Be BookWise ~ 100 Best Novels of All Time

Posted on November 4th, 2007 by Leisa
Filed under: Be Book Wise, Book List

Some time ago I decided I wanted to read the top 100 novels of all time. Naturally opinions on what the top novels are differs from reader to reader so I decided to get a little more scientific about my process. This is how I compiled my list of the books I wanted to read. I gathered rankings from the following lists:

We then ranked the books according to the number of times the book appeared on the above lists. First the books that were listed on all six lists were compared with the other books receiving six votes. We averaged the rankings and came up with the average placement on all six lists.

For example, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald received the following votes:

  • Random House Readers - 13
  • Random House Board - 2
  • Radcliffe List - 1
  • Time Magazine - 20
  • Guardian Unlimited - 48
  • BBC - 43

This resulted with an average score of 21.166 resulting in a first place. We continued to do that ranking the books which got six votes first, followed by those that got five etc. Every book got at least two votes on the list and the average score determined their rank.

Today I’m officially starting my quest to read the entire list. I’ve even going to read the ones I have read over again since it has been some time. How many of them have you read? I challenge you to read them as well. You can track your results on this printable form. I’ve even set-up a group at LibraryThing.com where you can connect with others who are doing the same thing.

By the way: feel free to copy this listing and post it on your blog, but please include the compiled by link at the end. In fact when you link back to this posting, or comment on your progress below I’ll add your name in a drawing for a free book. I’ll give away a nice hard-back book each quarter for at least the next year to one of our blog readers.

Here is the list followed by the number of times it appeared in the above lists. How many have you read?

  1. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald (6)
  2. ULYSSES by James Joyce (6)
  3. 1984 by George Orwell (6)
  4. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger (6)
  5. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac (6)
  6. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck (5)
  7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller (5)
  8. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov (5)
  9. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley (5)
  10. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh (5)
  11. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner (4)
  12. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee (4)
  13. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien (4)
  14. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce (4)
  15. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell (4)
  16. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf (4)
  17. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison (4)
  18. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess (4)
  19. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell (4)
  20. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner (4)
  21. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway (4)
  22. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster (4)
  23. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding (4)
  24. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London (4)
  25. DAVID COPPERFIELD by Charles Dickens (3)
  26. EMMA by Jane Austen (3)
  27. TESS Of The D’URBERVILLES, Thomas Hardy (3)
  28. THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne (3)
  29. WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte (3)
  30. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers (3)
  31. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (3)
  32. JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte (3)
  33. BELOVED by Toni Morrison (3)
  34. ANNA KAREINA by Leo Tolstoy (3)
  35. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway (3)
  36. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright (3)
  37. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3)
  38. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad (3)
  39. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad (3)
  40. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry (3)
  41. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford (3)
  42. HERZOG by Saul Bellow (3)
  43. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame (3)
  44. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos (3)
  45. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce (3)
  46. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser (3)
  47. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence (3)
  48. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton (3
  49. THE WOMAN IN WHITE by Wilkie Collins (3)
  50. THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe (3)
  51. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller (3)
  52. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather (3)
  53. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner (3)
  54. THE MAGUS by John Fowles (3)
  55. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving (2)
  56. DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes (2)
  57. TOM JONES by Henry Fielding (2)
  58. WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy (2)
  59. MOBY-DICK by Herman Melville (2)
  60. MADAME BOVARY by Gustave Flaubert (2)
  61. WINNIE THE POOH by A(lan) A(lexander) Milne (2)
  62. GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens (2)
  63. THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Feodor Dostoevsky (2)
  64. TRISTAM SHANDY by Laurence Sterne (2)
  65. LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa M. Alcott (2)
  66. VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray (2)
  67. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen (2)
  68. IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME by Marcel Proust (2)
  69. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James (2)
  70. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand (2)
  71. GRAVITY’S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon (2)
  72. THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin (1851-1904) (2)
  73. DUNE by Frank Herbert (2)
  74. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute (2)
  75. ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll (2)
  76. CLARISSA by Samuel Richardson (2)
  77. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams (2)
  78. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving (2)
  79. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas (2)
  80. THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Henry James (2)
  81. OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck (2)
  82. ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren (2)
  83. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin (2)
  84. CHARLOTE’S WEB by E. B. White (2)
  85. ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe (2)
  86. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Feodor Dostoevsky (2)
  87. THE STAND by Stephen King (2)
  88. REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier (2)
  89. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves (2)
  90. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster (2)
  91. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald (2)
  92. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence (2)
  93. BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens (2)
  94. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand (2)
  95. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner (2)
  96. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James (2)
  97. AUSTERLITZ by W. G. Sebald (2)
  98. THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka (2)
  99. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O’Connor (2)
  100. FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley(2)

