Best Fiction of the 20th Century

[aquablue]

From the list (http://www.stanford.edu/~bkunde/best/bl-crank.htm#T) of the best fiction of the 20th century, list those books you own and read. Mark the books read with the (R) indicator.

Here is my list:


The Great Gatsby
1984
Catch 22 (R)
The Grapes of Wrath
Lolita
Animal Farm
Lord of the Flies (R)
Slaughterhouse Five
Brave New World (R)
Invisible Man
To Kill a Mockingbird
Beloved
On the Road
The Age of Innocence
A Farewell to Arms
The Old Man and the Sea (R)
A Clockwork Orange
The Good Earth
The World According to Garp
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Fahrenheit 451
The Handmaid's Tale
Tender is the Night
Of Mice and Men (R)
All the King's Men
The Jungle
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Fountainhead
A Room With a View
A Confederacy of Dunces (R)
Angle of Repose
Rabbit, Run
The Shipping News
Watership Down (R)
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Main Street
The Remains of the Day (R)
East of Eden (R)
The Stand
The Adventures of Augie March
The Bell Jar (R)
A Thousand Acres
The Beautiful and Damned
Breathing Lessons (R)
The Accidental Tourist
The Pearl

[Lizzy Siddal]

The Great Gatsby (R)
1984 (R)
Catch 22 (R)
The Grapes of Wrath (R)
Lolita
Animal Farm (R)
Lord of the Flies (R)
Slaughterhouse Five (R)
Brave New World (R)
Invisible Man
To Kill a Mockingbird (R)
Beloved
On the Road (Abandoned)
The Age of Innocence
A Farewell to Arms (R)
The Old Man and the Sea
A Clockwork Orange
The Good Earth
The World According to Garp
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (R)
Fahrenheit 451 (R)
The Handmaid's Tale (R)
Tender is the Night (R)
Of Mice and Men (R)
All the King's Men (R)
The Jungle (R)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Fountainhead
A Room With a View (R)
A Confederacy of Dunces
Angle of Repose
Rabbit, Run
The Shipping News
Watership Down (R)
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Main Street
The Remains of the Day
East of Eden (R)
The Stand
The Adventures of Augie March
The Bell Jar
A Thousand Acres
The Beautiful and Damned (R)
Breathing Lessons (R)
The Accidental Tourist (R)
The Pearl

I like lists like these but while Anne Tyler is good, I wouldn't call her great or deserving of two places in the best 100. I also confess there are some in the final 100 that I haven't even heard of!

Must wake up a little before I analyse that a little further ......

[HP]

Unlike Lizzy, I'm not one for lists much at all. Dislike keeping tally for tally's own sake. But I agree the above is terribly subjective (as most of these things usually are). However, taking a wee look at the chap behind this list, I rather like him. A gentle but passionate soul who obviously loves the written word very much. Take a look here (http://www.stanford.edu/%7Ebkunde/index.html) and I think you'll see what I mean.

[gil]

The Great Gatsby(R)
1984(R)
Catch 22 (R)
The Grapes of Wrath
Lolita (R)
Animal Farm (R)
Lord of the Flies (R)
Slaughterhouse Five
Brave New World
Invisible Man
To Kill a Mockingbird
Beloved
On the Road
The Age of Innocence
A Farewell to Arms
The Old Man and the Sea (R)
A Clockwork Orange
The Good Earth
The World According to Garp
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Fahrenheit 451 (R)
The Handmaid's Tale
Tender is the Night
Of Mice and Men (R)
All the King's Men
The Jungle
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Fountainhead
A Room With a View
A Confederacy of Dunces
Angle of Repose
Rabbit, Run
The Shipping News
Watership Down (R)
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Main Street
The Remains of the Day
East of Eden
The Stand
The Adventures of Augie March
The Bell Jar
A Thousand Acres
The Beautiful and Damned
Breathing Lessons
The Accidental Tourist
The Pearl

[ono no komachi]

The Great Gatsby (R)
1984 (R)
Catch 22 (R)
The Grapes of Wrath
Lolita (R)
Animal Farm (R)
Lord of the Flies (R)
Slaughterhouse Five
Brave New World (R)
Invisible Man
To Kill a Mockingbird (R)
Beloved
On the Road
The Age of Innocence
A Farewell to Arms
The Old Man and the Sea
A Clockwork Orange
The Good Earth
The World According to Garp (R)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (R)
Fahrenheit 451 (R)
The Handmaid's Tale (R)
Tender is the Night (R)
Of Mice and Men (R)
All the King's Men
The Jungle
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Fountainhead
A Room With a View
A Confederacy of Dunces (R)
Angle of Repose
Rabbit, Run
The Shipping News
Watership Down
A Prayer for Owen Meany (R)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Main Street
The Remains of the Day (R)
East of Eden
The Stand (R) - have to say, of all the books here (including the ones I know nothing about!), this struck me as a strange inclusion. Is there some kind of 'odd one out' game going on?
The Adventures of Augie March
The Bell Jar
A Thousand Acres
The Beautiful and Damned
Breathing Lessons
The Accidental Tourist
The Pearl

