easier and more straightforward, and her editor made her change some of the vague "he said" to give the name of the person. I have the 3rd one but have now forgotten the characters. And after she spent 2 books making a historical villain relatable, I sort of hate to see his downfall.
I did think Bring Up the Bodies was much easier reading. But never felt like tackling the third book and also would need to revisit the first two (Wikipedia?). Probably won’t happen!
Between the time I read Wolf Hall and Bodies, there was a PBS series that covered both books. So I watched that as review of the first part, read the 2nd book, then watched the section from that. But I don't plan to do all that again and I don't think they ever filmed the last book.
I’ve read 13 books on the list ...The Underground Railroad ● Never Let Me Go ● Gilead ● The Year of Magical Thinking ● The Road ● Atonement ● Nickel and Dimed ● Middlesex ● Demon Copperhead ● Secondhand Time ● Olive Kitteridge ● Station Eleven ● Bel Canto
... and I want to read 8.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ● The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ● Lincoln in the Bardo ● Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage ● The Overstory ● Cloud Atlas ● Life After Life ● Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
My favorites
The Underground Railroad ● Never Let Me Go ● The Road ● Olive Kitteridge ● Station Eleven ● Bel Canto
I’ve read 27 books on the list ...My tally
41 books
My Brilliant Friend ● The Corrections ● Never Let Me Go ● The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ● The Year of Magical Thinking ● The Road ● Pachinko ● Random Family ● Atonement ● Americanah ● Cloud Atlas ● A Visit From the Goon Squad ● The Goldfinch ● Middlesex ● The Great Believers ● The Plot Against America ● Olive Kitteridge ● Exit West ● Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ● An American Marriage ● The Story of the Lost Child ● The Sympathizer ● The Human Stain ● The Days of Abandonment ● Station Eleven ● On Beauty ● Bel Canto
Jgrace wrote: "Karin wrote: "I won't be able so see it since I don't subscribe, but it sounds cool :)"I gifted that link, Karin, so you should be able to use it. I'll add new links if they are needed."
Thanks--I looked at the two lists at PBT--there are few I still want to read, but the one with more of them is from The Guardian. I DNF the number one book in the Guardian (Wolf Hall) but did like the number 2 (Gilead).
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
Bring Up the Bodies (other topics)Olive Kitteridge (other topics)
Lucy by the Sea (other topics)
Small Things Like These (other topics)
The Underground Railroad (other topics)
More...
I’ve read 22 books on the list ...
Wolf Hall ● The Known World ● The Underground Railroad ● Never Let Me Go ● The Road ● Lincoln in the Bardo ● Evicted ● The Overstory ● Americanah ● Cloud Atlas ● Sing, Unburied, Sing ● Salvage the Bones ● Small Things Like These ● Life After Life ● The Friend ● Olive Kitteridge ● Exit West ● An American Marriage ● Detransition, Baby ● Station Eleven ● Men We Reaped ● Bel Canto
... and I want to read 12.
The Warmth of Other Suns ● Gilead ● The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ● Atonement ● White Teeth ● A Visit From the Goon Squad ● The Flamethrowers ● Heavy ● The Great Believers ● The Plot Against America ● Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments ● Tree of Smoke