User:Thuvack/My Books

MY BOOK LIST  This is an attempt to keep an up to date list of all books I have read since I can remember, It is not exhaustive but gives a good piture of books that interest me and kinds of writting that captivates me. It's also an attempt to analyse my reading habits and bias, in order to correct this at some point in this short life.

I have categorized/marked the list into the following quality/Activity Indicators:


 * Favorite Book
 * Category - A  (Book read and completed)
 * Category - B  (Book read and incomplete)
 * Book to read
 * Book not on GoodReads site

Time frames/Periods
In general, I started having interest in books during my Grade 9 year in school (1998), when I was only 15 years old. The first book I checked out of a public library was a book called "Tuti and the Magic bird". However, my first real encounter with the world of novels, was when I found a trove of 4 Readers Digest condensed books at my childhood friends's house in Ivory Park. They were water damaged and were to be thrown out. I saved and dried them up, and so they became my first book collection.

This list begins around that year and is based on memorable books I checked out and ended up reading through to completion. Funny enough, my parents had a great hand in my love for books, since as Jehovah's Witnesses, one was required to read at least three tracks/booklets per week to prepare for weekly meetings. Over and above this, one would end the day by reading a daily bible text as a family, sometimes i felt these to be too punitive and eventually did not enjoy the reading sessions anymore.

Nonetheless, the amount of reading expected per week was almost overwhelming, but went a long way in creating an unquenchable thirst for books and written words.

List maintenance & Statistics

 * Last updated by -- Thuvack &#124; talk 13:42, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

Total of : 109 Fiction Books on my list thus far
 * Total of: 67 Books completed - 62%

Total of : 52 Non-Fiction Books on my list thus far
 * Total of: 18 Books completed - 34%

Comic (12 Books)

 * The Adventures of Asterix - Goscinny and Uderzo
 * 1) Asterix the Gaul - (1998)
 * 2) Asterix and the Golden Sickle - (1998)
 * 3) Asterix and the Goths - (1998)
 * 4) Asterix and the Banquet - (1998)
 * 5) Asterix and Cleopatra - (1998)
 * 6) Asterix the Legionary - (1998)
 * 7) Asterix and the Roman Agent - (1999)
 * 8) Asterix in Switzerland - (1999)
 * 9) Asterix and the Soothsayer - (1999)
 * 10) Asterix and the Great Divide - (1999)
 * 11) Asterix and the Black Gold - (1999)
 * The Adventures of Tintin - Georges Remi
 * 1) Tintin in America - (1999)

Historical Fiction (5 Books)

 * The Ramses Series - Christian Jacq
 * 1) The Son of Light - (2000)


 * The Stone of Light Series - Christian Jacq
 * 1) Nefer the Silent - ('2005)
 * 2) The Wise Woman - (2001)
 * 3) Paneb the Ardent - (2005)
 * 4) The Place of Truth - (2006)

Fantasy (21 Books)

 * The Wheel of Time (WoT)- Robert Jordan
 * 1) New Spring - (2003)
 * 2) The Eye of the World - (2006)
 * 3) The Great Hunt - (1999)
 * 4) The Dragon Reborn - (1999)
 * 5) The Shadow Rising - (2005)
 * 6) The Fires of Heaven - (2005)
 * 7) Lord of Chaos - (1999)
 * 8) A Crown of Swords - (2008)
 * 9) The Path of Daggers - (2008)
 * 10) Winter's Heart - (2010)
 * 11) Crossroads of Twilight - (2010)
 * 12) Knife of Dreams - (2011)
 * 13) The Gathering Storm - (2012)
 * 14) Towers of Midnight - (2013)
 * 15) A Memory of Light - (2014)
 * The Tamuli - David Eddings
 * 1) Domes of Fire - (2000)
 * 2) The Shining Ones - (2000)
 * The Serpentwar Saga - Raymond E. Feist
 * 1) Rage of a Demon King - (2003)
 * 2) Shadow of a Dark Queen - (2021)
 * 3) Rise of a Merchant Prince - (2021)
 * 4) Shards of a broken crown - (2021)

Children Books (3 Books)

 * 1) Tutti and the Magic Bird - Julia Boyd-Harvey (1998)
 * Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak (??)
 * The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (??)

Thriller/Suspense (5 Books)

 * The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (2011)
 * The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown (2012)
 * To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (??)
 * The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris (??)
 * Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John le Carré (??)

Humor (7 Books)

 * A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare (??)
 * The Diary of a Nobody - George Grossmith (??)
 * Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal - Christopher Moore (??)
 * 1) Wake up, sir! - Jonathan Ames (??)
 * Apathy and Other Small Victories - Paul Neilan (??)
 * The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde (??)
 * The Devil's Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce (??)

Novel (23 Books)

 * 1) Maru - Bessie Head (2001)
 * Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe (2000; 2022)
 * 1) Ghamka: Man of men - Eve Merchant (1999)
 * 2) Comfort Herself - Geraldine Kaye (1999)
 * 3) Love, David - Dianne Case (2000)
 * 4) When the Drums Speak of Love - Shirley Boje (1998)
 * Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2012)
 * 1) Journey - Danielle Steel (2004)
 * Matters of the Heart - Danielle Steel (2004)
 * River God - Wilbur Smith (2012)
 * Warlock - Wilbur Smith (2013)
 * The Seventh Scroll - Wilbur Smith (2013)
 * Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton (2002)
 * Reader's Digest Condensed Books - Various
 * 1) Tiger, Tiger (Vol 153) - Philip Caveney (1996)
 * 2) Voices on the Wind (Vol 162)- Evelyn Anthony (1996)
 * 3) Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Vol 174)- H. F. Saint (1996)
 * 4) Patriot Games (Vol 174) - Tom Clancy (1997)
 * 5) Hot Money (Vol 176) - Dick Francis  (1997)
 * 6) Cold Harbour (Vol 176) - Jack Higgins  (1997)
 * 7) November of the Heart (Vol 207) - LaVyrle Spencer (1998)
 * 8) White man's numbers - Sunil Shah (2013)
 * The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (2002)
 * 1984 - George Orwell (2023)

