The Modern Library’s Top 100
Here. Notice “The Board List” and “The Reader List.” One seems to be for devotees. I once found an Objectivist tract in a book on Ayn Rand in my local public library. I enjoyed “The Fountainhead” but seriously.
And am I really the only one who thinks the point of “To Kill A Mockingbird” was that Atticus was a bad father and he would have won the case if his kids just would have listened? Maybe you need to be 12 and not 25 when you read it for the first time. My bad.
Joseph Conrad is rightly rocking the Board’s 100. Nothing comes but through him.
Tags: Literature, writing, Modern Library, Ayn Rand, Joseph Conrad, L. Ron Hubbard, Atticus Finch
May 14, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Conrad does have 4 entries, but only barely makes it into the top 50. The reader’s list does appear to be overrun by Objectivists and Scientologists to the point of uselessness, but it does have a few good nominations. “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” and “Ender’s Game” are probably not among the greatest 100 novels, but they are quite good. The board’s list is completely devoid of science fiction, and I am not convinced that this is due to failings of the genre. I don’t recall getting that vibe from “To Kill A Mockingbird”, but it has been quite a while and I have a terrible memory for such things. I’ll let you know in a few months.
As (I think) you (Chris) know, I’ve been slowly working my way through these lists for the last year or two, reading or re-reading those that look like reasonable suggestions. So far I’ve finished BL2 (RL13), BL4 (RL34), BL5 (RL18), BL6 (RL33), BL13 (RL6), RL1, RL15, and RL16, and am currently in the middle of BL7 (RL12). I really tried BL1 (RL11), but it completely sapped my desire to read. I’ve been writing reviews of each as I read it on my own blog at http://sigaserver.dyndns.org:8765/~chad/wordpress/
May 14, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I did know (but had forgotten in my haste) that you were doing this. Thanks for sharing the link…I encourage everyone to hit Chad’s blog and read his reviews. I’ve always wanted to read Ender’s Game…perhaps that will be next for me after I eventually finish Mailer’s last book and then “The Road.”
Conrad should be higher but it’s always been my impression that he doesn’t ever get his due in the first place. I feel like he’s someone people name-check but if they were being honest (should BL1 really be BL1?) he’d get more plaudits. But I’m fine with him chilling in the middle, knowing that the whole of 20th century literature really rests on him. Have you ever read the Hemingway quote on Conrad vs. TS Elliot? It’s pretty funny.
May 14, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I’d probably go with Victory by Conrad at #1, The Great Gatsby at #2 and The Old Man and The Sea at #3 followed by The Sun Also Rises. Capping off the top 5 must just be A Separate Peace, with Lord of the Flies close behind.
May 14, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I had not read the Hemingway quote previously, but I just looked it up. (Assuming you mean the one about grinding up Elliot.) That’s quite a powerful statement. I can’t judge its merits myself, having read only “Heart Of Darkness” by Conrad, many years ago, and nothing by Elliot.
By the way, I was surprised to see that “The Old Man and the Sea” did not make either the board’s or reader’s lists. I just read it a month ago when I couldn’t find what I was looking for in the library and thought it was excellent. Perhaps it is not included because it is more properly a novella than a novel.
May 14, 2008 at 9:17 pm
you’ve got the right quote. I really enjoy Elliot but that quote kills me. So Hemingway.
You’re probably right about “The Old Man and the Sea.”
May 17, 2008 at 2:25 am
Lists like this make us look at what other people have read and what we haven’t. I like most of the top 10 Readers’ entries, and one from the Board. Top five should be Crime and Punishment, Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, Atlas Shrugged, and 1984.
June 21, 2008 at 1:35 am
I’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird at 3 different points in life, starting with English class in 8th grade. Different elements appealed to me upon each visit.
I’m not sure Atticus could have the case no matter what he or his children did. It’s possible had his kids listened to him, he would’ve been battered or murdered at the jail when the mob was after Tom.
The list shows me I have a lot of reading to accomplish.
June 25, 2008 at 3:28 pm
that’s a great point about their not listening perhaps saving his life at the jail.