Another "100 Best" list

Jul 30 01:07 UTC 1998

This list of the "100 greatest novels in English published in the
20th century" was drawn up by the editorial board of Modern Library.  

1. "Ulysses," James Joyce
2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce
4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov
5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley
6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner
7. "Catch-22," Joseph Heller
8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler
9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence
10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck
11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry
12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler
13. "1984," George Orwell
14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves
15. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf
16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser
17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers
18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut
19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison
20. "Native Son," Richard Wright
21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow
22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara
23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos
24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson
25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster
26. "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James
27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James
28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell
30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford
31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell
32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James
33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser
34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh
35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner
36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren
37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder
38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster
39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin
40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene
41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
42. "Deliverance," James Dickey
43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell
44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley
45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway
46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad
47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad
48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence
49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence
50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller
51. "The Naked and the Dead," Norman Mailer
52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth
53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov
54. "Light in August," William Faulkner
55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac
56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett
57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford
58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton
59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm
60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy
61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather
62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones
63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever
64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger
65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess
66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham
67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad
68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis
69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton
70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell
71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes
72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul
73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West
74. "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway
75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh
76. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark
77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce
78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling
79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster
80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh
81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow
82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner
83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul
84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen
85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad
86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow
87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett
88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London
89. "Loving," Henry Green
90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie
91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell
92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy
93. "The Magus," John Fowles
94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys
95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch
96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron
97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles
98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain
99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy
100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington

response 2 of 23:

Jul 30 05:19 UTC 1998

  I certainly would've included Pat Conroy, Henry Fielding, Stephen King
among some others. 100 books from millions is just not enough. I would say
there are 1000 classic books that everyone should read, including the afore
mentioned 100 listed here.

response 4 of 23:

Jul 30 15:54 UTC 1998

Re #2: Since this was a list of 20th century books, nothing by
Henry Fielding would have been eligible, since he was an 18th
century dude.

Read a newspaper column commenting on the Modern Library's list.
The author noted the bias towards authors published by the Modern
Library, and also used the list as a basis for comparing the 19th
and 20th centuries, concluding that the 19th century produced
a far richer collection of fiction.

I seem to have read 14 of the novels on the list. Not outstanding,
but probably better than average.

response 6 of 23:

Jul 30 21:53 UTC 1998

I noted the absence of _The_Lord_of_the_Rings_, myself.  But it's not
worthless, Mary.  It's a very nice demonstration of what the editors of the
Modern Library think literature should be about.  It omits large areas.
(But _To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_ is indeed the *kind* of thing the Modern Library
people are generally looking for, in a way that TLOTR is not.  And I'm with
you in thinking it much more deserving than a whole bunch of what did make
the list.)

response 8 of 23:

Jul 31 01:58 UTC 1998

Re: #6  Oh, Lordy.  I intended to put a ;-) after the worthless
response.  

response 10 of 23:

Jul 31 12:24 UTC 1998

These are the only ones I've read:

1. "Ulysses," James Joyce
2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce
4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov
5. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley
8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler
13. "1984," George Orwell
21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow
23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos
25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster
(the first 1/3 of) 29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell
30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford
31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell
34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh
35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner
41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell (counts
    as 12 novels!)
44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley
47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad
52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth
53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov
54. "Light in August," William Faulkner
58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton
59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm
64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger
65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess
73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West
(probably more than you've read of) 77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce
88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London
99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy

response 12 of 23:

Jul 31 18:53 UTC 1998

41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett
64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger
98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain

(Of the hard-boiled crime fiction school, Hammett and Cain are 
represented in the list; Raymond Chandler, who wrote better novels, is 
not.)

response 14 of 23:

Aug 1 16:05 UTC 1998

 1. _Ulysses_, James Joyce
    (or a good stab at it, anyway - gave up maybe 1/3 through?)
 2. _The_Great_Gatsby_, F. Scott Fitzgerald
 3. _A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man_, James Joyce
 5. _Brave_New_World_, Aldous Huxley
 6. _The_Sound_and_the_Fury_, William Faulkner
    (or at least much of it, and a lot of other Faulkner that didn't
    make this list - not sure whether I finished this one)
 7. _Catch-22_, Joseph Heller
10. _The_Grapes_of_Wrath_, John Steinbeck
13. _1984_, George Orwell
19. _Invisible_Man_, Ralph Ellison
23. _U.S.A._ (trilogy), John Dos Passos
26. _The_Wings_of_the_Dove_, Henry James
27. _The_Ambassadors_, Henry James
28. _Tender_Is_the_Night_, F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. _The_Studs_Lonigan_Trilogy_, James T. Farrell
31. _Animal_Farm_, George Orwell
33. _Sister_Carrie_, Theodore Dreiser
36. _All_the_King's_Men_, Robert Penn Warren
37. _The_Bridge_of_San_Luis_Rey_, Thornton Wilder
41. _Lord_of_the_Flies_, William Golding
45. _The_Sun_Also_Rises_, Ernest Hemingway
52. _Portnoy's_Complaint_, Philip Roth
64. _The_Catcher_in_the_Rye_, J. D. Salinger
78. _Kim_, Rudyard Kipling

response 16 of 23:

Aug 8 18:11 UTC 1998

  I've read about 15 of the books on the list, and have another 35 or so that
are on the list and hopefully I'll read them all before I die. But first, I
want to read some more of Conroy and Clancy.

response 18 of 23:

Nov 14 08:32 UTC 1998

  Most of them are not yet old enough for the copyrights to have
  expired (if, in fact, they ever will..  Seems like every few years
  they keep extending the maximum life of copyrights.  I guess that
  intellectual property owners have a more powerful lobby on their
  side than the public domain does..)

response 20 of 23:

Oct 14 14:53 UTC 1999

Man, I've only read 5 of the books on this list. I should try some more of
these.

response 22 of 23:

Oct 17 21:00 UTC 1999

Personally, I don't think this list is all that good of a target.  There's
lots of stuff I'd put on that they've ignored, and quite a bunch on this list
I'd say aren't worth much of anything.  Just my $.02, since my name was
mentioned ...