100 Books - Part 1

I recently did a swap over at swap-bot.com where you were supposed to list 100 books that you've read or intend to read.

I opted to list only books I've read. This exercise was actually more difficult then I thought it would be! (Apparently, I read a lot of crap that I didn't feel was worth listing.) In an extreme case of blog-cop-out I begin to list them today...


100 Books

I’m going to stick to books I’ve read. I’ll try to give authors as I remember them, but I’m really bad at remembering author names.

Childhood Favorites

1. Robin Hood – Howard Pyle. - This is the first book that had me sobbing like a baby. My mom came into the room and was shocked to see me crying so hard, “What happened??” I could only hold up the book and say, “They killed him!” (Sorry if that’s a spoiler.)

2. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll. - This is one of my all-time favorites. In high school, I did this huge paper on it. That’s when I learned that Alice is a children’s book like The Simpsons is a children’s cartoon. It was written as a satire of the socio-economic and political layout of English society. Oddly, this didn’t ruin it for me, if anything, it made it all the more interesting, adding another layer to its wonder.

3. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkein. - It took me three tries to get through this book. I was in 6th grade and had heard that some people read 2 or more books at the same time. I gave it a shot and didn’t like doing that. When I finally went to reading one at a time, I read all the way through this amazing book.

4. ­Where the Red Fern Grows – My 6th grade teacher (who was a rookie, first year teacher and one of my best teachers ever) read this to the class. If you haven’t read it… well, it doesn’t end well. The whole class was crying (even the boys!) and we were asking him, “Why would you read this to us???” But honestly, it’s a great book.

5. Complete Fairy Tales – The Brothers Grimm – I still read these. All the time.

6. Aesop’s Fables – I still read these all the time, too.

7. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas – I love Dumas. He’s always a good read. His books are full of adventure and are peppered with humor so things don’t get too dark.

8. Little Women – This book always gets me. I love the main character’s strength and attitude.

9. ­Little Men – Another great book!

10. Little House on the Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder – anything by her is fine by me! I used to
wear this Laura Ingalls dress my grandma sewed for me while I read these books. I wore that dress well past the time I grew out of it!

11. Heidi – Johanna Spyri – Such a sweet story. When I read it now, as an adult, it’s almost too sweet! I highly recommend doing that; going back and reading your favorite childhood books as an adult. It gives such great nostalgic memories and an all new perspective.

12. Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling – what an imagination this man has!

13. Anderson’s Fairy Tales – I’m a sucker for any fairy tales!

14. Treasure Island – Johann David Wyss – Adventure unsurpassed…

15. The Swiss Family Robinson – Robert Louis Stevenson – what a resourceful family!

16. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens – they say that imitation is the best form of flattery. How many ways has this wonderful tale been redone?!

17. Good Night Moon – Margaret Wise Brown – this book is a favorite of me and my kids. Even just the words she used are soft and gentle and like a written lullaby.

18. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl – what an amazing imagination this man has!

19. ? – Here’s my first mystery book – I read a book in 6th grade about Sirius, the dog star being framed for a crime and cast out of the sky (in the book, the stars are actually sentient beings, aliens of sorts). In a burst of irony, the other stars send him to earth to live as a dog. He ends up with these two little kids who live in an abusive family. He protects them and loves them and earns his way back into the sky where he clears his name. I read it a few times and wish I could remember who wrote it or what it was called.

20. ? – Second mystery book – this one, also read around 6th grade, was a fantasy book. These 3 kids go to live with their uncle and in his attic they find a bunch or TV sets. They turn one on and a sinister man seems to be looking at them. They go to turn it off and realize it’s not plugged in. Then all the TV’s turn on (none are plugged in) and the kids get sucked into the TV’s. They land in a world of sorcery and such and have to find each other and make their way back. (I know, it’s reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia). It was a really good book that I read several times and I can’t remember the name!

21. The Chronicles of Narnia – I read all these just this year. I’ve had a really beautiful set of the series for about ten years. What fantastic tales!

More cop-out tomorrow, Ruth!