501 Must Reads : Memoirs

Although I read more modern fiction than any other genre, my favourite is actually Autobiographies. I like reading other people lives - it either inspires you, or makes you thank your lucky stars you have the kind of life you have. (I love inspiring ones better, of course).

Here's the Memoirs reading list from 501 Must-Read Books. I've only read a few from the recommendations so far, each one of which was a brilliant read. Memoirs are not as readily available as fiction title - Kino is a safer bet than MPH on these.

1) * Paula Isabel Allende
2) Journal Intime Henri-Frederic Amiel
3) Aubrey's Brief Lives John Aubrey
4) Confessions Augustine
5) Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter Simone de Beauvoir
6) My Left Foot Christy Brown
7) The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini
8) The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinurus Cyril Connolly
9) * Boy: Tales of Childhood Roald Dahl
10) * My Family and Other Animals George Durell

11) An Angel at My Table Janet Frame
12) * The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank
13) Journals 1889-1949 Andre Paul Guillaume Gide
14) Poetry and Truth: From My Own Life Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
15) Father and son: A Study of Two Temperaments Edmund Gosse
16) Ways of Escape Grahame Greene
17) Black Like Me John Howard Griffin
18) 84, Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff
19) Pentimento Lilian Hellman
20) Childhood, Youth and Exile Alexander Herzen

21) The Diary of Alice James Alice James
22) Memories, Dreams, Reflections Carl Gustav Jung
23) Diaries 1919-23 Franz Kafka
24) The Story of My Life Helen Keller
25) The Book of Margery Kempe Margery Kempe
26) I Will Bear Witness Victor Klemperer
27) In the Castle of My Skin George Lamming
28) A Grief Observed C. S. Lewis
29) The Towers of Trebizond Rose Macaulay
30) Journal of Katherine Mansfield Katherine Mansfield

31) The Seven Storey Mountain Thomas Merton
32) The Pursuit of Love Nancy Mitford
33) Borrowed Time Paul Monette
34) My Place Saly Morgan
35) Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited Vladimir Nabakov
36) * Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books Azar Nafisi
37) Memoirs Pablo Neruda
38) Potrait of a Marriage Nigel Nicolson
39) Running in the Family Michael Ondaatje
40) Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell

41) Autobiography of a Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda
42) Diary Samuel Pepys
43) Letters Pliny the Younger
44) Confessions Jean-Jacques Rousseau
45) Words Jean-Paul Sartre
46) Journal of a Solitude May Sarton
47) Walden Henry David Thoreau
48) De Profundis Oscar Wilde
49) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson
50) Autobiographies William Butler Yeats

* read

501 Must Reads : Science Fiction

To that person who came here with the search words "501 must read books science fiction", here's the list for you.

1) The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Noel Adams
2) Hothouse Brian Aldiss
3) Brain Wave Poul Anderson
4) I, Robot Isaac Asimov
5) The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
6) The Crystal World J. G. Ballard
7) The Demolished Man Alfred Bester
8) Who Goes There John W. Campbell
9) The Invention of Morel Adolfo Bioy Casares
10) Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle

11) The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury
12) The Sheep Look Up John Brunner
13) A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
14) Erewhon Samuel Butler
15) Cosmicomics Italo Calvino
16) 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke
17) A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille
18) The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick
19) To Your Scattered Bodies Go Philip Jose Farmer
20) Neuromancer William Gibson

21) Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein
22) Dune Frank Herbert
23) Brave New World Aldous Huxley
24) Two Planets Kurd Lasswitz
25) Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin
26) Solaris Stanislaw Lem
27) Shikasta Doris Lessing
28) Stepford Wives Ira Levin
29) Out of the Silent Planet C. S. Lewis
30) I am Legend Richard Matheson

31) Dwellers in Mirage Abraham Merritt
32) A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter Miller
33) Ringworld Larry Niven
34) Time Traders Andre Norton
35) Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
36) The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Edgar Allan Poe
37) The Inverted World Christopher Priest
38) The Green Child Herbert Read
39) The Laxian Key Robert Sheckley
40) City Clifford D. Simak

41) Donovan's Brain Curt Siodmak
42) Lest Darkness Fall L. Sprague De Camp
43) Last and First Men Olaf Stapledon
44) More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon
45) Slan A. E. Van Vogt
46) A Journey to the Centre of the Earth Jules Verne
47) Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade Kurt Vonnegurt
48) The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells
49) Islandia Austin Tappan Wright
50) The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham

Cheers.

501 Must Reads Children's Fiction

This is the list of must-reads for Children's Fiction, taken from 501 Must-Read Books.

You're sure to go oooh and aaah at the childhood favourites. I read a lot of condensed versions when I was a kid though, so after getting this list I went out and got the full versions and had a go. Fun!

How many have you read from the list?

1) Little Women Louisa May Alcott*
2) Fairy Tales Hans Christian Andersen
3) Peter Pan J.M.Barrie*
4) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum*
5) The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle
6) The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett*
7) Alice's Adventure in Wonderland Lewis Carroll*
8) Pinocchio Carlo Collodi*
9) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl*
10) Sophie's World Jostein Gaardner*

11) The Weirdstone of Brisingamen Alan Garner*
12) The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame*
13) Children's and Household Tales Jacob Grimm*
14) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon*
15) Emil and the Detectives Erich Kastner*
16) Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling*
17) The Complete Nonsense Books Edward Lear
18) A Wrinkle in Time Madeline L'Engle*
19) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis*
20) Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren*

