rhythmaning | Waterstones' top 100 books of the last 25 years

I went into Waterstones yesterday. I didn’t mean to, of course, but I had my brother staying, and he wanted to go shopping, and I refused to go into HMV (strange, since of course HMV own Waterstones), and Waterstones was next door. So I went into Waterstones.

I picked up three new books to add to my pile of books I have but haven’t read yet.

Whilst I was there I picked up a leaflet – Waterstones’ choice of the 100 top books from the last twenty five years, to celebrate their twenty five years in bookselling.

The list can be found on the Telegraph site.

And in true meme fashion, I have made bold the ones I have read, and scored through the ones I’ve read and didn’t like… And italicised the ones I want to read.

~~Hawksmoor Ackroyd, Peter 1985~~
Five People You Meet in Heaven, The Albom, Mitch 2003
Money Amis, Martin 1984
Behind The Scenes At The Museum Atkinson, Kate 1995
Blind Assassin Atwood, Margaret 2000
Cat's Eye Atwood, Margaret 1988
Handmaid's Tale Atwood, Margaret 1985
New York Trilogy, The Auster, Paul 1985
Crow Road Banks, Iain M. 1992
Regeneration Barker, Pat 1991
Stalingrad Beevor, Anthony 1999
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil Berendt, John 1994
Captain Corelli's Mandolin Bernieres, Louis De 1993
Da Vinci Code, The Brown, Dan 2003
Short History of Nearly Everything, A Bryson, Bill 2003
Notes from a Small Island Bryson, Bill 1995
Possession Byatt, A.S. 1990
Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier and Clay, The Chabon, Michael 2000
Wild Swans Chang, Jung 1992
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Clarke, Susannah 2004
What A Carve Up Coe, Jonathan 1994
Alchemist, The Coelho, Paulo 1988
Disgrace Coetzee, Michael 1999
Artemis Fowl Colfer, Eoin 2001
Girlfriend In A Coma Coupland, Douglas 1998
BFG, The Dahl, Roald 1982
God Delusion Dawkins, Richard 2006
Gruffalo, The Donaldson, Julia 1999
Name of the Rose, The Eco, Umberto 1983
Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius, A Eggers, Dave 2000
~~American Psycho Elllis, Bret Easton 1991~~
LA Confidential Ellroy, James 1990
Middlesex Eugenides, Jeffrey 2002
Crimson Petal and the White Faber, Michel 2002
Birdsong Faulks, Sebastian 1993
Magician Feist, Raymond 1982
Bridget Jones's Diary:A Novel Fielding, Helen 1996
Pillars Of The Earth Follet, Ken 1989
Cold Mountain Frazier, Charles 1997
Beach, The Garland, Alex 1996
Neuromancer Gibson, William 1984
Carter Beats The Devil Gold, Glen David 2001
Memoirs of a Geisha Golden, Arthur 1997
Snow Falling On Cedars Guterson, David 1995
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, The Haddon, Mark 2004
Chocolat Harris, Joanne 1999
Fatherland Harris, Robert 1992
Silence Of The Lambs, The Harris, Thomas 1988
Brief History of Time, A Hawkings, Stephen 1988
Notes On A Scandal Heller, Zoe 2003
Woman In Black Hill, Susan 1983
Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow Hoeg, Peter 1992
High Fidelity Hornby, Nick 1995
Fever Pitch Hornby, Nick 1992
Kite Runner, The Hosseini, Khaled 2003
Wasp Factory, The Iain M Banks 1984
Prayer For Owen Meany, A Irving, John 1989
Remains Of The Day Ishiguro, Kazuo 1989
Poisonwood Bible Kingsolver, Barbara 1998
Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, The Kinsella, Sophie 2000
Historian, The Kostova, Elizabeth 2005
Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Kundera, Milan 1984
Small Island Levy, Andrea 2004
Love In The Time Of Cholera Marquez, Gabriel Garcia 1985
Life of Pi Martel, Yann 2001
All The Pretty Horses McCarthy, Cormac 1992
Angela's Ashes:A Memoir of a Childhood McCourt, Frank 1996
Atonement McEwan, Ian 2001
Enduring Love McEwan, Ian 1997
If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things McGregor, Jon 2002
Fine Balance, A Mistry, Rohinton 1995
Cloud Atlas Mitchell, David 2004
Watchmen Moore, Alan 1987
Labyrinth Mosse, Kate 2005
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the Murakami, Haruki 1994
Norwegian Wood Murakami, Haruki 1987
Time Traveler's Wife, The Niffenegger, Audrey 2003
English Patient Ondaatje, Michael 1992
Instance Of The Fingerpost, An Pears, Iain 1997
Vernon God Little Pierre, D.B.C. 2003
Colour Of Magic Pratchett, Terry 1983
Shipping News Proulx, E. Annie 1993
Northern Lights:His Dark Materials S. Pullman, Philip 1995
Knots and Crosses Rankin, Ian 1987
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Rowling, J.K. 1997
God of Small Things, The Roy, Arundhati 1997
Holes Sacher, Louis 1998
Lovely Bones, The Sebold, Alice 2002
Suitable Boy, A Seth,Vikram 1994
White Teeth Smith, Zadie 2000
Longitude Sobel, Dava 1995
Perfume Suskind, Patrick 1985
Secret History Tartt, Donna 1992
Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three quarters, The Townsend, Sue 1982
Fingersmith Waters, Sarah 2002
Trainspotting Welsh, Irvine 1993
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit Winterson, Jeanette 1985
Bonfire Of The Vanities, The Wolfe, Tom 1987
Shadow of the Wind, The Zafon, Carlos Ruiz 2001
Book Thief, The Zusak, Markus 2006

Strangely, two of the books I boughts yesterday are on this list, though I hadn't seen it at the time.