The Stephen King Books Meme

Just spotted this book meme over at A Very Public Sociologist.

I'll let AVPS Phil do the explanation bit 'cos it's going to take me at least one side of That Petrol Emotion's Chemicrazy - Sides? I'm so 1970s. It must be the Cemetery Junction effect. - to format this bastard post:

"At the back of the book, [Stephen King's 'On Writing'] King provides a bibliography of best books he read during the composition of On Writing, From a Buick Eight, Hearts in Atlantis and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. This sounds like ideal meme fodder to me.

Of his list of 93 books how many have you read? Those in bold are books I've read. Those in italics are books I own. And if they're bold and italicised, well. I think you can work it out."

A Perfect Crime by Peter Abrahams

Lights Out by Peter Abrahams

Pressure Drop by Peter Abrahams

Revolution #9 by Peter Abrahams

A Death in the Family by James Agee

Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis

Regeneration by Pat Barker

The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

In the Night Season by Richard Bausch

The Intruder by Peter Blauner

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

The Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley

Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver

Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon

Latitude Zero by Windsor Chorlton

The Poet by Michael Connelly

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Family Values by KC Constatine

Underworld by Don DeLillo

Cathedral by Nelson DeMille

The Gold Coast by Nelson Demille

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Common Carnage by Stephen Dobyns

The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns

The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle

The Dick Gibson Show by Stanley Elkin

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

The Beach by Alex Garland

Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George

Gravity by Tess Gerritsen

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

The Fifties by David Halberstam

Why Sinatra Matters by Pete Hamill

Hannibal by Thomas Harris

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter

A Firing Offence by David Ignatius

A Widow for One Year by John Irving

The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce

The Devil's Own Work by Alan Judd

Good Enough to Dream by Roger Kahn

The Liars' Club by Mary Karr

Survivor by Tabitha King

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Into Thin Air by Jon Kraukauer

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Our Guys by Bernard Lefkowitz

The Ignored by Bentley Little

A River Runs Through It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean

The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham

Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry

Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller

Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien

The Speed Queen by Stewart O'Nan

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson

Freedomland by Richard Price

Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

One True Thing by Anna Quindlen

A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendall

Waiting by Frank M Robinson

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling

Mohawk by Richard Russo

Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw

The Crater by Richard Slotkin

The Illusionist by Dinitia Smith

Men in Black by Scott Spencer

Joe Hill by Wallace Stegner

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler

Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

The Ax by Donald E Westlake

I've read 12 of the books listed and I own 9. 12/93 is par for the course with me and book memes . . . until some bastard pulls their finger out and finally creates that Gordon Legge Book Meme that some of us have been waiting too long for.

It's strangely reassuring that there is no book on the list that I own but have yet to read. And who is Peter Abrahams, btw? Surely it's not the same Peter Abrahams who co-wrote a couple of books on Orwell a few years back? I read those books during my last Orwell phase. Wiki will no doubt reveal all.

Phil tags people with these memes but, then again, Phil has readers. I just have people who stumble across the blog because they want to know more about Kevin-Prince Boateng's tattoos. It's official: Boateng's tatts are this year's 'Kika Markham + nude'. If that footie fan in Ulan Bator wants to take time out from poring over Boateng's upper torso - and wondering what the hell Viz is - please feel free to take the meme.

Now back to Stevie Mack singing vandal over and over and over again.