~ Compiled by Leisa L. Watkins

Email This Post Email This Post Print This Post Print This Post

Posted by: Leisa on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Under Be Book Wise, Book List |

51 Responses to “Be BookWise ~ 100 Best Novels of All Time”

  1. Kell, on November 5th, 2007 at 7:01 pm Said:

    Just wanted to let you know, you’ve got Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell listed twice (once as 1984), so you have 99 books on your list there. Room for one more. :)

  2. Leisa, on November 5th, 2007 at 7:14 pm Said:

    Thanks Kell for the good eyes. I’ll have to look on my list and see what book that puts in that spot and correct the list. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

  3. Sarah, on November 26th, 2007 at 7:04 am Said:

    wow 26 out of 99 not bad I think. good list but there are so many good books out there, hard to narrow it down to just 100. I could probably come up with a bunch more that also deserve mention

  4. Leisa, on November 26th, 2007 at 7:42 am Said:

    Sarah,

    I agree, 26 out of 99 is not bad.

    And with the part about coming up with a bunch more that deserve mention. But since this list is compiled through a mathematical formula applied to several other lists I didn’t even bother with the books I would like to see on there.

    I’m sure my personal top 100 list would look very different.

    Leisa

  5. Tib, on December 13th, 2007 at 2:57 pm Said:

    I believe you’ve got The Awakening by Kate Chopin in there twice as well.

    How long do think it will take you to read all of them?

  6. Joe, on December 29th, 2007 at 10:47 am Said:

    The list is generally very good, but there are a couple of things I noticed that users may find helpful. First, the list is skewed towards novels written since 1900 because four of the lists don’t deal with novels pre-20th century. Also, a couple of these lists are “popular vote” lists, so if you are looking for a literary ranking, this may not be it. this is not discrediting this list, as I said it is good. Just a few observations.

  7. Leisa, on December 29th, 2007 at 4:36 pm Said:

    Hi Joe,

    Thanks for the insight. I did debate about including the “popular vote” lists and decided to include it because sometimes the critics are out of step with the general public. Often the most popular and well-loved movies are slaughtered by critics. So I decided to go ahead and include them.

    And thanks for the additional insight into the dates. Probably a title of the Best 100 Novels of All Time isn’t as appropriate.

    Leisa

  8. Jim Bosiljevac, on January 5th, 2008 at 1:31 am Said:

    Great list! Seems like a really smart way to create and order a comprehensive list. Kind of weeds out the votes with an agenda from the popular lists, and knocks the brilliant but less accessible novels down a few spots. I saw your group on LibraryThing and am tempted, but I only knock 2-3 classics off every year.

  9. Leisa, on January 5th, 2008 at 1:39 am Said:

    I know what you mean Jim. It is so rare for me to even get to a novel period. I read constantly but it is usually for business or as part of our homeschooling.

    You can take years and years to read the list. That’s what I plan on doing.

    I just committed to reading 36 novels this year. I can’t believe I actually did that. You can see it in the post titled “2008 Book List - Title Challenge.”

    I did a mix of classics and some lighter reads. I’m still looking for a few suggestions for this year.

    Leisa

  10. Tom Hankon, on January 6th, 2008 at 10:55 pm Said:

    I like this list and think you did a good job putting it together. A lot of the books on the list are long, so it may take me some time, though I plan on taking on the challenge.

    P.S. Just curious…how old are you, Leisa?

  11. Leisa, on January 7th, 2008 at 1:35 am Said:

    Hi Tom

    Thanks!

