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hellosallylovette · 2 months ago

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Every book I’ve ever read (not including short stories or comics, not necessarily a recommendation list)

1. Mosquitoland by David Arnold

2. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

4. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

5. The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

6. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

7. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

8. Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor

9. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

10. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

11. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

12. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

13. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites by Zac Brewer

14. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Ninth Grade Slays by Zac Brewer

15. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Tenth Grade Bleeds by Zac Brewer

16. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eleventh Grade Burns by Zac Brewer

17. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Twelfth Grade Kills by Zac Brewer

18. No Flying in the House by Betty Brock

19. Wish by Alexandra Bullen

20. Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman

21. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll

22. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll

23. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

24. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

25. Little Bee by Chris Cleave

26. Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

27. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

28. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

29. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

30. Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

31. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

32. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

33. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

34. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupêry

35. No and Me by Delphine de Vigan

36. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

37. The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo

38. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

39. The Brotherhood of the Conch: The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming by Chitra Banarjee Divakaruni

40. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

41. The Kind of Friends We Used to Be by Frances O’Rourke Dowell

42. Where I’d Like to Be by Frances O’Roark Dowell

43. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan

44. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

45. Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic

46. Who Is Stealing the Twelve Days of Christmas? by Martha Freeman

47. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

48. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

49. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

50. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

51. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green

52. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

53. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

54. Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix

55. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

56. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

57. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

58. How to Steal a Car by Pete Hautman

59. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

60. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

61. Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse

62. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

63. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson-Burnett

64. The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson-Burnett

65. Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes

66. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

67. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

68. The First Last Part by Angela Johnson

69. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones

70. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

71. The Shining by Stephen King

72. Carrie by Stephen King

73. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

74. A Separate Peace by John Knowles

75. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

76. Fairy Tale: A True Story by Monica Kulling

77. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

78. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

79. The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

80. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

81. Every Day by David Leviathan

82. Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine

83. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

84. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

85. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

86. The Giver by Lois Lowry

87. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

88. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

89. Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev

90. Daniel’s Story by Carol Matas

91. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

92. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

93. The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

94. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

95. Girls Rule by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

96. The New York Grimpendium by J.W. Ocker

97. 1984 by George Orwell

98. Animal Farm by George Orwell

99. Willa by Heart by Coleen Murtagh Paratore

100. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

101. Witch and Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson

102. Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Cate Tiernan

103. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

104. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

105. Ripper by Stefan Petrucha

106. Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

107. Anthem by Ayn Rand

108. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

109. Emily the Strange: Lost, Dark, and Bored by Rob Reger

110. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

111. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

112. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

113. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

114. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan

115. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

116. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

117. The Kane Chronicles: The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

118. The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

119. Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

120. Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

121. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

122. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

123. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

124. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

125. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

126. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

127. The Tales of Beadle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

128. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

129. The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer

130. Princess From Another Planet by Mindy Schanback

131. It’s Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder

132. Pretty Little Liars: Book One by Sara Shepard

133. The War with Grandpa by Robert Kimmel Smith

134. Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

135. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

136. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

137. Dracula by Bram Stoker

138. Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner

139. Killer Pizza by Greg Taylor

140. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

141. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

142. It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

143. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

144. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

145. Ghost Hotel by Lawrence Weinberg

146. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

147. Who Censored Roger Rabbit by Gary K. Wolf

148. The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf

149. Christina’s Ghost by Betty Ren Wright

150. The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young

151. Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks (12/9/16)

152. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (12/27/16)

153. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (2/7/17)

154. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (4/27/17)

155. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (5/15/2017)

156. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (1/04/18)

157. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (1/10/18)

158. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (3/9/18)

159. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (11/1/2018)

160. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (11/14/2018)

161. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (2/14/2019)

162. Forrest Gump by Winston Groom (3/6/19)

163. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara (3/27/19)

164. Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden (4/4/19)

165. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck (4/9/19)

166. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (4/13/19)

