Best 150 Novels

[jlb4tlb]

I saw this list and thought that it would be interesting to chat about. You can visit the web site at: http://www.friendswood.lib.tx.us/bookinfo/frpubtop150.htm

Enjoy




Several sources have compiled lists of what they consider to be the best novels of this century. As you might expect, these lists have varied greatly, sparking controversy and dissension from almost everyone.
The Friendswood library has consolidated four sources' lists: Harvard Bookstore's Top 100 Recommended Titles, Modern Library's 100 Best Novels, Koen Book Distributors' Top 100 Books of the Past Century, and Library Journal's 150 20th-century Most Influential Fiction. Our list includes only English-language books written in the 1900's.
We welcome your questions, comments, or response to this list, Please send any messages about this list to the Web Master. Be sure and put "Top 150" in the subject field.
1.The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald 2.1984, George Orwell
2.Catch-22, Joseph Heller 4.The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
5.Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 6.Animal Farm, George Orwell
6.Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 8.Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
9.Ulysses, James Joyce 10.The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
11.Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger 12.Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
13.The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner 14.Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
15.To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee 16.The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
17.Native Son, Richard Wright 18.Beloved, Toni Morrison
19.Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell 19.To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
21.The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien 22.The Color Purple, Alice Walker
23.On the Road, Jack Kerouac 24.The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
25.The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck 26.Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
26.The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien 28.Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
29.Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier 30.The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
31.A Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein 32.My Antonia, Willa Cather
33.A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway 34.A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
35.I, Claudius, Robert Graves 36.Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
36.The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemmingway 36.A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
39.Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson 40.Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora N. Hurston
41.The Call of the Wild, Jack London 42.The World According to Garp, John Irving
43.A Passage to India, E. M. Forster 43.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
45.The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford 46.The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
47.Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry 48.One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
49.Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser 50.U. S. A.(trilogy), John Dos Passos
51.Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner 52.Sophie's Choice, William Styron
53.Lady Chatterley's Lover, D. H. Lawrence 54.Exodus, Leon Uris
55.All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren 55.Rabbit Run, John Updike
57.The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing 57.The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
57.Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth 60.The Ambassadors, Henry James
60.From Here to Eternity, James Jones 60.Little House on the Prarie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
63.The Golden Bowl, Henry James 64.Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne
65.The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver 66.2001 : A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
67.Possession, A. S. Byatt 67.Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
69.All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria ReMarque 69.Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
69.Women in Love, D. H. Lawrence 72.The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
73.Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison 74.Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
75.Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck 75.Roots, Alex Haley
77.Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe 78.Pale Horse, Pale Rider, Katherine Anne Porter
79.Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 79.The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
79.Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham 82.The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
83.Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler 84.Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
85.The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer 86.Dune, Frank Herbert
86.A Room with a View, E. M. Forster 86.The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler
86.The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum 90.The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis
91.The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle 92.The Burger's Daughter, Nadine Gordimer
92.A Confederacy of Dunces, John K. Toole 94.An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser
95.The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley 96.East of Eden, John Steinbeck
96.Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow 96.Howards End, E. M. Forster
99.Appointment in Samarra, John O'Hara 99.Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
101.Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton 102.Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow
103.The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton 103.The Wings of a Dove, Henry James
105.Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather 106.The Studs Lonigan Trilogy, James T. Farrell
107.Bastard out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison 107.Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
109.The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath 110.As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
111.The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder 111.A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh
113.A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor 113.The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara
115.Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin 115.The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
117.White Noise, Don DeLillo 118.Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
118.The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene 120.Deliverance, James Dickey
120.The Wapshot Chronicles, John Cheever 122.A Dance to the Music of Time, Anthony Powell
122.Snow Falling Cedars, David Guterson 124.Point Counter Point, Aldous Huxley
124.Watership Down, Richard Adams 126.The Moviegoer, Walker Percy
126.The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Cran 128.The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad
129.A Death in the Family, James Agee 129.Nostromo, Joseph Conrad
131.Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh 131.The Rainbow, Pearl S. Buck
133.A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving 134.Pale Fire, Vladimir Nobokov
135.Ironweed, William P. Kennedy 135.Light in August, William Faulkner
137.Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak 138.Parade's End, Ford Madox Ford
139.Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer 139.Zuleika Dobson, Max Beerbohm
141.Main Street, Sinclair Lewis 142.Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
143.Call it Sleep, Henry Roth 144.For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
145.Ellen Foster, Kaye Gibbons 146.The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell
146.Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns 148.A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes
148.The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro 150.The Godfather, Mario Puzo

[cactus]

I am glad that both of George Orwell's novels are in the top 10. Most of my favourite books are there....so I am pretty happy!

