Chris' Fill in the Gaps Book List

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: my fill-in-the-gaps book list.  The list of 100 books I plan to read during the next five years is arranged alphabetically by author and will be read in no particular order. 

Now, I am not going to carve these into stones.  I give myself permission to adjust over the years.  I've already been eyeing the list: too much Dickens?  Not enough Dumas? What about Austen?

And what book should be my first?  I'm leaning toward Dracula, but that's because I wanted to watch the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula as a reward.  I enjoyed watching that movie at apheresis (almost as much as I enjoyed the irony).

What do you think?  Have I chosen books you love?  Did I miss one of your favorites?  Let me know!

Chris' Fill in the Gaps Book List

	Things Fall Apart	Chinua	Achebe
	Foundation	Isaac	Asimov
	Pride and Prejudice	Jane	Austen
	Sense and Sensibility	Jane	Austen
	Sundays With Vlad	Paul	Bibeau
The	Lost Symbol	Dan	Brown
The	Good Earth	Pearl S.	Buck
A	Little Princess	Frances Hodgson	Burnett
The	Secret Garden	Frances Hodgson	Burnett
	Cold Sassy Tree	Olive Ann	Burns
The	Land that Time Forgot	Edgar Rice	Burroughs
	Tobacco Road	Erskine	Caldwell
The	Plague	Albert	Camus
	Ender's Game	Orson Scott	Card
	Death Comes for the Archbishop	Willa	Cather
	O Pioneers	Willa	Cather
The	Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay	Michael	Chabon
The	Big Sleep	Raymond	Chandler
The	Stories of John Cheever	John	Cheever
	Girl with the Pearl Earring	Tracy	Chevalier
The	Woman in White	Wilkie	Collins
	Moll Flanders	Daniel	DeFoe
The	Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao	Junot	Diaz
A	Tale of Two Cities	Charles	Dickens
	David Copperfield	Charles	Dickens
	Little Dorrit	Charles	Dickens
	Oliver Twist	Charles	Dickens
	Great Expectations	Charles	Dickens
The	Count of Monte Cristo	Alexandre	Dumas
The	Man in the Iron Mask	Alexandre	Dumas
The	Last Cavalier	Alexandre	Dumas
A	Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius	Dave	Eggers
	Middlemarch	George	Eliot
	Madame Bovary	Gustave	Flaubert
	Where Angels Fear to Tread	E.M.	Forster
The	Corrections	Jonathan	Franzen
The	Quiet American	Graham	Greene
	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	James	Hilton
	Lost Horizon	James	Hilton
Les	Miserables	Victor	Hugo
	Their Eyes Were Watching God	Zora Neale	Hurston
The	Lost Weekend	Charles R.	Jackson
The	Haunting of Hill House	Shirley	Jackson
The	Portrait of a Lady	Henry	James
	Three Men in a Boat	Jerome K	Jerome
	Up the Down Staircase	Bel	Kaufman
	On the Road	Jack	Kerouac
	Please Don’t Eat the Daisies	Jean	Kerr
The	Poisonwood Bible	Barbara	Kingsolver
The	Jungle Books	Rudyard	Kipling
The	Man Who Would Be King	Rudyard	Kipling
A	Separate Peace	John	Knowles
	Little Drummer Girl	John	LeCarre
The	Golden Notebook	Doris	Lessing
	Sliver	Ira	Levin
	Elmer Gantry	Sinclair	Lewis
The	Monk	Matthew Gregory	Lewis
The	Call of the Wild	Jack	London
	The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft	H.P.	Lovecraft
	One Hundred Years of Solidude	Gabriel Garcia	Marquez
	Love in the Time of Cholera	Gabriel Garcia	Marquez
The	Road	Cormac	McCarthy
The	Member of the Wedding	Carson	McCullers
	Atonement	Ian	McEwan
	Lonesome Dove	Larry	McMurty
	Moby-Dick	Herman	Melville
	Peyton Place	Grace	Metalious
The	Seven-Per-Cent Solution	Nicholas	Meyer
	Beloved	Toni	Morrison
	Lolita	Vladimir	Nabokov
	Suite Francaise	Irene	Nemirovsky
A	Confederacy of Dunces	John Kennedy	O'Toole
	Doctor Zhivago	Boris	Pasternak
	Bel Canto	Ann	Patchett
	Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance	Robert M.	Pirsig
	Atlas Shrugged	Ayn	Rand
The	Fountainhead	Ayn	Rand
	All Quiet on the Western Front	Erich Maria	Remarque
	Home	Marylynne	Robinson
The	Human Stain	Philip	Roth
The	God of Small Things	Arundathi	Roy
	Midnight’s Children	Salman	Rushdie
	Sarum	Edward	Rutherford
	Frankenstein	Mary	Shelley
	Enemies, A Love Story	Isaac Bashevis	Singer
	Angle of Repose	Wallace	Steigner
	Dracula	Bram	Stoker
The	Valley of the Dolls	Jacqueline	Suzanne
The	Magnificent Ambersons	Booth	Tarkington
The	Man who Fell to Earth	Walter	Tevis
	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Hunter S.	Thompson
	Anna Karenina	Leo	Tolstoy
	War and Peace	Leo	Tolstoy
	All the King's Men	Robert Penn	Warren
	Brideshead Revisited	Evelyn	Waugh
	Night	Elie	Weisel
	Journey to the Center of the Earth	H.G.	Wells
	Trainspotting	Irvine	Welsh
The	Age of Innocence	Edith	Wharton
The	Inimitable Jeeves	P.G.	Wodehouse
	1001 Nights / Arabian Nights

Chris' Top 10 Favorite Reads of 2009

Another year gone, another stack of books read and shared.  The books listed below are a good cross-section of titles on my reading list.  A few of them were provided by Carole and Kathy, two of my most trusted book critics, and a few titles I stumbled upon on my own.  Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order.



Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society — A compelling story that also serves as a history lesson.  I knew people suffered, did without during World War II, but I never stopped to think of what exactly that meant.  This book tells that story with heart, wit and engagement — and a few interesting voices.

Drood — Long, but oh so good.  I loved every page of this tale of Charles Dickens' last years of life, told by his friend Wilkie Collins (himself an author of great repute: The Woman in White, anyone?).  I was absolutely smitten by the second chapter. 

Beginner's Greek — I re-told lovely, charming and breathtaking tale of star-crossed love over and over this past summer to Judy, Leigh and anyone else who would listen as I read the tale of Peter and Holly.  I was sorry to finish this one.

The Geography of Bliss — I am thrilled to have discovered Eric Weiner on a top 100 list and will continue to read him as he continues to report and publish. His assessment of these locations is fair and lively, and I felt as though I was there with him through his rich descriptions and humorous observations.

The Graveyard Book — Neil Gaiman never fails to entertain and enlighten.  Apparently he thought up this story a couple of decades ago when his child would play in the graveyard next to his home.  How, exactly, does one raise a child in a graveyard — especially if one is a ghost?  You'd be amazed.  I know I was.

A Reliable Wife — Twists, turns and unexpected beauty in this sleeper novel of a mail order bride who isn't what she appears to be.  Nor is her new husband — or anyone else in the story.  Robert Goolrick illustrates turn-of-the-century poverty in America.

The Strain —David describes this as vampires meet CSI.  How easy would it be for vampires to infiltrate New York City? Written by movie director Guillermo del Torro and horror writer Chuck Hogan, the book is the first of a planned trilogy.  I'm anxious for the second installment in 2010.

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer — If all scary books and horror tales could be this clever and enjoyable, I'd read even more of them. The debut novelist Jonathan L. Howard offers a unique and interesting tale of Hell, redemption, traveling circuses and decomposition.  (Not in that order.)

The Twilight Saga — An old-fashioned love story between a lovely young girl and her vampire boyfriend takes a few unexpected turns as we find out whether love can conquer all.  After you finish these hefty tomes, you will understand, finally, the meaning behind "Team Jacob" and "Team Edward."  Twilight: it's not just for teenage girls anymore.

Astrid and Veronika — Two women's lives intertwine in this well-written modest novel.  The character-driven story is rich and full, and readers will appreciate friendships even more as they read this thin but robust novel.

Bonus favorite: A Christmas Carol.  After watching every film adaptation on earth of this classic ghost tale, I decided to take a page from Carole's book and read Dickens' tale.  When I say the book always is better than the movie, I usually mean it — but with this book, I am as emphatic as I can be.  If you have yet to read this book, do so.  Don't wait until Christmas: this book of redemption is good any day of the year. 

The book I enjoyed least this year was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It was too lurid for me, like the close-up shots of gooey corpses in the television crime shows.  I don't mind graphic descriptions, but I do mind gratuitous descriptions of awful experiences.  This book had both.

What are your favorites?  What terrible books have you read (and lived to tell the tale)?