What a Wonderful Time of Year

You'd think with practically two weeks off, I'd have had a lot of time to blog ... alas, I have been so busy with O's first birthday, D's 40th birthday, Christmas, talking to recruiters and having fun with the in-laws (my hubby's sister and her family) that I haven't really had a moment to spare when it comes to blogging.

It's been a great holiday season, just the right amount of chaos to make it okay. Today we returned a few duplicate gifts we received and got some new things. I think in only one place, did we not actually spend more than the return. And at that place, I only had two dollars left on the gift card, so I offered it to a woman as we were leaving the store. She looked so surprised. I was like, eh, it's two dollars and I don't shop at this store very often, Happy New Year!

It made me think about the next time I'm at a coffee place drive-thru how I really want to pick up the tab ... as long as it's not a big one ... just a little bit of a nice gesture. This is also the last week before I have to kick it into gear again for my workout regime. Seriously, the last month has been a month off and I am starting to feel flabby again ... must meet my workout master and get into shape!

I am reading two books off the 1001 list right now. I started one, but it was moving to slow, so I began the next one I had from the library ... much better, moves faster and I think it's one I can just read a couple chapters before bed each night and will get through it quickly.

Alright, enough for my quick rambles. I still have the South African Wine adventure to write about, and am just waiting for the pictures, but if they don't come soon. I'll just blog and then update with photos later!

Liquid Delight and Ramblings

Tonight was wine club ... don't worry, I'll blog about that in a few days. I forgot my camera and my good friend H happened to have hers on hand and diligently took photos of everything for me. (THANK YOU!) So, once I get those, I'll be sure to give a recap!

But as I get caught up on all the blogs I enjoy perusing, and as D cleans out some of the shows he has on the DVR queue, I get to sip a light glass of Pinotage and just get ready to embrace a week off of work, spent enjoying my family and prepping for the holidays. Of course, I'm not looking forward to my first appointment for a crown on Monday, but that's the only true downer for the week ahead.

O turns one on Monday. I can't believe how much this past year has really shaped our lives. The triumphs and the turbulence we've faced. But it all brings me back to my little glass of liquid delight. I only have wine about once a month at wine club, and then maybe a few glasses here and there. When it's good, it's really good. And this glass is good.

I am looking forward to what I hope is a pleasant holiday season with lots of good family fun. D's sister and her family will be here for Christmas, and I'm so excited about that. It means K will get to play with his cousins and really have an enjoyable holiday season. Of course, he's at the age where it's really about the presents and D and I are trying to teach him that it's so not about the presents ... but I know that it will take some time for him to understand.

Today we also got the notification about K starting kindergarten next year. I cannot believe my baby will be starting kindergarten. He's going to have other major influencers in his life now ... and peer pressure ... and who else knows what. I just hope that he'll always fee comfortable talking to us and being open and close to us. I think most parents wish that. We try to model open communication now as a family and always have dinner together and established some key traditions. Hope we can continue it now that our first son will be venturing into the real world without us there with him every step.

Whoa ... too deep ... back to the liquid delight.

Two More To Cross Off

On my journey to read the 1001 books you should read before you die, I am happy to say I have just finished two more. The first was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. And apparently there is a movie based on the book. It was interesting ... and not probably something I'd have read on my own merit. But it was definitely good and left you with questions and thought-provoking ideas. You don't really understand what makes the characters special until a third of the way into the book ... so I don't want to ruin it. It's told through flash backs and twisting and winding storytelling. 

The second one was Saturday by Ian McEwan. Who knew someone could right a whole book about one day in the life of a neurosurgeon. I have to say, there were parts of this very detailed book that I had to skim (sorry, the brain surgery scenes were just too much for me.) But all-in-all, it makes me excited to read the Atonement based on this book. It really thrives on the post-9/11 environment, and so I wonder if I had read it when it first came out if I would have had different feelings. Either way ... good stuff.

Both stories took place in England. Which makes me interested to dive into the rest of the list because I'm wondering if it's a lot more worldly in content. If so, bravo, I cannot wait. I love American authors and books, but I need more exposure to writers from other areas of the world.

Wine and Good Food from the Land Down Under

For November, my wine club explored the wines of Australia and New Zealand. The hostess had a lovely spread of cuisine that included shrimp and lobster treats (and avocado ... so delish!) It was a delightful evening all around. Next week is our last Wine Club of 2010 (I can't believe we've been doing this for three years!) Next year, we're going to take the club outside of the home and do a different restaurant each month. I can't wait. Of course, we always take January off to recoup from all of the holiday festivities, but I can't wait for next week's venture into South Africa -- and if I'm good, I'll actually blog about that a little sooner after the event (it doesn't make it easier to remember things!)

On to the evening. We started with a lovely warm brie with ham and parsley and pinot noir. Now in full disclosure, the Pinot was from California. Unfortunately, the person assigned to bring it wasn't able to attend at the last minute and so our lovely hostess suplemented, but her only Pinot was a California treat. It was a very smooth sip and was just the right light flavor with the appetizer. It's definitely one that goes well with cheese or if you need a gentle glass on its own.



The next course was a greek salad paired with Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc. The wine had a lovely burst of grapefruit and was very light. It was a nice combination with the salad and a really good course after the cheesy wonder we had just enjoyed. At first I was nervous that the grapefruit notes would contrast with the acid in the tomato, but they counteracted. If there hadn't been snow on the ground, I would think I was having a nice light summer lunch. Cupcake is rather recognizable and I have had some of their other wines. I think it's all been pretty palattable, especially if you don't want to drop a lot of money on a wine. It's not going to win any awards, but it's not embarassing or nasty, either.

We moved to a heavier wine for our next course which was a meltable blend of avocado,shrimp and lobster. The Virgin Chardonnay was buttery, with extra depth and definitely a rich finish. It went well with the pairing (butter with seafood - I guess it could be called a no brainer.) I'm not sure it's something I would purchase on again, as there are other countries who can definitely do a Chardonnay better.

The next course brought the wine that most often comes to mind when one thinks of Australia.

The Nine Stones Shiraz was definitely a dry wine with lots of pepper and very jammy. It was a pretty standard Shiraz, or at least pretty standard based on my experience. It went nicely with the pulled pork that was spiced and was a Thai pulled pork recipe (frankly, I could have just eaten the sandwich and spared the wine!)

From there we went to a three cheese course and tried a Sparkling Shiraz. This was even more peppery than the first Shiraz. And it was at the extreme level of effervescent. It was so dry that when you took a sip, it was almost like you were just drinking foam. It was appropriately chilled, so I'm not sure why it was so crazy, but I think we definitely agreed it was the bomb of the evening. The cheese course, well, you really can't go wrong with cheese.

The evening ended with a yummy cheesecake and a very sweet, raisiny Semillion. It was very smooth and probably could have just been dessert on its own. However, if you are not a fan of the very sweet dessert wine, then I would recommend you pass, because this was truly a sweet, sweet wine.

All in all, another successful journey to a new place in the world and another good time with friends, good wine and great food! It's amazing that I've still been able to lose weight and enjoy this club once a month!

Oh, Santa Man

Okay, first of many blogs I owe you. We took our annual trip to Macy's Santaland. It's a tradition we started when K was a baby and have kept it going. They used to change the display and have it reflect a different story, but they decided three years ago to just continue with the same show. (My guess is they no longer wanted to fund it, but realized it makes decent money and there are suckers like us who will come every year because it becomes a tradition ...)

