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Hey everyone!
We thought it would be interesting to post The Modern Library's list of top 20 novels (out of 100, there is a link at the bottom to the site if you wish to see the rest). There is a list by the "Board" and the "Reader's" list. There is quite a substantial difference between the two lists: the books listed on them. There is no doubt that Prongs and I prefer The Reader's List, especially considering the four (count em' four!) of Ayn Rand's novels are in the 10 top best novels of all time. And also Lord of the Rings is number four which, for me, is spot on. Anyway, I will not give away the rest of the list; feel free to leave and comment on which list is your favorite, what rankings you agree with, whatever you feel should/should not be on there. We want to kn ow what you think!!!
p.s. Harry Potter should be number one and Atlas number two I think, but what are you gonna do. Discuss!
p.s.s. This is Prongs now. Padfoot... as much as Harry has my heart... as far as literary writing goes.... Atlas is just to amazing not to be #1
THE BOARD'S LIST
- ULYSSES by James Joyce
- THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
- LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
- BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
- THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
- CATCH-22
- DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
- SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
- THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
- UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
- THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
- 1984 by George Orwell
- I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
- TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
- AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
- THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
- SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
- INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
- NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
THE READER'S LIST
- ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
- THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
- BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
- THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
- 1984 by George Orwell
- ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
- WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
- MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
- FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
- ULYSSES by James Joyce
- CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
- THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- DUNE by Frank Herbert
- THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
- STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
- A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
- BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
- THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
- ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
Interesting lists. On a side note, Prongs put up her booklist, and it's great!
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
ALSO PLEASE COMMENT ON OUR POLL TO LET US KNOW HOW OUR BLOG LOOKS!
I like the Board's list better, but I'm a classics freak. Yay for Lolita and Grapes of Wrath!
ReplyDeleteShun!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHaha I'm kidding. I do love the classics as well...I have yet to read Lolita but I am definitely excited, I have heard great things about it!
-Padfoot
-I have read Lolita and I love it very much. Id have to say over all I am about 50/50 on which I like more. I just cant respect the fact that the Board put up NO Ayn Rand. That's blasphemous to me.
ReplyDeleteso over the summer i definitely need to read a LOT. i own a shit ton of the books on those lists, but never got around to reading them lol. [basically all of Ayn Rand except for The Fountainhead]
ReplyDeletei think i like the reader's list better since its more suited for todays readers.
I don't particularly care for either of the lists, actually. The Board's is too stereotypically canon, and the other is a bit too random for me. And I'm surprised by the amount of Joyce, so few people seem to finish and enjoy Ulysses - what kind of people did they get to vote for this?
ReplyDeleteBut w00t for Nabokov, Woolf, Joyce, Faulkner and Rhys. I haven't actually read Rand.
I think those that voted for the list are basing it off of college/high school reading haha. I definitely agree with Ulysses...I mean... I know maybe 2 people who have read him. Less that liked it.
ReplyDeleteI will have to say I definitely favor the reader side (and not just for the Rand which is amazing and you should run out and get The Fountinhead right this second...) But it is only right that Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Orwell, and Faulkner make the list.
I will have to say I am surprised the board put Brave New World over 1984. A decision I actually agree with.
Mm, yes, that seems likely. I wish people read more widely. Like "War and Peace", people claim to love it, but I doubt anyone has had the stamina to finish it.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'll look for it the next time I'm on a book-spree.
I have some of the books in the list up there! Liked your blog a lot..
ReplyDeleteWow. I have some reading to do. I have to catch up on reading those classics.
ReplyDeleteThanks jeLai!
ReplyDeleteYea being an English major, I have not read nearly as many classics as I should have...
I was surprised the Moon is a Harsh Mistress is on the reader's list...out of all the books in the world...
But I have not read it so maybe I am missing something.
Personally.... I was surprised about the L. Ron Hubbard..but sometimes there is just no accounting for taste. Maybe Scientology really is the answer....
ReplyDeleteGreat to see Sons and Lovers up there! What an under-appreciated book. D.H. Lawrence knows his women...
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ReplyDeleteI enthusiastically second the D.H. Lawrence comment, as well as the notion that the great Russian works were highly neglected by the Modern Library.
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