99. 'The Princess Diaries' by Meg Cabot

The Princess Diaries is the first of many children’s books on the top 100, and as someone who makes Children’s TV for a living, this is not something I’m against! Kids books are brilliant! They can be so much fun and as a total bookworm of a child, reading when I was younger holds some of my favourite memories, and makes me feel all nostalgic!

The Princess Diaries was released in 2000, so I was too old for it but the film adaptation is a secret guilty pleasure for me and I’m glad I got the chance to read it via this challenge. It tells the story of Mia, a normal teenager who lives in New York with her Mum and her fat cat. Her biggest problem is how to deal with the fact her Mum is dating her algebra teacher, and how to breathe when she runs into her crush at school - that is until she finds out she’s actually a princess and is forced by her Dad to take Princess lessons from her witch of a ‘grandmere’, who is nowhere near as nice in the book as Julie Andrews in the film!  

The books deals with the usual subjects of teenage literature; friends, school, teachers, boys, overcoming cancer, and then how to deal with new found unwanted celebrity - all while juggling the usual pressures teenagers face. She looses her best friend, realises people treat her differently now she’s a princess and learns a lot of life lessons along the way. The ending could have been developed further as the storylines felt unfinished, but then this is the first of a series of novels. The characters of Mia and her friend Lilly totally steal the show though; Mia is unknowingly sassy and has a hilarious take on life and is unimpressed by anything superficial. She comes out with great lines like: 'I dont know if you've ever been to the Ladies' Room at the Plaza, but it's like totally the nicest one in Manhattan. It's all pink and ther are mirrors and little couches everywhere, in case you look at yourself and feel the urge to faint from your beauty or something.'

I laughed out loud in public whilst reading this book, and I would have loved to have read it when I was 12. Instead I got to read it in my late twenties, and I still enjoyed it. And as a daughter of someone who married her former teacher, even I can identify with Mia! Sadly though, I’ve definitely not been born into royalty….oh well, there’s always Prince Harry…

100. 'Midnight’s Children' by Salman Rushdie

I’m sure Salman Rushdie would be pleased to know that if I’m totally honest with you dear reader, when I think of him - which isn’t very often - I tend to think briefly of his odd cameo in Bridget Jones’ Diary and then move on. I know I know, a knighted, booker prize winning author should be known by me for far more than a cameo in a rom com. But there we have it.

Suffice to say I have never read a Salman Rushdie novel, so I can’t say I was overwhelmed at the prospect of reading one of his books, especially as the 100^th book to kick start my little project. But then isn’t this exactly what the whole thing is about? To make me read things I would never usually pick up? And who knows I may even love it...maybe...

I have no idea what to expect with this one. Something droll, and heavy, and life searching, and ‘enlightening’, hmmmm… I’ll keep you posted.

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So…just under a month after I picked it up, I have finally finished book number 100. The length of time it’s taken me to get through this is an immediate indicator of how I felt towards this book. I didn’t love it. But then again, neither did I hate it.

Midnight’s Children is a fictional biography of Saleem Sinai who is born at the stroke of midnight on the day of India’s independence. His life parallels and interweaves with India’s historical events, and in a rather hubristic way, his life even influences the events in the country’s history.

The first 20 pages were confusing - the narrative jumps from past to present with no warning and there are way too many characters in this novel to keep a track of. Sentences run on, often for pages at a time, which I won’t lie, caused me to loose track and loose interest, and the fantastical elements are not really my thing. But press on, and you fall into the rhythm of the book and its style and language, and I even found myself enjoying it at times! The writing style is really refreshing and the language can be really vivid. The problem I had was that rather than one overarching narrative, this book contains hundreds of stories featuring all the different characters involved in his life. Some I really enjoyed and made me unexpectedly laugh out loud, but others not so much. I never really felt engulfed and caught up in the novel, but always felt rather distanced. I wonder if I knew more about India’s history whether I would have enjoyed it more…

So, had I not presented myself with ‘The Challenge’ I would firstly probably never have picked up Midnight’s Children and secondly, if I had, I would not have read further than the first 20 pages. And I am glad I did. I cant say I’d read another of Rushdie’s novels in a hurry, but I can at least say that I’ve not only read the Booker of Bookers, but I even enjoyed it…well, at times!

Once Upon a Time...

Now here’s the important bit! A full list of the books and the order can be found here, all of which were voted by the public in the BBC's 2003 The Big Read. This is the list I am using and wont deviate if there are other versions etc etc.

I wont lie, this list of books truly brings out the geek in me. Some fill me with dread (Ulysses? Who the eff decided that was their favourite book? And War and Peace? Please, I’d like to finish this challenge before death comes a calling); some already bore me (The Alchemist, I clearly missed something on this one, snoozeville); some make me ecstatic that I get to fully indulge my Jane Austen love affair once again; some make me pleased I’ll finally have a force to make me read the classics that have been on my ‘list of things to read’ for years and otherwise I’d probably never get around to (Wuthering Heights – I know as an English literature graduate this is sacrilege – Tess of the D’Urbevilles); some allow me revisit my inner child and read the books I’d have loved as a kid but was too old to read when they were released; some, I'm sorry to say, I’ve not even heard of; and some will allow me to relive the best childhood memories - of my sister reading to us on holiday, doing hilarious character voices, with the three of us cracking up with laughter when we should have been asleep in bed.

So there we have it. One girl. One hundred books.

Are you sitting comfortably? 

Good, then we shall begin…