First of all let me say thanks to all who commented on the last post. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to really trim this list to 100. Several of you mentioned that I should only have one book per author, and while I understand that perspective, I found myself not wanting to drop any books on the list from those authors.
I finally decided to drop all of the multiple-book entries. While I do want to read these at some point, I realized I would be reading three to six books in a row from one author. In the case of an author like Stephen King who has three books on the list, I can easily split these up so that I’m not reading them all back to back.
Once I had gotten rid of the trilogies, et al, I realized I was down to 87 books. I realized then that I had completely ignored the Modern Library 100 best novels list, so I pulled it up and pseudo-randomly selected 13 books to fill in the list. Without further adieu, here’s the complete list (by order of author’s first name in the order I’ll read them):
***Update*** Zeuben pointed out that I had the same book on twice, so I replaced the dup with Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr.
***Update*** Ok I had to make a bunch of changes for various reasons. Some of the books were plays, and I decided I wanted to save that for another time. Also I got rid of one or two more for reasons I don’t care to explain because I’m tired and just want to start this thing! Here’s the (I really hope) final list. I’ve got the first book ready to pick up tomorrow, so it looks like I’ll be embarking on the 14th of November.
- Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
- The Eyes Of The Dragon – Stephen King
- The Book Of The Dun Cow – Walter Wangerin Junior
- The Wings Of A Falcon – Cynthia Voigt
- Idylls Of The King – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- The Hunt For Red October – Tom Clancy
- Of Mice And Men – John Steinbeck
- The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer
- The Tale Of Desperaux – Kate Dicamillo
- The Once And Future King – T.H. White
- Starship – Brian Aldiss
- Atonement – Ian McEwan
- The Tale Of Genji – Murasaki Shikibu
- Dracula – Bram Stoker
- Crime And Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
- The Name Of The Rose – Umberto Eco
- A Separate Peace – John Knowles
- A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
- Xxx-Holic – Clamp
- Lilith – George Macdonald
- The Constant Gardener – John Le Carre
- Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
- World War Z – Max Brooks
- The Man Who Was Thursday – G.K. Chesterton
- Battlefield Earth – L. Ron Hubbard
- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
- Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
- The Trial – Franz Kafka
- Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) – Philip K. Dick
- The Call Of The Wild – Jack London
- Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy
- Beowulf – Anonymous
- The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
- She – H. Rider Haggard
- Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
- Star Risk Ltd. – Chris Bunch
- Peace Like A River – Leif Enger
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Giver – Lowry, Lois
- The Elves and the Shoemaker – Brothers Grimm
- Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
- Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
- The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
- The Odyssey – Homer
- Rorschach’s Ribs – Marcus Eder
- A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
- Lord Of The Flies – William Golding
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Haddon, Mark
- House Of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
- The Sound And The Fury – William Faulkner
- Pride And Prejudice – Jane Austen
- The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
- The Napoleon Of Notting Hill – G.K. Chesterton
- On The Road – Jack Kerouac
- The Scarlet Letter – Hawthorne, Nathaniel
- Home – Marilynne Robinson
- The Stand – Stephen King
- Ulysses – James Joyce
- Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
- The Old Man And The Sea – Earnest Hemingway
- The Emperor Of Ocean Park – Stephen L Carter
- Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
- Requiem for a Dream – Hubert Selby, Jr.
- Look Homeward Angel – Thomas Wolfe
- To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
- Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
- Ceremony – Leslie Marmon Silko
- The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
- A Confederacy Of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
- The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
- The Unbearable Lightness Of Being – Milan Kundera
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
- Bitten – Kelley Armstrong
- Thief Of Time – Terry Prachett
- The Chessmen of Mars – Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Modern Japanese Stories – Ivan Morris
- The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Dandelion Wine – Ray Bradbury
- Citizen Of The Galaxy – Robert A. Heinlein
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
- Oryx And Crake – Margaret Atwood
- Metamorphoses – Ovid
- The Aeneid – Virgil
- Heart Of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
- Life Of Pi – Yann Martel
- Neuromancer – William Gibson
- The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
- Boy’s Life – Robert R. McCammon
- Les Miserable – Victor Hugo
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller
- One Hundred Years Of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Count Of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
- Grapes Of Wrath – John Steinbeck
- Animal Farm – George Orwell
- The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein
- The Razor’s Edge – W Somerset Maugham
- Leepike Ridge – Nathan Wilson
- Moby Dick – Herman Melville
Next I have to figure out the order, but it shouldn’t be too terribly difficult. I ordered them randomly using Excel, so here we go. And one other small item of note. I couldn’t wait to finish my list so I went ahead and read Robinson Crusoe this week. I’ve cut it out of the list and replaced it with another Modern Library entry. But I think I’m still going to do a review as an introduction to the series soon, so look for that.
