The Library Diva posted today about Time magazine's Top 100 books. The criteria are pretty simple. All the books are English language novels written since 1923 (when Time began....ha ha ha). I went through the list and I found that I've read 25 of the books. That's pretty good, considering that I think that some of the books on the list, while they might be considered good, might also be considered boring. I also think it's interesting that my list is very different from Kelly's. You would think that we'd have read a lot of the same books, but I guess schools in different places assign different books.
Because Kelly's point, that many people only read these books in school is certainly applicable to me. My personal theory is that too many people think a book has to be hard to be good; a lot of the books I've read on the list are modern, as well. (Modern being the last 20 or so years; I've also disproportionally read books by women, due to my propensity for taking Women's Lit courses in college--as well as attending a all girls school, which believe it or not, increases the number of books by women you read. In my major, a non-English literature-based major [Humanistic Studies], we read books by women--starting Medieval and moving right into the present. And then, of course, as I mentioned, I took these courses: African-American Woman writers, Chicana Lit, and Radical Woman Writers [which is a crafty name for a course on lesbian writers at a Catholic school].)
Where was I? Oh, that a good book has to be hard. I think that's what a lot of kids think, because of their education; I read The Fountainhead as a senior, and I've never been compelled to read Ayn Rand since. I did spend one summer in high school reading only "classics" but gravitated mostly to the Russians, who I happen to love. College, due to the aforementioned classes, changed that notion a lot. I love Pascal and Voltaire (not something I read too often, though), and found enjoyment in classical authors, because my professors picked good books--not necessarily hard ones. We read The Things They Carried and Song of Solomon. We read CS Lewis in my freshman English class, along with Jane Austen's Emma. I feel like my reading was balanced in college; far more than it was in high school. But again, I went to a school with (though I only admit it begrudgingly) a very, very good academic reputation.
Regardless. Here are my 25 (annotated):
Animal Farm by George Orwell -- I read this as a freshman in high school, and on the whole, I like it.
Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume -- Anh. Not a huge Blume fan.
Beloved by Toni Morrison -- I don't like this book. I like Song of Solomon better.
Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh -- I read this in one of my HUST electives. Pretty damn good.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller -- I read this in Rome, as a sophomore in college. It's fair to say that I hated it.
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen -- I don't get the hype.
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell -- I can't even count how many times I've read this book. I simply LOVE it.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck -- My senior year of high school. I liked this book, though not as much as some other Steinbeck.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- There are other Fitzgerald books that are better. I think we read this as freshmen in high school, but I can't remember.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves -- I'm a somewhat avid Rome reader. I found this in the collective library at the Rome campus of SMC, and read it. I didn't love it.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis -- Anh. I loved it as a kid.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov -- I'm not sure what to say about this. Humbert Humbert, right? Icky.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding -- Frankly, I found this book distasteful and disgusting.
1984 by George Orwell -- I always liked Animal Farm better.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac -- This book is complicated for me. I had a best friend in college who worshiped this book. But for me, other than a few passages, it's a bust. I can't get into the beats.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey -- I read this as a freshman in high school. It's a towering, unbelievable book. I saw the play at Steppenwolf with Gary Sinise a couple of years ago, and it was every bit as good as I remembered.
A Passage to India by EM Forster -- I like Forster. I've read A Room With a View as well. This book is better, I think.
The Prime of Ms. Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks -- I have nothing to say about this book.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson -- I just read this for a class (Reader's Advisory) and hated it. This sort of sci-fi is lost on me.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway -- My favorite Hemingway. I like Hemingway. I think his sentence construction is fascinating.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston -- This might have been one of the hardest things I've read, just because. I can't explain. I like Nella Larsen better; Passing is a fantastic, fantastic book. If you haven't read either of these books, you should. They're important, I think.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee -- I was so young when I read this. Probably 12 or 13. I should read it again.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf -- I like Woolf. Surprise surprise. But even so, this book really, really surprised me with its greatness. I can't remember if I've read Mrs. Dalloway, but I've definitely read parts of A Room of Ones Own, and all of Orlando.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith -- I sooooo do not get the hype over this either. I hated it.
Update: Apparently, I have also read The Blind Assassin. When I was at home tonight, I found a well-worn copy on my personal bookshelf. Hence, I've read it. Pathetic that I couldn't remember, huh?
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