100 best reads of all time - how many have you read?

[Chloe]

Santina, I can really get behind goals like that. I have a similar oath regarding Margaret Atwood.

[Kristie]

22 and 1 I started and couldn't get through.

[Rachel]

I've read sixteen - one for every year of my life? There are at least six on here which I have on my shelves, and plan to read within the next year, so that makes me feel a bit better!

It's great to see so many childrens' classics on this list. I too feel that they are some of the best books I've ever read.

[Liesl]

I've read 23. There are three I know I'll never read (because I've already tried and just couldn't slog through them) -- Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Lord of the Flies. Many of the rest are on my current TBR list.

[Lori, Super Mod]

Thanks Scott :D

[ScottK]

I Live to Serve. :)

[Emily]

I've read 27.5 of the titles. (The .5 comes from the fact that I have only read half of the Harry Potter series.)

While I agree that many of the titles are great reads, I was surprised at a few. The Five People You Meet in Heaven being the one that stands out the most. I've actually read the book, but it would never make my top 100.

[Julianne]

I've read 21 off the list (though, 3 are unfinished, maybe never-finished).

Though, if you break out all the HP and Narnia books as individual books, that adds 12 more (as far as books are concerned)

I have about anouther 1/3 of the list on my to-read list, but most aren't high up. Someday I'll get closer.

I bought Life of Pi and it wasn't one of those that I looked at and wanted to pick up. I started reading it, and by the time I was done I wanted to talk to someone about it sooo bad I passed it to a friend and am waiting impatiently for her to finish so I can talk to someone about it.

[ScottK]

So Life of Pi is that good ..... Considering my background ( a Bitter Bachelor's degree in Theology) some people have told me I would love this book. But every time I read it synopsis I am totally underwhelmed.

[Suzanne]

I think the list is great. But oh no - more lists!!! I find the mixture a good one. I am at 19 - meager, but I have time :) Also in regards to lists. I enjoy them, they help remind me of books from my past and track down ones that I haven't or wouldn't have heard about. They are helping me compile my own "top" list :)

As for the Life of Pi, I have to make a confession, I have started listening to audio books. Only unabriged, and because I have a 1+ hour commute to AND from work...and since I currently can't read and drive....

I initially only listened to books I had read...redundant yes, but I also hate seeing movies first! However I caved with Life of Pi, and I am really enjoying it. Initially I was bored with the whole 3 toed sloth chapter, but hey I was only 15 mins into my drive so I stuck it out.. happy to say it is all coming together now. I won't honestly be able to cross it off my "to read" list until I actually turn the pages, but I don't feel as bad that it has been sitting on my list for as many years untouched!

[ScottK]

OK I suppose I have to add YET ANOTHER book to my list... :)

[Sherry]

Suzanne,I loved the chapter on the Three Toed Sloth!It was why I became enamored of the book and for that matter the Three Toed Sloth. :)

[Diana]

I've only read 19, with another 8 of these sitting on my shelves as we speak. I feel like such a plebian.

[Sherry]

At least you know what a plebian is.How many plebes can say the same. :)

[Lori, Super Mod]

uhm.... thank goodness there are online dictionaries... haa haa

[Sherry]

I had to look it up myself.How plebian of me! :)

[Kellie]

Only 14.
But one of them is on top of Mount TBR!

[Kirsty]

hehe... I like that... Mount TBR

[Terri]

I read 32 but still there are many I have read I would never put on a top 100 list. But others I am glad to see on it

[Melissa]

I've only read about 14 of them. Some of those on the list are surprising. A very neat collection of books/series.

[Joanie]

I've completed 25 of them but started a bunch more. Some funny items on that list.

[Dietmar]

I've read 32 of them and yes some of the books on that list are really funny - they wouldn't be on my top 100 of the best reads.

[April]

I've read 39, about 10 of them were read in high school for AP classes, ha ha.

[Carla]

I've read 37. I can't believe all the Jane Austen books I haven't read!

This list is interesting, I don't know that I would have put some of the titles on there. (I liked the Lovely Bones and Kite Runner, but don't think they are one of the best 100 books of all time). That's a personal opinion though!

[Joanie]

I just recounted and I've read 32-don't know how I came up with my first number of 25, must have been on the phone or something.

[She'Davia]

I've only read 7, well...13 if you slipt up the Harry Potter Series :)

[Andrew]

I feel bad-I've only read 8 of those, though a lot are on my list to read soon.

[Ann from S.C.]

I've read 22 on this list. I am not counting the BIBLE. That is a book I read every day, and I guess I have read through, but I doubt every page...

OMG!!! Another Freaking List....

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Yeah, I counted the Bible - I spent the summer I was twelve reading the whole thing, from cover to cover.

[Cheri Howard]

Officially - 31
Currently reading - 1 (100 Years of Solitude)
Never finished - 2 (COMPLETE works of William Shakespeare, although I've read a lot; Les Miserables)

I have to say that there are a few I don't feel should be on this list, and there are quite a few missing IMHO!

