Heres how she explains the challenge:
Deb from the A Novel Challenge yahoo group posted a link to this list of Entertainment Weekly’s list of new classics, what they call the best reads from 1983 to 2008. I loved the list – many of my recent favorites are on it so I’m intriguedto see what some of the ones I haven’t read yet will be like.
So the challenge rules are:
1) Copy the list and bold the titles that you have already read.
2a) Choose at least 6 other books from the list , read and review them between August 1, 2008 and January 31, 2009.
2b)Come back here and post links to your reviews.
3) In January 2009, cast your vote for which one of the 100 books on the list is your favorite (and write a post on why). The winning book will be sent to a lucky winner chosen by the scientific method favored here in the blogosphere, i.e. names in a hat. Other contests are very probable too, I have some ideas, but they need planning.
4) Have fun! 🙂
THE LIST
1.The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6.Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, JayMcInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)div>
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003) =”left”>
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)
The 6 books I plan to read for the challenge:
1. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
2. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
4. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
5. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
6. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.
I loved both On Beauty and Persepolis. I hope you enjoy them too 🙂
I hope to read Cloud Atlas soon. I haven’t read any of the others you listed though.
Damn. Another challenge. I’ve got to stop blogging!!
Nymeth,
Did you read White Teeth, also by Zadie Smith? I loved it!
Stephanie,
I hear you! Do you think they have a place like Betty Ford for our addiction? We could go together. LOL!
Welcome to the challenge! I’ll be reading Bel Canto as well. I hope you enjoy the Kite Runner and Cloud Atlas, I loved them both – and Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite books at this point, I always recommend it!
Hi, Teddy!
I tried, but failed, to find a more direct way to respond to your wonderful review of my historcial novel RINGSIDE 1925. I have perused your website–which I Just LOVE . . we share the exact same tastes in books . . . and I wanted to say a big THANKS for taking the time to read so carefully and review so eloquently, my Scopes Trial story. I hope to return to your site again frequently (I am a big fan of Trevavnian–whose real name was Rodney Whitaker–here’s the link to his obit and more info about his life and work:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/19/america/web.1219obitwhit.php
and also of Barbara Kingsolver who is one of the most eloquent and gifted storytellers of our time!)
I’m grateful for your generous comments and applaud your commitment and passion for good books. Thanks again–Jen Bryant, Pennsylvania, USA.
Hi Jen,
I’m suprised that you didn’t post this comment on my review of Ringside. I’m so glad you liked my review.
I don’t often give 5 star ratings, so that just goes to show how much I truely enjoyed your book.
Thanks for the information on Trevavnian. I have wondered about him and what his real name was.
My favorite Kingsolver is ‘The Poisonwood Bible,’ it’s actually one of my favorite books of all time.
Thanks Joanna. I saw the movie version of ‘The Kite Runner’ and loved it, so I’m really looking forward to reading the book. I’ve heard some very mixed reviews for Bel Canto, but decided to read it and see for myself.
What a great list, Teddy! I read and loved The Kite Runner and Persepolis. Anne Patchett and Alice Munro are authors that are on my wishlist.
Wow a lot of interesting books. There’s some I didn’t like on the list…