    The list came about when I noticed there was such a discrepancy between the different lists, but at the same time they had a lot in common. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to figure it based on averages.

    Anyway, It’s going to take me quite a few years to get through them all. Particularly since I plan on re-reading some of them. Take War and Peace. I haven’t read that since high school and I am 44 years old now.

    It ended up being one of my favorite books read during high school. That and the Lord of the Rings series. I think I’d like to re-read them both.

    I plan on knocking off several of them this year. (See my list titled: 2008 Book List - Title Challenge).

    I’m planning on reading this year:
    Anna Karenina
    Don Quixote
    The Great Gatsby
    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
    The Scarlet Letter
    Ulysses

    My challenge for this year is one novel for each letter of the alphabet. Plus my usual business and educational reading.

    By the way - if anyone wants to join the challenge my sister and I are offering a book shopping spree. Now would be a good time to know a few of the books off the list.

    Leisa

  12. Neil Veikaru, AP Literature Teacher, on January 9th, 2008 at 1:23 am Said:

    I have read what others have been posting on this blog, and they seem to be praising your effort. Unsurprisingly, I shall be doing likewise: Magnificent list!
    I shall recommend this list to my students. My students, the majority being the ambitious type, enjoy reading. Not to brag, but I am one of the most accomplished teachers (literarily) at my high school, and have read a great number of the books on this list. At my school, I am the archetype after which the novice literature teachers model their classes, so if I recommend this list to my students, they will probably recommend it to theirs. Once again, great job! This is a college-worthy list in my opinion.

  13. Neil Veikaru, AP Literature Teacher, on January 9th, 2008 at 1:25 am Said:

    P.S. Please don’t hesitate to email me.

  14. Leisa, on January 9th, 2008 at 2:11 am Said:

    Neil,

    Thanks so much for visiting and your praise. It is satisfying to know that my efforts are appreciated.

    I originally created the list to generate a long-term reading plan, and to satisfy my natural curiosity. I am so glad it has proven useful to so many people.

    I would love to hear about your work with the list so I will be emailing you.

    Thanks again,

    Leisa

  15. Shari Thomas, on January 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm Said:

    You’ll get a head start on “Ulysses” this month by grabbing the free e-book and audio book from your Preferred Customer “Free Downloads”.

    To the rest of y’all… the free monthly downloads are unabridged versions and are drawn from the “Top 100 Classics”.

    Leisa can fill you in on all the details… just ask her.

    Shari

  16. Leisa, on January 10th, 2008 at 3:06 pm Said:

    Thanks Shari. Ulysses is on my book “To Do” list for 2008. I haven’t read it since high school.

    I’m anxious to see what other free downloads we get this year.

    Leisa

  17. Alan, on January 11th, 2008 at 5:41 am Said:

    interesting list. I have read 18 of your selections. (The one down side I am finding to blogging about a new book Every single day is that I have much less time to read and I don’t finish a lot of books. Today I did finish Orson Scott Cards War Of Gifts which was Wonderful.)

  18. peterahon, on January 15th, 2008 at 12:11 am Said:

    I’ve read 21 from the list. But there were authors whom I’ve read whose book was not listed.

    I always find a list incomplete and consider not accurate whenever my favorite author does not appear. Herman Hesse indeed is a great author who I believe should always appear in any listings. That is my personal bias and I believe most readers would agree to that. I am into classics and definitely have all these authors in my wish list. Check out also the list of Nobel Literature Laureate since those awarded I consider great writers. Of course there are lots of other good writers undiscovered or not on the lists of lists or been awarded yet they are good. Asian writers mostly untranslated works are yet to be discovered.

  19. Leisa, on January 15th, 2008 at 8:33 am Said:

    Peter,

    Thanks for contributing to the conversation. I agree. The list is missing many great books, and many great authors.

    Some of my favorite books are not on here either, but this isn’t my personal list. It is a list averaged from what seems to be the most popular book lists.

    Currently Oprah’s book lists are proving to be the most popular, but since her focus was on more recent books for quite some time the books she chose wouldn’t have even been on any of the others lists. So they would have had only one vote anyway and not made the list.

