Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Favorite books challenge

I have been tagged by blogger and novelist Theresa Williams.

 

She challenged me to list my favorite books.

 

I'm not sure how to do that.  Can a teacher name his favorite student?

 

What I will give you is a list of memorable books.

No particular order here. 

Not an exhaustive list.  Many left off. 

And my eclectic taste ensures some disturbing juxtapositions.

                         *     *     *

CURRENTLY READING:  The Secrets of Hurricanes, by Theresa Williams.  A Step from Heaven, by An Na.  Vernon God Little, by DBC Pierre.  Family Matters, by Robert Evans.  An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser.

                         *     *     *

GREAT STORIES: Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank.  Happy As the Grass Was Green, by Merle Good.  The Princess Bride, by William Goldman.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis.  The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood.  The Class, by Erich Segal.  Marjorie Morningstar, by Herman Wouk.  Hans Brinker, by Mary Mapes Dodge.  The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, by John Fox, Jr.  Jeremy Pepper, by Frances Rogers and Alice Beard.  The His Dark Materials trilogy, by Phillip Pullman.  For My Lady's Heart, by Laura Kinsale.  The Devil's Bargain, by Xenia Navarre (not yet published) Dark Debts, by Karen Hall. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, by Anne Rice.  Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy.  The Godfather, by Mario Puzo. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein.  Wild Orchids, by Jude Deveraux. The Damnation of Theron Ware, by Harold Frederic. Thy Brother's Wife, by Andrew M. Greeley.  The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.  Belinda, by Anne Rampling. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler. The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum.  The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris.  The French Lieutenant's Woman, by John Fowles.  A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean.  Wonder Boys, by Michael Chabon. 

                         *     *     *

CLASSICS: The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Emmuska Orczy.  A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. Murder in the Cathedral, by T.S. Eliot. Romeo and Juliet,by William Shakespeare.  Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce.  Huck Finn, by Mark Twain.  Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman.  Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw.  Othello, by Shakespeare.  Angels in America, by Tony Kushner.  The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton.  The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams.  The Bostonians, by Henry James.  A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.  Paradise Lost, by  John Milton.  Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.  A Midsummer Night's Dream, by Shakespeare. 

                         *     *     *

TEXTBOOKS ON ACTING, WRITING, DIRECTING: Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters, by Michael Tierno. Secrets of Film Writing, by Tom Lazarus. Screenplay: Writing the Picture, by Russin and Downs. The Autobiography of Peter Hall, by Peter Hall. Year of the King, by Antony Sher. Story, by Bob McKee. The Great Movies, by Roger Ebert. Disney War, by James B. Stewart. On Directing, by Harold Clurman. The Empty Space, by Peter Brook.  A Sense of Direction, by William Ball.  Rebels on the Backlot, by Sharon Waxman.

                         *     *     *

BOOKS ON SPIRITUALITY:  My Personal Best, by John Wooden.  The Way of the Superior Man, by David Deida.  Traditional Catholic Prayers, by Charles J. Dollen.  Escape from Reason, by Francis Schaeffer.  The Mark of  a Christian, by Francis Schaeffer.  The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff.  My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potak. A Man Called Peter, by Catherine Marshall.  Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore.  Highroad to the Stake, by Michael Kunze. Celebration of Discipline, by Richard J. Foster. The Bible.  The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera.  Kingdoms in Conflict, by Chuck Colson.  The Riddle of Amish Culture, by Donald B.Kraybill.  The Closing of the American Mind,by Allan Bloom.  Goddesses in Older Women, by Jean Shinoda Bolen.  King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette.  Genius, by Harold Bloom.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite an extensive list.  I understand there are "many left off" but this is inspiring in itself.

Now, how 'bout some reviews?  ;)

Anonymous said...

Okay, what a great list.  I see some things I'm not familiar with or haven't read.  Got to research now.  I see you picked Romeo and Juliet and Othello, two tragic love stories.  Whereas I picked Hamlet and Macbeth, two works about misuse of power.  Interesting!

Anonymous said...

Some reviews.  Good idea.  Let me put that into the computer...

Anonymous said...

I hopped on over here from Theresa's journal - this is a very interesting & eclectic list.  I smiled when I saw "Hans Brinker" - I LOVED that story!  I'm glad you're currently reading Theresa's book - so deep and haunting.  I appreciate the recommendations, for there are quite a few with which I am not familiar, and I have enjoyed most of those I do recognize.

Thanks for listing them on-line,

Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/32872.html