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raoulgoldenlake · 6 years ago

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As mentioned, this project is going to focus on the 100 most banned and challenged books from 2000 to 2009, based on a list from the American Library Association. There are picture books, young adult and middle grade, and a couple of controversial books for adults.

When I post reviews I’ll put the most obvious content warnings (violence, sex, abuse etc) but if you want something tagged, let me know! For example, I’m not currently planning to give drug content warnings, but I’m happy to do it if someone wants me to!

Complete list of books I’m going to be reading is under the cut.

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling 2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier 4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell 5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck 6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou 7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz 8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman 9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle 10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky 11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers 12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris 13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey 14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain 15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison 16. Forever, by Judy Blume 17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker 18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous 19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger 20. King and King, by Linda de Haan 21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee 22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar 23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry 24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak 25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan 26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison 27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier 28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson 29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney 30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier 31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones 32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya 33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson 34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler 35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison 36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley 37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris 38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles 39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane 40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank 41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher 42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi 43. Blubber, by Judy Blume 44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher 45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly 46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut 47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey 48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez 49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey 50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini 51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan 52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson 53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco 54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole 55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green 56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester 57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause 58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going 59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes 60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson 61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle 62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard 63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney 64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park 65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien 66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor 67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham 68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez 69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury 70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen 71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park 72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison 73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras 74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold 75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry 76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving 77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert 78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein 79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss 80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck 81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright 82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill 83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds 84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins 85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher 86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick 87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume 88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood 89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger 90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle 91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George 92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar 93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard 94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine 95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix 96. Grendel, by John Gardner 97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende 98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte 99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume 100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank

#bookblr #banned books #bella's banned books #the list!

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allbestnet · 8 years ago

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The 5000 Best Books of All-Time

Book 251–499 (go to book 1 to 250)

