I love Melanie's reading lists. Nathan Bransford has recently been posting lists of books, too. He has one on the best selling fiction books of the last hundred years, and the best selling non-fiction books.
The list that caught my eye, though, was the one about the Gilmore Girls. I used to watch that show on and off, but somehow never realized that Rory Gilmore had read her way through over 300 books during the series. Here's the list, just to see how you compare.
So, how many have you read? It opened my eyes up a bit to realize that I hadn't immersed myself in many of the classics (except Jane Austen, of course) since high school. It may be time to expand my repertoire.
And that got me thinking of some other lists that might be fun to read through:
The Newberry Medals - begun in 1922 to honor distinguished writing for children.
The Caldecott Medals - recognizes the best in art for children's books. I love so many of these books. One of my favorites is Tuesday, which I bought before I even had children because I knew someday, someday I'd love sharing it with my munchkins.
The Printz Awards - only around since 2000, this newcomer celebrates excellence in YA lit. Did you notice that Code Name Verity got an Honor this year? (Melanie, you're going to love, love, love it!)
The Authors Deck - and last, but closest to my heart, is the game, Authors. Have you played it? I used to think everyone knew this more complicated (and literary) version of go-fish, but came to find out that most had never even heard of it. My sister and I played this so much when we were little. I've read most of the books, but not all. Maybe this is the list I should start with.
Is there a method to your madness in the books you pick to read?
~Susan
I finished Code Name Verity last night! Now I have joined the ranks of people who have no idea how to describe it without giving the ending away. I'm harassing my daughter to finish it so I can discuss it with someone. Thanks for the recommendation! I'm so glad I finally read it.
ReplyDeleteI find my books from lots of places. First of all, I remember authors I love and try to keep track of books they've written. Sometimes they'll even recommend other authors, and that's always fun.
I have several blogs that I follow for their book recommendations. That list is metamorphosing as I get more into the astonishing indie world.
I also like to go to bookstores and libraries to hunt for books. And I go to goodreads and hunt through friend's recommendations and random lists that look interesting. I almost always find at least one book to read from the monthly goodreads newsletter, and the cool thing about those books is that they are usually in a different genre than the other books I find. So that's cool. I'm going to have to start tracking the Printz awards. Thanks!
Yay, I'm glad you loved it! And yes, indescribable is the perfect term to describe it :)
DeleteI'm also glad you loved it! I'm trying to get my sister and one of my friends to read it, but she's resisting because I admitted it's sad.
DeleteI took the Gilmore reading test and did not do so well. :) But there were quite a few books on the list I've always meant to read. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteI've read 40 books out of 339 on the Gilmore Girls list. It's a cool list. I might keep plugging away at it.
ReplyDeleteI scored about the same as Melanie. I'm ever so grateful for my high school Shakespeare and AP English classes.
ReplyDeleteAnd that Dr. Seuss was on the Gilmore list. Elsewhile, my numbers would be paltry indeed :)
Some of the books I'm just not interested in. A few (the Russian tomes) I'm not sure I have the fortitude for. But many made me think, 'Oh, yeah, I was going to read that one day.'
I love a lot of Caldecott winners, too, and I also bought my very favorite before having kids because I knew I would want to share it with them: Many Moons, by James Thurber. It was re-published with new, non-Caldecott-winning illustrations and I have and love both versions... Sadly, it turns out to be more of a girl story than a boy one, or maybe just more of a Sarah story than a Sarah's kids story.
ReplyDeleteI was not a big reader before college, except that I loved almost every book assigned in middle and high school English class (not counting As I Lay Dying). If it weren't for all that forced great literature I might not read silly romances for pleasure today, and that would be tragic! I will have to check out the Gilmore list; I'm a little afraid of how low I might score...
I tried to read through the Newberry winners when I was in elementary school. Most of them were good, but then I ran into a few that I found really boring. So I stopped.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm off to Amazon to find The Author's Deck! I'd never heard of it before. Squee! Thanks for the recommendation. :)
Oh, I hope you enjoy it. It probably seemed weird to grown ups that at ~8ya, my sister and I could rattle off the works of Dickens or Robert Lewis Stevenson, but it was all from playing Authors. - If kids today can memorize game stats and Pokémon cards, why not something useful, too? I still love playing with my kids.
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