Sunday, November 29, 2020

My Wishlist of 100 Books (2020 Update)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to celebrate the start of the Christmas season. For those who are looking to this blog and wondering "Thomas, what can we get you?" It only makes sense that Willett Reads would be dedicated to sharing all things that interest me in literature. Well, if you're one of those kind people who want to send me a book, here is a recommendation list of 100 books ranging from different genres and centuries. I am not too picky on quality of the book, save for my desire that the book not be filled with personal annotations. Beyond that, I hope that this list will help you prepare gifts that I not only want, but can often be found at a reasonable price. Click on to discover the list and where to send any comments regarding this list.


TOP 10

These are the 10 books that I would desire getting over everything else on this list. The list is ranked in order of preference. 

1. “Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown" - Anais Mitchell
2. "Flowers in the Attic" - V.C. Andrews
3. "My Year of Flops" - Nathan Rabin
4. "Forrest Gump" - Winston Groom
5. "The Queen's Gambit" - Walter Tevis
6. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" - Victor Hugo
7. "Addie Pray" - Joe David Brown
8. "Peyton Place" - Grace Metallious
9. "Mrs.Dalloway" - Virginia Woolf
10. "The White Album" - Joan Didion


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

While this list is all books that I would love to get, these are the ones that I would keep a closer eye out. This list is published in alphabetical order by title. 

-"The Almost Moon" - Alice Sebold
-"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" - Michael Chabon
-"And Then There Were None" - Agatha Christie
-"Anna Karenina" - Leo Tolstoy
-"Another Country" - James Baldwin
-"Antkind" - Charlie Kaufman
-"The Awakening" - Kate Chopin
-"Beloved" - Toni Morrison
-"The Big Sleep" - Raymond Chandler
-"The Black Swan" - Thomas Mann"
-"Blindness" - Jose Saramago
-"The Book Thief" - Markus Zusak
-"Call Me By Your Name" - Andre Aciman
-"Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel" - Val Emmich
-"Finishing the Hat" - Stephen Sondheim
- "Far From the Madding Crowd" - Thomas Hardy
-"From Here to Eternity" - James Jones
-"Hearts of Darkness" - Joseph Conrad
-"House of Leaves" - Mark Z. Danielewski
-"The Intuitionist" -- Colson Whitehead
-"Looking for Alaska" - John Green
-"Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" - Mark Twain
-"Pet Sematary" - Stephen Kng
-"Pscyho" - Robert Bloch
-"Rosemary's Baby" - Ira Levin
-"Rumble Fish" - S.E. Hinton
-"The Sixth Man: A Memoir" - Andre Iguodala
-"The Sopranos Sessions" - Matt Zoeller Seitz, Alan Sepinwall
-"A Supposedly Fun Thing That I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments" - David Foster Wallace
-"To the Lighthouse" - Virginia Woolf
-"Ulysses" - James Joyce


CLASSICS

The following is a list of books that are deemed literary classics, or books of acclaim that I had trouble fitting into another category. This is presented in alphabetical order by title. 

-"Billy Budd" - Herman Melville
-"The Brothers Karamazov"-  Fyodor Dostoyevsky
-"Doctor Zhivago" - Boris Pasternak
-"Gulliver's Travels" - Jonathan Swift
-"The Invisible Man" - Ralph Ellison
-"Leaves of Grass" - Walt Whitman (NOTE: Only this edition)
-"Logan's Run" - William F. Nolan, Geoge Clayton Johnson
-"Lord Chatterly's Lover" - D.H. Lawrence
-"The Moviegoer" - Walker Percy
-"Naked Lunch" - William S. Burroughs
-"The Outsiders" - S.E. Hinton"
-"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - Betty Smith


FURTHER READING

The following is a list of books from authors that I have enjoyed in the past and would love to read more by. The list is presented in alphabetical order by title. 

-"Absalom! Absalom!" - William Faulkner
-"Animal Farm" - George Orwell
-"Blood Meridian" - Cormac McCarthy
-"East of Eden" - John Steinbeck
-"Legion" - William Peter Blatty
-"The Man Who Laughs" - Victor Hugo
-"Pale Fire" - Vladimir Nabokov
-"The Sirens of Titans" - Kurt Vonnegut


MOVIES

The following is a list of literature that I am curious to read that was in some ways adapted into either film, TV, or other noteworthy works. The list is presented in alphabetical order by title. 

-"American Gods" - Neil Gaiman
-"Atomic Blonde: The Coldest City" - Anthony Johnston
-"Coraline" - Neil Gaiman
-"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" - Philip K. Dick
-"Fantastic Mr. Fox" - Roald Dahl
-"Get Shorty" - Elmore Leonard
-"The Goldfinch" - Donna Tartt
-"The Graduate" - Charles Webb
-"The Hate U Give" - Angie Thomas
-"High-Rise" - J.G. Ballard
-"Jules and Jim" - Henri-Pierre Roche
-"The Maltese Falcon" - Dashielle Hammet
-"The Martian" - Andy Weir
-"Mary Poppins" - P.L. Tavers
-"Matilda" - Roald Dahl
-"Oil!" - Upton Sinclair
-"Persepolis" - Marjane Satrapi
-"Planet of the Apes" - Pierre Boulle
-"Terms of Endearment" - Larry McMurtry
-"Wonderstruck" - Brian Selznick
-"You Were Never Really Here" - Jonathan Ames

COMPILATIONS

The following is a list of subjects that don't have one specific compendium to recommend, but I feel would be valuable to have compilations of their work. This list is presented in alphabetical order by subject, last name in case of authors.

-Hans Christian Anderson
-The Brothers Grimm
-Patricia Highsmith
-H.P. Lovecraft
-Mythology
-“One Thousand and One Nights”


MARTIN SCORSESE

The following is a list of books that were later adapted into movies by director Martin Scorsese. I am making it a challenge to read every adaptation that he has made. This list is presented in alphabetical order by title.

-“Bringing Out the Dead” - Joe Connelly
-“Casino” - Nicholas Pileggi”
-“The Color of Money” - Walter Tevis
-“The Executioners” - John D. MacDonald
-“I Heard You Paint Houses” - Charles Brandt”
-“The Invention of Hugo Cabret” - Brian Selznick
-“The Last Temptation of Christ” - Nikos Kazantzakis
-“Raging Bull: My Story” - Jake LaMotta”
-“Sister of the Road” - Ben L. Reitman
-“The Wolf of Wall Street” - Jordan Belfort


THE DARK TOWER SERIES

The following is a list of books within Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series that I have yet to read. The list is presented in chronological order, which is also preference

-"Dark Tower: Wind Through the Keyhole" - Stephen King


If you would like to donate/gift your books to me, please contact my e-mail at WillettReads@gmail.com. If I believe you to be an honest and trustworthy person, I will provide further information in confidential manners. I am also accepting further recommendations to expand the scope of what I read. While this blog doesn't get updated as much as I'd like, I always find joy in reading and feel that it's important to stay open-minded. Enjoy the holidays, and feel free to share what books you'd like to get as a gift.

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