Monday 16 May 2011

The Literature Frenzy Challenge!


Welcome to my ultimate reading challenge! This will be an on-going project of mine and I hope to read everything on this list before departing from this world. I am always open for recommendations so if you want me to read something that is not already on this list, please let me know in the comments section below! Let's get this party started, shall we?
  1. The Blade Itself (The First Law #1) by Joe Abercrombie (recommended by Steven)
  2. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (re-read)
  3. Watership Down by Richard Adams 
  4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  5. Money by Martin Amis (recommended by Matthew)
  6. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 
  7. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  9. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  10. Emma by Jane Austen
  11. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
  12. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  13. Go Tell it to the Mountain by James Baldwin
  14. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
  15. Another Country by James Baldwin
  16. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
  17. The Science Fiction Short Stories of J.G. Ballard 
  18. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
  19. Herzog by Saul Bellow 
  20. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
  21. Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
  22. Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow
  23. Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
  24. Dangling Man by Saul Bellow
  25. Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow 
  26. Zuleika Dobson by Sir Max Beerbohm (recommended by Ron)
  27. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
  28. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
  29. Virtual Unrealities (short stories) by Alfred Bester 
  30. The Ninth Configuration by William Peter Blatty
  31.  The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
  32. The Souls of Black Folk by Du Bois
  33. Dandelion Wine by Bradbury
  34. Farenheit 451 Bradbury
  35. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  36. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
  37. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
  38. Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  39. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 
  40. Kindred by Octavia Butler
  41. Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell 
  42. In Cold Bloody by Truman Capote
  43. Night at the Circus by Angela Carter
  44. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
  45. O Pioneers! By Willa Cather
  46. My Antonia by Willa Cather
  47. If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
  48. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
  49. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
  50. The Wapshot Chronicles by John Cheever
  51. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin
  52. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
  53. White Noise by Don DeLillo  
  54. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany  
  55. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  56. The Kiss and other Stories by Anton Chekhov
  57. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  58. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
  59. Ubik by Philip K. Dick
  60. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
  61. Martian Time Slip by Philip K. Dick
  62. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
  63. Crack in Space by PKD
  64. Dr. Bloodmoney by PKD
  65. Valis by PKD
  66. The Idiot by Dostoeyevsky
  67. Notes from the Underground by Dostoeyevsky
  68. Crime and Punishment by Dostoeyevsky
  69. Brothers Karamazov by Dostoeyevsky
  70. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass 
  71. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
  72. Mill on the Floss by Eliot
  73. Middlemarch by Eliot
  74. The Merkabah Rider by Edward M. Erdelac
  75. The Little Prince by Exupery
  76. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
  77. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  78. Light in August by William Faulkner
  79. Go Down Moses by William Faulkner
  80. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
  81. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
  82. Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald
  83. The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney 
  84. Sentimental Education by Flaubert 
  85. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
  86. Howard’s End by E.M. Forster
  87. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
  88. A Room With a View by E.M. Forster
  89. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
  90. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin 
  91. Tana French - Dublin Murder Squad
  92. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
  93. The Sorrows of Young Werther by
  94. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
  95. The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
  96. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
  97. A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene
  98. End of the Affair by Graham Greene
  99. Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
  100. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
  101. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  102. Replay by Ken Grimwood
  103. Kampus by James Gunn
  104. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  105. Cockroach by Rawi Hage
  106. Mortal Leap by MacDonald Harris
  107. The Paradox Men by Charles Harness
  108. Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
  109. Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
  110. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  111. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
  112. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
  113. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
  114. The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Hemingway
  115. The Liveship Traders (Trilogy) by Robin Hobb 
  116. Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy) by Robin Hobb 
  117. Mythago Wood (#1) by Robert Holdstock 
  118. How to Be Good by Nick Horny
  119. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  120. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 
  121. Never Let Me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
  122. There Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
  123. Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
  124. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
  125. Dubliners by James Joyce
  126. The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
  127. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
  128. The Reefs of Earth by R.A. Lafferty 
  129. The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen
  130. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
  131. The Lathe of Heaven by Le Guin
  132. Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin
  133. The Dispossessed by Le Guin
  134. Wizard of Earthsea by Le Guin
  135. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (recommended by Natalyia) 
  136. The Paradox Men by Charles L. Harness
  137. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  138.  Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
  139. Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman
  140. Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti
  141. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
  142. Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean (recommended by Julia)
  143. The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield
  144. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 
  145. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
  146. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
  147. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  148. Moby Dick by Herman Melville  
  149. Embassytown by China Mieville
  150. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville 
  151. The City and the City by China Mieville
  152. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
  153. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
  154.  A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
  155. Of Human Bondage by Maugham
  156. Razor's Edge by Maugham
  157. Cakes and Ale by Maugham 
  158. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
  159. The Last Dragon by McDerrmott
  160. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  161. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  162. Paradise by Toni Morrison
  163. Utopia by Thomas Moore
  164. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
  165. The Bell by Iris Murdoch
  166. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
  167. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
  168. One Day by Dave Nicholls (recommended by Becky)
  169. A Good Man is Hard to Find and other Stories by Flannery O’Connor
  170. Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
  171. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
  172.  At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
  173. Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
  174. Animal Farm by George Orwell 
  175. The Portable Dorthy Parker by DorthyParker
  176. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
  177. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge 
  178. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
  179. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust 
  180. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
  181. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym 
  182. V by Thomas Pynchon 
  183. The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
  184. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 
  185. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
  186. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (recommended by Satia)  
  187. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
  188. The Callahan Chronicals by Spider Robinson 
  189. Of Love and Hunger by Julian Maclaren Ross 
  190. American Pastoral by Philip Roth
  191. The Human Stain by Philip Roth 
  192. Call it Sleep by Henry Roth
  193. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
  194. The Sparrow by Mary Dorry Russell 
  195. Hyperion by Dan Simmons
  196. Sirius by Olaf Stapledon
  197. Tales of a Tub by Jonathan Swift
  198. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
  199. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
  200. Light Years by James Salter 
  201. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
  202. Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
  203. A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter
  204. Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith (recommended by Stephen) 
  205. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
  206. As You like It by Shakespeare
  207. Macbeth by Shakespeare
  208. King Henry IV, Part 1 by Shakespeare
  209. King Henry IV, Part 2 by Shakespeare
  210. Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
  211. Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare
  212. The Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
  213. Pygmalian: A Romance in Five Acts by Bernard Shaw
  214. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
  215. The Comforters by Muriel Spark
  216. The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
  217. The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark
  218. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
  219. Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark
  220. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  221. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
  222. East of Eden by Steinbeck
  223. Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
  224. In Dubious Battle by Steinbeck 
  225. Pastures of Heaven by Steinbeck
  226. The Winter of Our Discontent by Steinbeck
  227. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner 
  228. Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover
  229. To Marry Medusa by Theodore Sturgeon
  230. More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
  231. Theft of Swords by Michael Sullivan
  232. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  233. Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas/Jennifer Graham
  234. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  235. Rabbit, Run by John Updike 
  236. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
  237. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh 
  238. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
  239. Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh 
  240. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
  241. Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
  242. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
  243. The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty
  244. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
  245. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 
  246. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde (re-read) 
  247. The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams
  248. A Streetcar Named Desire by Williams
  249. Glass Menagerie by Williams
  250. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
  251. Savages by Don Winslow (recommended by Stephen)
  252. Black Boy by Richard Wright
  253. Native Son by Richard Wright
  254. Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding
  255. Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf 
  256. Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
  257. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - An In-depth Analysis
  258. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
  259. Mrs. Dalloway  by Virginia Woolf
  260. The Waves by Virginia Woolf  
  261. Young Hearts Crying by Richard Yates
  262. Lord of Light by Robert Zelazny
  263. The Book Thief by Mark Zusak 
  264. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin 
  265. Dooryways in the Sand by Robert Zelazny