251. All the King’s Men (1946) by Robert Penn Warren 252. The Maltese Falcon (1930) by Dashiell Hammett 253. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by Mark Twain 254. Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori 255. Plague (1947) by Albert Camus 256. Jurassic Park (1990) by Michael Crichton 257. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson 258. Shogun (1975) by James Clavell 259. A Town Like Alice (1950) by Nevil Shute 260. Ambassadors (1903) by Henry James 261. Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy 262. No Country for Old Men (2005) by Cormac McCarthy 263. The Castle (1926) by Franz Kafka 264. Phantom of the Opera (1910) by Gaston Leroux 265. Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides 266. The Book of the New Sun (1994) by Gene Wolfe 267. Vanity Fair (1848) by William Makepeace Thackeray 268. Heidi by Johanna Spyri 269. Bluest Eye (1970) by Toni Morrison 270. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand 271. Pippi Longstocking (1945) by Astrid Lindgren 272. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) by John Fowles 273. North and South (1855) by Elizabeth Gaskell 274. Percy Jackson & the Olympians (2005) by Rick Riordan 275. Gilgamesh by 276. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare 277. Millennium series by Stieg Larsson 278. Cat’s Cradle (1963) by Kurt Vonnegut 279. Northanger Abbey (1817) by Jane Austen 280. The Secret History (1992) by Donna Tartt 281. Screwtape Letters (1942) by C.S. Lewis 282. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare 283. The World According to Garp (1978) by John Irving 284. A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) by John Kennedy Toole 285. Birdsong (1993) by Sebastian Faulks 286. Dandelion Wine (1957) by Ray Bradbury 287. Light in August (1932) by William Faulkner 288. The Glass Castle (2005) by Jeannette Walls 289. People’s History of the United States (2010) by Howard Zinn 290. Lamb by Christopher Moore 291. Water for Elephants (2006) by Sara Gruen 292. Moneyball (2003) by Michael Lewis 293. Three Men in a Boat (1889) by Jerome K. Jerome 294. Jungle (1906) by Upton Sinclair 295. The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman 296. Le Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac 297. Number the Stars (1989) by Lois Lowry 298. Siddhartha (1951) by Hermann Hesse 299. Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 300. Misery (1987) by Stephen King 301. Calvin and Hobbes (1993) by Bill Watterson 302. I Am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson 303. Tuesdays With Morrie (1997) by Mitch Albom 304. Medea by Euripides 305. The Witches (1983) by Roald Dahl 306. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer 307. Where the Red Fern Grows (1961) by Wilson Rawls 308. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) by Hunter S. Thompson 309. Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe 310. Angela’s Ashes (1996) by Frank McCourt 311. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1963) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 312. Howl’s Moving Castle (1986) by Diana Wynne Jones 313. Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) by James Baldwin 314. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) by John le Carre 315. Silmarillion (1977) by J.R.R. Tolkien 316. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) by Truman Capote 317. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006) by John Boyne 318. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 319. High Fidelity (1995) by Nick Hornby 320. Parade’s End (1928) by Ford Madox Ford 321. Kim (1901) by Rudyard Kipling 322. Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson 323. Works by William Shakespeare 324. Song of Solomon (1977) by Toni Morrison 325. Satanic Verses (1988) by Salman Rushdie 326. Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline 327. Starship Troopers (1959) by Robert A. Heinlein 328. Mahabharata by Vyasa 329. Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne 330. The Day of the Locust (1939) by Nathanael West 331. The Day of the Triffids (1951) by John Wyndham 332. My Antonia (1918) by Willa Cather 333. Swiss Family Robinson (1812) by Johann Wyss 334. I Capture the Castle (1948) by Dodie Smith 335. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990) by Dr. Seuss 336. Sirens of Titan (1959) by Kurt Vonnegut 337. The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King 338. The Golden Notebook (1962) by Doris Lessing 339. Tempest by William Shakespeare 340. Prophet (1923) by Kahlil Gibran 341. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers 342. Everything is Illuminated (2002) by Jonathon Safran Foer 343. The New York Trilogy (1987) by Paul Auster 344. The Host (2010) by Stephenie Meyer 345. How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) by Dale Carnegie 346. Brief History of Time (1988) by S.W. Hawking 347. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) by Jonathan Safran Foer 348. One Thousand and One Nights by 349. Winesburg, Ohio (1919) by Sherwood Anderson 350. Ivanhoe (1820) by Sir Walter Scott 351. Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway 352. Awakening by Kate Chopin 353. Little House by Laura Ingalls Wilder 354. Fun Home (2006) by Alison Bechdel 355. USA by John Dos Passos 356. The Shadow of the Wind (2001) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 357. Ramayana by Valmiki 358. Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) by Malcolm X 359. The Alchemist (1986) by Paulo Coelho 360. The Power of One (1989) by Bryce Courtenay 361. Aesop’s Fables by Aesop 362. The Virgin Suicides (1993) by Jeffrey Eugenides 363. Darkness at Noon (1940) by Arthur Koestler 364. Love You Forever (1986) by Robert Munsch 365. Batman by 366. Story of Ferdinand (1936) by Munro Leaf 367. Scott Pilgrim (2010) by 368. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) by Stephen R. Covey 369. Divergent (2011) by Veronica Roth 370. Outliers (2008) by Malcolm Gladwell 371. Childhood’s End (1953) by Arthur C. Clarke 372. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen 373. Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) by Victor Hugo 374. Thirteen Reasons Why (2007) by Jay Asher 375. Polar Express (1985) by Chris Van Allsburg 376. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio 377. The Neverending Story (1979) by Michael Ende 378. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 379. Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling 380. Shantaram (2003) by Gregory David Roberts 381. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst 382. Light in the Attic (1981) by Shel Silverstein 383. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007) by Brian Selznick 384. Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne 385. Jude the Obscure (1895) by Thomas Hardy 386. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien 387. Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven 388. The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett 389. Redeeming Love (1991) by Francine Rivers 390. The Shipping News (1993) by E. Annie Proulx 391. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel 392. Thus Spake Zarathustra (1885) by Friedrich Nietzsche 393. Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) by Beatrix Potter 394. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 395. The Once and Future King (1958) by T.H. White 396. Little Dorrit (1857) by Charles Dickens 397. Mythology by Edith Hamilton 398. Gulag Archipelago (1973) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 399. Invisible Cities (1972) by Italo Calvino 400. The Walking Dead (2003) by Robert Kirkman 401. Hush, Hush (2009) by Becca Fitzpatrick 402. Bridge to Terabithia (1977) by Katherine Paterson 403. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967) by E.L. Konigsburg 404. Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton 405. Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins 406. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 407. Lovely Bones (2002) by Alice Seybold 408. Paper Towns (2008) by John Green 409. The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith Jr. 410. Underworld (1997) by Don DeLillo 411. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) by Shel Silverstein 412. Battle Royale (1999) by Koushun Takami 413. The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson 414. Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton 415. Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire 416. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980) by J.M. Coeztee 417. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) by Ursula Le Guin 418. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) by Pierre-Ambroise-Francois Choderlos de Laclos 419. Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) by Helen Fielding 420. Kane and Abel (1979) by Jeffrey Archer 421. Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury 422. Delirium (2011) by Lauren Oliver 423. Borrowers (1952) by Mary Norton 424. Origin of Species (1977) by Charles Darwin 425. Steve Jobs (2011) by Walter Isaacson 426. The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) by Thomas Hardy 427. Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara 428. The Poisonwood Bible (1998) by Barbara Kingsolver 429. Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) by Jared Diamond 430. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) by Dee Alexander Brown 431. Book of Job by God 432. The Dark Tower by Stephen King 433. Under the Dome (2009) by Stephen King 434. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert A. Heinlein 435. Stories (1971) by Franz Kafka 436. Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) by Mark Twain 437. Joy Luck Club (1989) by Amy Tan 438. The Sneetches and Other Stories (1989) by Dr. Seuss 439. The Blind Assassin (2000) by Margaret Atwood 440. The Graveyard Book (2008) by Neil Gaiman 441. A Suitable Boy (1993) by Vikram Seth 442. Sister Carrie (1900) by Theodore Dreiser 443. Constitution by United States 444. Notebook (1996) by Nicholas Sparks 445. Silas Marner by George Eliot 446. The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006) by Michael Pollan 447. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987) by Fannie Flagg 448. Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba 449. The Last Song (2009) by Nicholas Sparks 450. The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler 451. Unwind (2007) by Neal Shusterman 452. A Walk to Remember (1999) by Nicholas Sparks 453. Republic by Plato 454. Little House in the Big Woods (1932) by Laura Ingalls Wilder 455. The Sandman (1996) by Neil Gaiman 456. Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson 457. The Selfish Gene (1976) by Richard Dawkins 458. Lorna Doone (1869) by R.D. Blackmore 459. The Far Pavilions (1978) by M.M. Kaye 460. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais 461. The Maze Runner (2009) by James Dashner 462. Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) by Tom Wolfe 463. Glass by 464. House at Pooh Corner (1928) by A.A. Milne 465. Tawny Man by Robin Hobb 466. Kafka on the Shore (2002) by Haruki Murakami 467. Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James 468. Good Earth (1931) by Pearl S. Buck 469. Tuck Everlasting (1975) by Natalie Babbitt 470. Make Way for Ducklings (1941) by Robert McCloskey 471. Red Harvest (1929) by Dashiell Hammett 472. The Andromeda Strain (1969) by Michael Crichton 473. Naked Lunch (1959) by William Burroughs 474. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985) by Laura Joffe Numeroff 475. The Other Boleyn Girl (2001) by Philippa Gregory 476. Angle of Repose (1971) by Wallace Stegner 477. Hunger (1890) by Knut Hamsun 478. The Beach (1996) by Alex Garland 479. Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck 480. The Last Lecture (2008) by Randy Pausch 481. Power and the Glory (1940) by Graham Greene 482. Pygmalion (1912) by George Bernard Shaw 483. My Name Is Asher Lev (1972) by Chaim Potok 484. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) by Sherman Alexie 485. Cold Mountain (1997) by Charles Frazier 486. Horton Hears a Who! (1982) by Dr. Seuss 487. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie 488. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) by Alfred Doblin 489. Cider House Rules (1985) by John Irving 490. Goedel, Escher, Bach (1979) by Douglas Hofstadter 491. The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester 492. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) by Jules Verne 493. The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje 494. Outlander (1991) by Diana Gabaldon 495. Sentimental Education (1869) by Gustave Flaubert 496. Marley & Me (2005) by John Grogan 497. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles 498. Possession: A Romance (1990) by A.S. Byatt 499. As You Like It by William Shakespeare

