I can across this list via Intrepid Flame [intrepidflame.blogspot.com] who got it from Random House [randomhouse.com], maybe not the most impartial list but c’est la vie. Lets see how my reading habits stack up against the Random House Best 100 Modern English Novels of the 20th Century:
- ULYSSES by James Joyce—Been there, done that. Hated it. [confusion.cc]
- THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald—Read it in school, liked it, should read it again.
- A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce—Never read it, one Joycean adventure was enough for me up to now.
- LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov—Beautiful, disturbing, disgusting. In the end, the language is a greater force than the objectionable plot elements. A good book.
- BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley—Way too prophetic to be comfortable reading.
- THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner—Liked it, need to read it again to understand it I think.
- CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller—Yossarian Lives! [confusion.cc]
- DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler—Never heard of it.
- SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence—Not yet.
- THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck—Another school book, ignored it before I heard Rage Against the Machine’s version of The Ghost of Tom Joad [wikipedia.org]. Then I went back and re-read it and like it. Not my favorite but a good book.
- UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry—Never heard of it.
- THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler—Never read it.
- 1984 by George Orwell—Orwell was wrong… but only about the year. Should be required reading for all British MPs.
- I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves—This one scares me, have not got around to reading it.
- TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf—Nope.
- AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser—Never heard of it.
- THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers—Nope.
- SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut—I didn’t think this was a good book. Maybe I was too old when I read it.
- INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison—Amazing. [confusion.cc] One of my favorite books.
- NATIVE SON by Richard Wright—Nope.
- HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow—Counting Crows make me want to read this… have not done it yet.
- APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O’Hara—Never heard of it.
- U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos—Scares me.
- WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson—Nope.
- A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster—Not yet.
- THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James—Another miss.
- THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James—And another.
- TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald—Nope.
- THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell—Nope.
- THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford—Nope.
- ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell—Of course, some are more equal than others.
- THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James—Not yet.
- SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser—Never heard of it.
- A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh—Nope.
- AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner—Not yet.
- ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren—Nope.
- THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder—Not yet.
- HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster—Didn’t even see the movie.
- GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin—Nope.
- THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene—Nope.
- LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding—I like this the first time, found it a bit wanting on the re-read.
- DELIVERANCE by James Dickey—Does the movie count?
- A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell—Nope.
- POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley—Nope.
- THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway—This one is sitting on my bookshelf even now (maybe when I finish Don Quixote…)
- THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad—Nope.
- NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad—Nope.
- THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence—Nope.
- WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence—Nope.
- TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller—Nope.
- THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer—Nope.
- PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth—Nope.
- PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov—Nope, heard it was too much like Lolita.
- LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner—Not yet.
- ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac—Never liked the beats, skipped it.
- THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett—Nope. Never saw the movie either.
- PARADE’S END by Ford Madox Ford—Nope.
- THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton—Nope.
- ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm—Nope.
- THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy—Nope.
- DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather—Nope.
- FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones—Nope.
- THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever—Nope.
- THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger—I did not understand this book. I put it down to reading it at age 30…
- A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess—Nope.
- OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham—Nope.
- HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad—I started this one. Got lost, maybe not a book for a 17 year old. Saw Apocalypse Now.
- MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis—Not yet.
- THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton—Never heard of it.
- THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell—Never heard of it. (But what’s with all the trilogies and quartets, is length an automatic in for this list?)
- A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes—Nope.
- A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul—Nope.
- THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West—Nope.
- A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway—Not yet.
- SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh—Nope.
- THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark—Never heard of it.
- FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce—Spare me. It took him 14 years to write it and he expects me to spend 14 years trying to understand him. I’ll skip it.
- KIM by Rudyard Kipling—Nope. But I did read The English Patient.
- A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster—Nope.
- BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh—Nope.
- THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow—Never heard of it.
- ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner—Never heard of it.
- A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul—Nope.
- THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen—Nope.
- LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad—Only excerpts in school.
- RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow—Nope.
- THE OLD WIVES’ TALE by Arnold Bennett—Nope.
- THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London—When I was like 14.
- LOVING by Henry Green—Nope.
- MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie—No, most of his other books but not this one. Will have to fix that.
- TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell—Nope.
- IRONWEED by William Kennedy—Nope.
- THE MAGUS by John Fowles—Nope.
- WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys—Nope.
- UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch—Nope.
- SOPHIE’S CHOICE by William Styron—In high school. Forgot it all after the test.
- THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles—Never heard of it.
- THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain—Nope.
- THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy—Nope.
- THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington—Never heard of it.
That’s like 15 out of 100… not so good. Will have to fix that someday.
