I’ve been meaning to put together a post for this challenge idea by Twiga for ages. Basically, it’s just what the title says. Choose 101 books to read in 1001 days. The ‘catch’ for me, though, is that I’m not going to allow ANY substitutes to my list. If it goes on, it stays on! I did allow my list to start on April 1 so that it could wrap up on December 28, 2010. I think I have a good mix of heavy and light reading.
I’ve started with 75 titles and will add more later:
- Kaddish for a Child not Born by Imre Kertesz (1990, 95 pp., Nobel laureate, 4/08)
- Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987, 275 pp., Nobel laureate, 4/08)
- Maus I by Art Spiegelman (1986, 161 pp., Pulitzer, 4/08)
- Maus II by Art Spiegelman (1991, 127 pp., Pulitzer, 4/08)
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958, 209 pp., 4/08)
- Silk by Alessandro Baricco
- On Chesil Beach by McEwan
- The Castle by Franz Kafka
- The Gathering by Anne Enright (Booker)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (2006, 350 pp.)
- The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
- Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (2008, 333 pp.)
- The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (2005, 198 pp.)
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008, 300 pp.)
- Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (2008, 240 pp.)
- The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008, 276 pp.)
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
- Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
- Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
- Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
- Sky Burial by Xinran
- Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman
- Purple Hibiscus by Adichie
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Kristin Lavransdatter 2: The Wife by Sigrid Undset
- Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb
- Fugitive Pieces by Ann Michaels
- Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
- The Reader by Bernard Schlink
- Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
- So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
- The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
- Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
- Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
- The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
- Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Newbery)
- A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Newbery)
- Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (Newbery)
- The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho
- Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (Newbery)
- Call It Courage (Newbery)
- In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Smith
- Lost in a Good Book by Fforde
- Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
- The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Smith
- The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Smith
- Intuition by Allegra Goodman
- Unless by Carol Shields
- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Good Earth by Buck (Pulitzer)
- Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- Remains of the Day by Ishiguro (Booker)
- Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross by Undset
- Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins (Newbery)
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
- Ficciones by Borges
- The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
- War and Peace by Tolstoy
- Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
- Dr. Zhivago by Pasternak
- Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol, Vol. 2
- The Maytrees by Annie Dillard
- American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Pulitzer)
- If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
- The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy
- Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
- The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
- Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann
- Periodic Table by Primo Levi
- To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
- Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis
- Perelandra by CS Lewis
- The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
- Possession by A.S. Byatt (Booker)
- History of Love by Krauss
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Golden
- The Well of Lost Plots by Fforde
- Something Rotten by Fforde
- First Among Sequels by Fforde
- What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera
- Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler (Pulitzer)
- A Thousand Acres – Jane Smiley (Pulitzer)
- Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson (Pulitzer)
- So Big by Ferber (Pulitzer)
- The Character of Rain by Nothomb
- Sulphuric Acid by Nothomb
- Kafka on the Shore by Murakami






Great list! This challenge looks like a lot of fun!
Lezlie
You certainly won’t regret having the Jasper Fforde books on your list!! Enjoy!
That’s interesting. mm! I should think about this one
I really hope you’ll make it! There are some great books on your list! Especially Jasper Fforde, but also your final one by Haruki Murakami.
Your choice of War and Peace is a bold one though!
Have fun reading.
Thank you, Smay!!
I found your site while browsing on google for Purple Rain and saw a few of your other pieces too. I’ve just added you to my yahoo rss Reader. Just wanted to say” keep up the good work” and congrats on a job well done! thumbsup from me
[...] 101 Books in 1001 Days 32/101 (ends 12/28/2010) [...]
[...] Last April, I committed to reading 101 specific books (no changing!) in 1001 days. I’ve made it to 51, so I’m halfway finished. I have until December 28, 2010, but some of the chunksters are still on my list and are worrying me a bit. Also, I do have a few titles that I now wish weren’t on the list, but I’m committed to not changing it. I will follow through; I will follow through! If you’d like to see my list, it’s here. [...]
[...] titles below also correspond with my 101 in 1001 Project) Click for more [...]