harry potter and the balance of earth

[bossymarmalade]

I shouldn't have done this fucking book meme. Now I just want to go spend money at Chapters and pick up all the things I've heard are good.

1984, george orwell
the alchemist, paulo coelho
alice's adventures in wonderland, lewis carroll
animal farm, george orwell
anna karenina, leo tolstoy
anne of green gables, lm montgomery
artemis fowl, eoin colfer.
the bfg, roald dahl
birdsong, sebastian faulks
black beauty, anna sewell
bleak house, charles dickens
brave new world, aldous huxley
brideshead revisited, evelyn waugh
bridget jones's diary, helen fielding
captain corelli's mandolin, louis de bernieres
catch 22, joseph heller
the catcher in the rye, jd salinger
charlie and the chocolate factory, roald dahl
a christmas carol, charles dickens
the clan of the cave bear, jean m auel
cold comfort farm, stella gibbons
the colour of magic, terry pratchett
the count of monte cristo, alexandre dumas
crime and punishment, fyodor dostoyevsky
david copperfield, charles dickens
double act, jacqueline wilson
dune, frank herbert
emma, jane austen
far from the madding crowd, thomas hardy
girls in love, jacqueline wilson
the god of small things, arundhati roy
the godfather, mario puzo
gone with the wind, margaret mitchell
good omens, terry pratchett and neil gaiman
goodnight mister tom, michelle magorian
gormenghast, mervyn peake
the grapes of wrath, john steinbeck
great expectations, charles dickens
the great gatsby, f scott fitzgerald
guards! guards!, terry pratchett
harry potter and the chamber of secrets, jk rowling
harry potter and the goblet of fire, jk rowling
harry potter and the philosopher's stone, jk rowling
harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, jk rowling
his dark materials trilogy, philip pullman
the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, douglas adams
the hobbit, jrr tolkien
holes, louis sachar
i capture the castle, dodie smith
jane eyre, charlotte bronte
kane and abel, jeffrey archer
katherine, anya seton
the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, cs lewis
little women, louisa may alcott
lord of the flies, william golding
the lord of the rings, jrr tolkien
love in the time of cholera, gabriel garcia marquez
the magic faraway tree, enid blyton
magician, raymond e feist
the magus, john fowles
matilda, roald dahl
memoirs of a geisha, arthur golden
middlemarch, george eliot
midnight's children, salman rushdie
mort, terry pratchett
night watch, terry pratchett
noughts and crosses, malorie blackman
of mice and men, john steinbeck
on the road, jack kerouac
one hundred years of solitude, gabriel garcia marquez
perfume, patrick suskind
persuasion, jane austen
the pillars of the earth, ken follett
a prayer for owen meany, john irving
pride and prejudice, jane austen
the princess diaries, meg cabot
the ragged trousered philanthropists, robert tressell
rebecca, daphne du maurier
the secret garden, frances hodgson burnett
the secret history, donna tartt
the shell seekers, rosamunde pilcher
the stand, stephen king
the story of tracy beaker, jacqueline wilson
a suitable boy, vikram seth
swallows and amazons, arthur ransome
a tale of two cities, charles dickens
tess of the d'urbervilles, thomas hardy
the thorn birds, colleen mccollough
to kill a mockingbird, harper lee
a town like alice, nevil shute
treasure island, robert louis stevenson
the twits, roald dahl
ulysses, james joyce
vicky angel, jacqueline wilson
war and peace, leo tolstoy
watership down, richard adams
the wind in the willows, kenneth grahame
winnie-the-pooh, aa milne
the woman in white, wilkie collins
wuthering heights, emily bronte


And let me confess here and now how much I hate Russian literature. I cried through most of War and Peace not because it moved me, but because it was painful to read. I was still young at the time and felt I should finish, as a matter of honor. That idea left me when I tried to read the Master and Margarita, which I abandoned halfway through and returned to my Russian friend forthwith. I just can't do it. The thought patterns make no sense to me and I can never follow the storyline properly. To a lesser extent, I feel that way about French books, too-- Les Miserables and L'Etranger made me tired and angry in turns, and not because of the storylines.

And since I'm analyzing, here's what I didn't like out of this list:

the clan of the cave bear, jean m auel, dune, frank herbert -- So. Very. Bored. Which sucks, because they're the kind of cult classics that everybody reads in high school, and I didn't like them a bit. I think I might have read one of the Pratchett books too, but had much the same reaction.

the thorn birds, colleen mccollough -- lame and melodramatic, plus I once read a Thornbirds au in Homicide fandom, and it scarred me forever. Bayliss and Kellerman should never, never be missionary priests in a foreign land. *shudder*

wuthering heights, emily bronte -- Dear God, make the pain stop! I hate EVERYBODY! Why don't they ALL DIE?!?!?

Comments

[marej.livejournal.com]

Dude, before you run to chapters check out amazon.ca. Cheaper and faster for the most part than ordering from chapters.indigo.ca and/or shop at the store

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

Cheaper than shopping at the store? I hadn't thought it would be. Hmmm. This bears further investigation. *g*

Thanks for the tip, babydoll!

Re:

[marej.livejournal.com]

it is, man. and you get free shipping if you go over 39.00. Oh, and if you never bought from them before they give you $5.00 welcome discount, or some such. And you're welcome, now go read some classics, wouldja? And then you could give me coles notes version, and I'll be able to pretend I read 'em too. ;)

[merryish.livejournal.com]

Woman! Get thee to a bookstore at once and pick up Good Omens. I have absolute faith that you'll love it.

And yay, The Stand. That should be required reading for everybody (says the rabid King fan...)

I agree with you about The Thorn Birds, though it contributed significantly to my slash-starved youth with it's tortured-ness, and also Wuthering Heights. =)

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

Well...I have read Neil Gaiman back in my comicbook days, so perhaps Good Omens would sit well with me. I'll have to check it out now. *g*

The day after they finished airing The Stand on tv, I went late to school only to find it deserted. I met up with two of my friends who were in stimilar states of confusion, and we wandered around just waiting for one of us to begin coughing before finally discovering that everybody was in the gym for an assembly. Heh. I think of that every time I read the book, man!

[virgulesmith.livejournal.com]

my fucking goodness, I hate the Russians too. And of course my world lit teacher adored them. Blech. I remember I would slog through a chapter or two and then go read anything, any kind of crap to balance it out. Anything was better. Even bodice ripper fabio covered crap where they meet cute, then hate each other, then fall in love, then get torn apart by the bad thing wherein he rescues her from the brink of death because he has finally realized he. cannot. live. without. her and then they live happily richer and healthier ever after. Yeah, that was better than slogging through the Russians.

Ditto on the Bronte.

Granted there is a lot of other stuff I would rather read. Early Pern stuff, hello, why has no one written a Nsync fic set in Pern?

Gee maybe I should shut up and do it myself eh?

Anyways, I also liked Split Infinity, though the following books didn't thrill me.

But my favorite book, for better or worse, is Ender's Game.

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

I think skeabs wrote Pern!*nsync, didn't she? In All the Heart Can Know (http://www.lostmuse.com/skeabs/heart.html).

And, the Russians. *shudder* I'm good with British and Latinate books, but cannot do Russian and French. They make no sense to me. It's definitely a way of thinking, because sometimes talking to my Russian friend is like reading one of the books and I'm just flattened by the unusal twists and jumps her mind makes!