Book Ratings

The books below have been assigned a rating in the range of +/0/-. This is the same ranking system that we use on my book discussion mailing list. The rough translation of these ratings, for me, is that '+' indicates that I enjoyed the book and would recommend that others read it, '0' indicates that I was not particularly struck by the book, and '-' indicates that I disliked or was bored by the book and would recommend people against reading it as opposed to other books. If I have written a description or review of a book I include a link to that review. The following list is sorted alphabetically by title.

Title Author Rating
1984 George Orwell 0
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne +
2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke +
500 Great Books by Women: A Reader's Guide Erica Bauermeister et al. +
84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff +
Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner +
Adventures of Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes +
A is for Alibi Sue Grafton +
The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton +
Agnes Grey Anne Bronte +
Alias Grace Margaret Atwood +
Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll +
All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot +
All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren +
All Things Bright and Beautiful James Herriot 0
All Things Wise and Wonderful James Herriot 0
The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton +
Angels and Insects A.S. Byatt +
Animal Farm George Orwell 0
Animal Husbandry Laura Zigman 0
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy +
Anthem Ayn Rand 0
Antony and Cleopatra William Shakespeare +
Army of Angels: A Novel of Joan of Arc Pamela Marcental -
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 0
As You Like It William Shakespeare +
The Awakening Kate Chopin +
Babbitt Sinclair Lewis 0
Beauty Sheri Tepper +
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath +
Beloved Toni Morrison +
Beowulf   0
Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook Jennifer Darling (ed) +
Billy Budd Herman Melville -
Bimbos of the Death Sun Sharyn Crumb +
Blithedale Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne 0
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison +
The Body Project Joan Jacobs Brumberg +
Bread and Wine Iganzio Silone 0
Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh +
A Brief History of Time Steven Hawkings 0
Brothers Karamazov Fydor Dostoevsky +
Candide Voltaire 0
Cape Cod Henry David Thoreau +
Catch-22 Joseph Heller +
Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger +
Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut +
Cat's Eye Margaret Atwood +
The Caves of Steel Isaac Asimov +
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl +
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens -
The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis +
Clan of the Cave Bear Jean Auel 0
The Claudine Novels Colette +
Cold Sassy Tree Olive Ann Burns +
The Color Purple Alice Walker +
Congo Michael Crichton 0
Crime and Punishment Fydor Dostoevsky +
Cry to Heaven Anne Rice +
Daniel Deronda George Eliot +
The Darkest Road Guy Gavriel Kay 0
David Copperfield Charles Dickens +
The Day I Became an Autodidact Kendall Hailey +
The Death of Ivan Ilyich Leo Tolstoy 0
Deryni Rising Katherine Kurtz 0
The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson +
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Douglas Adams +
Disclosure Michael Crichton +
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Rebecca Wells 0
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye: Five Fairy Stories A. S. Byatt +
Dombey and Son Charles Dickens +
Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey +
Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey +
Dragons of Eden Carl Sagan 0
The Drama of the Gifted Child Alice Miller +
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street Helene Hanff 0
Dune Frank Herbert 0
Eaters of the Dead Michael Crichton -
Eight Cousins Louisa May Alcott +
Emma Jane Austen +
Empire of the Ants Bernard Werber 0
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card +
Expanded Universe Robert Heinlein -
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury +
A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemmingway -
The Feast of All Saints Anne Rice +
The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan +
The Fionovar Tapestry Guy Gavriel Kay +
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Edwin Abbott +
The Forest House Marion Zimmer Bradley 0
Foundation trilogy Issac Asimov +
Frankenstein Mary Shelley +
Franny & Zooey J. D. Salinger 0
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Fannie Flagg +
Galapagos Kurt Vonnegut 0
Gate to Woman's Country Sheri Tepper +
The Giver Lois Lowry 0
Glory Season David Brin 0
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Douglas Hofstadter +
The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy +
The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing +
Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell 0
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 0
Great Expectations Charles Dickens +
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald +
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 0
Hamlet William Shakespeare +
The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood +
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling +
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J.K. Rowling +
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkanban J.K. Rowling +
Have Spacesuit Will Travel Robert Heinlein 0
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series Douglas Adams +
The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien +
A House Like a Lotus Madeleine L'Engle +
The House of Mirth Edith Wharton +
The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne +
Hunger Pains: The Modern Woman's Tragic Quest for Thinness Mary Pipher +
The Illiad Homer 0
The Importance of Being Ernest Oscar Wilde +
Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences John Allen Paulos 0
Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice +
Intruder in the Dust William Faulkner 0
The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells 0
Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott 0
Jailbird Kurt Vonnegut +
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte +
Job: A Comedy of Justice Robert Heinlein -
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 0
Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy +
Julius Caesar William Shakespeare -
Jurassic Park Michael Crichton +
The Last Unicorn Peter Beagle +
The Lays of Beleriand J. R. R. Tolkein 0
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula Le Guin 0
Letters from an American Farmer J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur -
Light in August William Faulkner +
Little Dorrit Charles Dickens 0
Little Men Louisa May Alcott +
Little Women Louisa May Alcott 0
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul Douglas Adams +
Lord of the Flies William Golding 0
Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien +
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez +
The Love Letters Madeleine L'Engle 0
Macbeth William Shakespeare +
Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert 0
Mansfield Park Jane Austen +
Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov 0
The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy +
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub Stanislaw Lem +
The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka 0
microserfs Douglas Coupland +
Middlemarch George Elliot 0
Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie +
A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare 0
Mill on the Floss George Eliot +
Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley +
Moby Dick Herman Melville 0
Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe -
Moo Jane Smiley 0
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert Heinlein +
The Mote in God's Eye Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle +
Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf +
Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of NIMH O'Brien, Robert +
The Mummy or Ramses the Damned Anne Rice 0
My Antonia Willa Cather -
The Naked Sun Isaac Asimov +
Nausea Jean-Paul Sartre 0
Neuromancer William Gibson 0
Notes from Underground Fydor Dostoevsky -
The Odyssey Homer +
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck +
Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 0
The Once and Future King T.H. White +
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey +
The Other Side of the Sun Madeleine L'Engle -
Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 0
The Patron Saint of Liars Ann Patchett +
The Pearl John Steinbeck -
Pern series Anne McCaffrey +
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster +
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde +
The Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan -
Player Piano Kurt Vonnegut +
Pnin Vladamir Nabakov 0
The Portrait of a Lady Henry James 0
Possession A.S. Byatt +
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen +
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark +
Prydain series Lloyd Alexander +
Pudd'nhead Wilson Mark Twain -
The Pull of the Moon Elizabeth Berg 0
The Puppet Masters Robert Heinlein 0
The Queen of the Damned Anne Rice +
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier +
The Red Pony John Steinbeck -
Redwall series Brian Jacques +
The Reivers: A Reminiscence William Faulkner 0
Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 0
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls Mary Pipher +
Ringworld Larry Niven 0
Rising Sun Michael Crichton +
The Robber Bride Margaret Atwood +
The Robots of Dawn Isaac Asimov +
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare 0
A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf +
Rose in Bloom Louisa May Alcott +
The Rowan Anne McCaffrey 0
Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown +
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne +
The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett +
Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen +
A Separate Peace John Knowles +
A Severed Wasp Madeleine L'Engle +
Sewer, Gas, and Electric Matt Ruff +
Shikasta Doris Lessing 0
The Silmarillion J. R. R. Tolkein 0
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 0
The Small Rain Madeleine L'Engle 0
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson +
Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson +
The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau +
Soul of a New Machine Tracy Kidder +
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner +
Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card 0
Sphere Michael Crichton 0
Stars in My Pocket like Grains of Sand Samuel Delany -
Straight Man Richard Russo +
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert Heinlein 0
Sula Toni Morrison -
The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay +
The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemmingway 0
A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle +
The Tale of the Body Thief Anne Rice 0
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens +
Tam Lin Pamela Dean 0
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Anne Bronte +
The Terminal Man Michael Crichton +
Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy +
The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough +
A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley +
The Three Musketeers Alesandre Dumas +
To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf +
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Rebecca Wells 0
The Trial Franz Kafka +
The Truth About Dragons: An Anti-Romance Hazard Adams 0
Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt 0
The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice +
Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook Editors of Vegetarian Times +
Villette Charlotte Bronte +
Virgin in the Garden A.S. Byatt +
Virtual Light William Gibson -
Waiting for Godot Samuel Becket 0
The Wandering Fire Guy Gavriel Kay +
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy +
Watership Down Richard Adams +
Wheel of Time series Robert Jordan 0
The White Hotel D.M. Thomas -
Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women Christina Hoff Sommers -
Wicked Gregory Maguire +
A Widow for One Year John Irving +
Wild Seed Octavia Butler +
The Witching Hour Anne Rice +
Wolves of Willoughby Chase Joan Aiken +
A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle +
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte +
Xenocide Orson Scott Card 0

 
The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman +