Top 100 Books by Leisa L. Watkins

When people talk about the greatest books of all time, they often cite one of the Big Lists by companies such as Random House or Time Magazine. These lists often somewhat overlap, but can change from year to year or vary slightly from list to list. Leisa L. Watkins on Wealth, Wisdom and Success took it upon herself to use mathematical means to create her own Top 100 list of novels, based on the frequency with which each book appeared on six major lists. She provides permission to reprint her list, which I am going to do for you below. Following each title is the number of lists it occurred on, based on her research. Her original post is from November 2007.

Books that I have at least attempted or read parts of will be italicized. Those I have read in full will be in bold. 


How many have you read?

1. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald (6)
2. ULYSSES by James Joyce (6)
3. 1984 by George Orwell (6)
4. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger (6)
5. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac (6)
6. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck (5)
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller (5)
8. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov (5)
9. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley (5)
10. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh (5)
11. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner (4)
12. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee (4)
13. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien (4)
14. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce (4)
15. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell (4)
16. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf (4)
17. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison (4)
18. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess (4)
19. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell (4)
20. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner (4)
21. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway (4)
22. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster (4)
23. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding (4)
24. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London (4)
25. DAVID COPPERFIELD by Charles Dickens (3)
26. EMMA by Jane Austen (3)
27. TESS Of The D’URBERVILLES, Thomas Hardy (3)
28. THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne (3)
29. WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte (3)
30. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers (3)
31. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (3)
32. JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte (3)
33. BELOVED by Toni Morrison (3)
34. ANNA KAREINA by Leo Tolstoy (3)
35. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway (3)
36. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright (3)
37. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3)
38. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad (3)
39. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad (3)
40. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry (3)
41. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford (3)
42. HERZOG by Saul Bellow (3)
43. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame (3)
44. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos (3)
45. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce (3)
46. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser (3)
47. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence (3)
48. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton (3
49. THE WOMAN IN WHITE by Wilkie Collins (3)
50. THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe (3)
51. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller (3)
52. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather (3)
53. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner (3)
54. THE MAGUS by John Fowles (3)
55. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving (2)
56. DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes (2)
57. TOM JONES by Henry Fielding (2)
58. WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy (2)
59. MOBY-DICK by Herman Melville (2)
60. MADAME BOVARY by Gustave Flaubert (2)
61. WINNIE THE POOH by A(lan) A(lexander) Milne (2)
62. GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens (2)
63. THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Feodor Dostoevsky (2)
64. TRISTAM SHANDY by Laurence Sterne (2)
65. LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa M. Alcott (2)
66. VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray (2)
67. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen (2)
68. IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME by Marcel Proust (2)
69. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James (2)
70. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand (2)
71. GRAVITY’S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon (2)
72. THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin (1851-1904) (2)
73. DUNE by Frank Herbert (2)
74. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute (2)
75. ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll (2)
76. CLARISSA by Samuel Richardson (2)
77. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams (2)
78. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving (2)
79. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas (2)
80. THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Henry James (2)
81. OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck (2)
82. ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren (2)
83. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin (2)
84. CHARLOTE’S WEB by E. B. White (2)
85. ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe (2)
86. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Feodor Dostoevsky (2)
87. THE STAND by Stephen King (2)
88. REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier (2)
89. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves (2)
90. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster (2)
91. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald (2)
92. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence (2)
93. BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens (2)
94. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand (2)
95. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner (2)
96. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James (2)
97. AUSTERLITZ by W. G. Sebald (2)
98. THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka (2)
99. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O’Connor (2)
100. FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley(2)

Thanks to my high school education, I have read more than I probably would have picked up on my own. A couple of these I have read again and again. Others I have started and don't know that I will ever finish.

Again, this is just one of a multitude of lists. I do hope to bold face more of them as time goes by.

Read the original post here.

~ Compiled by Leisa L. Watkins

Reading A to Z: D is for Daphne du Maurier

In the 8th grade, I was one of the lucky ones who got to choose my reading book from a special list. One of the books that I read and that became one of my all-time favorites was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The other one was Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.



I fell madly in love with that book. I have read it numerous times, since. I have watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie dozens of times. It became a family favorite. We had almost a family phone tree, so that when it was on, my father, my uncle, my grandmother and I were all notified.

I am also a huge Hitchcock fan. So, when I found out that his movie The Birds was actually based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier, I started to seek out more of her books. I found Jamaica Inn at an antique store. That one was also turned into an Alfred Hitchcock movie. In fact, it was Maureen O'Hara's first starring role. (I wrote an article about the Hitchcock-du Maurier connection. You can read it here.)



As the years have gone on, I have always kept an eye out for more Daphne du Maurier books. She had a great sense of suspense and macabre. I am sure I am not the first who thinks of her as an earlier female version of Stephen King. I see elements of her in his writing, now that I have read more of her works. In fact, I believe I once read that he considered her one of his inspirations or influences or something like that. Her short story collection Don't Look Now is the one that first made me realize this about her.



But I refuse to purchase a brand new copy of her books. She is a classic author from many decades ago. There is something magical about holding an older copy. My most cherished ones are two that belonged to my great-grandmother. One of them later went to my great uncle. Another one went to my grandmother and then my father. I received both of them after my father passed away. In fact, I was starting Rule Britannia the night that my father passed away. I haven't touched it since, but I would like to read it very soon.



Which Daphne du Maurier books have you read or do you recommend? Does she remind you of any other writers? As always, you can click on any of the book covers for more information.

Lost and Found Book Treasures

My father passed away last week, so we have been busy cleaning out the house. Daddy loved to read and had tons of books. It is a legacy passed down for several generations. My great-grandmother belonged to book clubs and often purchased hardcovers. In the tradition of the day, she removed the covers and would paste the book summary in the front cover. She also signed every book to ensure they would always come back to her.

Dad loved to read his grandmother's books. He found many of them to be intriguing and better written than most contemporary novels. His goal was to read through the shelf full that he had already gotten, and to eventually get more of them from his aunt's house. Alas, he didn't live long enough to do so.

I would love to keep all of her books, to keep the legacy alive. But there just isn't the time nor the space for me to do so. Instead, I have been picking out favorite authors and familiar books, or checking the summaries for something that truly grabs me.

Tonight there was one bookshelf that I had not yet closely perused. I thought it was all my mother's books, as it was in her room. Suddenly my eye was caught by the words "du Maurier." Daphne du Maurier is one of my all-time favorite authors. I first read Rebecca in the 8th grade and have reread it numerous times since. My father and also loved to watch the movie.

I have read some of her other books, mostly through paperbacks that I have picked up at garage sales and used bookstores. Today's find was The Glass-Blowers. When we were at my great-aunt's house the night before my father died, I had found another du Maurier on her bookshelf. As I lovingly held it in my hands to just look at it, she told me to go ahead and take it to keep.

There is something truly magical about being the fourth generation to hold a book in your hands and to love it. I may have lost my family, with both Grandma and Dad dying within nine months, but I have found a new legacy to help hold onto their memories.