[Beth]

The Great Gatsby R
The Grapes of Wrath R
Lord of the Flies R
Slaughterhouse Five R
To Kill a Mockingbird R
Beloved - own it
A Farewell to Arms R
The Old Man and the Sea R
The Good Earth R
The Handmaid's Tale R
Tender is the Night R
All the King's Men R
The Fountainhead R
A Confederacy of Dunces R
Angle of Repose -own it
Rabbit, Run R
The Shipping News R
The Remains of the Day R
East of Eden R
The Bell Jar R
A Thousand Acres R
Breathing Lessons R
The Accidental Tourist R
The Pearl RA sweet list, but lists very badly to the West. Plus, the guy is a terrible dresser!

[HP]

Plus, the guy is a terrible dresser!

Ah, sadly so true - not least those socks! Endearing though, even if not so much Rodin's Thinker, as Bill Bryson after one too many figs.

[BiNS]

The Great Gatsby
1984 R
Catch 22 R
The Grapes of Wrath R
Lolita
Animal Farm R
Lord of the Flies R
Slaughterhouse Five
Brave New World
Invisible Man R
To Kill a Mockingbird R
Beloved
On the Road R
The Age of Innocence
A Farewell to Arms R
The Old Man and the Sea R
A Clockwork Orange R
The Good Earth
The World According to Garp
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest R
Fahrenheit 451 R
The Handmaid's Tale
Tender is the Night
Of Mice and Men R
All the King's Men
The Jungle
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Fountainhead
A Room With a View
A Confederacy of Dunces
Angle of Repose
Rabbit, Run
The Shipping News R
Watership Down R
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Main Street
The Remains of the Day
East of Eden R
The Stand
The Adventures of Augie March
The Bell Jar
A Thousand Acres
The Beautiful and Damned
Breathing Lessons
The Accidental Tourist
The Pearl R

[Paul]

The Great Gatsby (R)
1984 (R)
Catch 22
The Grapes of Wrath (R)
Lolita (R)
Animal Farm (R)
Lord of the Flies (R)
Slaughterhouse Five
Brave New World
Invisible Man
To Kill a Mockingbird (R)
Beloved
On the Road (R)
The Age of Innocence
A Farewell to Arms
The Old Man and the Sea (R)
A Clockwork Orange
The Good Earth
The World According to Garp
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (R)
Fahrenheit 451 (R)
The Handmaid's Tale
Tender is the Night
Of Mice and Men (R)
All the King's Men
The Jungle
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (R)
The Fountainhead
A Room With a View (R)
A Confederacy of Dunces
Angle of Repose (R)
Rabbit, Run
The Shipping News (R)
Watership Down
A Prayer for Owen Meany (R)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Main Street
The Remains of the Day (R)
East of Eden (R)
The Stand (R)
The Adventures of Augie March
The Bell Jar
A Thousand Acres
The Beautiful and Damned
Breathing Lessons
The Accidental Tourist
The Pearl

[ions]

Fitzgerald, F. Scott Great Gatsby, The (R)
Orwell, George Nineteen Eighty Four (R)
Heller, Joseph Catch 22
Nabokov, Vladimir Lolita (R)
Joyce, James Ulysses (R)
Orwell, George Animal Farm (R)
Golding, William Lord of the Flies (R)
Salinger, J. D. Catcher in the Rye, The (R)
Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. Slaughterhouse Five (R)
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
Faulkner, William Sound and the Fury, The (R)
Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird (R)
Joyce, James Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A (R)
Morrison, Toni Beloved (R)
Hemingway, Ernest Sun Also Rises, The (R)
Woolf, Virginia To the Lighthouse (R)
Tolkien, J. R. R. Lord of the Rings (R)
White, E. B. Charlotte's Web (R)
Hemingway, Ernest Farewell to Arms, A (R)
Hemingway, Ernest Old Man and the Sea, The (R)
Burgess, Anthony Clockwork Orange, A (R)
London, Jack Call of the Wild, The (R)
Buck, Pearl S. Good Earth, The
Irving, John World According to Garp, The
Tolkien, J. R. R. Hobbit, The (R)
Faulkner, William As I Lay Dying
Steinbeck, John Of Mice and Men (R)
Lawrence, D. H. Sons and Lovers
Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness (R)
Hemingway, Ernest For Whom the Bell Tolls (R)
McMurtry, Larry Lonesome Dove
Lowry, Malcolm Under the Volcano (R)
Adams, Richard Watership Down
Woolf, Virginia Mrs. Dalloway
Rushdie, Salman Satanic Verses, The (R)
Herbert, Frank Dune (R)
Lewis, C. S. Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The (R)
Durrell, Lawrence Alexandria Quartet, The
DeLillo, Don White Noise (R)
Ishiguro, Kazuo Remains of the Day, The (R)
Adams, Douglas Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The (R)
Michener, James A. Hawaii (R)

And I think the list is shit for all it's missing.