[stlukesguild]

Of course the obvious problems with this list are

1. It is limited solely to novels written in the 20th century (as if that were the greatest era for literature, bar none)

2. It is limited to novels written in English (as if the French, Germans, Italians, Russians, Spanish, etc... had nothing worthwhile to contribute).

My third objection would be to the very notion of focusing upon novels to the exclusion of poetry, essay, short-story, drama, or any other literary form. Such lists are certainly worth looking at... but should be considered in relation to other, broader lists. I especially like:

Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan:

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtfad3.html

Columbia University's reading lists (from David Denby's Great Books):

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtcol37.html
http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtcol61.html
http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtcollh.html
http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtcolcc.html

And perhaps the most inclusive (in spite of being admittedly limited to Western literature) is Harold Bloom's Western Canon:

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html

All of these lists and more can be found here:

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/greatbks.html

[Old Crow]

First of all, why only English novels in the 1900s? Secondly the exclusion of Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood" from the list is unforgivable. Beyond that... could be worse.

[River]

Thanks for this. I'm always happy to print out book lists to go through on amazon so that I can get a whole load of novels shipped over.

[brimstone]

I've read the Top Three *proud*

[Nossa]

Is it just me, or are all the lists of 'best books' the same? Or almost the same at least. They have lots of books in common, that it seems that they're copying from each other..lol

[River]

Is it just me, or are all the lists of 'best books' the same? Or almost the same at least. They have lots of books in common, that it seems that they're copying from each other..lol

SO TRUE! I'm sick of seeing that to be honest. I'm especially annoyed to see JD Salingers Catcher in The Rye on every list.

They need to release a list of "Top 100 Books You've Never Heard Of"

That would be a kick *** list. Hey, maybe we should make it!

[Noisms]

SO TRUE! I'm sick of seeing that to be honest. I'm especially annoyed to see JD Salingers Catcher in The Rye on every list.

They need to release a list of "Top 100 Books You've Never Heard Of"

That would be a kick *** list. Hey, maybe we should make it!

That's not a bad idea. "Top 100 Books that Never Make Lists But Should."

[Nossa]

^^ I kinda like this one. Maybe we should make a thread, and everyone suggest a book they think nobody heard of before. That's be great.
You know, you guys can check the book club forum, we're having for 2008 a 'country of the month' year. We'll be suggesting books from different countries, and it's very likely that we'll find books we've never heard of, and from different cultures.

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27884

You can suggest countries for now...make sure you don't suggest countries that are already mentioned in the list that the mod updates regularly.

[ForKnowledge]

The Great Gatsby number 1 ? can that can a case be made for that? there are a lot of books on the list there I feel you can argue has to be near the top but Gatsby? da **** atta hereeee!

[DapperDrake]

Are these in ascending order then? I've just read catch 22 and it was very good, but i'd be surprised if its the 3rd best novel of the 20th century?

[JBI]

A Pretty basic list, with many overrated books, and like everyone set, minimal scope. Also, where is Absalom, Absalom!? Where is Midnight's Children? Why are all these overly sentimental kids books (Little House on the Prarie, Winney-the-Pooh, etc), and crappy fantasy novels even on this list. This must be some kids personal list, or some silly culture-critic list. Either way, there is no possible way that The Great Gatsby is the best book, when the fact that the United States is not the only country included on this list is factored in. Half the list isn't top 150, by any real standards. Number 21 for the Lord of the Rings? Good god, give me a break.

These top 100 lists generally suck, and this isn't a very good one.

[kelby_lake]

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

i read the first 3 too! and some more. why is 'to kill a mockingbird' even on here? or at least it should be very low-down.

what do you lot think should be the top book then?