Anyhoo, so this was K's fifth trip and he pretty much knew what to expect. So, I was really excited to see how O would react. (K's first year ... he fell asleep in his stroller as we walked through the display, but we got a fantastic picture of him smiling on Santa's lap (and at 8 months old ... that is not an easy feat.) O was getting a little drowsy walking through the display (it is dark ... and the luxury of a stroller just begs for a nap!) Then, as we rounded the corner before Santa ... K's excitement made sure everyone was awake.

Fortunately, the line moved quickly (D attributes this to the fact that he thinks they had two Santas set up. I wasn't paying attention when we walked in, but the fact that there were two photo stations at the end ... well, he might be right.) K immediately knew what to do and just made himself comfortable on Santa's lap. We braced ourselves as D handed O over to the man with the white beard. I think we both held our breathe. O gave us a look that clearly said, "What in the hell are you people doing?" But then K put on some magical charm and D and I cheered from the sidelines and we got a megawatt smile.

K then continued to chat up the old man for a few minutes. I couldn't hear everything they said, but when Santa asked what his favorite part of Christmas was, my heart melted when he responded that he'd get to see his cousins who were flying in from Pennsylvania.

Of course, when it came time to pick our overpriced picture ... we went with the one with O's first face ... it's just more memorable! And yes, we pay for the overpriced picture, because now we have five fantastic pictures that display the passing of time. (Of course, Santa looks a little different every year, but we're more interested in watching how our little men change over time.) I asked D if he thought the boys would humor us when they are sixteen and twelve and still get their pictures taken. His response ... they'd better (yeah, he's more sentimental than he wants to admit.)

We ended the trip with a stop at Mrs. Clauses' Bakery where D got the world's biggest coconut macaroon, I chose a fantastic giant sugar cookie and K selected a giant rice krispie bar with frosting. Yummy treats for all.

The best part of the day, however, was when we were driving back home. We asked K what he asked Santa for (because we couldn't hear him when it came to that question.) and his response: "You know, Santa's breathe smelled like barbecue." D and I laughed so hard. The kid is a pure genius - and I know he's training his little bro in his ways.

Whirlwind going on

I have a million things to post about ... my last wine club, the two books I just finished reading that I can cross of the major list ... O's first trip to meet Santa. I will definitely try to take time this weekend and create a few fantastic posts!

Dragon in the Backyard

Life is a bit crazy right now. With the wedding of the century (my sister's) just under a week away and all holiday festivities already starting, I must say, time is getting away from me. So, it's taken me two weeks to share this story about my dorky husband.

Two weeks ago, one evening after D put O to bed, he came running down the stairs. "You will not believe what I just saw!!" He looked at K and I with big eyes. "There was this huge lizard in our back yard and it crawled into the big hole behind our garage." Then, he indicated with his hand gestures that this lizard was apparently five feet long and two feet wide.

My reaction, of course, was "What hole?" 

"You know, the hole in the ground behind the garage." I was not aware that such a hole existed. "It was huge, like a Komodo Dragon." I shook my head. Since it was already dark out, I had no intention of investigating said creature or verifying the existence of the hole.

Later that week, when I actually got home early enough for the sun to still be out, I went to go find the hole.  I saw nothing. I searched and searched. (Okay, granted I kept a little distance since I didn't want some rare monster attacking me from the depths of the earth.) D never saw it again. Then, last weekend we got a huge dumping of snow, so figure that the monster is now hidden in the earth for the winter or it was just a figment of D's imagination. (You can probably guess which one I think is the most likely story.)

It's feeling a lot like September

The weather has been crazy here - it's too warm. I think it's hindering my easing into a fa-la-la fall and holiday season. Must achieve seasonal readiness this weekend, because it's officially my last weekend without a major event or holiday preparation for the REST OF THE YEAR! Okay, now that I wrote that out ... I think I feel a little better.

A South American Adventure

I finally downloaded the pictures from October's wine club ... which means it's time to share. October was all about Chile and Argentina - and I happened to be hosting the little venture this month. I have to admit, it was a little harder to pull together a course menu, but thanks to Bon Appétit and Food & Wine, it was still possible!

The first course was banana black bean empañadas paired with a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.  

The empañadas were delicious - the tiny hint of banana provided just the right amount of sweetness and the dry Sauvignon Blanc was the perfect compliment. This was a very dry Sauvignon Blanc and definitely had a hint of citrus common to most other Sauvignon Blancs that I've enjoyed. While it wasn't my favorite, it will do in a pinch and was actually a decent white for a cool fall evening.

Our second course was a bean, corn and squash stew paired with a Chilean Chardonnay.

This was a fantastic fall stew. A very hefty stew, but also a very healthy treat. The layering of flavors will make any fan of squash soups very happy. The Casa Chardonnay was, however, my least favorite wine of the evening. To be fair, I'm not a big fan of Chardonnay in general ... but this one really did disappoint. I found it heavy on the lime notes, and just a little too oaky for my tastes.

The third course delivered a surprise for the evening and introduced me to a whole new wine.  We enjoyed a



quinoa, artichoke and hearts of palm salad paired with a Torrontes from Argentina.

The crisp, clean flavors of the grain salad were just what we needed to cleanse our palates halfway through the meal ... and the Torrontes! It was like the perfect blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier - spicy, fruity, floral goodness. It was new and definitely one I will return to again and again. It is a perfect wine to sip if you just want to unwind and relax. My favorite of the entire evening.

Our fourth course was a lovely, but very rich spinach cannelloni with bacon and walnuts paired with a Malbec.

Both were rich and hearty and definitely signaled the meal was coming to an end. The cannelloni was so delicious, that I will have to keep it in my arsenal for a cold evening meal - because it definitely warmed you to the bone and was really satisfying. The Malbec paired very nicely with the dish. Overall, it was a decent malbec that definitely represented its blackberry profiles, but the food elevated its flavors making it more memorable.

We finished the evening with a red wine merengue and custard sauce made and paired with a Carménère.

The merengue melted in your mouth and making it with the Carménère was the best idea. It was such a good ending to the whole affair. The dessert was light and airy and made you feel a little less heavy from the four earlier courses. This Chilean wine is a perfect spicy fall wine, when the air is crisp and you need something to take the edge of the cold off. I highly recommend it as a stand in for a Zin during tailgating!

Oh, Sinuses - Really?

I am cursed. Cursed with horrid sinuses. Earlier this week, I was hit with a monstrosity of a cold - sore throat, plugged ears, fatigue. It was disgusting. Now it's migrating all too my sinuses. Every year, I get hit with this sinus cold - borderline infection catastrophe. It's unfair. I pray my boys don't get hit with the same thing.

Secret Smiles

Somewhere along the line, I truly became an old lady. If you define an old lady as someone who prefers talk radio over music radio. There's a local radio station called. My Talk 107.1 and I just love it. Every chance I can, I try to listen to it. And I realized something the other day as I was listening to it on my way home ... it makes me smile and sometimes I don't even notice it until I question why my cheeks are pulled up. I probably look like a crazy woman to anyone who looks at me. I don't care. There talk about hot topics, cheesy topics, good food, shopping and trends and sometimes just trashy gossip.

It's just what I need to start my day and end it after a hectic day at work. It's mindless and thought-provoking at the same time (well ... sometimes it's thought-provoking!).