[BiNS]

Ions, your list appears to be different?

[ions]

In content or style? I just clicked the link that aquablue provided and used what was there.

[BiNS]

Content, yours shows some different books.

EDIT: Ah, I see now. Aquablue has made a list of the books he owns from the original. I was lazy and copied his list.

[BiNS]

Plus, the guy is a terrible dresser!

Having just looked at the method used for ranking the books, I'd say it's a safe bet that he owns an anorak as well.

[Paul]

Content, yours shows some different books.

EDIT: Ah, I see now. Aquablue has made a list of the books he owns from the original. I was lazy and copied his list.
Oops. I did the same thing.

[bakunin_the_cat]

Nothing personal aquablue, but I don't think I can be arsed to spend half my sunday going through the list and adding an (R) For what it's worth I've read about a third of the list. What exactly this proves I'm not really sure. Should I feel guilty about the fact that I haven't read more of these books? You tell me. If people fail to reach a certain number of Rs should they be quietly escorted to the gates of Palimpcity for not being serious enough?

Guess I'm with HP on the whole list thing.

[amner]

And I think the list is shit for all it's missing.



Agreed. And pointless. And, anyway, haven't we been here before?

Pfff.

[ions]

I don't mind lists like these. They remind me of books I've wanted to read and even where I rate among the popular canon. Taken very lightly of course. And it makes me feel smart when they're glaring omissions. ;)

[Russell]

Actually, I thought this list was rather different, for being an amalgamation of several lists of apparently different "tastes." I'm glad the author of the list took the effort to do that interleaving and also to show the various sources for his entries. I've seen books here that I have never seen on any other list before, including quite a few that I enjoyed. Perhaps that doesn't speak too well for my reading habits -- or my clothing sense, either -- or even my interest in reading lists, but I am always curious to see how other people's reading preferences compare to my own.
Come to think of it, isn't that a also a possible reason why some of us browse through book forums, discussions and reviews? Perhaps to broaden our views of the book world around us?

[Beth]

I would agree that the list is a good assemblage. Especially now that I've taken the time to actually link to it! And my expansion as a reader is certainly the reason I joined here. I suppose I'm thinking more in terms of the fact that lists are fairly common, whereas the nuts and bolts of understanding and dialogue may launch from a title, but seldom from a list, unless it's especially provocative. I never fail to read lists such as this, but I'd rather read the Palimplists and weave a bit from there. Speaking of weaving, Russell, I'm seeing nothing but praise for Desire: Women Write About Wanting. I know you mentioned it recently, and I'd enjoy reading your thoughts on it sometime.

[Russell]

Speaking of weaving, Russell, I'm seeing nothing but praise for Desire: Women Write About Wanting. I know you mentioned it recently, and I'd enjoy reading your thoughts on it sometime.

Beth, Here is something I put together in my first flush of enthusiasm after closing the cover. I would not change a word of it.

Desire: Women Write About Wanting, a collection of essays edited by Lisa Solod Warren.

Twenty-three authors write openly from their hearts about their innermost feelings, thoughts and desires, in a variety that spans the highs and lows of life across a breadth of possible life-styles along the journey between birth and death. Twenty three different superlatives would be required to adequately describe the entire collection. One essay has the very best narrative writing I have seen in a long time; another the most lyrical evocation of love for an infant that I have ever read; yet another the quandaries of finding Lesbian love, and so on. Overall this is the most revealing book of very few that I have ever seen on the topic. In fact, it is about twenty-three different dimensions of the meaning of humanity itself.

Thanks for asking. Needless to say I think you would enjoy it.
Russell

[Paradox]

While I don't completely go by lists, they can give good ideas of where we've been and what direction we wish to pursue. In the link that Aquablue provided, I see I have read about 30, but most of them many years ago and I'd actually forgotten I'd read most of them. So I guess a reread is in order.

[Russell]

Yes, Paradox, a list to reread some long lost friends too. As well as a reminder that there are still quite a few that I would like to get around to reading for the first time! My quota is nowhere near full, on that or any other list.