How many have YOU read?

I'm not big on memes. I think it's because usually by the time I get them, everyone I know has done them and I feel like I don't have anything original to say. But this one seemed way too fun to pass up. Thanks for letting me steal it, Amy! It's the Top 100 list of books from The Big Read, which averages that most people have read six or fewer books from the list. I was pretty excited to rank above average! Here goes:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read (as in the book is bought and sitting on my shelf).
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
Ready? OK!

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen. I think I'm the only one of my sisters not head-over-heels in love with this book/movie. But having rewatched the Keira Knightley version recently, I'm feeling like re-reading the book.
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien. Sorry to you Tolkien readers, including my husband - I'm just not a fantasy girl.
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte. One of my favorites! I wanted to choose it for my book club, but wasn't so sure the others would agree.
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling. Again, sorry. Just can't get into the magic stuff. Don't hate me!
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee. My husband and I both love the book and the movie with Gregory Peck.
6. The Bible. Unfortunately I can't claim to have finished the Bible cover-to-cover. Better make that a life goal, huh?
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte.
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell. This one makes at least my top ten favorites list. I absolutely love this genre and would recommend that everyone read it!
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott. I loved this as a child and want Katelyn to read it for sure.
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy. I found this book too dark for me when I read it in high school. Wonder what I'd think now?
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller.
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare. John and I started to read Shakespeare together when we were dating. We would go to the park with a blanket - so romantic. I think he's read it all, but I haven't even come close.
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien. Of course not.
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks.
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger. I really liked this book, but it's been long enough that I'm not sure if I can claim to love it.
19. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger. LOVED this book! Thanks to Becky for recommending it!
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot.
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell. Haven't read this, but I will one day. I've seen the movie - all 1000 hours of it - about 5 times. Rumor has it I was named after saintly Melanie in the story.
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald. My junior high English teacher suggested this when I had exhausted her list of recommendations. I think it was a little over my 7th grade head. Should read again someday.
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens.
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams.
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This makes my top 3. I've read it twice and know I'll read it again.
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck. I'm not sure what drew me to it, but I really enjoyed this in high school.
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll. Never read it, don't even really know the story. Does that make me weird?
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy. I do want to read this looooong book.
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis. I actually really admire CS Lewis, but again with the fantasy!?
34. Emma - Jane Austen.
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini. This one's on my to-be-read list.
37. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
38. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden. I read this about 3 years ago. I was mesmerized by the story and loved the imagery. For some reason, I'm torn on how I feel about the book as a whole, as I wrestled with my feelings about the issues presented the entire time I read it. Sorry, it's hard to explain.
39. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne. I've read a lot, but I'm not sure if I've read it all. I do love the old style of writing.
40. Animal Farm - George Orwell. Loved it? Not sure, but I do love the allegory in it.
41. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown. I loved it while I was reading it, but I think I'm over it.
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving. J.
44. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
45. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery. I read these all and loved them. Also loved the movies. I can't wait to share them with Katie.
46. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
47. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood. Top 3 definitely - possibly favorite book of all time. No book has ever captivated me so completely or made me think as much. I would read it over and over if there weren't so many great books out there I'd be missing.
48. Lord of the Flies - William Golding. Not a fan!
49. Atonement - Ian McEwan. I enjoyed parts of this book, and other parts seemed to drag on for years. Just finished the movie yesterday, though, and had a much better feeling. I think the director did a great job with the story!
50. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
51. Dune - Frank Herbert
52. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
54. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens. I read this in high school with a terrible teacher and struggled with it too much to enjoy it.
57. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley. This feels a lot like 1984 (Orwell) to me. A must-read!
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
60. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck.
61. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold.
64. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas.
65. On The Road - Jack Kerouac. I read this on John's recommendation. It wasn't me, but I'm glad I read it because it gave me some knowledge of beat poets and that whole movement.
66. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy. My uncle, a high school English teacher, told me he loves this book and I never dared admit that I didn't enjoy it.
67. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding.
68. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie.
69. Moby Dick - Herman Melville. Is it bad that I have no desire to read this?
70. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker
72. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett. I loved this when I was little.
73. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses - James Joyce. OK, I'm lying - I did not read this. But I feel like I should get credit because John spent hours upon hours of our time reading this book! He read me sentences that went on for pages and none of it made a lick of sense. And he's the only one I know who's actually read the entire thing. Crazy, huh?
75. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath.
76. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal - Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
79. Possession - AS Byatt.
80. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens. I don't think I've actually read this!
81. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple - Alice Walker. Too sad!
83. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
86. Charlotte's Web - EB White. Another childhood favorite!
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom. Haven't read this, but I recently read Tuesdays With Morrie. It was one of the most uplifting and inspirational books I've ever read!
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My dad's favorite. I'll bet he's disappointed that his daughters never got into it!
89. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad.
91. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
92. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
93. Watership Down - Richard Adams.
94. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl. The book is way better than any of the movies!
98. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. I've read part of it. It's a very long book! But I will finish it one day, I promise.

Wow, I didn't do so hot on the last quarter of the list, did I? I really considered myself a reader before I had kids. Then when Katie was born I spent so many hours reading up on how to be her mom, and even more hours trying to figure out how to do it all, that I convinced myself there was no time for recreational reading. I'm starting to see that I can work it into my life again, and it's really exciting. So here's to a lot more reading in my future.

Now go try this for yourself - it's really fun!