books I have read

[中文][fr][日本語]

Various literary authorities have published lists of 100 novels to read—the Modern Library gave one for the 20th century around the turn of the century, which stirred much controversies, and sprang many more in response. While the precision of the number 100 is but artificial, I suppose its magnitude is still meaningful, in the sense that, if we busy modern-day people decide to read at least one a year, we still have some hope of exhausting the entire list in our lifetime. Yet, just how many people in the world have read a hundred novels in their lifetime? I am ashamed to confess that I spent much of my childhood watching television instead of reading books. Paradoxically, nowadays, having discovered the joy of reading, I hardly find any leisure time to read.

For whatever it is worth, here is my list of fewer-than-100 novels I have read and still remember reading, and that are worth mentioning---English, Chinese, classics and modern, in school and on my own, all included:

  1. circa 1985 Water Margin 《水滸傳》 (picture book only)
  2. circa 1985 Romance of the Three Kingdoms 《三國演義 》 (picture book only)
  3. circa 1985 Journey to the West 《西遊記》 (picture book only)
  4. circa 1985 《楚漢相爭》 (picture book)
  5. circa 1985 《楊家將》 (picture book)
  6. 1990《吶喊》
  7. 1990《《稻草人》
  8. 1990 The Old Man and the Sea (a terrible Chinese translation)
  9. 1990 Robinson Crusoe (in Chinese)
  10. 1991 The Prisoner of Zenda (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  11. 1992 King Solomon's Mine (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  12. 1992 《城南舊事》
  13. 1992 《書劍恩仇錄》
  14. circa 1992 《雪山飛狐》+《鴛鴦刀》+《白馬嘯西風》
  15. circa 1992 《飛狐外傳》
  16. circa 1992 Oliver Twist (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  17. circa 1992 David Copperfield (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  18. circa 1992 A Tale of Two Cities (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  19. circa 1992 Pride and Prejudice (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  20. circa 1992 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  21. circa 1992 The Count of Monte Cristo (Longman abridged version for English learners)
  22. 1992 Various short stories by Roald Dahl
  23. 1993 《其後》
  24. 1993 Animal farm
  25. 1993 Romeo and Juliet (the first book I read in Canada!)
  26. 1993 Watership Down
  27. 1993 All Quiet on the Western Front
  28. 1993 Crime and Punishment
  29. 1993 A Christmas Carol (read over Christmas Eve till dawn, I think)
  30. 1994 Jane Eyre
  31. 1994 《庭院深深》
  32. 1994 Bleak House
  33. 1994 The Pit and the Pendulum
  34. 1994 Heart of Darkness + Youth
  35. 1994 Macbeth
  36. 1994 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
  37. 1994 L'Étranger (in English)
  38. 1994 1984
  39. 1995 Love in the Time of Cholera
  40. 1995 The Handmaid's Tale
  41. 1995 Jurassic Park
  42. 1995 The Firm
  43. 1995 Tai-Pan
  44. 1995 Nobel House (attempted but abandoned very early)
  45. 1995 Sense and Sensibility (attempted but abandoned very early)
  46. 1995 Obasan
  47. 1995 A Farewell to Arms
  48. 1995 King Lear
  49. 1995 A Doll's House
  50. 1995 《天龍八部》
  51. 1996 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  52. 1996 Dubliners
  53. 1997 Memnoch the Devil
  54. 2000 The Catcher in the Rye (read after learning that this is supposedly one of Bill Gates' favourite, and got curious)
  55. 2001 To the Lighthouse
  56. circa 2001 Le Petit Prince (in English)
  57. 2002 Metamorphosis
  58. 2002 《鏡花緣》
  59. 2004 《霧》, 《雨》, 《電》
  60. circa 2008 《駱駝祥子》
  61. 2010 The Time Machine
  62. 2010 The Great Gatsby
  63. 2010 Anna Karenina (attempted but abandoned very early)
  64. 2010 Middlemarch (still in progress)
  65. 2011 The Picture of Dorian Gray (in progress)