99 Books on the Shelf

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In Tom Stoppard’s play “The Real Thing”, Henry, a supposed intellectual writer, is agonizing over his list of favorite things to take to an imaginary desert island for the hit U.K. radio program “Desert Island Discs” (Check out Sir Paul in Desert Island Discs in link below) on which he is to appear.  His actress, wife, Charlotte inquires if he has selected a favorite book yet.  Henry replies “Finnegan’s Wake” to which Charlotte deadpans “Have you read it?” 
My fear in drawing up a list of books was that I would, like Henry, be overwhelmed with a desire to appear smart or clever in my selections.  With that proviso in mind, I have endeavored only to list books that would come to mind when asked to recommend a good read to a friend.  I’ve done my best to compile an eclectic list from classics to pulp fiction to memoirs; a little something for everyone.  If you happen to read a book from this list, I would love to hear from you.

***Click on book covers to get to full description on Amazon (complete list below book covers):

79 park Avenue The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back Call It Sleep Cold Comfort FarmThe Corrections: A NovelCrazy Ladies: A NovelThe Great GatsbyThe Grapes of Wrath (Penguin Classics) Saint MaybeHoopi Shoopi DonnaThe ImmigrantsLove in the Time of Cholera (Vintage International)The Human Stain: A Novel American Trilogy (3)Lolita American Pastoral  The Lover Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition) Mila 18 Play It As It Lays: A NovelRich Man, Poor Man The Outsiders Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) The Wall White Teeth: A Novel Wide Sargasso Sea (Penguin Student Editions) The Winds of WarWuthering Heights (Norton Critical Editions) Animal Farm: Centennial EditionAnne Frank - The Diary of a Young GirlDown and Out in Paris and London Burmese Days: A Novel Can't Wait to Get to Heaven: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) A Tale of Two CitiesFar from the Madding Crowd (Signet Classics)
1.           79 Park Avenue (Harold Robbins)
2.           84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff)
3.           A Stone for Danny Fisher (Harold Robbins)
4.           A Tale of Love and Darkness (Amos Oz)
5.           A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
6.           Accidental Tourist (The): A Novel (Anne Tyler)
7.           After The War (Frederick Raphael)
8.           Amboy Dukes (Irving Shulman)
9.           American Pastoral (Philip Roth)
10.       American Pie: A Novel (Michael Lee West)
11.       Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue (Robert Klein)
12.       Animal Farm (George Orwell)
13.       Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
14.       Autograph Man (The) (Zadie Smith)
15.       Back When We Were Grownups (Anne Tyler)
16.       Beaufort (Ron Leshem)
17.       Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War (Sebastian Faulks)
18.       Border Music (Robert James Waller)
19.       Breathing Lessons: A Novel (Anne Tyler)
20.       Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)
21.       Bridges of Madison County (The) (Robert James Waller)
22.       Burmese Days: A Novel (George Orwell)
23.       Call It Sleep: A Novel (Henry Roth)
24.       Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven (Fannie Flagg)
25.       Captains and the Kings (Taylor Caldwell)
26.       Catcher in the Rye (The) (J.D. Salinger)
27.       China Boy (Gus Lee)
28.       China Men (Maxine Hong Kingston)
29.       Chosen (The) (Chaim Potok)
30.       Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons)
31.       Color Purple (The) (Alice Walker)
32.       Corrections (The): A Novel (Jonathan Franzen)
33.       Crazy Ladies: A Novel (Michael Lee West)
34.       Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man: A Novel (Fannie Flagg)
35.       Devil's Dream (Lee Smith)
36.       Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (Anne Tyler)
37.       Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Rebecca Wells)
38.       Down and Out in Paris and London (George Orwell)
39.       Far from the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
40.       Farewell to the Sea: A Novel of Cuba (Reinaldo Arenas)
41.       For Whom the Bell Tolls (Ernest Hemingway)
42.       Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien (The) (Oscar Hijuelos)
43.       Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Fannie Flagg)
44.       Garrick Year (The) (Margaret Drabble)
45.       Glory: A Novel (The) (Herman Wouk)
46.       Goodbye, Columbus: And Five Short Stories (Philip Roth)
47.       Grapes of Wrath (The) (John Steinbeck)
48.       Great Gatsby (The) (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
49.       Great Neck (Jay Cantor)
50.       Hoopi Shoopi Donna (Suzanne Strempek Shea)
51.       Hope (The): A Novel (Herman Wouk)
52.       How to Read and Why (Harold Bloom)
53.       Human Stain (The): A Novel (Philip Roth)
54.       I Married a Communist (Philip Roth)
55.       Ice Age (The) (Margaret Drabble)
56.       Immigrants (The) (Immigrants Saga) (Howard Fast)
57.       Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
58.       Joy Luck Club (The) (Amy Tan)
59.       Kitchen God's Wife (The) (Amy Tan)
60.       Lady Chatterly's Lover (D.H. Lawrence)
61.       Last Convertible (The) (Anton Myrer)
62.       Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
63.       Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
64.       Love Story (Eric Segal)
65.       Lover (The) (Marguerite Duras)
66.       Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (Oscar Hijuelos)
67.       Mila 18 (Leon Uris)
68.       My Michael (Amos Oz)
69.       Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto (Emmanuel Ringelblum)
70.       Operation Shylock:  A Confession (Philip Roth)
71.       Outsiders (The) (S. E. Hinton)
72.       Patty Jane's House of Curl (Lorna Landvik)
73.       Play It As It Lays (Joan Didion)
74.       Plot Against America (The) (Philip Roth)
75.       Portnoy’s Complaint (Philip Roth)
76.       Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
77.       QB VII (Leon Uris)
78.       Rainmaker (The) (John Grisham)
79.       Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier)
80.       Rich Man, Poor Man (Irwin Shaw)
81.       Romance Reader (The) (Pearl Abraham)
82.       Saint Maybe (Anne Tyler)
83.       Saving Grace (Lee Smith)
84.       Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 ¾ (Sue Townsend)
85.       Selling the Lite of Heaven (Suzanne Strempek Shea)
86.       She Flew the Coop (Michael Lee West)
87.       Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle (Peter Coyote)
88.       Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (Joan Didion)
89.       Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend (Robert James Waller)
90.       Travels With Charley: In Search of America (John Steinbeck)
91.       Wall (The) (John Hersey)
92.       War and Remembrance (Herman Wouk)
93.       Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!: A Novel (Fannie Flagg)
94.       What Really Happened to the Class of '65? (Michael Medved and David Wallechinsky)
95.       White Teeth: A Novel (Zadie Smith)
96.       Wide Sargasso Sea: A Novel (Jean Rhys)
97.       Winds of War (The) (Herman Wouk)
98.       Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
99.       Year of Magical Thinking (The) (Joan Didion)

Oh and why not - Finnegans Wake (Penguin Modern Classics)

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