Book List

Last year, before I moved, I was a member in a brilliant book club. I still carry around the book list from the book club in my bag, so that when I am in a bookshop I can look for something rather than just browse.  I use it as a guide. Only one book from each author is listed, so sometimes I will chose a different book by the same author. The aim is just to get me reading a wider variety of books than I ever read before. If I don't like an author, I never had to read their writing again. If I do like an author, then I will find out what else they have written, and form a great relationship with their books.

Here's my list:

ALI, Monica - Brick Lane
ALLENDE, Isabel - Ines of my Soul. I have already read "Of Love and Shadows" by Isabel Allende. I liked her style enough to try one more book by her. Either this one, or "The House of the Spirits".
AMMANITI, Niccolao - I'm Not Scared
ANNEAR, Robyn - The Man who Lost Himself
ARMSTRONG, Lance - It's Not About the Bike. Read it. It's not about the bike - it's about a huge ego.
ATWOOD, Margaret - The Blind Assassin
AUSTEN, Jane - Persuasion. I have read "Pride and Prejudice" and tried to read "Sense and Sensibility" but hated it. I'm not going to try any more Jane Austen unless someone can convince me otherwise.
BAIL, Murray - Eucalyptus. I've bought this book, and have it on my shelf to read.
BAILEY, Sam & Jenny - Head Over Heels
BARBERY, Muriel - Elegance of the Hedgehog. Read it: loved it!
BARROWS and SHAFFER - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Read it: loved it!
BAUBY, Jean-Dominique - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
BENNETT, Alan - The Uncommon Reader
BOTTON, Alain De - How Proust Can Change Your Life
BRONTE, Charlotte - Jane Eyre. I've seen the movie. I'm not interested in reading the book. I have bought her sister's book, Wuthering Heights, so I'll give that a go.
BROOKS, Geraldine - Foreign Correspondence. I've read a couple of books by Geraldine, and have bought People of the Book to read next.
BRYSON, Bill - A Walk in the Woods. I've read Down Under and his history on nearly everything. Great writer.
BURROUGHS, Augusten - Running with Scissors
BYRSKI, Liz - Gang of Four
BURNS, Olive Ann - Cold Sassy Tree. Read it. Liked it. I might try to find the sequel.
CAPELLA, Anthony - Various Flavours of Coffee
CAPOTE, Truman - In Cold Blood
CAREY, Peter - His Illegal Self
CLEAVE, Chris - The Other Hand
COELHO, Paul - The Alchemist
COETZEE - Disgrace
CONRAD, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
CORBETT, Bryce - A Town Like Paris
CUNXIN, Li - Mao's Last Dancer. Read it, and loved it. I also saw the movie, which was pretty good.
DIAMANT, Anita - The Red Tent
DICKENS, Charles - Great Expectations. I have bought this to read. I'm ashamed that I haven't read it already.
DREWE, Robert - The Shark Net
DUNCAN, Susan - Salvation Creek
EDWARDS, Kim - Memory Keeper's Daughter
ELLROY, James - The Black Dahlia. Read it. This was horrible.
ESQUIVEL, Laura - Like Water for Chocolate
EUGENIDES, Jeffery - Middlesex (this is in Oprah's Bookclub too)
FITZGERALD, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
FLANAGAN, Richard - The Unknown Terrorist
FRASER, Antonia - Marie Antoinette
FYNN - Mister God, This is Anna. I read this. It was endearing, but I won't read anything else by this author.
GARNER, Helen - The Spare Room
GOOLRICK, Robert - A Reliable Wife
GREGORY, Philippa - The Other Boleyn Girl. Read it. Loved it! Read the sequel, and loved it also. I've also bought The Other Queen and The White Queen to read.
GRENVILLE, Kate - The Idea of Perfection
GROGAN, John - The Longest Trip Home
GRUEN, Sara - Water for Elephants. Read it, loved it! I'm not interested in seeing the movie. I will read more by Sara.
GUTERSON, David - Snow Falling on Ceders
HADDON, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
HAM, Rosalie - The Dressmaker. Read it, and loved it! This is a gothic Australian story - fantastic.
