Mr Ripleys 100 Great Books To Read In A Life Time.......

                                               book cover of 

Tintin in the Congo 

 (The Adventures of Tintin, book 2)

by

Hergé

This is a list of books, both new and old, of some of the best books that I have enjoyed reading over the years. These aren't in any order of preference and I have deliberately only chosen one book by each author. I'm sure that there will be many books that I have missed and there'll be some titles that you feel should have made it that I haven't referred to. Therefore, this is your chance to leave a comment and let me know what you think should be added to the list and what you have enjoyed reading over the years.


1. J.R.R Tolkien - Hobbit
2. Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
3. Arthur Ransome - Swallows And Amazons
4. Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. Marcus Zusak - The Book Thief
6. Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines
7. Louis Sacha - Holes
8. Darren Shan - Lord Loss
9. Philippa Pearce - Tom's Midnight Garden
10. Robert Westall - Scarecrows
11. Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
12. E. Nesbit - The Railway Children
13. Charmian Hussey - The Valley of Secrets
14. Chris Wooding - The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray
15. Elizabeth Laird - Garbage King
16.  P.L Travers - Mary Poppins
17. Mark Lamb - Farperoo
18. Terry Pratchett -  Going Postal
19.  Julia Donaldson - Gruffalo
20. Cornelia Funke - Ink Heart
21. Brandon Mull - Fablehaven
22. Jonathan Stroud - The Amulet of Smakand
23. Kazu Kibuishi - Amulet:Stonekeeper
24. David Almond - Skellig
25. Robin Jarvis -  The Dark Portal
26 Brian Jacques - Salamandastron
27. Dean Vincent Carter - The Hand of the Devil
28. Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell - Stormchaser
29. Angie Sage - Magyk
30. Frances Hardinge - Fly By Night
31. Maurice Sendak - Where The Wild Things Are
32. Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
33. Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden
34. Philip Pullman - Northern Lights
35 J.K Rowling -  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
36. Joseph Delaney - The Spooks's Apprentice
37 Blue Balliett - Chasing Vermeer
38. G.P Taylor - Shadowmancer
39. Christopher Paolini - Eragon
40. Michael Malloy - The Time Witches
41. Anna Dale - Whispering to Witches
42. Dale Peck - Drift House
43. Eoin McNamee - The Navigator
44. Catherine Web - The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle
45. Julia Golding -  The Diamond of Dury Lane
46. Eleanor Updale - Montmorency
47. Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
48. Enid Blyton -  Five on Treasure Island
49. Richard Adams - Watership Down
50. Ian Fleming - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
51. Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels
52. Leon Garfield - The Ghost Downstairs
53. Jules Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
55. Mary Norton - The Borrowers
56. John Boyne - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
57. Garth Nix - Sabriel
58. Scott Westerfeld - The Secret Hour
59. Anthony Horowitz - Raven's Gate
60. Anthony Browne - Tunnels
61. Trudi Canavan - The Magician's Apprentice
62. Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams - The Highfield Mole
63. Charlie Higson - The Enemy
64. Lewis Carroll - Alice in Wonderland
65. L.Frank Baum - The Wizard of Oz
66. Kenneth Grahame - The Wind In The Willows
67. Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island
68. Ursula Le Guin  - The Tales From Earthsea
69. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief
70. P.B Kerr -  Children of the Lamp:The Akhenaten Adventure
71. Sam Enthoven - The Black Tattoo
72. Adam Gopnik - The King in the Window
73. Linda Sue Park - A  Single Shard
75. Isobelle Carmody - Obernewtyn
76. E.E Richardson - The Devil's Footsteps
77. F E Higgins -  The Black Book of Secrets
78. Derek Landy - Skulduggery Pleasant
79. Steve Augarde - The Various
80. Patrick Carman - Atherton House of Power
81. Joanne Harris - Runemarks
82. Mark Walden - H.I.V.E
83. Michael Grant - Gone
84. Tom Becker - Darkside
85. Zizou Corder - Lion Boy
86. Michelle Paver - Wolf Brother
87. Liam Hearn - Across the Nightingale Floor
88. Gareth Thompson - The Great Harlequin Grim
89. Rudyard Kipling - Jungle Book
90. J.M Barrie - Peter Pan
91. Lemony Snicket - The Bad Beginning
92. Susan Cooper - Dark Is Rising
93. Suzanne Collins -  The Hunger Games
94. Henry Chancellor - The Remarkable Adventures of Tom Scatterhorn
95. Tove Jansson - Moomin's
96. Alan Garner - A Bag of Moonshine
97. Herge -  Tin Tin in the Congo
98. Justin Richards - The Death Collector
99. W E Johns - Biggles Learns To Fly
100. Stuart Hill -  The Cry of the Icemark

Comments

Frances said…
You have a pretty good 'all rounder' of a list there. Nice to see Secret Garden,Railway Children, Watership Down among more modern favourites. As a child I read classics like Swallows & Amazons, Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn - moved onto Horror in my teens, bit of Stephen King & James Herbert. These days am quite open minded with book choices - working with 11-18's you have to be, in order to make good recommendations - although by nature my choices will always be the more edgier/controversial/interesting/questioning. Looking at your choices, you appear to be quite open minded too!
Hello Frances,

Thanks for the comment. Don't remember much about Huckleberry Finn. Loved the Horror genre as a teen read as many Stephen King,Clive Barker and Peter Straub books as I could. I maybe should have put a book in by Richmal Crompton? This list is work in progress any way.

V
Carmen said…
Ashamed to say I haven't read most of them, those I have I totally agree with!

My eldest is currently reading Boy With The Striped Pyjamas at school. Again I haven't read it but it's raised some good discussion with her. Middle daughter is currently obsessed with three books - The Secret Garden (Good to see it there) and I feel I should argue her point for her as she's sparko at the mo(though I haven't read them but she is so passionate about them I will be) for The Iron Man By Ted Hughes and his Iron Woman too :P
Victoria said…
I was thrilled to see E. Nesbit included on this list, but wondered about Zilpha Keatley Snyder. The Egypt Game, The Witches of Worm and The Headless Cupid played such huge parts in my life as a kid. Also, what about Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time? The Westing Game? Anne of Green Gables? Harriet the Spy??
Hello Victoria,

I have to say I have not read any of the books you talk about. I have looked up Egypt Game,not sure if I ever saw it in the book shops in the U.K. I will get a copy of the book and try it out.

Thanks for your comment.

V
Steph Ressort said…
Great list!! Great to see Magician's Apprentice on there, read it recently and loved it.

A few of my favourites from when I was younger were:


The Never Ending Story
Little Women
Anne of Green Gables
Anything by David Eddings (devoured his books as a teen) or Tad Williams
gareththompson said…
Dear Friend
Many thanks for including my novel The Great Harlequin Grim in your top 100 list. I'm very honoured. If you've not got copies of my other two similar-genre books to date, I can arrange for Random House to send copies. But you might like to know that RH said if I ever write another book set in Cumbria then they won't even look at it! Well, I have done and it ain't for them anyway!
Many thanks again
Gareth Thompson
Kendal, Cumbria
www.gareththompson.co.uk
Suzie said…
I am very surprised to see you recommending Tintin in the Congo, considering that it has been long derided for its racist portrayal of the people of the Congo, and even Herge himself later expressed embarrassment about the story, and regretted ever having written it.