21) Dr Dolittle Hugh Lofting*
22) At the Back of the North Wind George MacDonald
23) Nobody's Boy Hector Malot
24) Winnie-the-Pooh A. A. Milne*
25) Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery*
26) Five Children and It E. Nesbit*
27) Tom's Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce*
28) The War of the Buttons Louis Pergaud
29) Fairy Tales Charles Perrault
30) The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter*

31) The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett*
32) Northern Lights Philip Pullman
33) Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome
34) Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang Mordecai Richler
35) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling*
36) The King of the Golden River John Ruskin
37) The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery*
38) The Human Comedy William Saroyan*
39) The Misfortunes of Sophie Comtesse de Segur
40) Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak*

41) And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street Dr Seuss*
42) Black Beauty Anna Sewell*
43) The Golem Isaac Bashevis Singer
44) Heidi Johanna Spyri*
45) Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
46) The Fellowship of the Ring J. R. R. Tolkien
47) Mary Poppins P. L. Travers*
48) Charlotte's Web E. B. White*
49) The Sword in the Stone T. H. White
50) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Kate Douglas Wiggin
51) The Happy Prince and Other Tales Oscar Wilde*

* read

501 Must Reads gets another thumbs-up

I thought I might be the only one harping about 501 Must-Read Books, but here's another fan! He's got a much snazzier photo and a better write-up too.

501 Must Reads : Modern Fiction, Q1

Here's the first quarter of the recommended reading list for Modern Fiction, from 501 Must-Read Books.

Works published after 1900 qualify for Modern Fiction, those before are categorized Classic Fiction. A few authors who lived (and wrote) across the century boundary have books on both list.

Modern Fiction, Quarter1

1) Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe*
2) Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands Jorge Amado
3) Le Grande Meaulnes Alan-Fourneir
4) Take A Girl Like You Kingsley Amis
5) Winesburg, Ohio Sherwood Anderson

6) Surfacing Margaret Atwood*
7) The New York Trilogy Paul Aster
8) Tales of Odessa Isaak Babel
9) Giovanni's Room James Baldwin
10) The Sweet Hereafter Russell Banks

11) The Regeneration Trilogy Pat Barker
12) Herzog Saul Bellow
13) Ficciones Jorge Luis Borges
14) Nadja Andre Breton
15) The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov*

16) The Naked Lunch Willian Burroughs
17) Possession A. S. Byatt
18) If On a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino
19) The Outsider Albert Camus
20) Auto da Fe Elias Caneti

21) Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey
22) The Kingdom of This World Alejo Carpentier
23) The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter
24) What We Talk about When We Talk about Love Raymond Carver
25) The Horse's Mouth Joyce Carey

26) Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Celine
27) Soldiers of Salamis Javier Cercas
28) The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever
29) Disgrace J. M. Coetzee*
30) Cheri Colette

31) Victory Joseph Conrad
32) A House and its Head Ivy Compton-Burnett
33) Fifth Business William Robertson Davies
34) Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernieres
35) Underworld Don Delillo

* read

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

A Review

Title: Things Fall Apart
Author: Chinua Achebe
Edition: Penguin Read RED



Things Fall Apart is a beautifully told tale.

The story, set in Africa, is about strong-willed Ibo warrior Okonkwo. The simple but powerful narrative easily sucks the reader into Okonkwo's world. We follow him through the motions of his daily life, his interaction with his clan members, his dealings with his family. We soak up the traditions of his people. We immerse ourselves in the culture and beliefs of his people. It is an interesting read, an insight into the life of others so different yet so same from us.

Then it gets more interesting. White people start coming into the life of Okonkwo and his people. White people start disrupting the life of Okonkwo and his clan. We read his anger and feel with him. We read his rage and feel with him. We see his… ah. Go read the book yourself.

I highly recommend this book. Read it for
1) its beautiful story.
2) its beautiful story-telling.
3) that extra window of awareness it will open in you.

501 Must Reads

Prior to this brilliant find, I’ve picked up books to read based on trusted recommendations, cheap sales and (yes!) interesting book covers. I’ve tried using prize winners as a reading guide but it was a hard follow as the books tend to be dry and taxing.

And then, I found IT. My revered book-bible.

501 Must-Read Books (ISBN 978-0-7537-1343-3, by Bounty Books) is a wonderful find. This hardcover, full colour gloss paper tome is a collection of recommendations from a varied team of book-people (lecturers, writers, book-nuts).



The list is organized into categories: Children’s Fiction, Classic Fiction, History, Modern Fiction, Science Fiction, Thrillers, and Travel Writing. Each book gets a full page write up with a by-note on the author’s details and titles. Unlike other must-read list which tend to bias towards the list-makers favourite genre and authors, this list actually includes a lot of really good books.



When I first got my copy, I eagerly browsed the titles to tick off those I’ve read. The count - only 6 out of 501! Shameful.

A lot of the titles are familiar, but unfortunately unread. The Children’s Fiction section especially, I know the story of The Secret Garden, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Heidi and many more but I’ve read the simplified Ladybird version back in those days. Then there are those I’ve seen the cartoon / movie version; Dr Dolittle, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Pinocchio. And those that are popular characters yet I’ve never read the original; Winnie-the-Pooh, Pippi Longstocking, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The list also includes recent good reads; Sophie’s World, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. And also very lovely stories I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise; Terry Prachett’s The Color of Magic, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.

Whew! And this is only the Children’s Fiction!

This book is my reading guide for now. I hope to be able to read all the books in 5 years time, but even might be aiming too high. So far I’ve upped the read count from the measly 6 to 57, mostly with books from Children’s Fiction. See my recently read list. I stick a nice little star for every book I read, for that little sense of accomplishment.



This book is a treat for any bibliophile. I got mine for RM59.90 form MPH, there’s a softcover (not paperback, just not hardcover) version in Border’s bargain bin.