Science Fantasy (1 Books)

 * A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs (2014)

Drama (7 Books)

 * Macbeth - William Shakespeare (1998)
 * Hamlet - William Shakespeare (1999)
 * Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (??)
 * Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett (??)
 * A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (??)
 * Animal Farm - George Orwell (2023)
 * The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (??)

Classic (4 Books)

 * The Odyssey - Homer (??)
 * The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner (??)
 * Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (2017)
 * For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway (??)

Science Fiction (9 Books)

 * Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (??)
 * The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells (??)
 * The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson (??)
 * 1) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (2020)
 * 2) The Restaurant at the End of the Universe  - Douglas Adams (??)
 * 3) Life, the Universe and Everything  - Douglas Adams (??)
 * 4) So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish  - Douglas Adams (??)
 * 5) Mostly Harmless  - Douglas Adams (??)
 * 6) And Another Thing...  - Douglas Adams (??)

Mythology (3 Books)

 * Epic of Gilgamesh - (2020)
 * The Age of Fable - Thomas Bulfinch (??)
 * The Immortals of Meluha - Amish Tripathi (??)

Short Story (3 Books)

 * The curious case of Benjamin Button - F. Scott Fitzgerald (??)
 * The Gift of the Magi - O. Henry (??)
 * To Build a Fire - Jack London (??)

Crime (3 Books)

 * The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle (??)
 * The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain (??)
 * The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carré (??)

Folklore (3 Books)

 * 1) Indaba, My Children: African Folktales - Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa (??)
 * 2) Wisdom from Africa: A Collection of Proverbs - Dianne Stewart (??)
 * 3) African Myths and Folk Tales - Carter Godwin Woodson (??)

History (15 Books)

 * King Leopold's Ghost - Adam Hochschild (2016)
 * 1) The Black Man's Burden - E.D Morel (2016)
 * 2) Entering Tembisa -Catherine Kennedy & Gille de Vlieg (2016)
 * 3) Death in the Congo: Murdering Patrice Lumumba - Emmanuel Gerard and Bruce Kuklick  (??)
 * 4) Askari - Jacob Dlamini  (??)
 * The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution - C.L.R. James (??)
 * The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon (??)
 * A Theory of Justice - John Rawls (??)
 * The Making of the English Working Class -E. P. Thompson (??)
 * The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer (??)
 * Capital: Critique of Political Economy - Karl Marx (??)
 * Pride and Prejudice -Jane Austen (??)
 * The Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith (??)
 * War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (??)
 * 1) Umkhonto Wesizwe: Fighting for a devided people - Thula Bopela & Daluxolo Luthuli (2023)

Self Help (7 Books)

 * 1) The Courage To Shake Hands With Tomorrow - Kobus Neethling (1998)
 * 2) Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence - Ben Carson (1997)
 * The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey (1999)
 * The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens - Sean Covey (1999)
 * The Greatest Salesman in the World - Og Mandino (2001)
 * Awaken the Giant Within - Tony Robbins (2001)
 * How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie (??)

Memoir (5 Books)

 * The Liars' Club - Mary Karr (??)
 * Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert (??)
 * I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou (??)
 * A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah (??)
 * The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born - Ayi Kwei Armah (??)

Philosophy/Commentary (10 Books)

 * I Write What I Like - Steve Biko (2011)
 * The Wretched of the Earth - Frantz Fanon (2012)
 * Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates (2016)
 * Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga (2020)
 * Zami: A New Spelling of My Name - Audre Lorde (2016)
 * 1) Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-87 - Thomas Sankara (??)
 * Republic - Plato (??)
 * The Communist Manifesto - Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx (??)
 * Rights of Man - Thomas Paine (??)
 * Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (??)

Auto-Biography (7 Books)

 * 1) Permanent record - Edward Snowden (2020)
 * The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X (??)
 * Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank (??)
 * Black Like Me - John Howard Griffin (??)
 * Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass (??)
 * The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano - Olaudah Equiano (??)
 * Notes of a Native Son - James Baldwin (??)

Biography (11 Books)

 * 1) The bitter choice: eight South Africans' resistance to tyranny - Legum, Colin; Legum, Margaret (2020)
 * 2) The Will to Die - Can Themba (2020)
 * 3) Robert Sobukwe - How Can Man Die Better - Benjamin Pogrund (2023)
 * 4) Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - Phillip Hoose (??)
 * 5) Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France - Leonie Frieda (??)
 * 6) Moses Kotane, South African Revolutionary: A Political Biography - Brian Percy Bunting (??)
 * 7) W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919 - David Levering Lewis (??)
 * 8) A Beautiful Mind - Sylvia Nasar (??)
 * 9) With Malice Toward None: A Biography of Abraham Lincoln - Stephen B. Oates (??)
 * 10) Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom - Catherine Clinton (??)
 * 11) Thurgood Marshall: First Black Supreme Court Justice - Carol Greene (??)

Other places I look at for book suggestions

 * Goodreads - 1000 Must read books


 * Listology - 1000 Must read books