The Sydney Morning Herald published a hilarious list of the 100 best books of all time. Just look at the list! A popular vote, obviously. What I have read marked in blue. Australians must really love badly written thrillers (I know Matt Reilly is Australian but come on folks, best books of all time? Really?) and 'inspirational' lit. Still, being a man I am genentically predisposed to liking lists and I have marked in red what I probably will read now, or what I have on my shelf to read. If I am wrong, please, please tell me not to bother.

1 Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
2 Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
3 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
4 The Obernewtyn Chronicles - Isobelle Carmody
5 My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
6 To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
7 The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
8 Breath - Tim Winton
9 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
10 Break No Bones - Kathy Reichs
11 The Power Of One - Bryce Courtenay
12 Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
13 Magician - Raymond E. Feist
14 The Bronze Horseman - Paullina Simons
15 Mao's Last Dancer - Li Cunxin
16 Memoirs Of A Geisha - Arthur Golden
17 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
18 Cross - James Patterson
19 Persuasion - Jane Austen
20 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
21 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
22 The Secret - Rhonda Byrne
23 Marley and Me - John Grogan
24 Antony and Cleopatra - Colleen McCullough
25 April Fools Day - Bryce Courtney
26 North & South - Elizabeth Gaskell
27 In My Skin - Kate Holden
28 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
29 A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
30 The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory
31 Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
32 Atonement - Ian McEwan
33 Shantaram Gregory - David Roberts
34 Pillars Of The Earth - Ken Follett
35 The Pact - Jodi Picoult
36 Ice Station - Matthew Reilly
37 Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
38 Jessica - Bryce Courtenay
39 A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
40 The Princess Bride - William Goldman
41 Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
42 Anybody Out There? - Marian Keyes
43 Life Of Pi - Yann Martel
44 Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly
45 People Of The Book - Geraldine Brooks
46 Six Sacred Stones - Matthew Reilly
47 Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
48 Brother Odd - Dean Koontz
49 Tully - Paullina Simons
50 Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
51 The Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger
52 Eragon - Christopher Paolini
53 Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
54 It's Not About The Bike - Lance Armstrong
55 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
56 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
57 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
58 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
59 A Fortunate Life - A.B. Facey
60 The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
61 The Notebook -Nicholas Sparks
62 Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen
63 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
64 The Host - Stephenie Meyer
65 Dirt Music - Tim Winton
66 Eldest - Christopher Paolini
67 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
68 It - Stephen King
69 World Without End - Ken Follett
70 Emma - Jane Austen
71 Temple - Matthew Reilly
72 Little Women - Alcott Louisa May
73 Lean Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich
74 Scarecrow - Matthew Reilly
75 American Gods - Neil Gaiman
76 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
77 P.S, I Love You - Cecelia Ahern
78 All That Remains - Patricia Cornwell
79 The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
80 Past Secrets - Cathy Kelly
81 The Persimmon Tree - Bryce Courtenay
82 Husband - Dean Koontz
83 Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult
84 Wicked - Gregory Maguire
85 Spot Of Bother - Mark Haddon
86 Always And Forever - Cathy Kelly
87 The Road - Cormac McCarthy
88 Cents & Sensibility - Maggie Alderson
89 Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
90 The Shifting Fog - Kate Morton
91 We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
92 Everyone Worth Knowing - Lauren Weisberger
93 Hour Game - David Baldacci
94 Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
95 The Woods - Harlan Coben
96 Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
97 Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
98 Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis
99 Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
100 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

Did you help me expand my mind?

Did you?

Not really. I've read Cavalier and Klay and Zen and the Art already, so I went and read some Jack Reacher books. Enjoyed these, in a read in two days, root for the psychopath kind of way.

I am currently reading "I am Legend" also recommended by John, and then will start another Reacher book.

After that? "The Restraint of Beasts" by Magnus Mills as recommended by Nick. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for your feedback, feel free to leave more.

Help me book

I'll throw this one open to the floor. What books should I read? Bearing in mind that I'll read almost anything. Currently I am reading "The Raw Shark Texts" by Steven Hall, which I am enjoying. I picked it up because I liked the cover and lack of blurb (the back of the book doesn't really tell you anything about what may be inside), and then googled the author. The fact that he sited Murakami as one of his favourite writers was a good sign. He cited City of Glass by Paul Auster as his all time favorite novel (he'd also mentioned "If on a winters night a traveller" so I was really warming to the guy), so I think I'll read it.

Anyway, back on topic. What books do think I should read? I'll go off and read them and let you know. No footballers biographies please.

