What's at the top of your to-read list?






Needless to say this project will take me a few years to get through, especially in that I’m a slow reader. I can’t just swallow books in a few hours like some people can. I'm sure I'm forgetting some important reads, but today these are the books I'm interested in giving a shot in future. When I say give a shot I'm saying I may not finish them if they do not hold my attention. Hopefully I'll review several of the below titles. Should keep me busy!



Classic novels: 

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

On the Road Jack Kerouac (review)

Dune by Frank Herbert

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Hunger by Knut Hamsun (review)

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Merlin Trilogy by Mary Stewart

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Carrie by Stephen King (review)




Plays: 

Five Plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard (Oxford World's Classics) by Anton Chekhov

Macbeth by William Shakespeare (review)

Richard 3rd  by William Shakespeare





Poetry:

Keats's Poetry and Prose by John Keats

High Windows by Philip Larkin

Ariel by Sylvia Plath

The Complete Poems by Emily Dickinson

Robert Frost's Poems

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot

100 Selected Poems by E.E. Cummings

A Shropshire Lad by A.E. Housman

Selected Poems by Jorge Luis Borges





Short story collections:

The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka

Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver

Short stories of Ernest Hemingway

The Bloody Chamber and other stories by Angela Carter

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever

Someone Like You by Roald Dahl

The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor

No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (review)

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li (review)




Contemporary novels:

The Goldfinch (Pulitzer Prize Winner) by Donna Tartt

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (review)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The Beach by Alex Garland





Non-fiction:

The Blair Witch Project by Peter Turner (review)

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? by Harold Bloom

Are We Not New Wave? Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s by Theo Cateforis (review)

Gilliam on Gilliam by Ian Christie

Cronenberg on Cronenberg by Chris Rodley

Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh by Amy Raphael

My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin

A Biography of Kafka by Ronald Hayman

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Writer's Life by Geir Kjetsaa

Innocent When You Dream: Tom Waits - The Collected Interviews by Mac Montadon

Bad Seed: The Biography of Nick Cave by Ian Johnston

Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake

How to Say No Without Feeling Guilty by Patti Breitman and Connie Hatch

Games People Play by Eric Berne

Essays of Montaigne by Michel de Montaigne





Do you also have a to-read list? Have you read any of the above selections?

17 comments:

  1. I'm not much of a book reader as I tend to be more into the world of films though I'm trying to remember if I have read that book on Pink Floyd though I think the one that Nick Mason did some years ago feels like the most definitive one so far.

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    1. @thevoid99: Thanks for the info about Nick Mason autobiography, I’m sure he has unique insights as a member of the band since 1965.
      I did some googling and there’s also Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey by Schaffner (1992), but I haven’t read any of them.
      The book I mention by Mark Blake draws on his own interviews with all of the band members.

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  2. I wish I had time to read more. I actually tried to read Anna Karenina but just couldn't get around to finishing it. I should try to get into short stories!

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    1. @Ruth: Short stories can be good, word is Hemingway is one of the best in that department.
      I was hoping to read Anna Karenina before Joe Wright’s movie adaptation was released, but it didn’t happen. I’ll try and finish Macbeth before the new Fassbender/Cotillard film is out!

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  3. I just reviewed Hunger, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book itself if you get to read it. It's very short, but it's also very wordy...so it feels longer. I am reading On the Road next month! I'm so excited.

    I can't recommend Keat's poetry enough. He's my favorite poet...such beautiful words!

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    1. @Fisti: I used to be in a bookclub so I know all about how a discussion can add to the reading experience. Hopefully we can compare notes!

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  4. Hello! Interesting post. I'm a slow reader myself. It took me a while to read The Corrections. In my defense I liked to stay with the characters and didn't want to let go so easily. I am currently reading To Kill A Mockingbird and One Hundred Years of Solitude. What will follow is A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.

    I want to read The Goldfinch as well but it's a big book that I'm not ready to get into. I'm also interested in reading A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Night Film by Marisha Pessl, The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor as well as something by Haruki Murakami, Dashiell Hammett, Ryu Murakami and the rest of Gillian Flynn's books. I have a very long list filled with fiction, non-fiction, classics, graphic novels and even essays and some poetry. But this is what I'm currently interested in.

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    1. @Cristi B: Thanks for sharing those!
      I loved To Kill A Mockingbird, you heard about the sequel/prequel Go Set a Watchman is out this summer, right?
      I gave up on 100 Years of Solitude, it was too confusing for me to follow(even though I’ve read subsequently it maybe was intentionally confusing and you just have to run with it)

      The Goldfinch is for the long haul. But I love the author’s writing.

      A Handmaid's Tale is quite good, has an interesting feministic angle on the dystopian genre. Even though it’s set in the future, it’s really a comment on the past and the present. I remember thinking the first half of the book was a bit messy, and more focused on the characters in second half.

      I’ve read a couple by Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood started well, but felt overrated in the end. I prefer Kafka on the Shore. I also enjoyed his memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, especially because I was jogging at the time. The reason I included Hard-Boiled (1985) is because some say it’s their favorite by the author.

      I actually considered including The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor. Let me know if it’s worth reading :)

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    2. Yes I've heard of the new novel by Harper Lee and the whole controversy of whether she wants it published or not. It will be interesting for sure to read it given how important and iconic TKAM is.

      I've read about a third of 100 Years of Solitude. Didn't find it confusing so far. OK, maybe a little because of the great number of characters. So far I really like it.

      I'm interested in the dystopian angle from The Handmaid's Tale and also in M. Atwood's writing. This will be my introduction to her books. Hope I'll like it.

      I've heard Hardboiled is his greatest and most beloved book. I'll probably start with Norwegian Wood or a smaller book. I've read only a short story by him that was published in the Newyorker called Scheherazade which was interesting.

      I've heard that Flannery O'Connor' stories are quite dark and mysterious which interests me. I'll let you know if they're great.

      Good luck! Or they say it England: Cheers.

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    3. I'll take that into consideration. I do want to read The Secret History as well.
      I don't know about joining the blogathon. I'll think about it.
      Take care.

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    4. @Cristi B: The Secret History is a suitable book to read in your 20s.
      Take care!

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  5. I'm just about to start Dark Places by Gillian Flynn! :)

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    1. @Lights Camera Reaction: I've read Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. What impressed me most were the first few chapters in how we are drawn into that world. Also, the author did a good job in maintaining the suspense.

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  6. The Godfather by Mario Puzo is top of my to-read list.

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    1. @Paul S: I have only seen the film. I've heard the book is a classic too. Hope you enjoy!

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  7. I really want to read On the Road, as well as The Catcher in the Rye. Also, I need to read To Kill a Mockingbird before Harper Lee's new novel comes out, since I only read the screenplay in high school for some reason.

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    1. @Josh: On The Road is high on my reading list too. Heard great things.

      Catcher in the Rye sits in my top 10 of all-time. It wasn’t a book I had to think about if I loved it, I just loved it immediately.

      To Kill a Mockingbird is a must-read. Don't know what to make of the sequel, I think I’ll wait for the reviews to see if it’s worth the time.

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