Happy Tuesday everyone! It is the second day of the week already but I hope everyone is doing well and is safe. Oh well, Tuesday also means one thing, a Top Ten Tuesday update! Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s given topic is Books With Numbers In the Title

toptentuesday

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Kicking of this Top 10 list with a title that has become synonymous with Top 10/5 Tuesdays. This story about the Buendias and their founding of the fictional town of Macondo is forever etched in my mind. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude was my first by the Nobel Laureate in Literature and was one of my first ventures into the intricate world of magical realism.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Another Nobel Laureate in Literature, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn captured my interest with One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. It was a powerful and vivid account of the activities that transpire in Soviet Russia’s Gulag camps. The novel was also a first and one that has inevitably opened me up to the wonders of Russian literature, one part of the literary world that I simply adore.

Around the World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne

An automatic choice for this list was Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. Some might even recall it for the Looney Tunes adaptation starring Tweety Bird. Around the World in Eighty Days accounts for the adventures of Phileas Fogg and his newly employed French valet Jean Passepartout when they took on the improbable challenge of circumnavigating the world in 80 days. It was also one of the books I read in the early days of the lockdown restrictions brought about by the pandemic.  

Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

Yet another obvious pick for this reading list is George Orwell’s timeless work, Nineteen Eighty Four. Often considered as one of the must-reads in the vast ambit of the literary world, Nineteen Eighty Four is certainly one of my most memorable read for it its grim but thought-provoking prognosis of the future. Its diagnosis still reverberates in the contemporary.

The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

On the surface, Jonas Jonasson’s The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (quite a lengthy title) is a fun and pleasurable read. It was actually one of the books that I really laughed out loud on, nonchalant of the people beside me. However, the humor belied the saddening reality aging people had to deal with. Allan Karlsson, the protagonist, had many interesting stories to tell because of his long life and yet he ended up in a home for the aged.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Definitely one of my most memorable reads is Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. I barged into the book having no iota on what it was or what type of prose Murakami has. At first, it was disconcerting. Magical realism was a new world to me and I often find myself lost at times. Nevertheless, I got through my first Murakami novel; I have since read eleven more of his novels and novellas.

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

Yasunari Kawabata, the third Nobel Laureate in Literature in this list, was one reasons why I fell in love with Japanese literature. His popular novel, Thousand Cranes is one of my all time favorite reads. It vividly depicted details of Japanese literature whilst subtly underscoring the cultural and social transformations that started taking place post-World War II.

One Day of Life by Manlio Argueta

I have always been an adventurous reader. I try to expand my horizon by reading any book that captures my interest. One such book is Manlio Argueta’s One Day of Life. My first and, so far, only novel about El Salvador, One Day of Life is a quick and slender read but one that is packed with punches as it dealt with the abuses of the Salvadoran government forces prior to the Salvadoran Civil War (1979-1992). Because of adverse portrayal of the Salvadoran government, the novel was banned in El Salvador.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

One, I guess, is the most used number in the world of literature. A popular title that carries the number is Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It was the basis for the popular film of the same title. But what made it work was its depiction of and commentaries on the world of mental asylums. It was a critique of the abusive systems that run these institutions. The novel was also instrumental in ushering badly needed changes to how psychology and psychiatry were viewed.

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

Shying away from number “One” is Marlon James’ award-winning novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings. A winner of the prestigious Booker Prize, the novel details the history of Jamaica, commencing with one of its most popular personalities, Bob Marley. The novel captured years of tumultuous Jamaican experience following his foiled assassination attempt, from the drug trade to the gang culture.

 

Advertisement