And of course, I must shout out Happy Halloween! It's O's first Halloween and we'll do our usually gig and trek it down to the MN Zoo for their members-only event. We like that this is a somewhat limited event (less crowded than Zoo Boo) and is inside for the most part and not so scary for the kids. It's also fun because you get to do a ton of costume watching -- more than if you were just trick-or-treating in your neighborhood.

K woke up so excited for today, so we'll watch a bunch of cheesy, non-scary Halloween movies (Thank you Disney channel and ABC Family) and then get ready to go for the evening. Yes, the holiday season officially kicks off with Halloween and I am so pumped!!

October - where have you been going?

Okay, I don't know why it's so crazy busy right now that I can rarely find the time to hop on this blog and post something. But alas, apparently, it's crazy busy.

The exodus has started at work, we've lost three PR managers and a senior specialist in the last month. I anticipated it happening at some point after the reorg, and so I'm not surprised the momentum has started to pick up. It will be fascinating to see how the rest of the year plays out. Of course, this is the time for performance reviews. I get to give a total of six next week. I know, you're jealous aren't you? They should all go well, at least, I'm assuming they will.

We had our first parent conferences with K's preschool teacher. He's academically brilliant (no surprise there) but when it comes to social skills. Well, he's a tad bit bossy and dominating. Yeah, no surprise there either. Of course, now that parents have met each other, D is relegated to a few afternoon play dates. (And I owe an email to a mother of another young kid to set up one with K, yet.) It's a lot of pressure having children.

I'm hosting wine club tomorrow - the flavors of Chile and Argentina -so I'll definitely post after that and share how the evening goes!

Good Writing

What is good writing? As part of my profession, I'm expected to write a lot. And being in the lovely sector of front line management, I am expected to critique others writing. This is, of course, expected of everyone at my level or at a higher level. So, I find it quite delightful when the topic surrounds who is a good or great writer and who needs to improve. And now that I am finally diving into reading my 1001 books, I find the topic even more humorous. The first book I decided to tackle was The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

This is supposed to be good writing. However, if I were to write like Mr. Bunyan, I can guarantee I would be called a terrible writer with much improvement needed. So, how objectively can we judge writing. Is it based on the pure grammatical notions. (That does not appear to be the case because we have a former English teacher in our department and oftentimes he is in disagreement with the grammar rules our superiors are following ... so what gives?) So if what accounts for good writing is truly subjective, then how are we fairly and accurately assessing people's writing abilities?

This is a tough call, and one I have to deal with on a daily basis. Because I also am from the school of thought that there are many ways to write one good sentence. (This believe is not followed by everyone, as there are many who feel their way is the only way.) I wonder how many times I will ponder this as I read these books.

And while The Pilgrim's Progress is a little hard to follow at times, the imagery is splendid and the story is quite good. I can imagine it being read out loud to a church and being used as a way to get people to follow the laws of Christianity. So, even though the writing is quite difficult, I don't argue its place on the list.

Showering One with Love

This weekend was the entry into a busy next two months. The first shower for my sister's wedding was at my house this weekend. The theme was desserts and we had lots of yummy treats. Fortunately my younger sister and my two cousins really helped ensure the event went off with a hitch. The menu was amazing, if I do say so myself. It was a lot of delicious autumnal flavors.

There were mini gingerbread cupcakes with pumpkin frosting. Just the right bite of gingerbread. K said they were the best cupcakes he had ever tasted (not sure if I agree ... but I'll go with it.)

 Next up was the triple cookie delight. I did not make any of the cookies, my cousins and sister did ... but they all tasted delicious. The french macaroons were unbelievable, the earl grey shortbread were a nice savory treat and the chocolate hazelnut crinkles melted in your mouth!

We also served pumpkin caramel bars with a special secret ingredient ... bacon. Yes, that's bacon crumbled on the top. It was unlike anything else ... and it's definitely true what they say about bacon!

We also had an unbeatable spiced pumpkin mousse. This was a labor of love, but definitely worth it in the end. And they were so rich, I served them in mini cups - just big enough to get a satisfying taste. And to wash it all down ... a special autumn punch (pineapple juice, pom juice and ginger ale ... who knew? It was a fantastic combination!)

 

As for the shower itself, there was a moment at the beginning when I got really nervous because I could tell we weren't people who necessarily had a lot to say to each other ... but after asking my sister to share how they met and then with me reading their engagement story ... the tension broke and we all just had fun. I think it was hard for my aunts because they didn't have anything to do. My cousins, sister and I had everything already perfectly out and everything was under control. It was like a very quick turn of the generations. I think it was a little unnerving for them. And then I sent them off with their favors ... handmade, by yours truly ... cake pops. It was a delicate way to end the dessert shower with a touch of elegance. (Oh, did I forget to mention ... I dropped them when I was bringing them up. Most survived the aftermath ... but the ones that didn't ... it was enough to break my heart!

Alas, time for the next venture!

Irritability

A case of the Mondays is probably pleasant compared to the case of the irritabilities that always infuse through my core in the morning as I entered my office building. It could be that I have been here for ten years and the shiny veneer really has worn off. It could be that personal space apparently disappears once you swipe your badge and walk through the lobby. It could be that the newer generation is just so self-absorbed that they have no clue about common etiquette. It could be a variety of things.

My morning routine is pretty much the same thing every morning. I walk through the elevator bank to stop and get some hot water for tea and cold water for hydration, plus a few plastic utensils to get me through my day of food consumption. Today … there were only the small hot cups. Alas, I was not going to walk back to the coffee station to grab a large cup (because for paying customers, there are always both sizes available.) So I decided to forgo the hot water for my tea this morning. On to get the cold water cup. Here’s where personal space is about a half millimeter. As I am trying to get my cup, there is a six foot behemoth hovering right behind me. So, I quickly grab my cup, top and straw and walk to one of the two ice machines. There is no ice. Well, there’s like one cube.

So, I meticulously try to watch for the other machine to free up as I am praying ice will come down. It doesn’t, and again, someone else hovers right on me. I can feel their breath down my back, I swear. Hence, I just decide to leave (and forget to grab my utensils!!) I make it back to the elevator bank … and it’s like the elevators never come. Apparently, every elevator is in use, or they forgot to turn all the elevators on (probably the latter.) The lobby starts to get crowded and finally two elevators arrive. Right as the doors start to close, a snarky young pup hits the button so the doors open and he hops on. Then three more people hop on. Maybe of the five people who were already on the elevator I was the only one who was annoyed, but seriously, people!!! Your inconsiderateness has now delayed me getting to my desk by another five minutes.

Yeah … I think the veneer has definitely worn off.

Reflecting on a Decade

A lot can happen in ten years. A fair share of good and bad, emotionally draining and intellectually stimulating. Next week, I will have officially reached my ten-year anniversary at the Big Company. I've seen a lot change while I've been there. I've sustained a career through multiple reorgs, business unit changes and had a decent upward trajectory. I've met a lot of really great people and built some great friendships. I've learned a whole heck of a lot. I also met my husband ten years ago (because I met him at work ...) That has also been a ride with its ups and downs as any decade long relationship would experience.