[Mandy]

I've only read thirteen of the books but have many of them on my to-do list. Sadly I think I saw more in movies than I have read.

[Sarah]

I've read 37.

I wish I could count the Bible, but although I've probably read most of it over the years, at church and in school, I've never sat down to read it - and I don't think I even own a copy!

But some of the items on this list confuse me... Like the complete works of Shakespeare. That's bonkers. And particularly bonkers since Hamlet is there on its own. I've read probably two thirds of the plays and most of the sonnets, but I don't feel I can count it.

I can sort of understand putting the whole HP series together - they don't exactly stand alone, though I'm sure JKR tried to make each one work on its own.

I love the fact that the Faraway Tree series is on there, though. Go Moonface!

[Jackie]

My count is 25. I read most of the classics in HS.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Yeah, I didn't count the complete Shakespeare, as I haven't read ALL the plays.

Did count The Bible, as I have read all of it.

[Liz]

29 - what I want to know is WHO makes up these lists or, better yet, where do they get their stats from???

[Kristina]

I've read 18 from this list, but I have another 10 at home waiting for me on the shelf. :)

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Liz, I would really like to know that, too.

[Mandy]

All I know is there are heaps of lists out there, I don't have the foggiest where they come from but that doesn't really bother me, I like to just pick and choose from them. I certainly don't look at one list and think I must read all of those books.

[Gracee]

only read 19 here. Obviously need to add some of these to my "to be read" pile. Gee.. muuhahahahaha
:)

[Emma]

3 books, two being Narnia books.

[Brenda]

36 for me.

[Emma]

38
More or less. Ha. Does anyone else find it suspect that The Da Vinci Code is on here?

[Lisa]

43...not too bad.

[Symbol]

Okay, so... here's what I've read:
1. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
2. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
3. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
4. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
5. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
6. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
7. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
8. Complete Works of Shakespeare (haven't read the "complete works" quite yet, but I will... minus the histories.)
9. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
10. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
11. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (Loved these books! They've made it onto my "to-reread" list!)
12. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (I'm in the middle of it right now!)
13. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
14. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
15. Life of Pi - Yann Martel (This is one of the few books that I've abandoned part-way through. Couldn't stand that narration!)
16. Dune - Frank Herbert (Plans within plans within plans...)
17. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (Interesting.)
19. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (It was an abridged version. Does that still count?)
20. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (I LOVE this book! 'Though, strangely enough, I've never read the English translation...)
21. Watership Down - Richard Adams
22. Hamlet - William Shakespeare (If I were going to pick only one of Shakespeare's plays to go on this list, Hamlet definitely would NOT have made the cut! The Tempest or Macbeth would have been my choices.)
23. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
24. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (Isn't this part of the Chronicles of Narnia?)
24.5 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (I read an excerpt in French class.)

Eight more were lurking on my "to-read" list.
1. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
2. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
3. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
4. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
5. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
6. Dracula - Bram Stoker
7. Ulysses - James Joyce
8. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

These last nine belong to the "I-didn't-read-the-book-but-I-saw-the-movie--does-that-count-for-anything?" category.
1. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
2. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
3. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (My brother and I used to watch the old BBC series. Much better than the new movie they've put out!)
4. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
5. Atonement - Ian McEwan
6. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (saw it as a movie, a play, and a musical; sang the songs in school; but never read the book.)
7. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
8. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
9. Charlotte's Web - EB White

Bah! I can't even claim half the list! Even with "to-read"s and movies included in the count. I guess I read too much "fluff" and not enough "solid" literature...

[Sharon]

I've read 35.

There's a couple of Dickens's books on there. After reading Oliver Twist I vowed never to pick up another one of his books.

I understand that he got paid by the word, but I just can't hack someone describing every crack in the sidewalk.

[Ashe]

I've read 20- however just found a handful of new books to check out!

[Sharee]

Ok, 27, but I'm curious how some are series - Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials - and only count as one book. If I counted the series as books in and of themselves, I'd have somewhere in the thirties, I believe.

Also, how is it that the complete works of Shakespeare are listed as one, and then Hamlet is one of the last books on the list. Grrr! Silly list makers! (Although this is a pretty good list as far as I can tell while looking at it during all hours of the morning when I should be sleeping, yet I'm feeling that happy grogginess that comes from staying up too late.) *Giggles tiredly to herself, since no one in their right mind would be up this late at night adding to discussion threads about books*

[SusannaW]

This is a pretty bizarre list!

It's mainly works originally in English, but then drops in some odd works in translation.

I don't think, for example, that Dumas would emerge above Proust, Camus, Sartre, or Stendhal, in the typical French list. So quite why Dumas is in there and not these writers, or many more in translation, is a bit weird.

Maybe '100 best reads of all time' should try and acknowledge its intended cultural basis...???

[Ari]

Huh.

I've read 31 of these books, but I can say of at least 1/3 of the ones I've read that I would've never included them in a "best" list. :P

[Connie]

I've only read 17, but have several waiting to be read.