167. We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach (4/17/19)

168. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (7/12/19)

169. Matilda by Roald Dahl (8/7/19)

170. The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (8/8/19)

171. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (8/21/19)

172. The Tea Girl from Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See (8/24/19)

173. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron (9/13/19)

174. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (9/26/19)

175. The Quiet American by Graham Greene (10/22/19)

176. The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1/2/20)

177. The Fuck-Up by Arthur Nersesian (1/30/20)

178. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (3/17/20)

179. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (7/26/20)

180. The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne by Ann Radcliffe (9/13/20)

181. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (9/29/20)

182. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (11/15/20)

183. If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous (12/26/20)

184. My Ántonia by Willa Cather (1/9/21)

185. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1/13/21)

186. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (1/17/21)

187. Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao (1/28/21)

188. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (2/1/21)

189. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (2/14/21)

190. American Son by Brian Ascalon Roley (2/22/21)

191. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2/18/21)

192. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (4/14/21)

193. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (4/20/21)

194. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (5/4/21)

195. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (7/7/21)

196. Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (11/29/21)

197. The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls (12/13/21)

198. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (7/22/22)

199. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte (9/2/22)

200. Persuasion by Jane Austen (10/14/22)

201. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (10/22/22)

202. King Lear by William Shakespeare (10/28/22)

203. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (11/3/22)

204. The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (11/5/22)

205. The Awakening by Kate Chopin (11/19/22)

206. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (11/27/22)

207. Rebecca by Daphne Du Marier (12/2/22)

208. Sense and Sensibility (12/23/22)

209. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1/13/23)

210. The Tempest by William Shakespeare (1/18/23)

211. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare (1/26/23)

212. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (1/31/23)

213. Othello by William Shakespeare (2/5/23)

214. Girl, Interrupted by Susana Kaysen (2/27/23)

215. Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood (3/2/23)

216. Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction by Robert J. C. Young (3/5/23)

217. Cuban Refugees: Cuban Roots, American Freedoms by Deborah Kent (3/21/23)

218. Frida Kahlo by Hettie Judah (4/5/23)

219. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez (4/15/23)

220. Beloved by Toni Morrison (5/28/23)

221. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (6/12/23)

222. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (6/30/23)

223. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (7/21/23)

224. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (7/24/23)

225. The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang (7/28/23)

226. Never Broken: Songs are Only Half the Story by Jewel (8/6/23)

227. A Therapeutic Atlas by The School of Life (8/18/23)

228. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (8/22/23)

229. The Vietnam War, 1945–1975 by New-York Historical Society (8/23/23)

230. White Fang by Jack London (8/30/23)

231. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (8/31/23)

232. Austral by Carlos Fonseca (10/2/23)

233. The Dreamkeepers by Gloria Ladson-Billings (10/4/23)

234. Emma by Jane Austen (10/13/23)

235. The Monk by Matthew Lewis (11/3/23)

236. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett 2/11/24

237. Sofia Petrovna by Lydia Chukovskaya 3/5/24

238. Never Grow Up by Jackie Chan with Zhu Mo 3/14/24

239. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 3/27/24

240. The Third Wedding Wreath by Costas Taktsis 4/25/24

241. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 7/3/24

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maddie-grove · 5 years ago

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Bi-Monthly Reading Round-Up: May/June

PLAYLIST

“How Do You Do” by Mouth and MacNeal (Once Ghosted, Twice Shy)

“Up the Wolves” by the Mountain Goats (Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey)

“The Daughters” by Little Big Town (Lady Rogue)

“9 to 5″ by Dolly Parton (Lady Notorious)

“Let the Little Girl Dance” by Billy Bland (What a Wallflower Wants)

“Poison Arrow” by ABC (Give Me Your Hand)

“Marie-Jeanne” by Joe Dassin (Never Mind)

“Mississippi” by the Dixie Chicks (An Unconditional Freedom)

“Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind (Bad News)

“Honky Cat” by Elton John (Simple Jess)

“A Weekend in the Country” from A Little Night Music (Some Hope)

“Picture Book” by the Kinks (Mother’s Milk)

“A Place in the Sun” by Stevie Wonder (At Last)

“She’s in Love with the Boy” by Trisha Yearwood (A Dance with Danger)

“Little Hollywood Girl” by the Everly Brothers (Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood)

BEST OF THE BI-MONTH

An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole (2019): Daniel Cumberland, a free black man from New England, had his faith in justice and certainty in the world shattered when he was abducted and sold into slavery. Now rescued, he does what he can as a spy for the pro-Union Loyal League, but he has a lot of rage and trauma that nobody knows what to do with, least of all himself. Then a new spy joins the organization: Janeta Sanchez, a mixed-race Cuban-Floridian lady pulled in too many directions by her white Confederate family and now in desperate straits. Once again, Alyssa Cole has produced a book that’s not only a compelling romance but a fascinating historical novel. Daniel and Janeta are both complex, involving characters with a great dynamic, plus Cole provides a great perspective on less-discussed aspects of the Civil War.

WORST OF THE BI-MONTH

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole (2019): Likotsi Adele, personal assistant to the prince of Thesolo, came to New York City a year ago for work and had what was supposed to be a casual affair with Fabiola, a gorgeous fledgling fashion designer. Just when her feelings were getting involved, though, Fabiola cut things off with no explanation. Now back in NYC on vacation, Likotsi runs into Fabiola, who proposes that they go on a date for old time’s sake. Although it’s technically the worst of the month, this novella is by no means bad; on the contrary, it’s very cute and sweet, with a pretty sexy love scene near the end. It just suffers from common romance novella pitfalls, mainly a dearth of conflict and some pacing problems.

REST OF THE BI-MONTH

Never Mind (1992), Bad News (1992), Some Hope (1994), Mother’s Milk (2005), and At Last (2011) by Edward St. Aubyn: Across five novellas, Patrick Melrose, son of an aristocratic non-practicing doctor and a charity-minded heiress, struggles with the legacy of his father’s sadistic abuse and his mother’s elaborately cultivated helplessness to intervene. The series follows him from early childhood (Never Mind) to drug-addled early adulthood (Bad News, Some Hope) to slightly more functional middle age (Mother’s Milk, At Last). I’ve never read such enjoyable fiction about the boredom and exhaustion of dealing with trauma and addiction, but St. Aubyn manages it with sharp characterization, whistling-in-the-dark humor, and a great sense of setting. I didn’t like all the novellas equally--Bad News has too many scenes about doing large amounts of heroin for my personal taste, and Some Hope sometimes loses track of its many characters--but, taken together, they’re magnificent.

Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood by Karina Longworth (2018): Using the life and career of billionaire/producer/aviator/womanizer Howard Hughes, Longworth (the podcast host of You Must Remember This) looks at Hollywood from the silent era to the waning days of the studio system. I love You Must Remember This, and this book exhibits all the strengths of the podcasts: the compelling style, the evenhanded consideration of evidence from multiple sources, and the use of film analysis to examine what was happening in the culture at the time. Longworth’s portrait of Hughes is also refreshingly non-sensational; he comes across as a juvenile reactionary with a little vision, too much money, and some pitiable mental health problems, rather than a genius or a boogeyman.

Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi (1996): Althea Winsloe, an Ozark widow in the early twentieth century, is determined to remain unmarried and look after her three-year-old son by herself, despite the disapproval of her close-knit community. Still needing help on her farm, she hires Jesse Best, regarded as “simple” because of a cognitive disability stemming from a childhood brain injury. As they work together, Althea realizes that Jesse has depths that few people bother to see. I was a little concerned when I began this romance; the hero has serious, life-altering issues with mental processing, which I thought might create a troubling power dynamic between him and the heroine. Instead, Morsi contributes something really valuable by showing how society ignores the autonomy and complexity of people with disabilities. She also does a great job of showing how a close-knit community can be both claustrophobic and supportive. Finally, I enjoyed the journey of a gay side character (the song’s for him!).

