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Great list. They're a definite help when I'm unsure of what to read next.
And I know nobodies ever completely happy with these list...I think it's great...but what about Breakfast at Tiffany's? I always thought it's the standard of excellent writing.
Sweet! Crime and Punishment is the greatest novel of all time and definitely deserved that number one spot. So I'm at 33 of those books already read, not bad for only being 20.
I loved Crime and Punishment and thought it was a fabulous and very intriguing book.
My current count is 39
My current count is 29. But I do own some from the list which I have not yet read, and after finishing those, I would have 45 of them done!
My current count is 21 but I've had to study excerpts for 10 more, hehe.
I've read onlly 7 of those books, and am reading another one currently. I guess I've kind of avoided classic literature until relatively recently. The only two I read Before I was 16 were The Good Earth and The Republic; and I think the only other one I read before this past year was Catch 22. I can't say that I reget that though because it seems like I appreciate reading the classics now a lot more than I would have when I was younger. Lots of people in this thread have said that Crime and Punishment isn't even Dostoyevsky's best novel. If that's true, I'm going to have to read more of them, because I can hardly imagine anything being better.
If it was ever translated as Karenin, then it was wrongly translated because it's masculine form or simplier - Anna's husband surname.Quote:
Originally Posted by ktr
Why Crime and Punishment is in on the top? I've read and it is an OK novel?!
I'm up to 32 and counting. I lot of fantastic books on that list!
Thanks,That is VERY COOL!
ive read twleve out of the hundred... meh. they don't interest me that much, although um surprised The Red and The Black by Stendhal didn't make it on your list, not to mention Germinal or Debacle by zola. Granted, i would love to read some others in your list.... but most of those books are not really my cup of tea.
I have read 42 of the books on this list but I'm amazed by the recent books who made the top 100: Perfume, The Kite Runner, Middlesex, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, in my opinion in the last twenty years we have seen much better novels than these ones. Good to see so much Dostoevsky on the list!
of those recomended as part of a lifetime reading program. After three counts, I have determined that I have read 65 of those on the list. I will probably read a few more, the one exception being anything by Ayn Rand, whom I intensely dislike.
1984 is #2? You have to be kidding me!
Seems pretty heavy on russian works, but I guess thats due to tolstoy and dostoevsky eh?
I thought B.K. and the Idiot were both better than C&P personally.
Hamlet beats the bible :crazy:
Good list! Everything is subjective with lists, but I find book and music lists very helpful in expanding my library. Also happy to see quite a few of my favorites on there. The Brothers Karamazov should be above Crime and Punishment, but again that's my personal taste.
:grouphug:
For those that want to keep track of the books on this list that you have read, I have created a list on the Lists of Bests web site. It is called Lit Net's Top 100 Books Official List.
Oh wow, very cool, thanks for doing that!
I keep thinking she would have been somewhat redeemed had she had even a shred of a sense of humor. But I've never read a more humorless writer.Quote:
Originally Posted by dfloyd
It's quite possible that her lack of humor heavily influenced her Objectivist philosophy. Had she been a jollier person, she probably wouldn't have thought that way. Once again, that's just an idea, and not one I'm prepared to defend all that strongly. Yet ...
Good list. I've only read about 27 of those books and the rest are ones I've got on my ever-growing 'to read' list. I'm SO glad to see Notes from Underground on there because I often feel it gets neglected when people discuss Dostoyevsky's novels. Also surprised but pleased to see Amerika on the list. I wouldn't have placed 1984 second though! It was a great novel, but I think The Divine Comedy, Hamlet, Ulysses etc. should come before it.
I read 40 out of these top 100...
Surprised that the Koran, the Red and the Black, and the Three Musketeers trilogy did not make the list.
As an agnostic, I read both the Koran and the Bible. Clearly, in terms of lessons and the storyline, the Koran is much more well defined. Then again.. the people on here are Christians.
This is really more of a popularity list.
Hi, I'm new here.
I have over 90 of the 100 books listed.
