The Classics
Posted on | April 7, 2011 | 15 Comments
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I’m reading The Grapes of Wrath right now. Somehow I missed that one in high school and figured now was a good a time as any. Actually, there are quite a few classics that I missed in ye’ olde formative years. So I’ve decided to add some of those to my reading list. To help me decide, I’ll refer to this list NPR put together of the best 100 novels of the last 100 years. I love a good list, don’t you? Here’s the top 25:
1. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
2. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
4. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
5. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
6. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
7. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
8. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
9. Humboldt’s Gift, Saul Bellow
10. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
11. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
12. U.S.A. Trilogy, John Dos Passos
13. The Untouchable, John Banville
14. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
15. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike
16. All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
17. American Pastoral, Philip Roth
18. Beloved, Toni Morrison
19. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
20. Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham
21. Light in August, William Faulkner
22. My Antonia, Willa Cather
23. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
24. A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines
25. Rabbit, Run, John Updike
I’m sad to say I’ve only read three of the top 25 (four, once I finish Steinbeck. Which will be in about 4 months as it is super long!) How’d y’all do? And what is your favorite classic novel?
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15 Responses to “The Classics”
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April 7th, 2011 @ 10:06 am
Oh dear. It looks like I have some reading to do — I’ve only read three too. But I need to finish the Unbearable Lightness of Being first (which I’m loving). I think Toni Morrison will be the next on my list.
April 7th, 2011 @ 10:34 am
That is a beautiful list. The only one I’d add to the 100 list is One Hundered Years of Solitude by G.G. Marquez
I’ve read six of those. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have this as a summer reading list (:
April 7th, 2011 @ 12:56 pm
Looks like I have some reading to do too – thanks for the list! I’ve read 7 of these. To Kill a Mocking Bird is my all time fav.
April 7th, 2011 @ 1:31 pm
This is so great! I want to read them all! As for the top 25, some of my favorite books are on the list. Although my favorite author (Vonnegut) barely made the top 100. Blasphemy! Anyway, I’ve read 8 of the top 25.
Do you know the band Moxy Fruvous? They’re one of my favorites. They have this funny song call “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors.” It reminds me of my husband, and I used to gig around with my guitar in a bunch of cafes and bars, and I would frequently play this song. Anyway, based on this post, I get the feeling you’d love this song! Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9F_XHb81N0
April 7th, 2011 @ 1:31 pm
I’ve only read 2, ha. And my to-read list is ridiculously backlogged as I rarely have time for non-school reading these days. I love To Kill A Mockingbird and The Sun Also Rises. My favorite not on the list is Steinbeck’s East of Eden.
April 7th, 2011 @ 1:42 pm
What an inspiring list. I seriously wish I made reading more of a priority. Unfortunately I don’t. But one day I want to just move to the countryside in England or the mountains or somewhere rural and beautiful, and I will refer to this list and just read and enjoy life!
ps: ohmigoodness, one day soon my sweet & most patient friend, hehe! I should give myself a date to have the store launched by so that I have a goal, instead of just keeping it open. It’ll never get done that way! But one day, thanks for getting on my case. haha.
April 7th, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
Hands down- The Stranger by Albert Camus. That book affected me in ways I’ll never be able to fully describe. He is an existentialist and his work makes you question so much about life and hope. Great book.
April 7th, 2011 @ 6:01 pm
Ooh, I loved Grapes of Wrath. You should read Travels With Charley: In Search of America. It’s also by Steinbeck. He takes a road trip across the country with only his dog, but the observations he makes about people and life are so true!
April 7th, 2011 @ 7:06 pm
awesome list! i’ve read quite a few on this, but i’m always a fan of re-reading books (especially significant heartfelt and classic ones) at different points in my life. they often open up whole new unrealized aspects waiting for my “wiser” brain to catch on to.
April 7th, 2011 @ 7:33 pm
I’ve only read seven, and I have an English degree. My favorite book is Lolita, which is number eight on the list. The writing is so poetic and beautiful, and the narrator is so haunting.
April 7th, 2011 @ 7:57 pm
My favorite classic novel is, by FAR, The Catcher in the Rye. And I’ve read 8 of the top 25.
April 7th, 2011 @ 9:56 pm
11! Such a soft spot for Virginia Woolf.
April 7th, 2011 @ 10:52 pm
I’m a total Jane Austen fan, but my absolute favorite classic is Steinbeck’s East of Eden. I cried when I finished it because I wanted to keep reading! Also, you can’t go wrong with a Steinbeck short story to kill an afternoon.
April 10th, 2011 @ 10:00 pm
The Sun Also Rises…. wreckless traveling, eating and drinking through spain and an impossible love affair
Also, Lolita is quite possibly the most incredibly written novel i’ve ever read
April 11th, 2011 @ 7:57 am
11. Gotta’ say, though, that “The Grapes of Wrath” was sort of disappointing to me. I mean, I get its strength as a social commentary, but as a novelistic form “East of Eden” was Steinbeck’s more powerful work in my opinion. But, like, you know – whatever. I’m a chocolate-sucking ball of pure id. What do I know?