Sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by ennison
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Sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by ennison
I wasn't here when the last one was done, so I'm down. LitNet's been pretty inactive lately though.Quote:
Originally Posted by ennison
I think it was a member with the moniker Desolation who organised the list before. I assume it requires a bit of Internet savvy and some free time. Personally I am enough of the autistic male to get a kick out of lists like this. What we would get would perhaps be different this time but I suspect much would still be the same. I doubt if any "serious" reader would object if big beasts like Hugo and Tolstoy were on the list but at the same time it's not very original. If nearly all of us agree that Les Miserables is a bit of genuine genius then we are saying only what we'd expect any fairly well-read person to say. Course if we have a hundred text list then there is room for a bit of diversity and the personal interests of the contributors. I guess a few of the lesser known texts were my single vote. I have noticed though that "Life and Fate" was republished recently so there must be those out "there" who agree with me about the stature of that text.
I might add that the Bible top of the list perplexes me, especially when that anthology is followed by a play. Some texts are the result of the voters being young. " TKaM" is a great novel but I suspect it was voted for by those who have read forty or fifty books... youngsters. Not a bad reason to vote for it but I am making the simple observation that there is really quite a wide difference between the texts. I doubt if I would ever vote for Joyce's more accessible but still little read tome (rather than the often talked about but seldom read tome) over say his short stories or the Portrait. Which brings me to another point. Poets and poetry don't feature (I guess Old Will was primarily a poet) and non-fiction ( although whole slews of the Bible are non-fiction or poetry!) So I guess if we made the rules a little different we might end up with quite a difference in the list. Ah but would the members want the site headed by a list that did not include a very large number of texts regarded as canonical. There have been some warm arguments about the "canon" in the last few years on these threads. ( I always feel uncomfortably geeky and trendy using words like "thread"! Don't know why though as my cousin Joey - long deceased - often spoke of "losing her thread" if she wandered off topic in a conversation)
I don't see a problem with listing "canonical" works in your top 25 or 50 favourite books. I consider myself more well-versed in cinema than literature, having lost a lot of interest in pursuing lengthy novels for the past couple of years. The "canon" is not a restrictive list, it's basically the beginning of an exploration into the literature from different countries. Nevertheless, I do enjoy seeing more eclectic lists which indicate that the person has ventured beyond the "canon".
A wonderful book for me was "A Fine Balance' by Rohiton Mistry.
I note that no-one here seems to have read what I think is by far the best 20th work on the list: A Dance to the Music of Time. Do you want the depth of Proust but with a finer appreciation of art and literature and a lot more humour? Do want a sweeping 12 volume sequence of novels that takes you from 1914 to 1970 and gives you a marvelllous cast of characters ranging from utterly bohemian to the ristocratic? Do you want subtle tricks of narrative and time shifts that make Joyce look like an amateur? Do yo want a marvellous comic villain who is like someone we have all met in our lives? Then A Dance to the Music of Time is for you.
It's almost worth reading the sequence for the titles, especially Casanova's Chinese Restaurant.
1. The Bible
2. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
3. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
8. Don Quixote by Cervantes
9. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
10. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
11. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
12. The Odyssey by Homer
13. Paradise Lost by John Milton
14. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
15. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
16. Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire
17. The Illiad by Homer
18. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
19. Essays by Montaigne
20. The Stranger by Albert Camus
21. The Oresteia by Aeschylus
22. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
23. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
24. The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin
25. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
26. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
27. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
28. Emma by Jane Austen
29. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
30. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
31. Eugene Onegin by Pushkin
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
34. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
35. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
36. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
37. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
38. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
39. Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
40. The Trial by Franz Kafka
41. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
42. Shahnameh by Ferdowsi
43. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
44. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
45. Fictions by J.L. Borges
46. El Aleph by J.L. Borges
47. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
48. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
49. The Magus by John Fowles
50. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
51. Testament by R.C. Hutchinson
52. Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
53. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
54. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
55. Oedipus the King by Sophocles
56. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
57. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
58. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
59. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake
60. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
61. Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
62. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
63. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
64. No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
65. Othello by William Shakespeare
66. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
67. Vanity Fair by William Thackerey
68. Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
69. Voss by Patrick White
70. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
71. Manfred by Lord Byron
72. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
73. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
74. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
75. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
76. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty
77. 1984 by George Orwell
78. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
79. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramagos
80. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
81. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
82. Tristam Shandy by Laurence Sterne
83. The Tree of Man by Patrick White
84. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
85. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
86. 2666 by Robert Bolano
87. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
88. If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
89. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
90. The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad
91. The Recognitions by William Gaddis
92. The Castle by Franz Kafka
93. I Canti by Giacomo Leopardi
94. Man’s Fate by André Malraux
95. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
96. Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell
97. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
98. Confessions by Rousseau
99. The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer
100. Julius Caesar by Shakespeare
30 of them. Not bad, I could do better I suppose. Also, I've read the first book of A Song of Fire and Ice, but not the whole series thus far, so I decided to leave that one out.