#books #reading #literature

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americanahighways · 4 years ago

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The 2020 Virtual Woody Guthrie Festival came to a close this past Sunday, putting a wrap on a bold journey into unknown territory for the Woody Guthrie Coalition and the annual fest. Following an impressive all-star line-up of songwriters on Tuesday and Saturday’s broadcasts, the invaluable Terry “Buffalo” Ware got the Sunday show underway with his rollicking “Plain As Day” and some extra fun picking. Next up, Melissa Hembree joined by her pals, Michael Hurd on mandolin and Bruce Metcalf on acoustic bass, performed a great poignant new song, “Okfuskee” down in front of the Woody statue in downtown Okemah. It doesn’t get more fitting than that. Or does it?

Andy Adams made his case, by delivering a stunning version of Jimmy LaFave’s “Music From the Motorcourt,” that does a fine job of capturing the after-hours hotel parking lot scene that really inspires so many. I really enjoyed Adams’ albeit brief performance at the Old Church here in Perkins, OK just a few months back, and have tuned into several of his own livestreams since. Keeping with the LaFave theme, Adams closed out his segment with another of the beloved songwriter and mentor, the aptly titled, “Woody Guthrie.” Up next, the multi-talented, Ali Harter with an older song she indicated she had recently dug out, “Anti-Political, Unpolitical Song.” Not only a gifted songwriter, Harter also designed this year’s logo and merch via her Pigs Fly Shop, and all her endeavors certainly deserve your attention. OKCs K.C. Clifford performed next, straight from her home’s staircase with a really great song that I believe to be titled, “Remember When.” I haven’t taken the opportunity to catch Clifford live yet, but now I certainly know I need to. You probably need to as well. Tell her I sent you. Robert Williams came next, with a nice sing-a-long on Woody’s “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Yuh” and was followed by the wonderful, Susan Herndon performing her take of the traditional, “This Train is Bound For Glory.” Need a pick-me-up? Williams and Herdon’s songs should do the trick. Following up on their duo performance on the opening night, Travis Fite and Monica Taylor returned with Fite on vocals for Woody’s “Dust Pneumonia Blues,” which has always been a personal favorite of mine from the vast Guthrie catalog. Great, fun version.

Also returning from Saturday’s show, was another song from Betty Soo. This time, a stunning rendition of her own “Henry & Me,” which just stopped me in my tracks and was one of my favorite songs of the festival. I’ll definitely be digging more into this gifted songwriter’s songs soon. With a perfect Terilingua backdrop, good ol’ Butch Hancock was back with well wishes, a bit of hope and a Flatlander’s cut, “One Road More.” Next, Nellie Clay served as our Okenah tour guide in a great production type clip accompanying a soundtrack of Clay performing Woody’s “Ranger’s Command.” Nellie’s choice of song while visiting the Crystal Theatre, the Pastures of Plenty stage and Guthrie’s homestead for the clip, was just exactly perfect. Jared Deck followed, with his soulful “Mountain Valley Road” that had me wishing for at least one more. Instead, Jaimee Harris was back with “On The Surface,” and a short tale detailing the travels that took her from Terilingua, to Okemah to Taos and Eliza Gilkyson’s home. Harris’ stripped down performances were a highlight throughout the festival, and this version was no different. Definitely take the time to listen. Joel Rafael also returned again, this time with a nice version of “Glory Bound,” followed by the sounds of the Red Dirt Rangers and “Strawberries and Watermelon.” Bristow, Oklahoma’s Cassie Latshaw next performed, what I think is titled, “Hide Away” with her friends Steven and Paul and gave me yet another Okie songwriter I really need to catch soon. Annie Guthrie was back with a new song, one she indicated was still being worked out, and well, she doesn’t really care if you have an opinion about it. Keep it to yourself friend. Right there, the spirit of the Guthrie family was perfectly represented, and despite her likely disregard for this writer’s opinion, it’s a damn fine song.

Gypsy Twang comprised of Sarah Barker Huhn, and Steve Huhn, as well as John Williams and Craig Skinner, added a beautiful version of Woody’s “Ramblin’ Round.” Next, Larry Spears’ “Puppeteer” and it’s Dylan-esque cadence, proceeded to blow me away. Just a great song, look it up. Leading us into the closing stretch, Ken Pomeroy presented her inspired tale of Dylan and Baez, titled, “Joan.” It’s been so much fun watching Pomeroy develop as a songwriter, and even when she covers a song, as she did next with “Deportees,” she unmistakably leaves her fingerprints all of it. I can’t recommend her Horton Records debut release, “Hallways” enough, so be sure to look it up. Jacob Tovar returned from his barn for Tom Skinner’s “Crystal,” while R.T. Valine, with birds accompanying delivered a timely take on “Wish This World (Would Settle Down), while his good boy, Wino, kept watch. In the Oklahoma music scene, I doubt there;s a more valuable asset than Kyle Reid. Besides fronting his own endeavors, Reid has played a part in countless local shows and recordings. Reid’s tent set last year with his Low Swinging Chariots was a highlight, and I always look forward to any opportunity to hear his contributions, which thankfully happens quite frequently here in the OKC area. For this year’s fest, Reid recorded a great original, “Dance Alone” and followed it up with Woody’s Hobo’s Lullaby.”

