(Somebody's) List of Best novels of all time

[Knitting A Conundrum]

LOL!

[nopardons]

I've read, or tried to read about 70 of these books. I've never heard of a few of them and didn't read a few others.

Which books do I question? "BELOVED" ( it was terrible! ) and "ON THE ROAD" ; but many others, too, because they aren't the best representation of the authors' work. "THE GREAT GATSBY" and 'SOME CALL IT SLEEP" are stinkeroonies; much over praised. The list looks like an affirmative action course, combined with one made by literary snobs, who know the titles, but haven't really read the books.

Have you ever read "GOODBY COLUMBUS" ? If so, remember the girl at the pool, who carries around "WAR AND PEACE", all summer, but never reads it? LOL

[Borges]

I'm not fond of Beloved. As for TGG, I don't know how you can dislike something so lyrical. People are intimdated by 'War and Peace' because of the length and the hard to pronounced names. Once they actually start reading it, it flows quite smoothly.

[PioneerDrive]

ping

[nopardons]

Plenty of them. LOL

Many thanks for the ping! :-)

[nopardons]

"OLIVER TWIST" was by far, the most accurate look at the under classes, that Dickens ever wrote. He used Mayhew's two volume set as reference material and if your read Mayhew, you can see and hear the parts that Charlie used. And it is one of Dickens' less flowery/soap opera/cliff hangers. It also doesn't contain any of his overt mooning of his own "innocent girl" lost love/what might have been scenario.

If the list contains TPP because it was THE FIRST of a genre and the start of something "different", then I can think of a whole LOT of other books, that should have been included and weren't.

[nopardons]

That doesn't mean that I have to like his work. LOL

[nopardons]

How right you are!

[nopardons]

LOL !

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I had the most excellent seminar on Faulkner back about 87. My professor came from the same part of Mississippi that Faulkner's people did...one of his ancestors had served with one of Faulkner's ancestors during the Civil War. He also went to the same high school as Elvis had although they weren't in the same grade.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

"A Classic: A book which everyone praises but no one reads." S. L. Clemens.

[nopardons]

Trust me, it is VERY easy to dislike TGG. It's drivel, it's pompous, it's junk. It really doesn't "capture the age", as it's so often stated. Many other writers did a much better job of "capturing the age"; "MAIN STREET", "SANCTUARY", "BABBIT", "ELMER GANTRY", and "DODSWORTH", for example. Heck, even "THE SUN ALSO RISES" and "SO BIG" are better.

Hard to pronounce names never throws me off, neither does the length of a book. Perhaps it's the fact that I read/tried to read the Russian authors at the hight of the COLD WAR and my utter hatred for the USSR and Russian.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Cripes, I'm no English major, but it's Madame Bova[r]y and the author of Buddenbrooks was Thomas Mann, not Hardy. How may other laffers (sic) on that list?

[nopardons]

I haven't read Faulkner in many decades, but I LOVED his books and I read all of them in one fell swoop.

[nopardons]

That's pretty close. LOL

[PJ-Comix]

"From Here To Eternity" by James Jones is easily the BEST American novel ever written yet it's NOT on that list.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I was reading him for fun before I took the seminar...which is why I took it...and it was fun. I wish I had all my books again...I would really like to read them again.

[Aliska]

I've only read about 12 of them, in addition to the above most of Thomas Hardy, George Eliot (except Daniel Deronda), the Bronte sisters, Leon Uris, Herman Wouk, John Steinbeck, Jack London, Camus but not the one listed. I read L'Etranger (not sure) and Moliere in French. So many are missing, but then I missed so many of those on the list.

Catcher of the Rye was banned at home because of the profanity.

[nopardons]

I had to read him in school, loved him, so just read through all of his books.

I bet that that seminar was fun.

[ml1954]

Crime and Punishment

An unsurpassed 'inside the mind' narrative.