Ten years ... I don't know what to say (or should I write type?) My mind is on super-reflective mode lately in many arenas. When I was a young girl of 22 what aspirations did I set and what have I achieved in comparison? I will say that the one thing I hadn't planned on has been the greatest experience of my life ... and they are my two little boys. I could never have guessed how much happiness they bring to me. Granted, they also bring some of the pain and frustration, but in the end it is definitely worth it.

The rest ... I'm still pondering. Still deciding how I am feeling. I'm usually a pretty self-aware person, knowing what I am thinking and what direction I want to take next. (And usually, when I set an internal goal, I've had a strong track record.) There are certain venoms and toxicities that are infiltrating every nook and cranny and I don't know if I know the right "cleaner" to come in and fix the mess. Probably, because that cleaner should be me ... and I'm at a loss for direction and inspiration. I'm hoping the clean crisp air of the fall -- my favorite time of year -- will set me on the right course. As a certain not-so-melodic artist once said ... I'm hoping, my friends, that the answer is blowin' in the wind.

Sorry, don't mean to go all melodramatic ... I think I just need to put on a little Ani DiFranco and chill or some, dare I say it, Lady Gaga and "dance it out."

Yummy Dialect

Right now I'm reading Tana French's new novel The Faithful Place. No, it's not on my 1001 list, but I want to get through all the new releases in my library queue first. And well ... it's just yummy. Tana's first book really pissed me off. For anyone who knows me, you know I need some closure. And the book was gripping and had lots of twists and a compelling plot ... but one of the biggest mysteries was never solved. It aggravated me to no end. But I enjoyed reading it so much ... that I decided to give her second book a shot. And. I. Loved. It. I'm not a huge mystery thriller reader, but if it's well written, then I am all gung ho.

Her latest book is full of such delicious Irish slang and when you read the dialogue, your mind just starts exploding with the sounds of the characters talking. Seriously, if people wouldn't think I was completely crazy, I'd read the book out-loud on the bus, because I think it would be such fun. There's just something about a book that is fun to read. I had a conversation with my mother-in-law this past weekend that hit it on the head. There are two types of books that I will read. 1)A book that is fabulously written, and just devouring the words is a journey. and 2)A book that has a kick-arse story. (Like, I hate to admit I read the Twilight series, because it is very poorly written ... but the story was addicting and I really wanted to know what would happen to Bella and Edward and Jacob.) Now if you can find a book that happens to combine 1 and 2 ... you've hit the jackpot. And for me, Tana's books have done just that. And in her second book, there was lots of closure.

The other clever thing she's done with her books is tie them together by being about the Dublin Murder Squad. The main character for each book has been different, but the main character has always been an important sub-character from the previous book. So, it's neat. You have someone else's perspective about this character helping color your perceptions and then you read a story told from their perspective and even more mysteries are unlocked. It's inspirational, fun and keeps you on the edge of your seat. What more could I ask for in a hardcover package?

Labor Day and Fair Fun

This past weekend was obnoxiously busy. There's no other way to explain how crazy busy it was. We went to the fair on Friday and I had a little bit of this and a little bit of that. My favorite was the chocolate, banana, marshmallow sandwich. If there was such a thing as true food of the gods -- this frankly would be it. It melted in your mouth and sung like pure perfection. We all got a lot of sun, a decent amount of grease and my favorite honey candy! I wished we could have walked around and looked at some of the buildings, but when you have ten people together, it's a lot of waiting and more waiting (especially when four of the ten are children!)

We also stopped and saw a new building this year that showcased a friend from high school and an acting gig he has. It's for children, and is called Choo Choo Bob. I hadn't seen him in probably ten years, and we didn't really have time to catch up. (Clearly, actors on children's shows are very popular and he had quite the fan base waiting for him.) So, I briefly got to introduce him to my own group and that was about it. I think he shook hands with D. It would have been nice to have actually had a conversation, but when you're dealing with celebrity, I guess you take what you can.

Of course, our festivities didn't end at the fair, we had to scrunch in as much family time as we could with our PA crew since they were in town only for the weekend. K loves hanging out with his cousins so much. Seriously, I've looked for career opportunities in Harrisburg now just to see if there would be any potential of moving out there so the kids could be close. (Alas, not much in the way of needing Communications experts in Harrisburg for the time being.)

It is officially fall, and I'm so excited. The air is crisp and soon the leaves will turn! I could not be more excited to pull out the sweaters, drink hot cocoa and stuff my face with pumpkin everything!!!

Adieu August

First and foremost, it's my baby sister's birthday. She who is eight years my junior and still at a delightful time in her life of carving out careless new adventures and plotting everything out. So, happy birthday, girlie!

I cannot believe it's the last day of August. That tomorrow we enter September ... the beginning of the greatest season of all. I have yet to make my annual pilgrimage to the State Fair. I'll be doing it in the company of quite a few of my in-laws. We'll see how it goes. D and I both know that for events like this, we tend to fair best when we are on our own then with either family extension. We just have a certain way we like to do things ... our own unique pattern ... and in our efforts to make sure everyone else enjoys themselves ... we tend to get passive aggressive and in the end only we suffer.

I need to get my mid-year review done and turn it in tomorrow. It's hard to analyze what my performance has been for the past six months because a)  I was on leave for the first part and b) then we underwent a massive reorg and I spent the first few weeks of the reorg determining the next mini-reorg that would better situate my team. I am sure that I can write out on paper that I've accomplished a lot the first half of the year ... but I'm always more critical of myself and question how much have I actually accomplished. I need to get better at selling myself.

1001 Books I Want To Read Before I Die

At the library today, I came across the reference book 1001 Books To Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall (okay, he's the editor).  And I thought, hmmm, that might be an interesting goal to try to achieve. I love lists, and I love crossing things off lists even more. So here it goes ... I'm going to see just how far I can get on this master list. Of course, there are a few I already have the pleasure of crossing off, but only 30! I am sure there are some on the list that might surprise you I haven't read. What did/or didn't surprise me, was how many have been made into movies. But I won't take the cliff's note track. I'll see how many I actually can find and read. And if I find any truly amazing, I'll let you know!

2000s
1.Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
2.Saturday – Ian McEwan
3.On Beauty – Zadie Smith
4.Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
5.Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
6.The Sea – John Banville
7.The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
8.The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
9.The Master – Colm Tóibín
10.Vanishing Point – David Markson
11.The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
12.Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
13.Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
14.Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
15.The Colour – Rose Tremain
16.Thursbitch – Alan Garner
17.The Light of Day – Graham Swift
18.What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
19.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
20.Islands – Dan Sleigh
21.Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
22.London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
23.Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
24.Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
25.The Double – José Saramago
26.Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
27.Unless – Carol Shields
28.Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
29.The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
30.That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern
31.In the Forest – Edna O’Brien
32.Shroud – John Banville
33.Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
34.Youth – J.M. Coetzee
35.Dead Air – Iain Banks
36.Nowhere Man – Aleksandar Hemon
37.The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster
38.Gabriel’s Gift – Hanif Kureishi
39.Austerlitz – W.G. Sebald
40.Platform – Michael Houellebecq
41.Schooling – Heather McGowan
42.Atonement – Ian McEwan
43.The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
44.Don’t Move – Margaret Mazzantini
45.The Body Artist – Don DeLillo
46.Fury – Salman Rushdie
47.At Swim, Two Boys – Jamie O’Neill
48.Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
49.Life of Pi – Yann Martel
50.The Feast of the Goat – Mario Vargos Llosa
51.An Obedient Father – Akhil Sharma
52.The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
53.Spring Flowers, Spring Frost – Ismail Kadare
54.White Teeth – Zadie Smith
55.The Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda
56.Under the Skin – Michel Faber
57.Ignorance – Milan Kundera
58.Nineteen Seventy Seven – David Peace
59.Celestial Harmonies – Péter Esterházy
60.City of God – E.L. Doctorow
61.How the Dead Live – Will Self
62.The Human Stain – Philip Roth
63.The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
64.After the Quake – Haruki Murakami
65.Small Remedies – Shashi Deshpande
66.Super-Cannes – J.G. Ballard
67.House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
68.Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates
69.Pastoralia – George Saunders