Throughout the pandemic, Carter Sampson has been right there, doing her part to help keep us sane, and maybe herself too. I’ve probably tuned into more Carter livestreams this year than anyone elses, and there’s a couple of reasons. First, she’s performed nearly 60 of her “Happy Hour w/Carter & Bubba,”, and second, each one has been outstanding. Along with her faithful, canine rescue, Bubba, Sampson provides great songs, stories, Shel Silverstein and well, hope. Hope that all this will someday end. Here, Sampson and Bubba perform a great version of “Queen of Oklahoma” and her more recent, “Rattlesnake Kate” from “Lucky” on Horton Records. Next, Peggy Johnson performed a pair of songs that always hit me hard, “One of the Ones” and “Dustbowl Lullaby.” I just discovered Johnson at last year’s fest, and I’m so glad I did. Closing in on the end, Michigan’s Chris Buhalis dropped in again with another brilliant song for the “Working People,” and introduced himself as a new favorite that I must become more familiar with. Any songwriter that can include a line about Bob Gibson’s fastball high and tight, is on to something. The great Greg Jacobs came up next from Greg Johnson’s Blue Door in Oklahoma City for a loving take on “Do Re Mi,” and a poignant version of his own, “Footprints” before our host Terry Ware wrapped up this years recorded performances for the year with the traditionally played Hoot for Huntington’s, sing-along take of Bob Childer’s “Woody’s Road.”

Like everything else in this crazy world right now, this year’s festival was different, and not quite what any of us wanted. Thankfully though, it did happen. I know I needed it, our community needed it and undoubtedly the performers needed it. Any sense of normalcy has to be grasped, and thank goodness the Woody Guthrie Coalition came through for us, because it really helped. Throughout the broadcasts, performer after performer mentioned how much they missed, and how much they look forward to actually sweating it out at the festival next year. Count me in. Next year’s Woody Guthrie Festival will hopefully return with live performances from Okemah on July 14th -18th. A huge thank you to all the 2020 festival artists, supporters, contributors, Friends of the Festival and Coalition members. The fact that together, all of these people were able to convey the sense of family and spirit over a livestream process, is nothing short of amazing. It really shows the depth of dedication and the love of the music that each one of these beautiful people possesses. I really missed seeing everyone this year, and eagerly look forward to the next time we can all get together. As always, an extra loud thank you to all the members of the Festival Board of Directors: President Randy Norman, Vice-President Gary Hart, Dana Gunn, Miranda Huff, Fred Ellert, Cheyenne Felker, Lindsey Flowers, Maddie Gregory, Roger Hostenbach, Roger Osburn, Dennis Whiteman and Guy Zahller, and lastly, of course, the Guthrie Family. Special people, each and every one.

The 2020 WoodyFest stream can still be viewed until the end of the month on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=woodyfest+2020 and the Coalition would definitely appreciate any support via donations and 2020 fest merchandise. All the information can be found here: https://www.woodyfest.com.

Show Review: Woody Guthrie Festival 2020 (Virtually) Celebration Continues (Pt. 3) @woodyfest #andyadams @mhembreemusic @terry-ware @jaimeeharris @alihartermusic @KCClifford @cartersampson @kenpomeroy @gypsytwang @joelrafaelmusic @reddirtrangers The 2020 Virtual Woody Guthrie Festival came to a close this past Sunday, putting a wrap on a bold journey into unknown territory for the Woody Guthrie Coalition and the annual fest.

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victoriagloverstuff · 7 years ago

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40 of the Best Villains in Literature

Villains are the best. We may not love them in our lives, but they’re often the best part of our literature—on account of their clear power, their refusal of social norms, and most importantly, their ability to make stories happen. After all, if everyone was always nice and good and honest all the time, literature probably wouldn’t even exist.

To that end, below are a few of my favorites from the wide world of literary villainy. But what exactly does “best” mean when it comes to bad guys (and gals)? Well, it might mean any number of things here: most actually terrifying, or most compelling, or most well-written, or most secretly beloved by readers who know they are supposed to be rooting for the white hats but just can’t help it. It simply depends on the villain. Think of these as noteworthy villains, if it clarifies things.

This is not an exhaustive list, of course, and you are more than invited to nominate your own favorite evildoers in the comments section. By the way, for those of you who think that great books can be spoiled—some of them might be below. After all, the most villainous often take quite a few pages to fully reveal themselves.

Mitsuko, Quicksand, Junichiro Tanizaki

The brilliance of Mitsuko (and the brilliance of this novel) is such that, even by the end, you’re not sure how much to despise her. She is such an expert manipulator, such a re-threader of the truth, that she is able to seduce everyone in her path (read: not only Sonoko but Sonoko’s husband) and get them to like it. Including the reader, of course. In the end, Sonoko is still so devoted to her that the grand tragedy of her life is the fact that Mitsu did not allow her to die alongside her.

Mr. Hyde, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

Because the very worst villain is . . . get this . . . actually inside you. Also, you just fell asleep one time and when you woke up it was your evil id and not you? We’ve heard that one before. (So has Buffy.)

Infertility, The Children of Men, P. D. James

Sure, Xan is also a villain in this novel. But the real, big-picture villain, the thing that causes everything to dissolve, and people to start christening their kittens and pushing them around in prams, has to be the global disease that left all the men on earth infertile.

The shark, Jaws, Peter Benchley

A villain so villainous that (with the help of Steven Spielberg) it spawned a wave of shark paranoia among beach-goers. In fact, Benchley, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, was so horrified at the cultural response to his work that he became a shark conservationist later in life.

The kid, The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein

Take, take, take. This kid is the actual worst.

Professor Moriarty, “The Final Problem,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A criminal mastermind— “the Napoleon of Crime,” as Holmes puts it—and the only person to ever give the good consulting detective any real trouble (other than himself). Though after countless adaptations, we now think of Moriarty as Holmes’s main enemy, Doyle really only invented him as a means to kill his hero, and he isn’t otherwise prominent in the series. Moriarty has become bigger than Moriarty.

Mrs. Danvers, Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

The housekeeper so devoted to her dead ex-mistress that she’s determined to keep her memory alive—by goading her boss’s new wife to jump out of the window to her death. That’s one way to do it, I suppose.

Vanity, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

You could argue that it’s Harry who corrupts Dorian, and James who stalks and tries to murder him, but the real source of all this young hedonist’s problems is his own self-obsession. Sometimes I like to think about what this novel would be like if someone wrote it today, with Dorian as a social media star. . .

Uriah Heep, David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

Few villains are quite so aggressively ugly as Uriah Heep (even the name! Dickens did not go in much for subtlety). When we first meet him, he is described as a “cadaverous” man, “who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand.” Some Dickens scholars apparently think that Heep was based on Hans Christian Andersen, in which case, mega burn—unless Andersen was into heavy metal.