I agree that is a very good list that has been compiled here.
I do note however that it appears to primarily be a euro-centric and American representation of novels that are generally quite well known in the mainstream. Nothing wrong with that per se but I would suggest you may wish to consider some of the following novels as well.
Apologies if these have been mentioned here already.
Cheers.
Off the top......and Yes a number of these are certainly European authors
Berlin Alexanderplatz - Alfred Doblin
Palefire (collection) - Vladimir Nabokov *I personally could never leave this Nabokov collection out of any list, albeit you do have Lolita listed.
Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
Street of Crocodiles - Bruno Schulz
I Served the King of England - Bohumil Hrabal
Closely Observed Trains - Bohumil Hrabal
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Tartare Steppe - Dino Buzzati
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller - Italo Calvino
Feast of the Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa
The Painter - R. K. Narayan
Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
Terra Nostra - Carlos Fuentes
Radetzsky March - Joseph Roth
Obscene Bird of the Night -Jose Donoso
Labyrinths - Jorge Louis Borges *I realise this is one of his short story collections but I could not leave it out.
Love and Garbage - Ivan Klima
Memed My Hawk - Yasar Kemal
Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter *A collection but a very great one.
Season of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih
The Sound of the Mountain - Yasunari Kawabata
Austerlitz - W.G. Sebald
Wittgenstein's Nephew - Thomas Bernhard
At Swim Two Birds - Flann O'Brien
Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
Blow-Up and other stories - Julio Cortazar *Another collection but I couldn't leave out whom I regard as no. 2 in the Latin American canon behind Borges.
Makioka Sisters - Junichero Tanizak
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Cairo Trilogy - Naghuib Mahfouz
The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie *Apologies but I simply had to log back in to add these two to the list. Now to catch some ZZZZZZs...
I have plenty more I could inlcude here but it's late and I need to get some shut eye.
Bye for now.
nice list thanks.
I have read only 36, perhaps I should get busy reading. Some of them I have in my head to read, others, I haven't perhaps, so this is a nice place to start.
Thank you for compiling the list.
HMMM..little disappointing I didn't get much of a response from those additional authors but then I only posted yesterday..
Maybe more folk will come along and post here.
Off to check out other sections of the site.
Can't believe that Gargantua and Pantangruel is in top 100.
Good list to reference to when in need. I need to get my hands on "Sometimes a Great Nation"!
Nice list. Only read about 17, but half read about another 7 and have another 20 or 30 on the shelf.
I have read 49 (including first 13) but then the list becomes a bit iffy towards the end. 'Kite Runner' in top 100! 'The Brothers Karamazov' was my suggestion for number 1 but I think the shorter and more fast-paced book received more votes. There are many in this list which I started but could never finish.
'Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy'?
I've read about 20 of the books on this list.
I'm also missing 'Atonement' and 'Saturday' by McEwan, and 'His Dark Materials' by Pullman. Edit: And 'Hiroshima' by Hersey, more article than book but still.
And needless to say, many books on that list just aren't my taste, it's all quite subjective.
A very good list, I have a number of those on my Christmas list. Sure looking forward to it.
I've read about 13 on the list, hah, so I really need to get reading!
I will be reading Don Quixote soon in Spanish class, though.
65 of these I've read. I have to say that my list differs greatly. I think I will have to make it up...
First off I would've made the category more exclusive, and I would've excluded the Bible, The Republic, In Cold Blood, Notes from the Underground as being either non-fictional and novellas.
noticeably absent are Balzac, Carlyle, Mann, Gide, Pynchon, DeLillo, DFW, Sartre.. actually most of my favorite authors aren't elided...
It didn't make the cut?!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mopey Droney
I dont see The Color Purple by Alice Walker either...
great list of books..
The Three Musketeers definitely belongs on this list.
meh...Dumas was the steven king of the 19th centuryQuote:
Originally Posted by Kookaburra
Having read both, neither are worthy of top 100 (of all time)Quote:
Originally Posted by ScribbleScribe