8 Responses to “Final List”
Hey, awesome list! I need to do something like this at some point. Mine would all be fantasy though.
Looks great! You added more classics. Good luck!
As a note, you’ve got Wuthering Heights listed twice.
Gah! I need one more book. Thanks for pointing that out Zeub.
OK it’s updated and reordered.
I know you’ve already made your list, but since you’ve been asking for some good ones, I’ll add a few titles along with justification. I’ll do this because you might find yourself bored with some of these titles (many are quite arduous)–and I’m one to encourage the wisdom of a librarian friend of mine: if you aren’t enjoying the book, find another one. Books are plenty.
(Also, as side-notes: a) The Golden Compass is part of a trilogy. You’ll definitely have to read all 3 of those. b) the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf is phenomenal. Or, stu also has some weird gaelic version you could read.)
For a good understanding of the Climate Change issue.
The Hot Topic, by Sir David King and Gabrielle Walker.
This book is a short, easy to read, easy to comprehend explanation of climate change. What is going on? How did it start? What are the goals? What can we do?
Cradle-to-Cradle, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
This book will change your life. Guaranteed. It’s such an amazing look at ways we can use technology to help us live cooperatively with the world, and deal effectively with climate change. It doesn’t say go to primitavism…back to the days before medicine. INSTEAD, redesign our power network and transportation so that EVERYONE can live well. Just watch this short vid and tell me you’re not sold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRjz8iTVoo
These two books give a good picture of the problem of climate change, its effects on EVERYTHING (population, disease, sustainability, education) and some potential ways to deal with it.
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond.
First off, this guy’s name is awesome. Secondly, this book is phenomenal. If we really want to understand the way some of these major health problems have arisen, we need to look at the big picture. What are the contributing factors of agricultural shift? For example, the Tze Tze fly of Southern Africa killed more people because it was shifted southward by cattle migration, caused by war. Which caused more poverty, famine, problems…etc.
This book outlines much of this, and it’s a fascinating read.
Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck. Excellent journal of laugh-out-loud Steinbeck as he maunders through a roadtrip across America in the 70s, with his dog (which he talks to) and his truck named Roccamatio–after Don Quixote’s horse. Awesome.
Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. Jeffrey Eugenides. Novel, Novel, and collection of short stories, respectively. Eugenides has a strong voice for sorry and humanity, even if it is a bit far fetched. Virgin Suicides has been touted as a bit grotesque and girly at the same time, but I think it’s a fine work of fiction. Short stories might not count in this list, but if they do, you’ll want to read “My Mistress’s…”; it’s an omnibus of some great love stories. Middlesex is a must.
Harold Brodkey Jr. Since his best work are arguably his short stories, he might not belong on your list. But if you do allow short story collections. Highlight is First Love, and Other Sorrows. I think he’s sort-of a Proust-meets-Salinger sort of writer. Get’s the 50′s perfectly.
A Prayer for Owen Meaney, John Irving. It’s widely recognized as one of the finest works of fiction. The character depth and development are astounding, and the plot comes together oh-so-nicely.
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Indelible account of the lifespan of a family. Humorous, heart-rending, and sharp. The work that one him the Nobel Prize in literature.
Netherland, Joseph O’Neill. Wow. It’s been hailed as the new “Great Gatsby”. Incredible book. O’neill is a master of the english language and well-captures the ethos of post 9/11 NY.
Haven’t read yet, but are supposed to be amazing: Blindness (Jose Saramago); Clash of the Fundamentalisms (Tariq Ali); Omnivore’s Dilemma (Michael Pollan)
Them’s the one’s that jump out.
Wow, man! We’re pretty excited for you! Can’t wait to read all the reviews!
That seems like a pretty good list dude. I would replace Fountain Head with Atlas Shrugged though. I found Atlas Shrugged had more enjoyable characters and was easier to get into. I have a few of these books if you want to borrow some.