The Grand Witch, The Witches, Roald Dahl

As “the most evil woman in creation,” she is on a mission to torture and kill as many children as possible, and often uses murder as a focusing device in meetings. She’s also kind of brilliant—I mean, murdering children by turning them into animals their parents want to exterminate? I have to say, that’s smart.

Cathy Ames, East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Cathy Ames is cold as ice—a sociopath who had to learn as a child how to mimic feelings to get by—but soon also learns how easy it is to manipulate, destroy lives, and murder people to amuse herself. Apparently all this is available to her because of her remarkable beauty. In the end, she has a single feeling of remorse and promptly kills herself.

Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

That’s right, I said it. Mired in self-pity! Sullen and annoying! Dresses up as a gypsy to mess with Jane’s mind! Keeps his first wife locked in the attic! Thinks he can marry a nice girl like Jane anyway! Gaslights her constantly! Whatever.

Zenia, The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood

In Atwood’s retelling of the Grimm fairy tale “The Robber Bridegroom,” an evil temptress named Zenia steals the partners of three women (among many, one presumes). Roz, Charis, and Tony, however, use their mutual hurt and hatred to form a friendship—and unpack the many lies and revisions of herself Zenia has offered to each of them. But I can’t really put it better than Lorrie Moore did in a 1993 review of the novel:

Oddly, for all her inscrutable evil, Zenia is what drives this book: she is impossibly, fantastically bad. She is pure theater, pure plot. She is Richard III with breast implants. She is Iago in a miniskirt. She manipulates and exploits all the vanities and childhood scars of her friends (wounds left by neglectful mothers, an abusive uncle, absent dads); she grabs at intimacies and worms her way into their comfortable lives, then starts swinging a pickax. She mobilizes all the wily and beguiling art of seduction and ingratiation, which she has been able to use on men, and she directs it at women as well. She is an autoimmune disorder. She is viral, self-mutating, opportunistic (the narrative discusses her in conjunction with AIDS, salmonella and warts). She is a “man-eater” run amok. Roz thinks: “Women don’t want all the men eaten up by man-eaters; they want a few left over so they can eat some themselves.”

Becky Sharp, Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

A cynical, manipulative, intelligent beauty with many artistic talents and a premium can-do attitude at her disposal. You’ve never met a more dedicated hustler. By the end, the novel seems to judge her pretty harshly—but I’ve always loved her.

Henry, The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Oh, Henry—brooding, brilliant, bone-tired Henry. Some in the Lit Hub office argued that it was Julian who was the real villain in Donna Tartt’s classic novel of murder and declension, but I give Henry more credit than that. His villainy is in his carefulness, his coldness, his self-preservation at all costs. He is terrifying because we all know him—or someone who could oh-so-easily slide into his long overcoat, one winter’s night.

Hubris, almost all of literature but let’s go with Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

Isn’t it awesome? We can just make dinosaurs! There is no foreseeable problem with this. We can totally handle it.

Arturo, Geek Love, Katherine Dunn

Here’s another novel with multiple candidates for Supreme Villain—should it be the Binewski parents, who purposefully poison themselves and their children in order to populate their freak show? Or should it be Mary Lick, a sort of modern millionaire version of Snow White’s Evil Queen, who pays pretty women to disfigure themselves? I think we have to go with Arturo the Aqua Boy, the beflippered narcissist who grows into a cult leader, encouraging his followers to slowly pare away their body parts in a search for “purity.” (But for the record, it’s all of the above.)

Dr. Frankenstein, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

It’s true that the monster is the murderer in Shelley’s classic novel—and also, you know, a monster—but it’s Dr. Frankenstein who decided he had to play God and build a creature in his own image without thought to the possible ramifications! Shelley treats him as a tragic figure, but that only makes him a much more interesting villain.

Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, etc., Thomas Harris

Made iconic by Anthony Hopkins, of course, but made brilliant and terrifying—a serial killing psychiatrist cannibal, come on—by Thomas Harris. “They don’t have a name for what he is.” Also, he has six fingers—though they’re on his left hand, so it couldn’t have been him who killed Mr. Montoya. Still, it puts him in rare company.

Captain Ahab, Moby-Dick, Herman Melville

Did you think the villain was the whale? The villain is not the whale—it’s the megalomaniac at the helm.

Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, William Shakespeare

The villainess of choice for every man who has ever claimed his wife made him do it. But I’ve always found Lady Macbeth more interesting than Macbeth himself—she’s the brains behind the operation, not to mention the ambition. Her sleepwalking scene is one of the best and most famous of all of Shakespeare’s plays. Even this makes me shiver:

Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why, then, ’tis time to do’t.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

Sand, The Woman in the Dunes, Kobo Abe

It may be the devious villagers who trick the poor etymologist into the sand pit, but it is the sand itself that is the main antagonist in this slim and wonderful novel. The sand that keeps coming, and must be shoveled back. The sand that constantly threatens to swallow everything: first the man, then the woman, then the village—though one assumes the villagers would replace him before that happened. Sand.

Suburban Ennui, Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates

In everyone’s favorite horror novel about America in the ’50s, onetime bohemians Frank and April Wheeler move to the ‘burbs, and find it. . . extremely stifling. But it’s not the suburbs exactly but the Wheelers’ inability to understand one another, their fear, their creeping, cumulative despair, that are the forces of destruction here.

“The book was widely read as an antisuburban novel, and that disappointed me,” Yates said in a 1972 interview.

The Wheelers may have thought the suburbs were to blame for all their problems, but I meant it to be implicit in the text that that was their delusion, their problem, not mine. . . I meant it more as an indictment of American life in the 1950s. Because during the fifties there was a general lust for conformity all over this country, by no means only in the suburbs—a kind of blind, desperate clinging to safety and security at any price, as exemplified politically in the Eisenhower administration and the Joe McCarthy witch-hunts. Anyway, a great many Americans were deeply disturbed by all that—felt it to be an outright betrayal of our best and bravest revolutionary spirit—and that was the spirit I tried to embody in the character of April Wheeler. I meant the title to suggest that the revolutionary road of 1776 had come to something very much like a dead end in the fifties.

David Melrose, Never Mind, Edward St. Aubyn

Fathers don’t get much worse than David Melrose: cruel, brutal, and snobbish, a man who enjoyed humiliating his wife, who raped his young son, and who seemed to doom all those close to him to a life of pain. You could also argue that the British Aristocracy is the villain in the Patrick Melrose books, but . . . David is definitely worse (if slightly less all-encompassing).

Tom Ripley, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith

Here’s a villain you can’t help but root for—I mean, sort of. You feel his pain as he tries to insinuate himself into the life of the man he so admires (and perhaps loves), and as he is first welcomed and then pushed away. Less so when he murders his beloved and assumes his identity—but somehow, as you read, you find yourself holding your breath around every corner, hoping he will escape yet again.

Rufus Weylin, Kindred, Octavia Butler

As slaveowners go, Rufus isn’t the worst (his father might rank) but he isn’t the best, either. He’s selfish and ignorant, and (like most men of the time) a brutal racist and misogynist, who doesn’t mind raping women as long as they act like they like it. Actually, the fact that he thinks he’s better than his father actually makes him worse. That said, the real antagonist in this novel might actually be the unknown and unexplained force that keeps transporting Dana from her good life in 1976 California to a Maryland slave plantation in 1815. What’s that about?

Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey

Big Nurse rules the patients of the asylum ward with an iron fist. She is addicted to order and power, and can be quite cruel in commanding it. In comes McMurphy, our hero, who wants to undercut her. He does undercut her, in fact, a number of times—but when he goes too far, she has him lobotomized. The end! I know Ratched is meant to be evil, and it’s supposed to be depressing that she wins, but I can’t help but sort of like the fact that after a man chokes her half to death and rips off her shirt in an attempt to humiliate her (because no one with breasts can have power, you see!), she simply has him put down.

The Prison-industrial complex, The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner

Who is really the villain in Rachel Kushner’s most recent novel? It can’t be Romy; serving a life sentence for killing a man who was stalking her. It can’t be the man himself, who didn’t quite understand what he was doing. It can’t be any of the prisoners, nor any of the guards in particular. Nor is this a book with no villain, because the pulsing sense of injustice is too great. It is the whole thing, every aspect, of the American prison system—meant to catch you and bleed you and keep you and bring you back—that is the true villain in this novel (and often, in real life).

Big Brother, 1984, George Orwell

Of course it’s O’Brien who does most of the dirty work—but it’s Big Brother (be he actual person or nebulous invented concept) that really, um, oversees the evil here.

Patrick Bateman, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis

He’s a shallow, narcissistic, greedy investment banker, and also a racist, a misogynist, an anti-Semite and a homophobe, and also a sadist and a murderer and a cannibal and Huey Lewis devotee. He’s also weirdly pathetic. Can’t really get any worse than that as a person—but as a character, he’s endlessly entertaining.

The General, The Autumn of the Patriarch, Gabriel García Márquez

It’s José Ignacio Saenz de la Barra who is the most bloodthirsty, but the unnamed General (of the Universe) who is the most compelling villain in this novel: an impossibly long-lived tyrant who has borderline-magical control over the populace, and even the landscape, whose roses open early because, tired of darkness, he has declared the time changed; who sells away the sea to the Americans. He is desperately unhappy; he considers himself a god. Luckily, we get to spend almost the entire novel within his twisting brain.

Humbert Humbert, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

The genius of old Hum is how compelling he is—that is, despite the horrible thing he spends the entire novel doing (kidnapping a young girl whose mother he has murdered, driving her around the country and coaxing her into sexual acts, self-flagellating and self-congratulating in equal measure), you are charmed by him, half-convinced, even, by his grand old speeches about Eros and the power of language. In the end, of course, no amount of fancy prose style is enough to make you forget that he’s a murderer and worse, but for this reader, it’s pure pleasure getting there.

Ridgeway, The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

The slave-hunting Ridgeway, Whitehead writes, “was six and a half feet tall, with the square face and thick neck of a hammer. He maintained a serene comportment at all times but generated a threatening atmosphere, like a thunderhead that seems far away but then is suddenly overhead with a loud violence.” He’s a little more interesting and intelligent than a simple brute—in part due to that sidekick of his—which only makes him more frightening as a character. Tom Hardy is a shoo-in for the adaptation.

Annie Wilkes, Misery, Stephen King

Listen: Annie Wilkes is a fan. She’s a big fan. She loves Paul Sheldon’s novels about Misery Chastain, and she is devastated to discover—after rescuing Sheldon from a car wreck—that he has killed off her beloved character. Things do not then go well for Paul, because as it turns out, Annie is already a seasoned serial killer who is very handy (read: murderous) with household objects.

The Republic of Gilead, The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

The government that has taken control of America in the world of Atwood’s classic dystopia is a fundamentalist theocracy whose leaders have eliminated the boundary between church and state—and worse, have twisted religious principles and political power in an attempt to utterly subjugate all women, erasing their identities and allowing them to exist only so far as they may be of use to the state. It is super fucked up and exactly what I worry about in a country where fundamentalists have any among of political power.

The Earth, The Broken Earth series, N. K. Jemisin

It’s pretty hard to fight back when the thing you’re fighting is the earth itself, which punishes those who walk upon it with extreme, years-long “seasons” of dramatic and deadly climate change. Ah, Evil Earth!

Iago, Othello, William Shakespeare

The worst villain is the one who knows you best—the one you might even love. The scariest motive is the lack of one—what Coleridge called Iago’s “motiveless malignity.” The most interesting villain is the one who has even more lines than the titular hero. He is a fantastic villain, a dangerous trickster, whose character has stumped (and intrigued) critics for centuries.

Judge Holden, Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy

Possibly the most terrifying character in modern literature (or any literature?), Glanton’s deputy is over six feet tall and completely hairless. More importantly, despite the fact that he might be a genius, he inflicts senseless and remorseless violence wherever he goes. The man murders (and, it is suggested, rapes) children and throws puppies to their doom. He might actually be the devil—or simply evil itself. He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.

Slavery, Beloved, Toni Morrison

This entire novel is based on a single idea: that a loving mother might murder her baby daughter to save her from life as a slave. Sure, the slavers are bad (and the schoolteacher is particularly chilling). Sure, you could make an argument that the vengeful spirit Beloved’s presence is destructive, splintering further an already fractured family. But these are only symptoms, in this the Great American Novel, of the Great American Sin.

Satan, The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri

Good read found on the Lithub

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bpoole500 · 7 years ago

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The 100 List: Books

Lists of books you “must” or “should” read are numerous.

Usually, they indicate you’ll die an incomplete person if you don’t manage to get through them all before your date with mortality. It can be offputting.

I have no delusions about my ability to identify superior literature. But people will ask what one is reading, what one might recommend. What that might entail will be different depending on when you offer your suggestions. Your list today is different than it would have been ten years ago. It will be different still ten years from now.

In that spirit, here’s my list of the 100 books or series that, if someone asked my opinion, I’d suggest checking out. It’s up to you, of course. Life’s too short to read things that don’t engage you. But some of these might.

1. A Game of Thrones – George R. R. Martin

2. A Spy Among Friends – Ben Macintyre

- Macintyre mostly focuses on non-fiction from earlier in the 20th century, with a focus on the World Wars and Cold War. His style is so engaging that even where you know the outcome, you still manage to feel suspense about it.

3. Albert Campion series – Margery Allingham

One of the “Four Queens” of British mystery fiction in the early 20th century, Allingham was never as well known in the U.S. as sister Queen Agatha Christie. Recent efforts to reprint her works in new editions have made her available to a new generation and they’re absolutely worth discovering.

4. The Alienist – Caleb Carr

5. Alphabet (Kinsey Milhone) series – Sue Grafton

6. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon

7. American Gods – Neil Gaiman

8. An Arsonist’s Guide To Writers’ Homes in New England – Brock Clarke

9. And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie

10. Apathy and Other Small Victories – Paul Neilan

- Be warned: this book can be so blazingly funny at times, you’ll be unable to restrain yourself from laughing out loud. Which could get you an odd look or two if you’re reading this on, say, a train or other form of public transportation.

11. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand

12. Bangkok 8 – John Burdett

13. The Baroque Cycle – Neal Stephenson

14. Black Mass – Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill

15. Bloodsucking Fiends (A Love Story) – Christopher Moore

- I could have included several more Moores on this list. This entry, and Lamb, are the places to start in the bibliography of this highly entertaining writer.

16. Carter Beats the Devil – Glen David Gold

- One of the most engaging pieces of historical fiction from the past 20 or so years.

17. Casino Royale – Ian Fleming

18. Cathedral – Nelson DeMille

19. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril – Paul Malmont

20. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexander Dumas

21. Crisis on Infinite Earths – Marv Wolfman and George Pérez

22. The Cry of the Owl – Patricia Highsmith

23. The Custom of the Country – Edith Wharton

- Wharton appears on this list more than once. After you’ve tackled her most famous novels, this is the place to go next.

24. The Dante Club – Matthew Pearl

25. Dark Places – Gillian Flynn

- Gone Girl might have been the phenomenon, but this is Flynn’s best book to date.

26. Darkness Take My Hand – Dennis Lehane

27. The Day of the Jackal – Frederick Forsyth

- If you only know this story from one of its movie versions, you owe it to yourself to check out the original novel. It’s a brilliant Cold War classic.

28. DC: The New Frontier – Darwyn Cooke

- The late Cooke’s love letter to the Silver Age of comics may be one of the most heartfelt entries on this list.

29. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania – Erik Larson

30. Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie

31. The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson

- Larson never fails to bring infamous moments of history to vivid life. You can’t miss with any of his books, but this one is his most popular for very good reason.

32. The Devil’s Company – David Liss

33. Diamond in the Rough: A Memoir – Shawn Colvin

- The singer/songwriter’s unsparing account of navigating the brutal music industry and a whole bunch of personal demons make this memoir as compelling as her music.

34. Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies – Ben Macintyre

35. The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death – H.P. Lovecraft

36. The Fade Out – Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

- A post-World War II Hollywood murder mystery/noir that’s one of the most compelling tales to emerge from the world of comic books in the past few years.

37. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

38. Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire trilogy – Rod Duncan

38. The First World War: A Complete History – Martin Gilbert

39. Fool – Christopher Moore

40. From Russia With Love – Ian Fleming

- Putting aside the pre-PC ethos of the series, one of the compelling aspects of the written Bond is how imperfect Ian Fleming let his lead character be.

41. Gai-Jin – James Clavell

- Clavell’s entire Asian Quarter saga is a must for fans of sweeping historical fiction. This was the last entry the author completed before his death.

42. The Giving Tree – Shel Silverstein

43. Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

44. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

45. Harry Hole series – Jo Nesbø

46. Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling

47. Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories – Agatha Christie

49, His Dark Materials trilogy – Philip Pullman

- The Harry Potter series has been more of a lightning rod for controversy, but Pullman’s trilogy doesn’t just push the boundaries of what a “children’s” series can do, it ignores them entirely.

50. Holidays on Ice – David Sedaris

51. The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne

52. The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton

53. The Hunger Games trilogy – Suzanne Collins

54. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke

55. L.A. Confidential – James Ellroy

56. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal – Christopher Moore

57. The Last Hurrah – Edwin O’Connor

- This isn’t an easy book to find these days, but its portrait of a seasoned politician gearing up for one last campaign will resonate with political junkies of all stripes.

58. The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch

59. London – Edward Rutherfurd

60. Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry

61. The Lord of the Rings trilogy – J.R.R. Tolkien

62. The Magnificent Ambersons – Booth Tarkington

63. The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett

64. The Map of Time – Félix J. Palma

65. The Marvels Project – Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting

66. Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian

67. The Meaning of Night – Michael Cox

68. The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins

- Collins pretty much pioneered the modern detective story with this novel.

69. Ms. Marvel: No Normal – G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona

- A few years ago, if you told comic book fans that one of the genre’s most beloved new characters would be a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager from Jersey City… well, you wouldn’t have told anyone that because no one could have predicted how amazing this character would turn out to be.

70. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie

- Christie plays fair, giving you all the clues you need to detect her fiendishly clever climactic twist, all the while gulling you into not noticing it.

71. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

72. The New York Stories of Edith Wharton – Edith Wharton

73. 1984 – George Orwell

74. Noble House – James Clavell

75. Peter Grant series – Ben Aaronovitch

- A series that mixes a grown-up take on Harry Potter with a modern police procedural winds up being one of the most purely entertaining sagas of the past decade.

76. The Power of One – Bryce Courtenay

77. The Professor and the Madman – Simon Winchester

78. The Queen of Bedlam – Robert McCammon

- This is actually the second book in McCammon’s Matthew Corbett series. And while the original Speaks the Nightbird is absolutely necessary reading, this is where the writer really sets out the parameters for what’s to follow, in often shocking fashion.

79. Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow

80. Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the American War of Independence – George C. Daughan

81. The Rising of the Moon – William Martin

82. The Sandman – Neil Gaiman and collaborators

- Bashing this landmark “comic book for people who otherwise wouldn’t read for comic books” has become fashionable recently. Don’t listen to the naysayers, this is some of Gaiman’s best work.

83. The Second World War: A Complete History – Martin Gilbert

84. The Secret History – Donna Tartt

85. Seven Wonders – Adam Christopher

86. Shogun – James Clavell

87. Shutter Island – Dennis Lehane

88. Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury

89. Spenser series – Robert Parker

90. The Spies of Warsaw – Alan Furst

- Furst’s vaguely interconnected World War Ii spy novels are all worth checking out, but this one is by far his best.

91. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson

92. Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing – Judy Blume

93. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Books Scare and How It Changed America – David Hajdu

94. The Three Musketeers – Alexander Dumas

95. Thursday Next series – Jasper Fforde

- An absolute love letter to the world of books and reading, Fforde packs more imagination into a single chapter than some writers manage in an entire series.

96. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. – Ron Chernow

97. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne

98. The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919 to 1939 – Edward Hallett Carr

99. Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

100. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

#books

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allbestnet · 8 years ago

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All-Time 1000 Books (400-500)

400. The Walking Dead (2003) by Robert Kirkman

401. Hush, Hush (2009) by Becca Fitzpatrick

402. Bridge to Terabithia (1977) by Katherine Paterson

403. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967) by E.L. Konigsburg

404. Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton

405. Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins

406. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

407. Lovely Bones (2002) by Alice Seybold

408. Paper Towns (2008) by John Green

409. The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith Jr.

410. Underworld (1997) by Don DeLillo

411. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) by Shel Silverstein

412. Battle Royale (1999) by Koushun Takami

413. The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson

414. Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton

415. Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire

416. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980) by J.M. Coeztee

417. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) by Ursula Le Guin

418. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) by Pierre-Ambroise-Francois Choderlos de Laclos

419. Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) by Helen Fielding

420. Kane and Abel (1979) by Jeffrey Archer

421. Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury

422. Delirium (2011) by Lauren Oliver

423. Borrowers (1952) by Mary Norton

424. Origin of Species (1977) by Charles Darwin

425. Steve Jobs (2011) by Walter Isaacson

426. The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) by Thomas Hardy

427. Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara

428. The Poisonwood Bible (1998) by Barbara Kingsolver

429. Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) by Jared Diamond

430. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) by Dee Alexander Brown

431. Book of Job by God

432. The Dark Tower by Stephen King

433. Under the Dome (2009) by Stephen King

434. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert A. Heinlein

435. Stories (1971) by Franz Kafka

436. Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) by Mark Twain

437. Joy Luck Club (1989) by Amy Tan

438. The Sneetches and Other Stories (1989) by Dr. Seuss

439. The Blind Assassin (2000) by Margaret Atwood

440. The Graveyard Book (2008) by Neil Gaiman

441. A Suitable Boy (1993) by Vikram Seth

442. Sister Carrie (1900) by Theodore Dreiser

443. Constitution by United States

444. Notebook (1996) by Nicholas Sparks

445. Silas Marner by George Eliot

446. The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006) by Michael Pollan

447. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987) by Fannie Flagg

448. Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba

449. The Last Song (2009) by Nicholas Sparks

450. The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler

451. Unwind (2007) by Neal Shusterman

452. A Walk to Remember (1999) by Nicholas Sparks

453. Republic by Plato

454. Little House in the Big Woods (1932) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

455. The Sandman (1996) by Neil Gaiman

456. Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson

457. The Selfish Gene (1976) by Richard Dawkins

458. Lorna Doone (1869) by R.D. Blackmore

459. The Far Pavilions (1978) by M.M. Kaye

460. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais

461. The Maze Runner (2009) by James Dashner

462. Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) by Tom Wolfe

463. Glass by

464. House at Pooh Corner (1928) by A.A. Milne

465. Tawny Man by Robin Hobb

466. Kafka on the Shore (2002) by Haruki Murakami

467. Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James

468. Good Earth (1931) by Pearl S. Buck

469. Tuck Everlasting (1975) by Natalie Babbitt

470. Make Way for Ducklings (1941) by Robert McCloskey

471. Red Harvest (1929) by Dashiell Hammett

472. The Andromeda Strain (1969) by Michael Crichton

473. Naked Lunch (1959) by William Burroughs

474. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985) by Laura Joffe Numeroff

475. The Other Boleyn Girl (2001) by Philippa Gregory

476. Angle of Repose (1971) by Wallace Stegner

477. Hunger (1890) by Knut Hamsun

478. The Beach (1996) by Alex Garland

479. Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck

480. The Last Lecture (2008) by Randy Pausch

481. Power and the Glory (1940) by Graham Greene

482. Pygmalion (1912) by George Bernard Shaw

483. My Name Is Asher Lev (1972) by Chaim Potok

484. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) by Sherman Alexie

485. Cold Mountain (1997) by Charles Frazier

486. Horton Hears a Who! (1982) by Dr. Seuss

487. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie

488. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) by Alfred Doblin

489. Cider House Rules (1985) by John Irving

490. Goedel, Escher, Bach (1979) by Douglas Hofstadter

491. The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester

492. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) by Jules Verne

493. The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje

494. Outlander (1991) by Diana Gabaldon

495. Sentimental Education (1869) by Gustave Flaubert

496. Marley & Me (2005) by John Grogan

497. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

498. Possession: A Romance (1990) by A.S. Byatt

499. As You Like It by William Shakespeare

500. The House of the Spirits (1982) by Isabel Allende

#best books #list #books #top 1000

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