Lady Notorious by Theresa Romain (2019): When George, Lord Northbrook, discovers that his father is part of a tontine whose members have started dying at an alarmingly fast rate, he enlists the help of Cassandra Benton, an unofficial Bow Street Runner, to investigate the possible murders while pretending to be his scandalous cousin. Already friends, they grow attracted to each other during this charade, but they come from different worlds and each have a complicated family thing going on. This is a thoroughly likable romance with a fun plot; I especially enjoyed how George’s efforts to care for his emotionally distant parents mirrored Cassandra’s struggles to let go of her codependent relationship with her twin brother.

Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix (1996): Fifteen-year-old Tish Bonner doesn’t have much time for school; with an absent father, a troubled mother, and an eight-year-old brother she feels responsible for, she’s too busy trying to hold things together at home. When her father makes an unwelcome return, though, she finds an outlet in the journal assigned by a nice young English teacher who promises not to read entries marked DO NOT READ. I first read this YA novel in middle school, and it struck me as particularly unvarnished, both then and as an adult. Teens in horrible situations are common in the genre, but Tish’s matter-of-fact presentation the day-to-day of dealing with sexual harassment at work and total parental abandonment at home really brings out the utter bleakness. I love Tish, whose ultimate acceptance of her inability to handle everything alone is as brave as her desperate efforts to keep everything together.

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott (2018): Kit Owens, a talented chemist from humble beginnings, is shocked when former classmate Diane Fleming comes to work in her lab. Although Diane was the one who inspired her to reach beyond community college, she also burdened Kit with a horrible secret...and now they’re in competition to work on a prestigious new grant. I love Megan Abbott as a writer; she has a very sensory-based way of describing things that makes everything palpable. While I didn’t love this book as much as The Fever, it has a delightfully twisted plot and female characters who are “bad” in a realistic (or, at least, a humanely portrayed) way. I did probably like Diane more than I was supposed to; like Lady Audley before her, she should maybe go to jail but she’s still awesome.

A Dance with Danger by Jeannie Lin (2015): In Tang Dynasty China, Jin-mei, daughter of a magistrate, finds herself in a compromising position with Yang, her father’s old associate and sworn enemy of a local warlord. Their mutual attraction makes the ensuing wedding a more pleasant fate than either expected, but Yang disappears mysteriously before the marriage can be consummated. Heartbroken and very suspicious, Jin-mei refuses to give him up for dead. This is a fun adventure-romance with a wonderfully spooky atmosphere, although the ending is a little rushed.

Lady Rogue by Theresa Romain (2018): After her sub-par art-dealer husband apparently committed suicide, Lady Isabel Morrow grew close to and had a fling with Officer Callum Jenks, a Bow Street Runner. Now she’s discovered that her husband sold his customers forged works, and she needs to (awkwardly) enlist Callum’s help in replacing them with the real ones. This is a solid Regency romance, mostly thanks to the fun burglary plot. Isabel and Callum’s relationship, while perfectly pleasant, is rather static; they obviously like and respect each other, but just need a little time to reconcile themselves to the not-onerous-to-them social costs of a cross-class marriage. There’s also a real bummer of a development involving a minor character at the end. I’m not averse to bummers, but it felt out of place here.

What a Wallflower Wants by Maya Rodale (2014): Stranded at a strange inn after a failed elopement attempt, secretly traumatized spinster Penelope Payton finds a friend in the striking Lord Castleton...but is he who he says he is? Absolutely not, but he’s pretty cool regardless. This is a sweet, heartfelt Regency romance with endearing leads and great messages, but it’s pretty sloppily written, and that detracted from my enjoyment somewhat.

#books #reading #theme: i'm not one of those people who goes around having fun

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