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Which of the Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have you read?

Started by ulthar, December 22, 2010, 08:49:21 PM

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Mofo Rising

I'm actually making my way through both of those lists, from the bottom up. Of course, I've been at it for about two years now and have only read three, plus a current reading of The Cunning Man, in that fashion. (I've got a lot of reading lists.)

Anyway:

EDITOR'S LIST
3. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - Read as a young man, mostly went over my head.
10. Grapes of Wrath - Read for high school English, hated it at the time. Will give it another try; I liked East of Eden.
13. Nineteen Eighty-Four - Loved it. Great idea book.
18. Slaughterhouse-Five - Not my favorite Vonnegut. It's good, but there are better.
31. Animal Farm - Eh.
41. Lord of the Flies - Also loved it. Amuses me no end this makes it on so many teen reading lists.
64. The Catcher in the Rye - Liked it, but don't care for teen malaise.
99. The Ginger Man - Didn't care for it.
100. The Magnificent Ambersons - Pretty good, not amazing.

READER'S LIST
4. The Lord of the Rings - Some day I want to out-and-out study all of Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Great book.
6. Nineteen Eighty-Four
14. Dune - Love Dune, not so much the sequels.
19. The Catcher in the Rye
20. Animal Farm
21. Gravity's Rainbow - If I had to pick, Gravity's Rainbow would be my favorite book.
22. The Grape's of Wrath
23. Slaughterhouse-Five
25. Lord of the Flies
29. The Stand - I liked it when I read it in middle school.
42. On the Road - Not a Kerouac fan (but a big William S. Burroughs fan).
45. At the Mountains of Madness - Lovecraft deserves all the recognition he gets.
51. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Great books.
54. Blood Meridian - I seriously question the Editor's List for not having Blood Meridian on it.
57. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
59. Ender's Game - Great book. Card really, really needs to stop revisiting it.
62. Starship Troopers - Also a great book. Military propaganda for young folks, but in a good way.
77. Farenheit 451 - Only so-so.
84. IT - King's magnum opus. More so than The Stand.
85. V. - Easier to read than Gravity's Rainbow, not as much fun.
90. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Good.
98. Illusions - I enjoyed it in high school, would probably pitch it across a room now.
100. The Satanic Verses - Not nearly as good as the controversy would attest.

The reader's list seems to be ballot stuffed by author's with cult's attached (L. Ron Hubbard, Ayn Rand). If you got rid of those two, I'd say I like it better than the editor's list.

But really, no Blood Meridian on the editor's list? That's criminal. And neither liked Infinite Jest?
Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills. The people it kills, get up and kill.

Couchtr26

Quote from: Mofo Rising on December 23, 2010, 12:49:24 PM
14. Dune - Love Dune, not so much the sequels.

I love it as well.  Just not a fan of how long it takes to really get going into things.  However, I understand that certain introductions and build ups are needed.  Took me 3 attempts at reading to finally finish. 
Ah, the good old days.

Trevor

23 on the editors' list and 22 on the readers list.

I had several of these as set works in school too, like Lord of The Pies:smile:
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

Ed, Ego and Superego

22 on the editors list, 8 of them for classes and hated them, the rest for pleasure.
47 on the Reader's list.

-Ed
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes

InformationGeek

Looking over all of these books:

Brave New World (Only one chapter.  Never interested me in the slightest)
Animal Farm (Only school assigned novel that I ever enjoyed)
1984 (So not my type of story. Could barely make it through 2 chapters)
Invisible Man (Read a verison of it that had illustrations.  Alright, but it has been a while)
Lord of the Flies (I've read up to 6 chapters, but never anymore.  Really sad to because I wanted to like it)
Fahrenhiet 451 (Read a bit, but never got into it.  I've even tried reading the graphic novel verison of it, but still)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Couple of chapters, but never made it to the court part.  Movie was good though)

Hmm, never finished any of these books besides Animal Farm.  Speaking of which, since I liked it so much I saw both film adaptions.
It (Still working on it)
Website: http://informationgeekreviews.blogspot.com/

We live in quite an interesting age. You can tell someone's sexual orientation and level of education from just their interests.

RCMerchant

Quote from: ulthar on December 22, 2010, 10:18:23 PM
Quote from: RCMerchant on December 22, 2010, 09:50:50 PM
Im gonna post a thread on what THEY SHOULDA HAD! The REAL Top novels of all time! (When I sober up an can type. )Ugh. Gnight,people. I am drunk. Yup.

That's a good idea...virtual karma for you! 

Still, though, any list I compose would include "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and other Heinlein titles.  Bradbury, too.

I was stuck by the number of novels on the editor's list that I had heard of (or seen movies of) that I had never read...

I AM composing such a list-but its taking time and thought. And YES-Heinlan-Bradbury-and Stephan King are there! ( I mean-this is 100-I gotta think about it!)
Supernatural?...perhaps. Baloney?...Perhaps not!" Bela Lugosi-the BLACK CAT (1934)
Interviewer-"Does Dracula ever end for you?
Lugosi-"No. Dracula-never ends."
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AndyC

Only a couple on the editor's list for me, but I've read ten of the readers' list.

Lord of the Rings
Dune
Animal Farm
Lord of the Flies
At the Mountains of Madness
Ender's Game
Starship Troopers
Fahrenheit 451
Watership Down
IT

And there are quite a few that have been on my "been meaning to read" list for some time.
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