    True, I could have added book list after book list into my mathematical equation but I felt that these six listings represented a good mix between the average persons choice and the critics choices. It does not include all time periods so in hind site I would have named it something other than the “Top 100 Novels of All Time.”

    I’m curious, who is your favorite authors?

    Leisa

  20. Vivienne, on January 16th, 2008 at 12:33 am Said:

    Leisa, this is a great list and I am up for the reading challenge! I have only read about one-third of the list. I’m especially happy to see #78 posted as Owen Meany is one of my all-time favorite characters. In fact, I have a link list on my blog of favorite characters and I get the most questions about Owen Meany. Who’s that? they say. Ah!…A must read. I appreciate the logic behind your choices, too, and the form is quite cool. Thank you.

  21. Leisa, on January 16th, 2008 at 7:23 am Said:

    Thanks Vivienne! I haven’t yet read A Prayer for Owen Meany. I’m going to have to add that to my read sooner rather than later list.

    I had duplicates of some of the books earlier on and I just realized I haven’t updated the form. I’ll have to do that in the next couple of days so please check back and print one out again.

    Leisa

  22. bloggernoob, on January 23rd, 2008 at 12:59 am Said:

    great list, great books. noticed a lot of them have been turned into movies. im a sucker for rich guy romances. great gatsby and pride and prejudice are two of my fav. when i was forced to read them in highschool, i discovered something. i discovered how great books are.

  23. Beautiful Minds, on January 24th, 2008 at 12:00 am Said:

    My oh my.. that was beautiful. I have around 5 of the books listed here as paper back edition(was reading when i commute, and i like catch 22) and another seven as digital edition.

    Any way that is a nice list

  24. Leisa, on January 24th, 2008 at 9:46 am Said:

    Bloggernoob,

    Thanks for stopping by. I also enjoyed The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice as movies. I thought they did a pretty good job on the most recent Pride and Prejudice. Remakes always make me nervous, but I enjoyed it.

    Leisa

  25. Leisa, on January 24th, 2008 at 9:55 am Said:

    Beautiful minds,

    I’m glad you enjoyed the list. I love reading a book, but do enjoy listening to them on tape when doing housework, or in the car. I just got the Illiad, through BookWise, as an audio and will listen to it , as well as read it again next month. That is one that I feel that listening to and reading it will really help me understand it better. I haven’t read it since high school, but remember being a little confused when I read it then.

    By the way, if will If anyone would like to receive the Illiad as free ebook and audio book it is available as a download for the remainder of the month (February 2008) to anyone registered as a preferred customer in our bookstore. This month you don’t need to make a purchase, simply register and then log-in as a customer get your downloads. http://bookstore.creativevisionbooks.com.

    Leisa

  26. James A. Ritchie, on February 11th, 2008 at 5:23 pm Said:

    There is no such critter as the one hundred best novels of all time. There are only a thousand or so novels that everyone should read over the course of a lifetime, and all of them are number one. Trust me, there are easily another nine hundred novels every bit as good, or better, than any novel on your list. So read them all, but for heaven’s sake do not list them as one, two, three, etc. Anyone who does this is dead wrong, no matter what order they list the novels.

    Such rankings are no more the personal preference. Read this hundred, every last one is worth the time, and then move on to the next one hundred.

  27. Leisa, on February 12th, 2008 at 11:27 am Said:

    James,

    Thanks for stopping by and contributing to the conversation. I couldn’t agree more. There are many more books worth the time.

    So this list may be “Dead Wrong” in your eyes, but may I remind you that the entire point of this was to take the opinions of several groups of people and mathematically rank the books according to what they thought were the best books of all time. It is a compilation of the various lists. Lists compiled by both popular vote and literary experts.

    It isn’t me ranking this as number one and this as number two. In fact, there are books on this list that I don’t care for. There are books on this list that would not appear on my personal 100 list. I just thought it would be interesting to find out what other people thought were the best books and then set-out to at least read them. But I have many other books I plan to read as well.

    Perhaps this list will prove to be a great starting point for others.

    Leisa

  28. Megan, on April 1st, 2008 at 7:21 am Said:

    Hi!

    Quick question for you with regards to your list. How come the pdf that is provided is different then your list?