1900s
70.Timbuktu – Paul Auster
71.The Romantics – Pankaj Mishra
72.Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
73.As If I Am Not There – Slavenka Drakuli?
74.Everything You Need – A.L. Kennedy
75.Fear and Trembling – Amélie Nothomb
76.The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
77.Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee
78.Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
79.Elementary Particles – Michel Houellebecq
80.Intimacy – Hanif Kureishi
81.Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
82.Cloudsplitter – Russell Banks
83.All Souls Day – Cees Nooteboom
84.The Talk of the Town – Ardal O’Hanlon
85.Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
86.The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
87.Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
88.Another World – Pat Barker
89.The Hours – Michael Cunningham
90.Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho
91.Mason & Dixon – Thomas Pynchon
92.The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
93.Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
94.Great Apes – Will Self
95.Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
96.Underworld – Don DeLillo
97.Jack Maggs – Peter Carey
98.The Life of Insects – Victor Pelevin
99.American Pastoral – Philip Roth
100.The Untouchable – John Banville
101.Silk – Alessandro Baricco
102.Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard
103.Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker
104.Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
105.The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
106.Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse
107.Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
108.The Clay Machine-Gun – Victor Pelevin
109.Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
110.The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
111.Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
112.The Information – Martin Amis
113.The Moor’s Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie
114.Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth
115.The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald
116.The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
117.A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
118.Love’s Work – Gillian Rose
119.The End of the Story – Lydia Davis
120.Mr. Vertigo – Paul Auster
121.The Folding Star – Alan Hollinghurst
122.Whatever – Michel Houellebecq
123.Land – Park Kyong-ni
124.The Master of Petersburg – J.M. Coetzee
125.The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
126.Pereira Declares: A Testimony – Antonio Tabucchi
127.City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol
128.How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman
129.Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
130.Felicia’s Journey – William Trevor
131.Disappearance – David Dabydeen
132.The Invention of Curried Sausage – Uwe Timm
133.The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
134.Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh
135.Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
136.Looking for the Possible Dance – A.L. Kennedy
137.Operation Shylock – Philip Roth
138.Complicity – Iain Banks
139.On Love – Alain de Botton
140.What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe
141.A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
142.The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
143.The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
144.The House of Doctor Dee – Peter Ackroyd
145.The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
146.The Emigrants – W.G. Sebald
147.The Secret History – Donna Tartt
148.Life is a Caravanserai – Emine Özdamar
149.The Discovery of Heaven – Harry Mulisch
150.A Heart So White – Javier Marias
151.Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker
152.Indigo – Marina Warner
153.The Crow Road – Iain Banks
154.Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson
155.Jazz – Toni Morrison
156.The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
157.Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg
158.The Butcher Boy – Patrick McCabe
159.Black Water – Joyce Carol Oates
160.The Heather Blazing – Colm Tóibín
161.Asphodel – H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
162.Black Dogs – Ian McEwan
163.Hideous Kinky – Esther Freud
164.Arcadia – Jim Crace
165.Wild Swans – Jung Chang
166.American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
167.Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis
168.Mao II – Don DeLillo
169.Typical – Padgett Powell
170.Regeneration – Pat Barker
171.Downriver – Iain Sinclair
172.Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres
173.Wise Children – Angela Carter
174.Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
175.Amongst Women – John McGahern
176.Vineland – Thomas Pynchon
177.Vertigo – W.G. Sebald
178.Stone Junction – Jim Dodge
179.The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
180.The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
181.A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham
182.Like Life – Lorrie Moore
183.Possession – A.S. Byatt
184.The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi
185.The Midnight Examiner – William Kotzwinkle
186.A Disaffection – James Kelman
187.Sexing the Cherry – Jeanette Winterson
188.Moon Palace – Paul Auster
189.Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow
190.Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
191.The Melancholy of Resistance – László Krasznahorkai
192.The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker
193.The Trick is to Keep Breathing – Janice Galloway
194.The History of the Siege of Lisbon – José Saramago
195.Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
196.A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
197.London Fields – Martin Amis
198.The Book of Evidence – John Banville
199.Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood
200.Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
201.The Beautiful Room is Empty – Edmund White
202.Wittgenstein’s Mistress – David Markson
203.The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
204.The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
205.Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
206.Libra – Don DeLillo
207.The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
208.Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
209.The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
210.Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
211.The Radiant Way – Margaret Drabble
212.The Afternoon of a Writer – Peter Handke
213.The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
214.The Passion – Jeanette Winterson
215.The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind
216.The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
217.Cigarettes – Harry Mathews
218.The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
219.The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
220.World’s End – T. Coraghessan Boyle
221.Enigma of Arrival – V.S. Naipaul
222.The Taebek Mountains – Jo Jung-rae
223.Beloved – Toni Morrison
224.Anagrams – Lorrie Moore
225.Matigari – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
226.Marya – Joyce Carol Oates
227.Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
228.The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
229.Lost Language of Cranes – David Leavitt
230.An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
231.Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
232.Foe – J.M. Coetzee
233.The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
234.Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel
235.The Parable of the Blind – Gert Hofmann
236.Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
237.Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
238.The Cider House Rules – John Irving
239.A Maggot – John Fowles
240.Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
241.Contact – Carl Sagan
242.The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
243.Perfume – Patrick Süskind
244.Old Masters – Thomas Bernhard
245.White Noise – Don DeLillo
246.Queer – William Burroughs
247.Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd
248.Legend – David Gemmell
249.Dictionary of the Khazars – Milorad Pavi?
250.The Bus Conductor Hines – James Kelman
251.The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis – José Saramago
252.The Lover – Marguerite Duras
253.Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard
254.The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
255.Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
256.The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
257.Blood and Guts in High School – Kathy Acker
258.Neuromancer – William Gibson
259.Flaubert’s Parrot – Julian Barnes
260.Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis
261.Shame – Salman Rushdie
262.Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett
263.Fools of Fortune – William Trevor
264.La Brava – Elmore Leonard
265.Waterland – Graham Swift
266.The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
267.The Diary of Jane Somers – Doris Lessing
268.The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
269.The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus
270.If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi
271.A Boy’s Own Story – Edmund White
272.The Color Purple – Alice Walker
273.Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard
274.A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro
275.Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally
276.The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
277.The Newton Letter – John Banville
278.On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin
279.Concrete – Thomas Bernhard
280.The Names – Don DeLillo
281.Rabbit is Rich – John Updike
282.Lanark: A Life in Four Books – Alasdair Gray
283.The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
284.July’s People – Nadine Gordimer
285.Summer in Baden-Baden – Leonid Tsypkin
286.Broken April – Ismail Kadare
287.Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee
288.Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
289.Rites of Passage – William Golding
290.Rituals – Cees Nooteboom
291.Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
292.City Primeval – Elmore Leonard
293.The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
294.The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera
295.Smiley’s People – John Le Carré
296.Shikasta – Doris Lessing
297.A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul
298.Burger’s Daughter - Nadine Gordimer
299.The Safety Net – Heinrich Böll
300.If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
301.The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
302.The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan
303.The World According to Garp – John Irving
304.Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec
305.The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
306.The Singapore Grip – J.G. Farrell
307.Yes – Thomas Bernhard
308.The Virgin in the Garden – A.S. Byatt
309.In the Heart of the Country – J.M. Coetzee
310.The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter
311.Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin
312.The Shining – Stephen King
313.Dispatches – Michael Herr
314.Petals of Blood – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
315.Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
316.The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector
317.The Left-Handed Woman – Peter Handke
318.Ratner’s Star – Don DeLillo
319.The Public Burning – Robert Coover
320.Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
321.Cutter and Bone – Newton Thornburg
322.Amateurs – Donald Barthelme
323.Patterns of Childhood – Christa Wolf
324.Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez
325.W, or the Memory of Childhood – Georges Perec
326.A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell
327.Grimus – Salman Rushdie
328.The Dead Father – Donald Barthelme
329.Fateless – Imre Kertész
330.Willard and His Bowling Trophies – Richard Brautigan
331.High Rise – J.G. Ballard
332.Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow
333.Dead Babies – Martin Amis
334.Correction – Thomas Bernhard
335.Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow
336.The Fan Man – William Kotzwinkle
337.Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee
338.The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Heinrich Böll
339.Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré
340.Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
341.Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
342.A Question of Power – Bessie Head
343.The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell
344.The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Italo Calvino
345.Crash – J.G. Ballard
346.The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene
347.Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
348.The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch
349.Sula – Toni Morrison
350.Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
351.The Breast – Philip Roth
352.The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
353.G – John Berger
354.Surfacing – Margaret Atwood
355.House Mother Normal – B.S. Johnson
356.In A Free State – V.S. Naipaul
357.The Book of Daniel – E.L. Doctorow
358.Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
359.Group Portrait With Lady – Heinrich Böll
360.The Wild Boys – William Burroughs
361.Rabbit Redux – John Updike
362.The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima
363.The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark
364.The Ogre – Michael Tournier
365.The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
366.Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke
367.I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
368.Mercier et Camier – Samuel Beckett
369.Troubles – J.G. Farrell
370.Jahrestage – Uwe Johnson
371.The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard
372.Tent of Miracles – Jorge Amado
373.Pricksongs and Descants – Robert Coover
374.Blind Man With a Pistol – Chester Hines
375.Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
376.The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles
377.The Green Man – Kingsley Amis
378.Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth
379.The Godfather – Mario Puzo
380.Ada – Vladimir Nabokov
381.Them – Joyce Carol Oates
382.A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec
383.Eva Trout – Elizabeth Bowen
384.Myra Breckinridge – Gore Vidal
385.The Nice and the Good – Iris Murdoch
386.Belle du Seigneur – Albert Cohen
387.Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
388.The First Circle – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
389.2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
390.Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
391.Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry
392.The German Lesson – Siegfried Lenz
393.In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan
394.A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines
395.The Quest for Christa T. – Christa Wolf
396.Chocky – John Wyndham
397.The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe
398.The Cubs and Other Stories – Mario Vargas Llosa
399.One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
400.The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
401.Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson
402.The Joke – Milan Kundera
403.No Laughing Matter – Angus Wilson
404.The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien
405.A Man Asleep – Georges Perec
406.The Birds Fall Down – Rebecca West
407.Trawl – B.S. Johnson
408.In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
409.The Magus – John Fowles
410.The Vice-Consul – Marguerite Duras
411.Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
412.Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth
413.The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
414.Things – Georges Perec
415.The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
416.August is a Wicked Month – Edna O’Brien
417.God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
418.Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor
419.The Passion According to G.H. – Clarice Lispector
420.Sometimes a Great Notion – Ken Kesey
421.Come Back, Dr. Caligari – Donald Bartholme
422.Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson
423.Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe
424.The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein – Marguerite Duras
425.Herzog – Saul Bellow
426.V. – Thomas Pynchon