[JBI]

For Novels, cross language, In Search of Lost Time, for English Novels, Light In August or Ulysses, probably, maybe To the Lighthouse up there somewhere, simply because of its importance.

[PabloQ]

1. This list is a compilation of 4 other list, one of which is 150 novels long and the other 3 are 100 novels long. Wouldn't be more appropriate to shuffle 4 100 card decks?
2. Over my life, I've read 41 of these novels and 6 of the first 10.
3. It's just a list, kids. It's like any one opinion and holds just as much weight. The same roomful of an infinite number of monkeys banging on typewriters that would eventually turn out the works of Shakespeare would also turn out this list.
4. The commonality between such lists is indicative that there is agreement among the literary community that many of these novels stand above other novels. Whether we agree with the consensus or not is a matter of individual taste and preference. If you don't like the list, make one yourself. We've got plenty folks on this forum waiting to disagree with your choices.
5. Given some of the material that's on the list, I would make a case that The Octopus by Frank Norris should be there (better book than #57 The Jungle); The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkenton (apparently the Pulitzer folks don't always get it right); and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (man deserves more than one entry on the list). Another Pulitzer winner, Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis is also missing.
6. Nothing by Thomas Pynchon? Really? He didn't write anything better than say The Mists of Avalon or Where the Wild Things Are? Gravity's Rainbow didn't make the list? Hmmmm.
7. Did Kazuo Ishiguro really write The Remains of the Day in English? Just curious.
8. Have a great and happy day!!

[bounty]

SO TRUE! I'm sick of seeing that to be honest. I'm especially annoyed to see JD Salingers Catcher in The Rye on every list.

They need to release a list of "Top 100 Books You've Never Heard Of"

That would be a kick *** list. Hey, maybe we should make it!

i concur with catcher in the rye!! one of the two most disappointing books ive ever read and im still waiting for someone to explain to me just why, apparently, its so good...

[jgweed]

What kind of list is this if it doesn't include Dickens or Thomas Mann or Dos Passos, just to name three important authors?
"Commit it to the flames...."
Cheers,
jgw

[JBI]

It is limited to last century, English novels only, I believe.

[Joreads]

How about we all nominate the novels we think are the best 10 novels of all time and see how it compares to the list

[Dark Muse]

How about we all nominate the novels we think are the best 10 novels of all time and see how it compares to the list

Someone should start that thread

[Joreads]

I will start it

[cipherdecoy]

The Catcher In The Rye coming before A Clockwork Orange? Nah.
I thought The Catcher In The Rye deserved to be in the list but I didn't think it deserved the 11th position.

[PabloQ]

What kind of list is this if it doesn't include Dickens or Thomas Mann or Dos Passos, just to name three important authors?
"Commit it to the flames...."
Cheers,
jgw
Dickens is from the wrong century.
Mann wrote in German.
Dos Passos is on the list.

[PabloQ]

I have a suggestion just for fun because nobody ever agrees on these lists. Guaranteed if any 3 of us read all 150 books, we would have different opinions on which books deserve to be hear and which ones do not.
Joreads suggests a separate thread of eveyrone's top 10, but I believe that thread or something similar is already going.
Let's play together to fix this one.
This is a compilation of 4 lists - Harvard Bookstores 100 Recommended, Modern Library's 100 Best, Koen's Top 100, and Library Journal's 150 Most Influential. These 4 things clash already. So let's come together to create the 100 books that we would recommend to someone looking to read a good piece of literature from the 20th century.
I suggest we lop off the last 50 entries from the list -- everything from the Wide Sargasso Sea on down.
Now we need to make sure we can agree on the 100 that are left. So from now until the end of July, I'll monitor this site for your responses to this question/request:
Which books would you promote from the bottom 50 and which ones would you remove the 100 to make room for them? Limit the list to 5 and rank them from most passionate to least. I'll tabulate the scores and we can argue about the results.
It's just a suggestion and just for fun to see what kind of list we might come up.

[Nossa]

It is limited to last century, English novels only, I believe.

Yeah I think so too. Even the works that were later translated (like Lolita) were originally written in English.
They're missing on many great works though. The translated works that weren't included that is.