    Just wondering which on to go by!

    Thanks so much!

  29. Brock Rhodes, on April 16th, 2008 at 11:18 pm Said:

    Leisa,

    Nice effort with the list. You saved me from doing it. Joe is right about what he said about the bias, which I think is also towards English language novels. Generally, I think the more lists the better & I’d like to see this list evolve as similar lists come out. I also agree with James, as anyone would, except for the assumption that novels are inherently worth the effort. We’ll see. We’ll see.

    I’ve already read 14 of these novels, which is strange since I’m philosophically against reading fiction. I feel that 4 of them were worth it.

    I plan on reading a top 100 now, but I have absolutely no interest in Dune or Lord of the Rings (& I’m glad to see Battlefield Earth did not make this particular list). I’m undecided on whether or not to undertake Proust because that it’s over 4000 pages, but a few people I respect love it.

    I was wondering if you could help me out a little bit more. How many original titles you had left over from the list (outside of the top 100)? And I was wondering how many additional titles were on at least 2 of the lists but did not make it onto this one, & what those were? I have to ask you to please add all the novels mentioned in 2 places as an Honorable Mention list if you still have your work files so I can find replacements for the ones I have no interest in. Thank you.

    Keep rockin’

    Brock

  30. Leisa, on April 18th, 2008 at 1:35 pm Said:

    Brock,

    Yes, I agree. I’ll have to create new renditions as new listings come up.

    I’ll work on posting a list of those that received at least two votes. It will probably be the middle of next week. I do like the idea of an Honorable Mention List.

    ~ Leisa

  31. Peekay, on April 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pm Said:

    This is a great list! I’ve wanted to try to start a top 100 list for a while, and haven’t trusted a lot of the ones floating about the web. Combing several together is great, and its nice to see some books I actually have enjoyed on there!

    As a side note, i’m beginning Catch 22 and have already read 26 of the books on the list. By the time i finish my undergrad i should be done the list. :)

    Wish me luck!

  32. Joe Zizza, on June 9th, 2008 at 10:30 pm Said:

    I find these lists interesting, because there are so many books to read that it provides some focus to an attempt to be “well-read”. But I also share James Ritchie’s concern that it is very subjective to rank, for instance, A Clockwork Orange above David Copperfield or Anna Karenina. These books all seem worthy, but the source lists are conservative and traditional, and most (if not all) the writers are dead. And where are the German, French and Italian novels? Great conversation-starter, but let’s not get too hung up on rankings. It potentially inhibits enjoyment of reading. As Mr Ritchie said, read them all, then keep going.

  33. Sona, on June 14th, 2008 at 1:02 pm Said:

    I’m going to try and read, read read…..try to read all the ones I haven’t read before. Right now, I’m reading Anna Karenina…the last time was in highschool! It’s taking me AGES…by my bedside like a bible!

    Great job with the list!

  34. Leisa, on June 15th, 2008 at 8:49 am Said:

    Peekay,

    Good luck!!!!

    Joe

    I totally agree. I wouldn’t dream of limiting myself to a list. I think it’s just a great way to come up with a list of some potentially good books to read. And yes, it is limited to a specific time period and genre.

    But according to several lists these books do rate as the “Best Books of All Time,” at least at the time the put together their list. But no doubt their lists will change over time and they were focused on a specific in regions etc.

    Sona,

    I’m reading Anna Karenina myself right now.

    ~ Leisa

  35. Haleh, on June 21st, 2008 at 12:45 pm Said:

    Wow, I’ve read 40 of them. That even surprises me a little, because I’m only 19. Thanks for the list, though! Now I know what I need to catch up on.

  36. M., on June 24th, 2008 at 7:06 pm Said:

    Wow, I can’t believe I’ve read 21 of these already. As far as my next read from this list…it’s going to be Heart of Darkness. The one I’ll tackle last…is there any doubt…got to be Gravity’s Rainbow.

    Best wishes to all…happy reading!

  37. Troy, on June 26th, 2008 at 6:05 pm Said:

    Hello,
    I can only find Anna Karenina on Guradian Unlimited, and I can’t find Frankenstein on any of the link lists above. Am I missing something?

