A-Z of authors, opinions wanted.

clouter

Hey folks
As its the season for resolutions I've decided on a little task myself. I plan to read at least 26 books this year, 1 from an author each from A-Z. To start I have chosen Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Looking for ideas from yourselves as to what other books I could read.

Most yrs I would read about 15 books so will be pushing myself to read more and watch less crap on TV. I read a bit of everything the last few books I've read include Moneyball, Room, The Sisters Brothers, Die Trying(Jack Reacher) and Ruby Walshes biography. A bit of everything really.

Dont really want to end up reading all classics, or all thrillers or all sports etc , want as broad a cross section as possible.
Looking forward to your suggestions.

Thanks

krankykitty

Here's a few recommendations I can think of.. Mostly fiction but a few non fics in there!

A: Margaret Atwood - The Handmaids Tale
B: Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
C: Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Richard Dawkins - The Greatest Show on Earth
E: Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex or Virgin Suicides
F: Sebastian Faulkes - Birdsong
G: Arthur Golden - Memoirs of a Geisha
H: Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns

L: Steig Larson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
M: Haruki Murakami - The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
O: George Orwell - 1984
P: Phillip Pullman - The Golden Compass

R: Philip Roth - American Pastoral
S: Garth Stein - The Art of Racing in the Rain
T: Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina

V: Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions
W: Richard Wiseman - 59 Seconds

Y: Irvin Yalom - Loves Executioner
z: Carlos Ruis Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind

Kinski

That's an arbitrary way to draw up a reading list! But for the sake of completing krankykitty's list:

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House.
Joyce, James. Dubliners.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories.

Queneau, Raymond. Exercises In Style.

Updike, John. Rabbit, Run.

X, Malcolm. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. (I was stuck for an X! Unless you want to read Xenophon or something).

x_Ellie_x

Since you've already choosen A, I'll start with B:
B: Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
C: Breakfast At Tiffany's - Truman Capote
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
E: The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans
F: Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
G: Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
H: The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
I: The World According to Garp - John Irving
J: Dubliners - James Joyce
K: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
L: To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
M: Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
N: The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
O: 1984 - George Orwell
P: The Godfather - Mario Puzo
R: Interview With a Vampire - Anne Rice
S: East of Eden - John Steinbeck
T: The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
V: Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
W: Night - Elie Wiesel
Y: Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
Z: The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Sorry couldn't think of anything for Q, U or X

eskimocat

OP did you think to check the "100 books to read before you die" list? Here is the website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

Its an old site but the list is still a good pick and mix of all sorts

Einhard

Hey that's a great idea. Now I want to do it!

Just glancing at my own shelves:

A- Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger
B- Bryson, Bill. The Complete Notes
C- Clarke, Susanna. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
D- Dahl, Roald. Fantastic Mr Fox
E- Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose
F- Follett, Ken. The Pillars of the Earth
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies
H- Harris, Robert. Imperium
L- Le Carre, John. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
K- Kelman, Stepher. Pigeon English
M- Murakami, Haruki. Kafka on the Shore
R- Roth, Philip. The Plot Against America
S- Sansom, C.J. Dissolution
U- Unknown. The Tain
W- White, T.H. The Once & Future King
Z- Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief

More to come when I have time!

clouter

Thanks for all the suggestions folks, had a quick look at some of the books on Amazon and really like the look of some of them. Lots of books that I've heard of or said i was gonna read so maybe this year I might actually get around to doing it! Thanks again and if any other suggestions feel free to add them here.

Happy Reading!!