Thank you for the recommendation and welcome to the site. Unfortunately for those of us who rely on ebooks, this series is only offered by Amazon in paper (a no-no for those of us with lives on the go-go). It would be nice if those clowns would get a clue about some of the great out-of-print books that need to be digitalized, but lots of things would be nice. :-(Quote:
Originally Posted by Toryhere
Hello. Please I am a moroccan girl. I have a BA dissertation to write. I decided to deal with superstition in ' the adventures of Huckleberry Finn ' Mark Twain. Is it a good choice ? can you guide me please ?
Being completely new to this site, I don't know if my input is needed/wanted here, but I'd be down. Not to say this isn't a great list (Gaddis!).Quote:
Originally Posted by ennison
Hello Entropic Island. Sorry no one's talked to you yet. It helps if you post on the introductions thread, but you know, it's not that big a deal. Please allow me, as the site's unofficial greeter to extend a heartfelt if retroactive and ultimately unofficial welcome. We are very friendly here, but we tend to talk with books in front of our faces so we don't always notice when someone walks through the door. We'll have to get a bell or something. Welcome again. Please enjoy yourself! :)
Thanks, Pompey Bum! I got a nice welcome from bounty earlier, but it was in a forum game thread which I couldn't contribute to further, so I didn't want to derail.
Italics - those I have tried very hard to read and like but had to admit defeat, and gave up before finishing.
1. The Bible
2. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
3. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
8. Don Quixote by Cervantes
9. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
10. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
11. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
12. The Odyssey by Homer
13. Paradise Lost by John Milton
14. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
15. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
16. Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire
17. The Illiad by Homer
18. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
19. Essays by Montaigne
20. The Stranger by Albert Camus
21. The Oresteia by Aeschylus
22. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
23. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
24. The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin
25. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
26. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
27. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
28. Emma by Jane Austen
29. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
30. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
31. Eugene Onegin by Pushkin
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
34. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
35. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
36. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
37. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
38. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
39. Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
40. The Trial by Franz Kafka
41. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
42. Shahnameh by Ferdowsi
43. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
44. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
45. Fictions by J.L. Borges
46. El Aleph by J.L. Borges
47. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
48. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
49. The Magus by John Fowles
50. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
51. Testament by R.C. Hutchinson
52. Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
53. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
54. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
55. Oedipus the King by Sophocles
56. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
57. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
58. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
59. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake
60. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
61. Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
62. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
63. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
64. No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
65. Othello by William Shakespeare
66. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
67. Vanity Fair by William Thackerey
68. Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
69. Voss by Patrick White
70. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
71. Manfred by Lord Byron
72. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
73. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
74. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
75. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
76. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty
77. 1984 by George Orwell
78. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
79. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramagos
80. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
81. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
82. Tristam Shandy by Laurence Sterne
83. The Tree of Man by Patrick White
84. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
85. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
86. 2666 by Robert Bolano
87. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
88. If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
89. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
90. The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad
91. The Recognitions by William Gaddis
92. The Castle by Franz Kafka
93. I Canti by Giacomo Leopardi
94. Man’s Fate by André Malraux
95. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
96. Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell
97. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
98. Confessions by Rousseau
99. The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer
100. Julius Caesar by Shakespeare
I think that's 56 completed. I've read a lot of Conrad but haven't even heard of "The arrow of gold"! Why not Lord Jim, Nostromo or Victory? In general I think this list is missing some heavy hitters, and substituting some lightweights. Why would you have A Christnas Carol instead of Bleak House? Where's Geroge Eliot(Middlemarch)?
I've read 49 of the current list, but I think this site is really biased towards the types of books I've been reading. I don't usually score so well on these lists.