427.Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
428.The Graduate – Charles Webb
429.Manon des Sources – Marcel Pagnol
430.The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré
431.The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark
432.Inside Mr. Enderby – Anthony Burgess
433.The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
434.One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
435.The Collector – John Fowles
436.One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
437.A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
438.Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
439.The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard
440.The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
441.Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges
442.Girl With Green Eyes – Edna O’Brien
443.The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Giorgio Bassani
444.Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
445.Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
446.A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
447.Faces in the Water – Janet Frame
448.Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
449.Cat and Mouse – Günter Grass
450.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
451.Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
452.The Violent Bear it Away – Flannery O’Connor
453.How It Is – Samuel Beckett
454.Our Ancestors – Italo Calvino
455.The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
456.To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
457.Rabbit, Run – John Updike
458.Promise at Dawn – Romain Gary
459.Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
460.Billy Liar – Keith Waterhouse
461.Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
462.The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
463.Absolute Beginners – Colin MacInnes
464.Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow
465.Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
466.Billiards at Half-Past Nine – Heinrich Böll
467.Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
468.The Leopard – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
469.Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring – Kenzaburo Oe
470.A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
471.The Bitter Glass – Eilís Dillon
472.Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
473.Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe
474.Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico
475.Borstal Boy – Brendan Behan
476.The End of the Road – John Barth
477.The Once and Future King – T.H. White
478.The Bell – Iris Murdoch
479.Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet
480.Voss – Patrick White
481.The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
482.Blue Noon – Georges Bataille
483.Homo Faber – Max Frisch
484.On the Road – Jack Kerouac
485.Pnin – Vladimir Nabokov
486.Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
487.The Wonderful “O” – James Thurber
488.Justine – Lawrence Durrell
489.Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
490.The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon
491.The Roots of Heaven – Romain Gary
492.Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
493.The Floating Opera – John Barth
494.The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
495.The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
496.Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
497.A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen
498.The Trusting and the Maimed – James Plunkett
499.The Quiet American – Graham Greene
500.The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis
501.The Recognitions – William Gaddis
502.The Ragazzi – Pier Paulo Pasolini
503.Bonjour Tristesse – Françoise Sagan
504.I’m Not Stiller – Max Frisch
505.Self Condemned – Wyndham Lewis
506.The Story of O – Pauline Réage
507.A Ghost at Noon – Alberto Moravia
508.Lord of the Flies – William Golding
509.Under the Net – Iris Murdoch
510.The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley
511.The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
512.The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett
513.Watt – Samuel Beckett
514.Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis
515.Junkie – William Burroughs
516.The Adventures of Augie March – Saul Bellow
517.Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin
518.Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
519.The Judge and His Hangman – Friedrich Dürrenmatt
520.Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
521.The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
522.Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor
523.The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson
524.Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
525.Malone Dies – Samuel Beckett
526.Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
527.Foundation – Isaac Asimov
528.The Opposing Shore – Julien Gracq
529.The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
530.The Rebel – Albert Camus
531.Molloy – Samuel Beckett
532.The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
533.The Abbot C – Georges Bataille
534.The Labyrinth of Solitude – Octavio Paz
535.The Third Man – Graham Greene
536.The 13 Clocks – James Thurber
537.Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake
538.The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing
539.I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
540.The Moon and the Bonfires – Cesare Pavese
541.The Garden Where the Brass Band Played – Simon Vestdijk
542.Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford
543.The Case of Comrade Tulayev – Victor Serge
544.The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen
545.Kingdom of This World – Alejo Carpentier
546.The Man With the Golden Arm – Nelson Algren
547.Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
548.All About H. Hatterr – G.V. Desani
549.Disobedience – Alberto Moravia
550.Death Sentence – Maurice Blanchot
551.The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene
552.Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
553.Doctor Faustus – Thomas Mann
554.The Victim – Saul Bellow
555.Exercises in Style – Raymond Queneau
556.If This Is a Man – Primo Levi
557.Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry
558.The Path to the Nest of Spiders – Italo Calvino
559.The Plague – Albert Camus
560.Back – Henry Green
561.Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake
562.The Bridge on the Drina – Ivo Andri?
563.Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
564.Animal Farm – George Orwell
565.Cannery Row – John Steinbeck
566.The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford
567.Loving – Henry Green
568.Arcanum 17 – André Breton
569.Christ Stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi
570.The Razor’s Edge – William Somerset Maugham
571.Transit – Anna Seghers
572.Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges
573.Dangling Man – Saul Bellow
574.The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
575.Caught – Henry Green
576.The Glass Bead Game – Herman Hesse
577.Embers – Sandor Marai
578.Go Down, Moses – William Faulkner
579.The Outsider – Albert Camus
580.In Sicily – Elio Vittorini
581.The Poor Mouth – Flann O’Brien
582.The Living and the Dead – Patrick White
583.Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton
584.Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf
585.The Hamlet – William Faulkner
586.Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler
587.For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
588.Native Son – Richard Wright
589.The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
590.The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati
591.Party Going – Henry Green
592.The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
593.Finnegans Wake – James Joyce
594.At Swim-Two-Birds – Flann O’Brien
595.Coming Up for Air – George Orwell
596.Goodbye to Berlin – Christopher Isherwood
597.Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller
598.Good Morning, Midnight – Jean Rhys
599.The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
600.After the Death of Don Juan – Sylvie Townsend Warner
601.Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
602.Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre
603.Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
604.Cause for Alarm – Eric Ambler
605.Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
606.U.S.A. – John Dos Passos
607.Murphy – Samuel Beckett
608.Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
609.Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
610.The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
611.The Years – Virginia Woolf
612.In Parenthesis – David Jones
613.The Revenge for Love – Wyndham Lewis
614.Out of Africa – Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)
615.To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
616.Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner
617.Eyeless in Gaza – Aldous Huxley
618.The Thinking Reed – Rebecca West
619.Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
620.Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
621.Wild Harbour – Ian MacPherson
622.Absalom, Absalom! – William Faulkner
623.At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
624.Nightwood – Djuna Barnes
625.Independent People – Halldór Laxness
626.Auto-da-Fé – Elias Canetti
627.The Last of Mr. Norris – Christopher Isherwood
628.They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – Horace McCoy
629.The House in Paris – Elizabeth Bowen
630.England Made Me – Graham Greene
631.Burmese Days – George Orwell
632.The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L. Sayers
633.Threepenny Novel – Bertolt Brecht
634.Novel With Cocaine – M. Ageyev
635.The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M. Cain
636.Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
637.A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
638.Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
639.Thank You, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse
640.Call it Sleep – Henry Roth
641.Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West
642.Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers
643.The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
644.Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain
645.A Day Off – Storm Jameson
646.The Man Without Qualities – Robert Musil
647.A Scots Quair (Sunset Song) – Lewis Grassic Gibbon
648.Journey to the End of the Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline
649.Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
650.Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
651.To the North – Elizabeth Bowen
652.The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett
653.The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth
654.The Waves – Virginia Woolf
655.The Glass Key – Dashiell Hammett
656.Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham
657.The Apes of God – Wyndham Lewis
658.Her Privates We – Frederic Manning
659.Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh
660.The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett
661.Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico
662.Passing – Nella Larsen
663.A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
664.Red Harvest – Dashiell Hammett
665.Living – Henry Green
666.The Time of Indifference – Alberto Moravia
667.All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
668.Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin
669.The Last September – Elizabeth Bowen
670.Harriet Hume – Rebecca West
671.The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
672.Les Enfants Terribles – Jean Cocteau
673.Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe
674.Story of the Eye – Georges Bataille
675.Orlando – Virginia Woolf
676.Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence
677.The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall
678.The Childermass – Wyndham Lewis
679.Quartet – Jean Rhys
680.Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
681.Quicksand – Nella Larsen
682.Parade’s End – Ford Madox Ford
683.Nadja – André Breton
684.Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
685.Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust
686.To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
687.Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson
688.Amerika – Franz Kafka
689.The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
690.Blindness – Henry Green
691.The Castle – Franz Kafka
692.The Good Soldier Švejk – Jaroslav Hašek
693.The Plumed Serpent – D.H. Lawrence
694.One, None and a Hundred Thousand – Luigi Pirandello
695.The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
696.The Making of Americans – Gertrude Stein
697.Manhattan Transfer – John Dos Passos
698.Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
699.The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
700.The Counterfeiters – André Gide
701.The Trial – Franz Kafka
702.The Artamonov Business – Maxim Gorky
703.The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
704.Billy Budd, Foretopman – Herman Melville
705.The Green Hat – Michael Arlen
706.The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann
707.We – Yevgeny Zamyatin
708.A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
709.The Devil in the Flesh – Raymond Radiguet
710.Zeno’s Conscience – Italo Svevo
711.Cane – Jean Toomer
712.Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley
713.Amok – Stefan Zweig
714.The Garden Party – Katherine Mansfield
715.The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings
716.Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf
717.Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
718.The Glimpses of the Moon – Edith Wharton
719.Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair
720.The Last Days of Humanity – Karl Kraus
721.Aaron’s Rod – D.H. Lawrence
722.Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis
723.Ulysses – James Joyce
724.The Fox – D.H. Lawrence
725.Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley
726.The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
727.Main Street – Sinclair Lewis
728.Women in Love – D.H. Lawrence
729.Night and Day – Virginia Woolf
730.Tarr – Wyndham Lewis
731.The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West
732.The Shadow Line – Joseph Conrad
733.Summer – Edith Wharton
734.Growth of the Soil – Knut Hamsen
735.Bunner Sisters – Edith Wharton
736.A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
737.Under Fire – Henri Barbusse
738.Rashomon – Akutagawa Ryunosuke
739.The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
740.The Voyage Out – Virginia Woolf
741.Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham
742.The Rainbow – D.H. Lawrence
743.The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
744.Kokoro – Natsume Soseki
745.Locus Solus – Raymond Roussel
746.Rosshalde – Herman Hesse
747.Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
748.The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell
749.Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
750.Death in Venice – Thomas Mann
751.The Charwoman’s Daughter – James Stephens
752.Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
753.Fantômas – Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre
754.Howards End – E.M. Forster
755.Impressions of Africa – Raymond Roussel
756.Three Lives – Gertrude Stein
757.Martin Eden – Jack London
758.Strait is the Gate – André Gide
759.Tono-Bungay – H.G. Wells
760.The Inferno – Henri Barbusse
761.A Room With a View – E.M. Forster
762.The Iron Heel – Jack London
763.The Old Wives’ Tale – Arnold Bennett
764.The House on the Borderland – William Hope Hodgson
765.Mother – Maxim Gorky
766.The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
767.The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
768.Young Törless – Robert Musil
769.The Forsyte Sage – John Galsworthy
770.The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
771.Professor Unrat – Heinrich Mann
772.Where Angels Fear to Tread – E.M. Forster
773.Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
774.Hadrian the Seventh – Frederick Rolfe
775.The Golden Bowl – Henry James
776.The Ambassadors – Henry James
777.The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers
778.The Immoralist – André Gide
779.The Wings of the Dove – Henry James
780.Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
781.The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
782.Buddenbrooks – Thomas Mann
783.Kim – Rudyard Kipling
784.Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
785.Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad

1800s
786.Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. – Somerville and Ross
787.The Stechlin – Theodore Fontane
788.The Awakening – Kate Chopin
789.The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
790.The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
791.The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
792.What Maisie Knew – Henry James
793.Fruits of the Earth – André Gide
794.Dracula – Bram Stoker
795.Quo Vadis – Henryk Sienkiewicz
796.The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells
797.The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
798.Effi Briest – Theodore Fontane
799.Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
800.The Real Charlotte – Somerville and Ross
801.The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
802.Born in Exile – George Gissing
803.Diary of a Nobody – George & Weedon Grossmith
804.The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
805.News from Nowhere – William Morris
806.New Grub Street – George Gissing
807.Gösta Berling’s Saga – Selma Lagerlöf
808.Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
809.The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
810.The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy
811.La Bête Humaine – Émile Zola
812.By the Open Sea – August Strindberg
813.Hunger – Knut Hamsun
814.The Master of Ballantrae – Robert Louis Stevenson
815.Pierre and Jean – Guy de Maupassant
816.Fortunata and Jacinta – Benito Pérez Galdés
817.The People of Hemsö – August Strindberg
818.The Woodlanders – Thomas Hardy
819.She – H. Rider Haggard
820.The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
821.The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
822.Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
823.King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
824.Germinal – Émile Zola
825.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
826.Bel-Ami – Guy de Maupassant
827.Marius the Epicurean – Walter Pater
828.Against the Grain – Joris-Karl Huysmans
829.The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
830.A Woman’s Life – Guy de Maupassant
831.Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
832.The House by the Medlar Tree – Giovanni Verga
833.The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James
834.Bouvard and Pécuchet – Gustave Flaubert
835.Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace
836.Nana – Émile Zola
837.The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
838.The Red Room – August Strindberg
839.Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
840.Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
841.Drunkard – Émile Zola
842.Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev
843.Daniel Deronda – George Eliot
844.The Hand of Ethelberta – Thomas Hardy
845.The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert
846.Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
847.The Enchanted Wanderer – Nicolai Leskov
848.Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
849.In a Glass Darkly – Sheridan Le Fanu
850.The Devils – Fyodor Dostoevsky
851.Erewhon – Samuel Butler
852.Spring Torrents – Ivan Turgenev
853.Middlemarch – George Eliot
854.Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
855.King Lear of the Steppes – Ivan Turgenev
856.He Knew He Was Right – Anthony Trollope
857.War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
858.Sentimental Education – Gustave Flaubert
859.Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope
860.Maldoror – Comte de Lautréaumont
861.The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
862.The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
863.Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
864.Thérèse Raquin – Émile Zola
865.The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope
866.Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
867.Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
868.Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
869.Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens
870.Uncle Silas – Sheridan Le Fanu
871.Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
872.The Water-Babies – Charles Kingsley
873.Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
874.Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
875.Silas Marner – George Eliot
876.Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
877.On the Eve – Ivan Turgenev
878.Castle Richmond – Anthony Trollope
879.The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
880.The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
881.The Marble Faun – Nathaniel Hawthorne
882.Max Havelaar – Multatuli
883.A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
884.Oblomovka – Ivan Goncharov
885.Adam Bede – George Eliot
886.Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
887.North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
888.Hard Times – Charles Dickens
889.Walden – Henry David Thoreau
890.Bleak House – Charles Dickens
891.Villette – Charlotte Brontë
892.Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
893.Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
894.The Blithedale Romance – Nathaniel Hawthorne
895.The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne
896.Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
897.The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
898.David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
899.Shirley – Charlotte Brontë
900.Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell
901.The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë
902.Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
903.Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
904.Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
905.Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
906.The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
907.La Reine Margot – Alexandre Dumas
908.The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
909.The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
910.Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens
911.The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
912.Lost Illusions – Honoré de Balzac
913.A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
914.Dead Souls – Nikolay Gogol
915.The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal
916.The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
917.The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens
918.Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
919.The Nose – Nikolay Gogol
920.Le Père Goriot – Honoré de Balzac
921.Eugénie Grandet – Honoré de Balzac
922.The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
923.The Red and the Black – Stendhal
924.The Betrothed – Alessandro Manzoni
925.Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
926.The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner – James Hogg
927.The Albigenses – Charles Robert Maturin
928.Melmoth the Wanderer – Charles Robert Maturin
929.The Monastery – Sir Walter Scott
930.Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
931.Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
932.Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
933.Persuasion – Jane Austen
934.Ormond – Maria Edgeworth
935.Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott
936.Emma – Jane Austen
937.Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
938.Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
939.The Absentee – Maria Edgeworth
940.Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
941.Elective Affinities – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
942.Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth

1700s
943.Hyperion – Friedrich Hölderlin
944.The Nun – Denis Diderot
945.Camilla – Fanny Burney
946.The Monk – M.G. Lewis
947.Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
948.The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe
949.The Interesting Narrative – Olaudah Equiano
950.The Adventures of Caleb Williams – William Godwin
951.Justine – Marquis de Sade
952.Vathek – William Beckford
953.The 120 Days of Sodom – Marquis de Sade
954.Cecilia – Fanny Burney
955.Confessions – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
956.Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
957.Reveries of a Solitary Walker – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
958.Evelina – Fanny Burney
959.The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
960.Humphrey Clinker – Tobias George Smollett
961.The Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie
962.A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne
963.Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne
964.The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
965.The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole
966.Émile; or, On Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
967.Rameau’s Nephew – Denis Diderot
968.Julie; or, the New Eloise – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
969.Rasselas – Samuel Johnson
970.Candide – Voltaire
971.The Female Quixote – Charlotte Lennox
972.Amelia – Henry Fielding
973.Peregrine Pickle – Tobias George Smollett
974.Fanny Hill – John Cleland
975.Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
976.Roderick Random – Tobias George Smollett
977.Clarissa – Samuel Richardson
978.Pamela – Samuel Richardson
979.Jacques the Fatalist – Denis Diderot
980.Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus – J. Arbuthnot, J. Gay, T. Parnell, A. Pope, J. Swift
981.Joseph Andrews – Henry Fielding
982.A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
983.Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
984.Roxana – Daniel Defoe
985.Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
986.Love in Excess – Eliza Haywood
987.Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
988.A Tale of a Tub – Jonathan Swift

Pre-1700
989.Oroonoko – Aphra Behn
990.The Princess of Clèves – Marie-Madelaine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de La Fayette
991.The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
992.Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
993.The Unfortunate Traveller – Thomas Nashe
994.Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit – John Lyly
995.Gargantua and Pantagruel – Françoise Rabelais
996.The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
997.The Golden Ass – Lucius Apuleius
998.Aithiopika – Heliodorus
999.Chaireas and Kallirhoe – Chariton
1000.Metamorphoses – Ovid
1001.Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus