BBC's Top 100 Books

Tagged by Moonshine. This is a list of the top 100 books published by BBC. According to them, an average reader has read 6 of these. I've highlighted the ones I've read. Let's count!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (In school)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

That's 30!!! Wow...I'm impressed with myself.

Which ones have you read?

And I'm tagging Bluestocking and Supernova. And anyone else who wants to take it up. Just let me know when you're done :)

Cherry On Top!

And I have been tagged!! :)

Here are the rules and I'll do the tag as I go along...

1. Thank the person who gave it to you - Thank you Chanz.

2. Copy the award and put it on your blog - Here goes...

3. List 3 things you love about yourself

i) I love my honesty. People who I like know that I like them, and those I don't, know that as well! And I make no efforts to pretend otherwise. Sure, this gets a lot of bitchiness coming my way...it also gets me the tag of 'arrogant' & 'snobbish' by people who don't really know me. But it keeps my life simple and I wouldn't have it any other way.

ii) I've been told I am a pretty cool person :) I don't poke my nose in other people's business. I am non-clingy, non-possessive. I try to be as non-judgemental as I can be. I don't judge people by their actions immediately. I try to give them the benefit of doubt at least once...try to make external attributions for their actions. I label them only if they exhibit the same behavior over & over again. I won't get offended if you forget to return my call...or didn't do it b/c you were feeling lazy. It's okay if you want to take a raincheck on meeting up an hour before we're supposed to meet! That's not to say that I'm a push-over...just that I have very few hang-ups in life.

iii) I love the fact that I'm reasonably stylish. Because, you know, appearances do matter. Deny it all you want, they do. Besides, it adds a little bit of excitement to a dreary work day!

4. Post a picture you love (e.g. a person you adore etc.)

Well, I'd like to leave the people I love & adore out of this public forum. So I'm putting up the picture of the University I did my undergrad from - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My Alma Mater. The place that changed my inside out & made me who I am today. The place I spent THE BEST four years of my life & gave me friends for life. The place I love & will miss till the time I die.

These pictures are just a glimpse of the heavenly campus and don't even begin to scratch the surface.

5. Tag 5 people you wish to pass this award on to.

Well, I'm going to tag 3 people instead of 5:

Moonshine - That "little bit extra" spunk!

The Knife - Beautiful food blog with that "little bit extra" that has made him a celebrity food writer!!

Serendipity - She pours her heart out in her blog.

Photo1 courtesy: http://www.travelguideofamerica.com/landscapes/ChapelHillCampus.jpg

Photo2 courtesy: http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/radisci/images/oldwellspring

10 Things I Wish I Would Have Done By The Time I'm 35

1. Own a house. Hopefully in a colder country where summers are a time to celebrate and not dread.
2. Be living with A in the house as we imagine it now - He got to decide the color scheme of the interiors – beige, olive green & cream/off-white (to set it off). I got the open kitchen with a granite bar along with bar stools where we can have our morning tea/coffee while flipping through the newspaper, French windows in the rooms, a glass sliding door that opens on to a balcony with a view, and separate bathrooms for us (I want to do up my bathroom in powder pink, which I'm assuming will not go down very well with A. I also need a separate shower area so the rest of the bathroom is dry at all times). Oh, and I also get a room done up in bright colors...yellow, orange, red, purple, fuschia etc. Sigh...I don’t know where we’ll find such a place but find it we will :)
3. Learn to drive – This is the only thing that's stopping me from being fully & completely independent right now, and is extremely high on my agenda (I've been lucky enough to live in cities with excellent public transport but I don't want this to determine my choice of city to live in). The only roadblock to learning how to drive is the memory of my last attempt, also my first. I was about 16 years old and my dad wasn't the most patient teacher. I was also a little scared of controlling the steering wheel at that time. Haven't yet been able to shake off those memories of me being jittery at the wheel (the one thing you should NOT be when you're driving) and my dad losing his cool by my side.
4. Get rid of my hydrophobia – Can you believe it, people? I leant to swim, and even dive, but it’s almost no good now because I can’t get myself to step in the goddamn water!!! Grrrrr...
5. Get out of the 9-5 rut and become an entrepreneur – I don’t know which will happen first – the fast food restaurant, the bookstore-cum-coffee shop, or the fitness center (a no-machine zone focused on holistic health & nutrition). The second one is what came to my mind first & what I’d lurrrrrve to see materialize the most, but I think the fast food restaurant is a more viable option financially, and will give me the freedom to have exactly the kind of coffee shop that I want - a "quaint little shop at the corner" serving American-style coffee, where Christmas will be celebrated with Christmas decorations, carols and customized Christmas coffees! And yes, a place where the music won't keep people from having a conversation and where people won't be hustled out the moment they finish their coffee. (I DO think Indian coffee chains such as Barista & Cafe Coffee Day are a joke, not to mention they serve horrible coffee - mild, under-brewed & lukewarm. Anyone who's been to coffee shops in America/Europe knows what real coffee is & what a coffee shop should be like. Yet, we're forced to patronize lame cafes such as Barista & Cafe Coffee Day due to the absence of a real coffee shop in India. I would like to change that.)
6. Travel to at least 2 countries in Europe with A – And I mean travel extensively, like around 2 weeks to a country. I'd like to visit the countryside and the villages just as much as the cities, and soak in their incredible history. The wish list includes: France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Austria & the United Kingdom. I’m counting the spare change in my bank account right now!!
7. Learn a Latin American dance form – I would love love love to learn the Samba but I think it’s best left to the Brazilians who are born with the grace & the body for it. So I'll settle for Salsa, Rumba or Bachata.
8. Learn Spanish – I can speak basic French already, and would love to learn Espanol. It's such a pretty language.
9. Publish a book – ‘Nough said.
10. Take a sabbatical for 3-4 months, maybe 6, and spend a month in Chapel Hill where I got my Bachelor's degree. It's one of the prettiest places on this planet and holds lots of beautiful memories for me. It's the place where I came of age, discovered myself, and met the coolest people from around the world who I am still friends with & spent some of the most fun times with. I would walk around the campus, stroll down Franklin Street, soak in the sun in the Lower Quad, and hang around at The Daily Grind, Caribou Coffee & Starbucks for hours as I used to while I was in college. Only this time around I would be chilling over endless cups of coffee, watching the college kids scurry to class with their daily fix of caffeine in their hands, or kill time between classes over coffee.

I tag Moonshine, The Knife, Mumbai Diva & Random Words (hoping this tag will mark your return to blogging :) Here's the deal - It's a very simple tag. 1) Just take the next landmark age in your life. For instance, I'm 29 right now so I took 35 years as the landmark. If you're in your early 30s, take 40. If you're approaching 40, take 45. If you're in your early 20s, take 30. 2)Leave me a note when you do this tag, and 3) inform the people you're tagging (you can tag as many people as you want).

Do it, it's fun :)

Les Alphabets

I got this tag as a forward. Thought I'd put it up here & anyone who wishes to do it can pick it up...

A - Available?: Depends on what you want me for. ALWAYS for brownies, chocolates & cheesecakes!

B-Best friend: Handful of very good friends but no “best friend” as such :(

C-Cake or Pie?: Both!! And even better if served with ice-cream and/or whipped cream :D

D-Drink of choice: Water - Cold. Thums Up/Coke - Chilled

E-Essential thing used everyday: Soap/Shower Gel; Toothpaste

F-Favourite colour: Red, Black, Orange, Purple, Yellow, Blue (Sea, Turquoise or Aquamarine), Fuschia – Hell, you want me to choose ONE color? N’est pas possible!

G-Gummi bears or worms: Worms! Sour apple :P

H-Hometown: LOL. Patna, technically.

I-Indulgence: Clothes, Bags, Shoes, Books

J-January or February: Either. As long as it’s bone-chillingly cold.

K-Kids and names: Zero. None. Nada. And hope to keep it that way.

L-Life: Can be a bitch sometimes but overall, it’s a blast. And a full-time activity.

M-Marriage Anniversary : Do I get to have a wedding first? In Goa or the Caribbean while we’re at it? :P

N-Number of siblings: Uno

O-Oranges or apples: Apples! But orange juice, oh yeah.

P-Phobias: Rats! Rats! Rats! Can deal with the roaches, lizards & spiders but rats are the whole different story.

Q-Quote: "But why is the rum gone?"

R-Reason to smile: A bright, sunny day! Especially in the winters. And Christmas. Anything Christmassy for that matter.

S-Season: Winter & Spring. And I mean bone-chilling winter followed by full-on pollen-laden spring. In spite of my breathing allergies.

T-Tag three people: Anyone who’s interested and has more time on their hands than they can kill, pick it up. Go on.

U-Unknown fact about me: I learnt Odissi for three long years (obviously don’t remember anything of it). And I’m very finicky - make that anal - about English grammar & punctuation.

V-Vegetable you do not like: Kaddu/lauki/doodhi – whatever it’s called. And bhindi. Yuck!!

W-Worst habit: The Boy tells me I nag. Not in the way that wives do, but in an over-caring sort of way.

X-X-rays you have had: Chest, ankle, foot, arm, sinus. I’m sure there would be more. I’m “accident prone”.

Y-Your favorite food: Chicken curry & hot rotis. Any kind of Chicken Curry will do but Butter Chicken is preferred (I think subconsciously I might be a wannabe Punju, no?). Chinese is also right up there. Can have it once a day, everyday. Besides these, I get cravings for pizza, pasta & Subway periodically.

Z-Zodiac: Pisces. Surprisingly, I’m not a water baby.