So, as I mentioned last week, I'm just going to do a retrospective post this week, so that I can try to do some catching up with my reading. I'm still working a little bit ahead, but I have a book to read for my book club, and the next one on the top 100 list is 600 pages long. Probably by the next time I do this, I'll have a giant monster spreadsheet that'll allow me to make all sorts of neat observations and provide charts and graphs. I hope you'll all enjoy that as much as I will. Really I'm not sure why I don't have a monster spreadsheet already. Anyway:
Top 100 So Far
Hm, so it's kind of interesting to see this all grouped together for the first time (although to be honest I do already have a spreadsheet to keep track of all the books and everything on this blog, it's just not very comprehensive at the moment). According to my ratings, the books so far have been 30% good, 20% bad, and 50% mediocre. Not a bad start, but not a great one, either, and I kind of wonder whether this is a "problem" with me, or with The List. Maybe I just Don't Get It.
100. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington - 3/3
99. The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy - 1/3
98. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain - 3/3
97. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles - 2/3
96. Sophie's Choice by William Styron - 2/3
95. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch - 2/3
94. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - 2/3
93. The Magus by John Fowles - 3/3
92. Ironweed by William Kennedy - 1/3
91. Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell - 2/3
Total Pages: 3356
Romnovs So Far
I'm going to try to get these organized in a sidebar of some kind at some point, but for the moment, there's only this.
R1. The Farmer Takes a Wife by Barbara Gale
R2. Mr. Right Next Door by Teresa Hill
R3. Because of a Boy by Anna DeStefano
R4. Highland Rebel by Tess Mallory
R5. The Single Dad's Virgin Wife by Susan Crosby
R6. In the Flesh by Livia Dare
R7. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
R8. Apache Nights by Sheri WhiteFeather
R9. Twin Temptation by Cara Summers
R10. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Total Pages: 3966
Other Stuff I've Read
Here's what I also read during the time I was reading these other books (I started The Magnificent Ambersons on December 27, 2009 and finished Tobacco Road on April 13, 2010).
Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor
Headcrash by Bruce Bethke
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Merchant of Death and The Lost City of Faar by DJ MacHale
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
What have all you wonderful people been reading lately?
So cool! You know what would be totally awesome to see next time you do a retrospective post? A bit of the breakdown of where/when/from whom the books came from... I'm interested in this because, like you talked about earlier, THE LIST process must have been ridiculous and is clearly biased towards a certain type of author (straight white American/English males). Maybe as they get "better" (i.e. closer to #1) the pattern changes? AHHHHH and a spreadsheet and graphs would be so cool!
ReplyDeleteSo, um... yes. Your blog is awesome.
Teehee, thanks Alison!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely interested in the who/where/when aspect of these books, too, although a quick perusal leads me to believe that there's an extremely heavy bias toward, like you said, straight white American/British dudes. I think I'll do a retrospective every ten (20) books, and maybe analyze different aspects of The List up to that point each time?