June 2024 PrizeCAT Booklists

Usually, it’s not a good thing to be on somebody’s list. However, this month in the PrizeCAT, it’s a good thing!

This month brings us Book Lists in the PrizeCat. The list is nearly endless!

Just a few:
New York Times Best Sellers List

American Library Association “Best of” genres

1001 Books You Must Read Before you Die

The Conscious Kid-children’s booklists for African-American and Latino Authors
Publisher’s Weekly List

Queen’s Booklist-anti-best seller but best reading list

Booker Prize Short List and Long Lists

Book Bub-70 books everyone should read in their lifetime

PBS-The Great American Read 100 Best Books List

NPR-Has a booklist for each year

National Education Association-has book lists by theme

Kirkus Reviews has multiples lists from Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander authors to best Indie Books to Women’s Month Picture Books

Most libraries also have their most read/popular book lists.

The Guardian has multiple reading lists titled Australian locales, romance books, graphic novels and many more.

As always, both fiction and non-fiction will fit this CATegory.

What’s on your list?

I think I will attempt Prisoner B-3087 which was on the Best Fiction for Young Adults list in 2014. (American Library Association)

I am currently reading The Enormous Room by e e cummings, which is on the 1001 Books list. It's a bit early, but I might still count it.

One of my favourite lists is the Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read.

The Wiki

Haven't decided yet but this seemed almost too easy. The difficulty is in choosing from so many options.

I think it's going to be a case of just choosing a book and then seeing what lists it's on rather than specifically choosing a book for this prompt.

>5 Robertgreaves: I agree! Unless, of course, someone is trying to complete a list.

I’ll probably read Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, since it will count toward two of my personal categories as well as appearing on the Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2017 list. Alternatively, I may read Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova, since it would count toward one of my personal categories and the SFFKit, as well as appearing on the same list in 2023.

I am finally going to read Life of Pi. It is on the 1001 Books list and won the 2002 Booker.

The theme for my RL book club this year is "list", so this fits in nicely. In June, I'll be reading the July book Cold Comfort Farm by Stelle Gibbons which has been on many lists including 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.

The Wiki is working now (for how long?). I've put a link in >3 pamelad:.

I have a lot of books from the NPR Book Concierge on my TBR. I might try Tress of the Emerald Sea, Julieta and the Romeos, or Once More With Feeling, since they all match at least one of my other CATs and KITs for the month.

>10 pamelad: TY!

As others have said, hopefully this one will be fairly easy to find a book for. I skipped April and will likely be skipping May, as well.

I've just borrowed Under the Net by Iris Murdoch. It's on many lists, including 1001 Books, Guardian 1000, Modern Library 100, Time's All-Time 100.

Ok, I have a couple of the 1001 books on my tbr. I will aim for:
The Wars / Timothy Findley
or
All Quiet on the Western Front / Erich Maria Remarque

I finished Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, on the Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2017 list, among others. It’s very short and very intense, so I read it in two sittings. It’s strange, disturbing, and intense, and the ending packed a wallop.

Currently reading Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

It's on lots of lists, so I'll just point out:

Les 100 livres préférés des Français
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

I'm planning on reading a 1001 book, The Killer Inside Me.

I read Gideon's Week by J. J. Marric, which is included on H. R. F. Keating's list of 100 best crime and mystery novels.

COMPLETED Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Les 100 livres préférés des Français
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

I read Under the Net, Iris Murdoch's first book. It's in the Guardian 1000 (my favourite list), 1001 books, and some others.

Death of My Aunt by C. H. B. Kitchin is also included on Keating's list of crime and mystery books.

I just finished Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova, which is on the Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2023 list. It wasn’t really what I was expecting—it’s not horror at all IMO—but it was excellent, 4 1/2 stars from me.

COMPLETED Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (The Best Debut Novels of All Time)

Starting Six Tudor Queens: Anne Boleyn, A King's Obsession by Alison Weir (Historical Novel Society Editors' Choice (Biographical Fiction))

The handmaid's tale features on nearly every booklist that I know of, including the Guardian 1000 and the 1001 BYMRBYD.

I read Julieta and the Romeos, a quite sweet YA romance/coming of age story, from NPR's 2023 Books We Love list.

I've done a reread The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien which is on multiple lists. I've specifically read it as part of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. I listened to the audio narration done by Andy Serkis this time and it was excellent. Highly recommend this edition if you are looking to listen to this.

I read A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré.
I’ve been a fan of le Carré for a very long time having read his books when they were still shiny and hot off the press, so I was happy for this last chance to visit with his characters. This novel, the final in the George Smiley series and published decades after the last one, makes me want to go back and read the entire series again from the beginning. To accomplish this poignant retrospective account with familiar, now elderly, characters is amazingly satisfying. As always, le Carré’s writing is intelligent and polished.

This book has been on many lists:
Amazon's Best Books of the Month
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year
Audie Award
Boston Globe Best Book
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
Deutscher Krimi Preis

COMPLETED Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

It's on lots of lists:

The 100 best books of the 21st century by The Guardian
100 Best Horror Books of All Time (2002)
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2005)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection – 2003)
Booklist Editors' Choice: Youth Audio (2022)
Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children and Teens (2002)
CCBC Choices (2003)
Children's Favorites Awards (Selection)
Cliff McNish's top 10 most frightening books for teenagers
New York Public Library Best Books: For Kids
Notable Children's Book (2003)
NPR 100 Best Horror Novels and Stories (Scar Your Children: Horror For Beginners)
Paste Magazine's 50 Best Horror Novels of All-Time
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2002)
Unbound Worlds 100 Best Horror Books of All-Time

I've just read Don Casmurro by Machado de Assis, a Brazilian writer. It was first published in 1899 and is on the 1001 and Guardian 1000 lists. This was a lucky discovery which I'm planning to follow with The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas.

I read Green for Danger by Christianna Brand, which is on H.R.F. Keating's list of the 100 best crime and mystery books: https://www.librarything.com/award/573/H-R-F-Keatings-100-Best-Crime-Mystery-Boo....

I read Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz which was a historical fiction based on a true story of a 10 year old boy who was shuffled to 10 different concentration/death camps during WWII. This was on the 2014 Tomes Society List for Grades 6-12.

I also read Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. This was the story of a young silversmith in Boston at the beginning of the American Revolution. 1001 Books you must read before you grow up.

I finished The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson, which is on the 1001 list; it was a quick read and very good.

I also read Persuasion by Jane Austen 1001 Books, Guardian's 1000, BBC Big Read, etc.

I have zero recollection what list(s) this book was on, but I have written down that I was reading it for this challenge, so...

The Wars / Timothy Findley
2.5 stars

Robert is a young Canadian who decides to enlist in the army to head to Europe to fight in WWI.

This started off better, but I had zero interest in the “love” story parts of the book. Told by the younger sister of Barbara, the female side of that love story, they were long and not in the least bit interesting (at least to me). The war and the fighting were of interest, and there were war situations I’ve not read about before (at least not that I recall). The book also jumped around quite a bit.

I finished two more books from the 100 Books to Read Before You Die list:
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Love's Work by Gillian Rose
I also finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne which is on multiple different lists. Most notable for me is NPR's top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books which is a list I have been very slowly working my way through.

I read To Kill A Mockingbird, which is on several Books to Read Before You Die lists.