Books 2K6

Here is a (mostly complete) list of books I read in 2006. I don't include any comic collections which I may post later in a gigantic cloud of anal retention. Also, free of charge, a very very short review.

One Hundred Great Books In Haiku
David Bader

Not sure this counts. It's fine.


Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Questions
New Scientist

As above. Sinéad and I both bought each other this for Christmas. The sequel is out this Christmas, "Why don't penguins get cold feet?"


The Traveller
John Twelve Hawks

At last! A book! Enjoyed this crappy conspiracy drivel. John Twelve Hawks (The author) lives "off the grid" apparently. "Off the planet" may be a better description.


The Call Of The Weird
Louis Theroux

Hmm. Funny. Y'know, OK.


Bringing Down The House: How Six Students Took Vegas For Millions
Ben Mezrich

True story of those wacky kids in MIT screwing Vegas. Entertaining.


Atomised
Michel Houellebecq

Porny filth. Make sure that a nun isn't reading over your shoulder. Good Stuff.


The Sacred Stone
Clive Cussler

Bollocks. Absolute shit. Clive Cussler: The man who flushed his name down the toilet.


No1 Ladies Detective Agency
Alexander McCall Smith

Good Fun.


The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

It's a classic, isn't it? Hated it in school, enjoyed it now.


Tears Of The Giraffe
Alexander McCall Smith

More of the same.


Silent Bob Speaks
Kevin Smith

Ok. Essays and stuff. Self indulgent, but expected that


Flow My Tears The Policemen Said
Philip K Dick

Mad obviously.


Morality For Beautiful Girls
Alexander McCall Smith

More o' the same.


Seven Ancient Wonders
Matthew Reilly

Ah Matt! Got to love this. Please don't read if you like: English, Physics, Plot, Originality or punctuation. Still, its a pleasure to read.


Hell Island
Matthew Reilly

Novella. Drivel. But it's Matt Reilly so that's OK.


Prisoner's Dilemma: John Von Neumann, Game Theory And The Puzzle Of The Bomb
William Poundstone

Eh? More real life stuff on game theory. Good stuff.


A Darkness More Than Night
Michael Connelly

Can't remember a word of this.


Polar Shift
Clive Cussler

Better then Sacred Stone, and better then the Clive and Son novels. That is a pretty low bar right there.


Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society
Rich Hall

Fun.


How To Lose Friends And Alienate People
Toby Young

Slight stuff, albeit a couple of real gems here.


A Study In Scarlett
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Brilliant.


The Sign Of Four
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Brilliant.


HP Lovecraft: Against the World Against Life
Michel Houellebecq

Uh, weird combination. Good all the same.


Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim
David Sedaris

Remember enjoying this. Please don't ask me what it was about.


Century Rain
Alastair Reynolds

Good Hard Sci-Fi.


The Well Of Lost Plots
Jasper Fforde

J Fforde is guilty of some serious literary wankiness. I really enjoy these books.


Something Rotten
Jasper Fforde

As Above.


Ubik
Philip K Dick

Another by Mad Mac McMad the Madman.


Breakfast Of Champions
Kurt Vonnegut

Yawn.


Modesty Blaise
Peter O'Donnell

Got this for a €1. It was great.


Northern Lights
Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife
Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman

These books were brilliant. A must read. Hollywood are in the process of fucking it up.


The Best Thing That Can Happen To A Croissant
Pablo Tusset

Great. There is a movie of this in Spanish. Not sure there is a subtitled version. I'd like to see it, but would perfer not to have to learn spanish to do it.


Digital Fortress
Dan Brown

S-H-I-T. Avoid like the plague.


Porterhouse Blue
Tom Sharpe

Good dirty fun.


A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Marina Lewycka

Entertaining.


Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Haruki Murakami

I am biased here. Brilliant, obviously.


Haruki Murakami and The Music of Words
Jay Rubin

Dipped in and out of this. Unreadable unless your a fan of Murakami, then it has some amusing insights.


Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Suzanna Clarke

Great stuff. It is a real talent to write a 1,000 page novel where nothing much happens and make it capivating.


Dr. Bloodmoney
Philip K Dick

Lunacy.


Second Burial for a Black Prince
Andrew Nugent

Not bad.


Fragile Things
Neil Gaiman

Really enjoyed the first story: "A study in emerald." Some of the rest of it hit and miss. Above average.


N.B I haven't included "The Poe Shadow" by Matthew Pearl. I got halfway through and stopped. Talk about a book trying to put you off reading for ever.