HAMILTON, Clive - Affluenza
HARDY, Thomas - Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I know this story, because I watched the TV series. Not interested in reading it, now that I know the story. I might try something else by this author, if there is anything.
HELLER, Joseph - Catch 22. I have bought this to read.
HISLOP, Victoria - The Island
ISHIGURO, Kazuo - Never Let Me Go
KHAN, Adib - Spiral Road
KIDD, Sue Monk - The Secret Life of Bees
KINGSOLVER, Barbara - Poisonwood Bible
LEE, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
LEWYCKA, Marina - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
MCCALL SMITH, Alexander - No 1 Ladies Detective Agency
MCCARTHY, Cormac - All the Pretty Horses. I have read The Road. I have also bought Blood Meridian. If I also like that, then I will read more of Cormac's writing.
MCEWAN, Ian - On Chesil Beach. I have read Atonement. I have tried to read another book by Ian, but hated it so much that I put it down (I hate putting books down, it feels like a failure). I might try something else by Ian, if it is recommended to me.
MCINERNEY, Monica - A Taste for It
MCINNES, William - A Man's Gotta Have a Hobby
MACKAY, Hugh - Winter Close
MARQUEZ, Gabriel Garcia - Love in the Time of Cholera
MARTEL, Yann - Life of Pi. Read it, and loved it!
MILLER, Alex - Journey to the Stone Country
MONIQUE, Roffey - The White Woman on the Green Bicycle. Read it, and loved it!
MORTON, Kate - The Forgotten Garden
MURAKAMI, Haruki - Norwegian Wood
NEMIROVSKY, Irene - Fire in the Blood
NIFFENEGGER, Audrey - The Time Traveller's Wife. Read it. It was confusing to begin with, and hard to read. But then it flowed well, and I loved it. Hated the movie! I will read more of Audrey's
PICOULT, Jodi - My Sister's Keeper. I have read something by Jodi already. It didn't stand out. It was too ordinary. I'm not in a rush to pick up another book by her, at this point. Unless someone wants to recommend one?
PATCHETT, Ann - Bel Canto
PROULX, Annie - The Shipping News
RANKIN, Ian - Exit Music
REILLY, Matthew - Temple. As an Australian author, I should have read something by Matthew already, but I haven't. I've bought Scarecrow to read.
ROY, Arundhati - The God of Small Things
SCHLINK, Bernhard - Homecoming
SEBOLD, Alice - The Lovely Bones. Read it, loved it. Also saw the movie, and although it missed out a lot (as movies always do), I think the movie was great. It didn't stick to my imagination, either, but it had such an emotional effect on me that I cried throughout most of it!
SEE, Lisa - Snow Flower & the Secret Fan
SEIERSTAD, Asne - The Bookseller of Kabul
SHRIVER, Lionel - We Need to Talk About Kevin. I've bought this to read. Can't wait.
SILVEY, Craig - Jasper Jones. Read it. It was edgy, but I don't think I'll read anything by Craig again. It seems like it is young adult fiction.
SLATER, Nigel - Toast
SPARKS, Nicholas - The Notebook
STEINBECK, John - Of Mice and Men. Read it, loved it! I've also bought The Grapes of Wrath to read.
SUSKIND, Patrick - Perfume
TARTT, Donna - The Secret History
TOOLE, John Kennedy - A Confederacy of Dunces
TRAPIDO, Barbara - Sex and Stravinsky
TSIOLKAS, Christos - The Slap. I've read it. I might try something else by Christos, mainly because he is Australian. I am hopeful that not all his writing is as sex- and drug-obsessed.
TWAIN, Mark - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Not interested in reading this, at all.
WILDE, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
WINCH, Tara June - Swallow the Air. Brilliant and disturbing, by a young Australian author. I want to watch Tara's career.
WINTON, Tim - Dirt Music. I've read Cloud Street and Breath. Not interested in reading more of Tim's writing for a while.
WOOD, Charlotte - Submerged Cathedral
YATES, Richard - Revolutionary Road. Read it, and loved it!
ZAFON, Carlos Ruis - The Shadow of the Wind
ZUSAK, Markus - The Book Thief

Can you add any authors to my list? Who should I be reading?