100 best novels since 1923,, which is the year that Time started publishing.

The list includes a good bit of science fiction and fantasy, including Alan Moore's Watchmen (which came out number one on the reader's choice list).

Usually I hate these things, but I found this had a real interesting spin on things. Quite different from the last list like this I saw. Maybe it should be called the 100 most influential Books since 1923.

I love that they had Nueromancer, Snow Crash, The Big Sleep, Watchmen, and the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe right next to "literary" giants like The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, and the Sound and the Fury. I love all those books, but you never see them next to each other like that. That rocks.
Crazy/cool that Watchmen is the only graphic novel in there (or did I miss something else), but amazing that any were included!

On a different note, my dad just gave me a book written by Lev Grossman, one of the guys who compiled the list. This says something about his influences, I guess.

Yeah, it's an eclectic list, to be sure, and I don't have any major issues with what's on there. There's some missing in my estimation, of course.

I'm very glad that Nabokov's Pale Fire made the list. I think he's a bit over-remembered for Lolita.

I love that "Are you There God? Its Me Margaret" is on there.

I loved that Watchmen, The Corrections and To Kill A Mockingbird were all there - they're in my list of favorite books.

I was shocked to see anything by Alan moore, not that I think hes untalented but you know, the source of the list and the crowd they appease is well, I dunno. I've read a few of the other books, didnt like any of em.

i've read 15 of them.

that's kinda sad.

i had a much better movie score.

they have James Baldwin on the list...
Go tell it on the mountain is an awesome book...

I've read 24 of them, all told...

Here's a happy little meme based off of the list. I'll do it later, when I have more time.



Go through this list. Count the number of books you have read.


If there is a book on this list you started to read but stopped, say why.



Pick one book that should have been on this list.


Pick one book that should not be on this list.



Of the books you have read, pick a favorite.

Okay, I'll give the meme a go.

Nr. of books read:
15
(hey, I live and was born in a non-english speaking country)

Stopped reading:
Naked Lunch.
It just failed to make sense. Maybe you have to take drugs to understand it? (The only other book I failed to finish is Becket's Trilogy. I'm a compulsive finisher.)

Book I want off the list:
Hmm, I dunno. I think "The Corrections" weren't as monumental as they're made out to be. Otherwise you could just add "Everything is illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foers too. But I don't understand the criteria for this list.

Book that should be on the list:
Umm, Harry Potter? I think it is pretty influential. And LotR is a series too.


favourite book:
Catch 22. I've read it about 50 times. Second best favourite is I, Claudius. Though I thought "Cuckoo's Nest" fantastic too.

From the list, I've read 30 titles.

I started reading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, but stopped because I had no idea what was going on. This was for a college lit class, and nobody else knew what was going on, either. The prof ultimately dropped the book from the syllabus.

Off the list: I haven't read The Corrections, but it seems like an odd choice. This is the author who was most famous for telling Oprah to take a hike.

Favorite: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I first read this book back in high school, and it just blew me away.

They have 2 Pynchon books, and the 2 best ones. Surprising, in a good way.

(I really liked To the Lighthouse myself, when I read it in college).

I really hate to admit this but...
I've only read one, yes one of these books.
The Sun Also Rises.

I would really appreciate it if someone would be so kind as to list say, the top five I should read - or the top 10.
Thanks.

I've read 12 of them but seen the movie of more.

Count the number of books you have read.
- 24

If there is a book on this list you started to read but stopped, say why.
- Invisible man, by Ralph Ellison. I started to read it then realised it wasn't the one i was thinking of.

Pick one book that should have been on this list.
- The Things they Carried. By Tim O'Brien. still one of my favourite novels ever. a masterpiece of short, sharp shock.


Pick one book that should not be on this list.
- Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis. ugh ugh ugh.

Of the books you have read, pick a favorite.
- James Baldwin, go tell it on the mountain

I read 15. And I've six-seven books on the list waiting on my shelves to be read.

A book that should be on the list... THE WAVES by Virginia Woolf. Well - I love Virginia and that is one of my favourite novels ever. Probably because it is full of poetry-language...

A book that I stopped reading:

Midnight's children, Salman Rushdie. No particular reason, I liked the book. But I guess I was reading to many things together. I'll start it again in the future.

Off the list: Zadie Smith, and instead of her book Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides.

So I've added two more books on the list!...

If I have to say ONLY ONE book among the favourites... well now THE SOUND AND THE FURY, William Faulkner.

I got twelve, and realized that there were more than a couple books on the list that I got halfway through before wandering away from. I'm going to get back to 1984 and Neuromancer, but probably not Infinite Jest.
I would have put "True Names" by Verner Vinge on the list befor "Snow Crash," even though it has a special place in my heart.

I've read 20 of the books, but some of them, like "Their Eyes Were Watching God," are a bit of a blur.
As much as I enjoy "Snow Crash," I'm not sure I'd put it on the list. I don't think it's anywhere near as influential as "Nueromancer." There's no Ray Bradbury, so if I were going to add something it might be "Fahrenheit 451." There's also no Michael Chabon -- "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" would have been a nice add.
Hmmm, my favorite -- that's really tough, it's just too diverse for me to pick one. How about what I'll most likely read again: "Nueromancer."

quote:

There's no Ray Bradbury, so if I were going to add something it might be "Fahrenheit 451."

I agree.

maybe "Snow Crash" should be replaced by "Cryptonomicon"?