    This list is a great idea anyhow.

    Troy

  38. Leisa, on June 26th, 2008 at 6:23 pm Said:

    Troy,

    Each book is not on each of the lists. I took the average ranking of each of the lists. So if two lists rated it a 10 and 3 didn’t even have the book on their list then it would be 10 + 10 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 20 divided by by five. Vs. a site that had it ranked as 3 or less than it would rank lower. There was only one book I believe listed on all five of the lists.

    Halen & M

    Wow, you are making quite a dent in the list.

    ~ Leisa

  39. Tom Eger, on July 4th, 2008 at 11:52 pm Said:

    I’m a Stephen King fan. Have you read The Stand? If so, what do you think about it?

  40. Petay, on July 9th, 2008 at 9:36 pm Said:

    GREAT LIST!!!

    Not to brag, but I was on jeopardy and won two nights, so I think I know something about books. This list is very good, but I think I should help you out by describing one or two faults:

    I am disappointed that there is no L. Ron Hubbard is on the list, most particularly his masterpiece BATTLEFIELD EARTH. I think in general this list suffers from what I would call “being to ivy tower.” While yes, many professors may critically acclaim, that Ulysses is a well written book, I doubt many average americans would like it. Other authers prejudiciously left off this list may include JRR TOLKIEN, TOM CLANCY, AND THE BIBLE. Also, may I point out that a book not written in english is not accesible nor useful to AMERICA and therefore should not be include.

    Thank you and GOD BLESS.

  41. Byron, on July 12th, 2008 at 11:55 pm Said:

    Great list.. but no Les Miserables! Dickens got 3 on there, but no love for Victor?

  42. sreejith, on July 29th, 2008 at 9:45 am Said:

    I stumbled across this blog searching for the best fiction to read. I was surprised to see I have read just 8 of these. Thanks for this list.

  43. marygrimes, on August 4th, 2008 at 3:18 pm Said:

    Great list! I have read 41 and own about 60of the books on your list!!

  44. Ron, on August 6th, 2008 at 9:30 pm Said:

    I think the problem with these list is that so many of the books on there are books that reviewers feel are important as opposed to being great books. For instance, The Trial by Kafka. Interesting as a study piece for pure expressionism, but an excellent read? Hardly.

  45. Troy, on August 9th, 2008 at 12:04 pm Said:

    But Frankenstein doesn’t appear on any of the above lists, so wouldn’t its score be 0+0+0+0+0+0=0/6=0?

  46. Leisa, on August 10th, 2008 at 12:52 am Said:

    Troy,

    I checked my spread sheet and it shows Frankenstein was listed number 10 in Guardian Unlimited and number 92 on the New York Times.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/oct/12/features.fiction

    Of course the lists change from year to year and are all subject to many various opinions.

    ~ Leisa

  47. Leisa, on August 10th, 2008 at 12:58 am Said:

    Byron,

    Yes it is hard to imagine no Les Miserables on this list.

    It was listed as number 90 on Time Magazines list, but not listed in the top 100 books on the others lists at the time I checked. Since it was only listed on one list it was knocked out by some that were included on more than one list.

    ~ Leisa

  48. Leisa, on August 10th, 2008 at 1:01 am Said:

    Tom,

    No I haven’t read The Stand. In fact, I haven’t read any of Tom Clancy’s novels yet. Some day after I get my kids raised I plan on reading at least one. Right now it’s generally classics and non-fiction.

    ~ Leisa

  49. Leisa, on August 10th, 2008 at 1:08 am Said:

    Petay,

    J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is on the list at number 13. And yes the list is naturally slanted towards older books. I would imagine if this list was done in a couple of years it would be quite different in many ways. Eventually we may find Tom Clancy and Ron Hubbard.

    The Bible many people would not consider to be a work of fiction, thus it isn’t on this list.

    ~ Leisa

  50. Leisa, on August 10th, 2008 at 1:12 am Said:

    Wow Mary. Sixty! That is impressive.

    ~ Leisa

Trackbacks

  1. 2008 Book List - Title Challenge

Leave a Reply

« BookWise Now Offers 1.5 Million Books, Music, and Movies at Wholesale BookWise Bookstore Grand Opening »