    14 comments:

    1. Oh no. You have so many good choices. I haven't read them all but there are enough that I am afraid if I started trying to say "read this one" and "read this one too" I might miss one I think you should read. ARGH!

      But since I'm reading Jane Austen this year I'll put in a vote for reading Jane Austen. Did you want us to add to the list or just cheer your choices?

      ReplyDelete
    2. haha, no worries Satia. I just pick from this list randomly but I'd be more than happy to make certain works a priority. To clarify, I would love recommendations that are not found on this list from people. So, if there is anything that you think I need to read and it is not listed above, just let me know the title and I shall add it. I definitely plan on reading Pride and Prejudice very soon. :)

      ReplyDelete
    3. Well, I am in the midst of reading Wharton's novellas so I'm tempted to say "Read Wharton" too but . . .

      Let me ponder this. Just woke up with a bit of a headache so a bit of coffee, a bit of journaling, and I should be able to come to your list with at least one or two books that I think merit being added.

      ReplyDelete
    4. The Tale of Genji would be a good addition to your list. I don't see a lot of East Asian content. You might also want to read Tales of the Arabian Nights and I've heard wonderful things about A Suitable Boy.

      I notice you have Heinlein on there but not Stranger in a Strange Land which is so classic.

      Which leads me to another observation, are the books only fiction/novels? If so, does mythology count? If so, how do you define myth? Le Morte D'Arthur should surely be included but I prefer T H White's more contemporary The Once and Future King. But if you are going to read Arthurian legends at all, why not read Chretien de Troyes?

      See? Leave the list to me and I'll quickly fill the remaining slots. Pick none of the above but one. Allow others to slip in a suggestion. I could fill the rest with Medieval or Asian literature alone.

      ReplyDelete
    5. Thanks for the wonderful input, Satia. Wharton has been on my short-list for a while and after reading your review of Ethan Frome, I have even more incentive to finally read some of her work.

      "The Tale of Genji" seems mighty intimidating! I've heard great things about "A Suitable Boy" as well, but its massive length scares me as well. I tend to prefer brevity but I wouldn't mind attempting to take on this beast.

      Despite my interest in mythology, I'd prefer to keep this list restricted to fiction. However, I'm willing to include non-fiction or essays. I would be greatly honored for some more Asian literature to diversify this list! :)

      ReplyDelete
    6. I've enjoyed two of Anchee Min's books very much. I've heard good things about Hai Jin.

      Haruki Marukami is on my Neverending-to-Be-Read-List. I started to read I Am the Cat by Soseki but my daughter's cat, who had been in our family for over ten years, died and it was difficult for me to read it. I want to finish it.

      I loved Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things which I recently re-read. I haven't read but also have on my list And I want to read Salman Rushdie now that I've read the Quran. And I also want to read Jumpha Lahiri whose works I've also heard praised.

      I'm not familiar enough with other areas of Asia to recommend many others and most of what I've mentioned above is recommended to me by people whom I trust. You might also consider The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon which is nonfiction but less daunting than The Tale of Genji.

      ReplyDelete
    7. Which two books by Anchee Min would they be? Empress Orchid and Red Azalea sound intriguing.

      Sorry to hear about your cat. Losing a pet is always difficult. >.<

      Marukami is one of those authors that I can't seem to get into. Maybe its the translation? Dunno, he's just not for me.

      I will add The God of Small Things to the list for sure and perhaps some Jumpha Lahiri since she is often held in high esteem. Rushdie is awesome! Midnight's Children is one of the most powerful and politically charged magical realism novels that I have ever read. I plan on re-reading it for this challenge.

      Thanks again for the recommendations!

      ReplyDelete
    8. Oh, how fun!! And what a great list. I'll be following eagerly. :-)

      (I'm currently reading Sense and Sensibility - LOVE it.) :-)

      ReplyDelete
    9. I'm slowly warming up to Austen and look forward to your thoughts on S+S. Thanks for stopping by Jillian! :D

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    10. Great list Jason. As would be expected our lists have a lot of overlap. However, two of my favorites I don't see here are: Lord of the Flies and The Lord of the Rings. Fantasy isn't every one's cup of tea, so I'll forgive if you choose not to add LOTR, but you MUST add Lord of the Flies.
      Thanks for adding me to your blogroll; I've returned the favor.

      ReplyDelete
    11. Hi Joseph, thanks for stopping by! The reason those two aren't on the list is because I've read them already. Both favorites. Got any other recommendations? :)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. I'm guessing you've read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, not to be confused with The Invisible man by H.G. Wells. I'd highly recommend that if you haven't.

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      2. To be clear, I'm recommending Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

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      3. Yes, I've read both of those actually even though its been at least 15 years since reading Invisible Man and my memory of it is rather hazy. A possible re-read perhaps.

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