The Vintage 100

[atiguhya padma]

Vintage Books have released a list of 100 books they currently publish and that have appeared in the last 100 years, that they believe will still be published and read by a wide audience in 100 years time. I just wondered whether anyone has an opinion on the merit of these books. Here's the list:

THE OLD DEVILS – Kingsley Amis
MONEY – Martin Amis
THE HANDMAID'S TALE – Margaret Atwood
THE FERMATA – Nicholson Baker
CRASH – J. G. Ballard
THE HEAT OF THE DAY – Elizabeth Bowen
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA – Mikhail Bulgakov
EARTHLY POWERS – Anthony Burgess
POSSESSION – A. S. Byatt
IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELLER – Italo Calvino
WISE CHILDREN – Angela Carter
CATHEDRAL – Raymond Carver
UTZ – Bruce Chatwin
DISGRACE – J. M. Coetzee
GIGI – Colette
CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN – Louis de Bernieres
READING IN THE DARK – Seamus Deane
MAO II – Don DeLillo
FASTING, FEASTING – Anita Desai
THE LEOPARD – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA – Roddy Doyle
THE NAME OF THE ROSE – Umberto Eco
THE SOUND AND THE FURY – William Faulkner
BIRDSONG – Sebastian Faulks
UNDER THE FROG – Tibor Fischer
THE SPORTSWRITER – Richard Ford
HAVE THE MEN HAD ENOUGH? – Margaret Forster
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN – John Fowles
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA – Arthur Golden
THE TIN DRUM – G³nter Grass
LOVING – Henry Green
THE POWER AND THE GLORY – Graham Greene
SEE UNDER: LOVE – David Grossman
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME – Mark Haddon
TWENTY THOUSAND STREETS UNDER THE SKY – Patrick Hamilton
CATCH-22 – Joseph Heller
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS – Ernest Hemingway
THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY – Patricia Highsmith
THE WOMAN IN BLACK – Susan Hill
THE SWIMMING-POOL LIBRARY – Alan Hollinghurst
ATOMISED – Michel Houellebecq
A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA – Richard Hughes
BRAVE NEW WORLD – Aldous Huxley
GOODBYE TO BERLIN – Christopher Isherwood
THE MIGHTY WALZER – Howard Jacobson
WAITING – Ha Jin
FEAR OF FLYING – Erica Jong
THE TRIAL – Franz Kafka
HOW LATE IT WAS, HOW LATE – James Kelman
ORIGINAL BLISS – A. L. Kennedy
DEATH AND THE PENGUIN – Andrey Kurkov
THE ATOM STATION – Halldor Laxness
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – Harper Lee
THE ORCHARD ON FIRE – Shena Mackay
CAL – Bernard MacLaverty
NO GREAT MISCHIEF – Alistair MacLeod
THE NATURAL – Bernard Malamud
REMEMBERING BABYLON – David Malouf
DEATH IN VENICE – Thomas Mann
OF HUMAN BONDAGE – W. Somerset Maugham
ATONEMENT – Ian McEwan
THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA – Yukio Mishima
TULIP FEVER – Deborah Moggach
BELOVED – Toni Morrison
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE – Haruki Murakami
THE SEA, THE SEA – Iris Murdoch
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE – Audrey Niffenegger
LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY – Lawrence Norfolk
STAR OF THE SEA – Joseph O'Connor
THE FAMISHED ROAD – Ben Okri
MY MICHAEL – Amos Oz
FIGHT CLUB – Chuck Palahniuk
DESTINY – Tim Parks
GORMENGHAST – Mervyn Peake
THE DANTE CLUB – Matthew Pearl
AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST – Iain Pears
I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT – Allison Pearson
LIFE: A USER'S MANUAL – Georges Perec
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW – Thomas Pynchon
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT – Erich Maria Remarque
AMERICAN PASTORAL – Philip Roth
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN – Salman Rushdie
THE EMIGRANTS – W. G. Sebald
THE DARK ROOM – Rachel Seiffert
I CAPTURE THE CASTLE – Dodie Smith
ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
THE VOLCANO LOVER: A Romance – Susan Sontag
SOPHIE'S CHOICE – William Styron
POLITICS – Adam Thirlwell
ULVERTON – Adam Thorpe
MUSIC & SILENCE – Rose Tremain
THE AMATEUR MARRIAGE – Anne Tyler
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5 – Kurt Vonnegut
MORVERN CALLAR – Alan Warner
TRAINSPOTTING – Irvine Welsh
VOSS – Patrick White
ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT – Jeanette Winterson
I'LL GO TO BED AT NOON – Gerard Woodward
MRS DALLOWAY – Virginia Woolf
NATIVE SON – Richard Wright

[atiguhya padma]

Sorry for the length of the last post!!

Now, I've read some of these, that I do not much care for, such as The Fermata by Nicholson Baker, and there are some that I would not have thought will last that long, such as The Dark Room, Original Bliss and The Old Devils. Brave New World may well be there a century from now, as might Possession, Disgrace, Atomised and How Late It Was, How Late.

AP

[Nightshade]

Okay I havent read that many of those but all the ones I did read I loved so I think Im going to aim and read more of this list......:D

[Scheherazade]

I have read only few of the books on this list:

THE HANDMAID'S TALE – Margaret Atwood - Really enjoyed reading this one. I think it compliments the BNW and 1984.

THE MASTER AND MARGARITA – Mikhail Bulgakov - Excellent allegory and quite entertaining as well.

CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN – Louis de Bernieres - A different look at the WWII; entertaining read.

THE NAME OF THE ROSE – Umberto Eco - Breath taking!

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA – Arthur Golden - Even though quite an interesting read, I am not sure it deserves to be in the top 100.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME – Mark Haddon - Heart warming story however not sure if it should be in the 100.

CATCH-22 – Joseph Heller - Yes, yes, yes!

BRAVE NEW WORLD – Aldous Huxley - A must-read.

THE TRIAL – Franz Kafka - Love this book as it has been an eye opener for me. A true masterpiece.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – Harper Lee - Love it. A book for all ages and times.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT – Erich Maria Remarque - Quite liked it but wouldn't call it top 100 material.

ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT – Jeanette Winterson - I still have mixed feelings about Winterson (oh the irony!). Good writer, good book but nothing earth shattering.

MRS DALLOWAY – Virginia Woolf - Nooooooooooo...*sighs* Need I say more?

About 10 other books on this list are on my everlasting 'To-Read list'. And many I have not even heard of. Will get back to you as and when I read more!

[subterranean]

AP, where have you been? :wave:

My list is:

THE NAME OF THE ROSE – Umberto Eco
CATCH-22 – Joseph Heller
BRAVE NEW WORLD – Aldous Huxley
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – Harper Lee
THE DANTE CLUB – Matthew Pearl

[A Hard Rain]

i believe what is weird on this list is that its the last 100 years...
i feel they should make a list of the last 50 years because you've got some authors in there that frankly, i feel should be read forever. Certain material will always stand the test of time. When you have many works of literature that are being taught today from the 1900 to 1950s period and not as much the later you get... its somewhat silly to include authors like hemingway and faulkner in a list because many of their novels are in the top 100 i assume. Nevertheless, i am quite sure this list has numerous contemporary works that are great and i will have to try some of them.
Especially to contrast to all of the older stuff i am reading.