96. ‘Kane and Abel’ by Jeffrey Archer

Well who knew?! Jerry Archer writes a good read! And here I was thinking he wrote mind-numbingly boring political sagas for what I like to call the ‘Dad market’. And other than the whole perjury thing, and of course the Bridget Jones’ cameo (like our old friend Mr Rushdie – what is it with that film?!) these were all my previous thoughts on Mr Archer.

Well, that is until I read Kane and Abel, which I don’t mind admitting I loved! Funny things happened when toting this book around with me - people were actually interested in my reading it – none more so that the lady on the tram who one day into reading it on my way to work, stopped me to tell me she’d read it four times before, the first time being when she was 13 and that it was amazing. Yikes. Combined with the fact it’s had 30 imprints or something, I began to think early on that this one couldn’t be too bad!

Spanning a lifetime and covering many countries, Kane and Abel follows the lives of two characters (go on, have a stab at their names…) from very different backgrounds whose lives firstly mirror each other, and then in the later years begin to intertwine and affect one another, often unbeknownst to them. From birth to death, the reader shares their fortunes as well as misfortunes and although the supposed twist is pretty glaringly obvious, I often found myself reading this open mouthed at times. Yes, even in public.

I also happened to be reading this on a pretty awesome California road trip (shout out to the lovely Misses Nisha and Mirielle and of course lady of the moment Jessica!) and whilst Kane and Abel is mostly set between Chicago, New York and Boston, being in America and on holiday certainly enhanced my liking of this book. Not least the fact that during my trip I was staying with a family, whose ancestors had emigrated to the US from Europe, much like Abel.

So all in all I really enjoyed this one, and I would say if you’re heading on your hols this year and haven’t read it, it’s definitely worth packing.

Now for a gratuitous pic of my holibobs (sans book sadly)

97. ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I was asked by a friend a couple of days ago, (shout out here to the lovely Goz), whether I’d ever received a love letter. After thinking about it a little while I concluded that No, I hadn’t. So lets bypass how unromantic this is for me (a boo hoo!) and tell you that this made me think about the latest book on my list - which is ALL about the love letters, with the main character writing one at least everyday. Love in the Time of Cholera in fact could probably not be written by Mr Marquez if he wanted to write again and set it in the modern day, as I’m not entirely sure if love letters are still even written these days? This is not a rhetorical question, if any of you readers have either written and sent a love letter, or received one, I’d like to know. And I mean letter letter, not a love ‘email’, or a love ‘text’, or any other form of written romance via a social media network. Anyone? Or have you all received hundreds and its just little old tragic me?!

So anyway, I seem to digress. Yes, this book is in its most simplistic terms, all about love. First love, married love, illicit love, lost love, fast love, old love, new love, and of course everyone’s old friend, unrequited love. Love is at the very heart of this tale which follows three characters over a span of more than 60 years, as they experience love in all its lovely deliciously heartbreaking forms. Florentino is the epitome of a hopeless romantic, which at different times is sweet, disturbing and annoyingly frustrating. He is besotted with Fermina and basically lives his life to love her but is denied the opportunity and so often looses his way.. As long as we bypass the bordering on paedophilic relationship he has at one point in the book (which is somehow not as disturbing as it sounds), he is painfully romantic, and just a little bit OTT. Set in the Caribbean, this book takes you on a wonderfully vivid journey through the lives of these characters as they grow and change along with the world around them, and into their different roles throughout their lives.

If I am learning anything as I make my way through this reading list, its that the old adage that ‘you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover’ is proving quite true, although in my case I shouldn’t judge on its title. I wasn’t looking forward to reading Love in the Time of Cholera at all - thinking that it would be epic, dusty, heavy and for some reason full of soul searching and death. And it’s not. It’s poetic, wildly romantic and even funny. I can see why so many people voted for this one – I’ve literally just finished it on the train (see pic below – wonderful lighting courtesy of Arriva Trains Wales) and as I write I’m already looking forward to reading this again in the future. I expect as it covers all forms of love, as the reader you’d enjoy and identify with different aspects of the story at different milestones in your life making it one to keep re reading until you can no longer find your old lady reading glasses. So, a good one. Hurrah!

98. 'Girls in Love' by Jacqueline Wilson

This is the first of four books in the top 100 by Jacqueline Wilson, which goes to show how influential and much loved children's books are! I adored her books when I was younger, particularly The Story of Tracey Beaker and The Bed and Breakfast Star and I read Girls in Love when it first came out when I was about 12.

Having just read The Princess Diaries, it was difficult not to compare the two books, as they are so similar. They both begin a series of teenage novels, and like The Princess Diaries, Girls in Love is a story about Ellie and her two best friends, as they navigate their way through their first boyfriends and the troubles of high school. It also deals with the usual teenage issues; boys, friendship troubles, absent parents - but also more interesting and applicable issues like going clubbing for the first time, drugs, drinking, lying to parents and (shock horror) having sex. These issues are not dealt with so frankly in The Princess Diaries, and I think this is more to do with Wilson being a British author, and therefore dealing with issues more appropriate to British teenage girls, with both a frankness and warmth. As a reader you really like Ellie as a character, as well as her friends, and you want them to make the right choices which I suppose is the moral for the teenage audience.
The narrative was a little weaker than that of The Princess Diaries however, but they were both good and I would recommend them both to young teenage girls.

What strikes me most about these two books however is who exactly voted for them?! Not because I think they don't deserve to be in the top 100, but as these are relatively new novels they would not carry the nostalgic vote of the adult audience which a classic like The Secret Garden might have, and these are not aimed at ages in which a parent would read these books to their child, and I doubt 12 year old girls were voting in the Big Read...so with this in mind its interesting that they appear in the list at all - but I'm glad they do. I certainly enjoyed these more than Salman Rushdie...but maybe that says more about me!

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.

______________________

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…