While searching on the net a couple days ago, I found an interesting site published by Random House. This, you probably know, is a large publishing house that is associated with the publication of much good literature. I found on this webpage a list of the 100 best modern novels, which I reproduce here for your reading pleasure.
I was interested to see how many of these I had read and whether I agreed that they were “modern classics” (as purported by the “Board” that comprises “celebrated authors, historians, critics, and a scientist.”)
So here are the Random House “100 best novels” in recent literature:
1 ULYSSES by James Joyce
2 THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3 A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4 LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5 BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6 THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7 CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8 DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9 SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10 THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11 UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12 THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13 1984 by George Orwell
14 I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15 TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16 AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17 THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18 SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19 INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20 NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21 HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22 APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23 U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24 WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25 A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26 THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27 THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28 TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29 THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30 THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31 ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32 THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33 SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34 A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35 AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36 ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38 HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39 GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40 THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41 LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42 DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43 A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44 POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45 THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
46 THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47 NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48 THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49 WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50 TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51 THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52 PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53 PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54 LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55 ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56 THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57 PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59 ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60 THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61 DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62 FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63 THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64 THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66 OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67 HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68 MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69 THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70 THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71 A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72 A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73 THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74 A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75 SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76 THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77 FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78 KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79 A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80 BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81 THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82 ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83 A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84 THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85 LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86 RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87 THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88 THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89 LOVING by Henry Green
90 MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91 TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92 IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93 THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94 WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95 UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96 SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97 THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98 THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99 THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington
My tally of how many books on the list I have read: 65 – Whew! I passed! So obviously, I have a list of 35 books to go. I must say that the list contains some great novels, but with few exceptions, it is heavily weighted towards literature in English, rather than great works in all languages (that have also been translated into English).
So now that you have the list, see how you tally up, as far as reading the modern classics is concerned.
My tally of how many books on the list I have read: 65 – Whew! I passed! So obviously, I have a list of 35 books to go. I must say that the list contains some great novels, but with few exceptions, it is heavily weighted towards literature in English, rather than great works in all languages (that have also been translated into English).
So now that you have the list, see how you tally up, as far as reading the modern classics is concerned.
I don't know who the Board is and how they came to their final decision, but it is inevitable that readers will agree in part, disagree in part and think they are total morons in part.
ReplyDeleteFor example. I love Sinclair Lewis, think George Orwell was powerful, cannot understand James Joyce, dislike Ernest Hemingway, adore Anthony Trollope (where is he????) and was bored to a standstill by Jack London. And where are the women eg AS Byatt, Bernice Rubens etc?
Nonetheless it is a project well worth doing. I tried the same exercise in my IRC channel, and we could not come to any satisfactory conclusion, even though only 250 people were involved in the discussions.
many thanks
Hels
http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com.au/2008/11/in-early-channel-literary-event-1995.html
And here is the New York Times: "100 Notable Books of 2014"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2014.html
Oooops, I’ve only read six of those… Do graphic novels rate a mention? Only joking...
ReplyDeleteMy tally is 48! Neede to find a few of those and read them. Thanks for the suggestions!
ReplyDelete