Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Recommendations from/for the Masses

Well, book fans, we've got our recommendations.  This is a list compiled from 21 people. You can see that Pillars of the Earth easily tops the list, followed by Les Miserables and Beach Music.  Those are the only repeaters.  Of the ones on the list that I have read (not counting my top 3 of Pillars of the Earth, Shogun, The Source), 3 are in my top-12 all-time (The Glass Castle, The Language of Flowers, 11/22/63), and 2 are in my 2nd 12 all-time (Beach Music, Iron House).  Of the others, I gave high ratings to The Kite Runner, Not Me, The Boys in the Boat, and Me Before You.

Take a look, people.  There's something for everybody.

Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett - 6
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo - 2
Beach Music, Pat Conroy - 2
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
1984, George Orwell
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Shogun, James Clavell
The Source, James Michener
Will Grayson, Will Grayson, David Levithan & John Green
Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh (graphic book)
Arcadia, Lauren Groff
The Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
Drop City, T.C. Boyle
San Miguel, T.C. Boyle
The Road to Wellness, T.C. Boyle
Crimson Petal and the White, Michael Faber
The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
The Bone Setter's Daughter, Amy Tan
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
Power of One, Bryce Courtenay
Winds of War, Herman Wouk
Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean Auel
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield
First Blood, David Morrell
The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown
The Tin Drum, Gunther Glass
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Cider House Rules, John Irving
A Child's Garden of Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
Fellowship of the Ring trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien
Shadows of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Awakening, Kate Chopin
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Collapse, Jared Diamond
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Not Me, Michael Lavigne
11/22/63, Stephen King
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
Inferno, Dan Brown
Fifty Shades of Greg, E.L. James
A Thousand Names for Joy, Byron Katie
Nothing Real Can Be Threatened, Tara Singh
The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri
Auto Biography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda
Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Iron House, John Hart
Cancer Ward, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
TOTAL:  61

2 comments:

  1. Have you posted your list of top 12 and second 12 of all time? It sounds like we loved a lot of the same books.

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    1. You know, it's been a long time since I posted those 2 lists - 3/21/13 for the top 12 and 4/24/14 for the 2nd 12. I think it makes sense to re-post in light of this new list. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, Kathy.

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