Best Novel Ever
September 10th, 2008If you will allow me to remove my non-fiction hat for a moment…Caite over at Caite’s Day At The Beach found a list of the Top 50 Books of all time (according to a poll conducted by The London Telegraph). I thought it might be a good discussion piece. How do you feel about this list?
TOP 50 BOOKS OF ALL TIME
1. To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
2. Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S Lewis
4. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
5. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
6. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
7. Animal Farm – George Orwell
8. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – JK Rowling
10. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
11. The Time Travellers Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
12. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
13. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kasey
14. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
15. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
16. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
17. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
19. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
21. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
22. Sons and Lovers – DH Lawrence
23. Anna Kareninia – Leo Tolstoy
24. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
25. Emma – Jane Austen
26. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
27. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
28. My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
29. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
30. A Passage to India – E.M Forster
31. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
32. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
33. Atonement – Ian McEwan
34. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
35. In Search of Lost Time – Marcel Proust
36. Middlemarch – George Eliot
37. White Teeth – Zadie Smith
38. To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
39. It – Stephen King
40. Little Women – Louisa M. Alcott
41. Vanity Fair – William Thackeray
42. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
43. The Horse Whisperer – Nicholas Evans
44. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
45. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
46. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
47. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
48. Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twin
49. Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome
50. The Island – Victoria Hislop
Animal Farm is probably my all time favoite novel…but I do have issues with a few of them. One, I realize that everyone loves Catcher in the Rye, although I don’t know why. I found that book entirely boring and frustrating. It’s just some kid who whines foe a couple hundred pages.
But my main complaint is that The DaVinci Code is even on this list. That book, all bad theology aside, is terrible! I don’t understand why so many people like that book! The action was really boring and I knew who the bad guy was the minute they introduced his character. There were no surprises at all. Also, I didn’t care about the characters at all…I would have felt no different had the main character lived or died at the end. As I always say, (I really do always say this…ask my wife!) It’s all about the characters. Whether for TV shows, movies, or books…you HAVE to care about the characters for the story to have any impact at all.
I am sure some people reading this will disagree…that’s OK…that’s what the intergoogle is for!
Anyway…now that my rant is over…is your favorite novel on this list?
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September 10th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Ugh! My comment was stolen by the internet! Here’s my second try …
I totally agree with you on Catcher in the Rye (boring, but I get that people love it) and Da Vinci Code (seriously?! horrible writing in that one).
There are some great books on there so I think it’s a reasonable list.
But Midnight’s Children? I thought it would be great but I’m struggling to just get through it. I’m hoping to have a review up later this month … maybe I’ll get comments on why it’s so great, ’cause I just don’t get it.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:08 am
I loved Catcher in the Ry!. Of course, I was about 15 years old at the time, which might have had something to do with it.
To my mind, there is way too much recent, popular fiction on this list. Fiction that I doubt will stand the test of time. Just because you ‘loved’ a book youread last week does not make it the greatest of all time.
One of my all time favorite books is also missing..Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop…as is anything by Cather. DaVinci, Potter, or Cather? No contest.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
hmmmm If The Da Vinci Code is there, why not Tuesdays with Morrie, or Love Story or the complete works of Jacquelyn Susann?????
Life of Pi is one of my faves and is certainly worthy of the list.
Kelly
bykellysimmons.com
September 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I think the problem with these kinds of lists is that it’s doubtful anyone would find the list (as a whole) to match their opinions. I’m totally with you on Catcher in the Rye. I have no idea why that book is so beloved. And, even though I really enjoyed Da Vinci Code (I had read Angels and Demons first and was invested in the characters, but I still think I’d have liked the story), I don’t think it is deserving of a list like this.
While some would disagree about the greatness of the Harry Potter books, I don’t think there is a good argument as to not including them on a list like this, simply for the impact they’ve had.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I also liked Catcher in the Rye, but does that admission make me more likely to attempt to assassinate someone? I agree about Da Vinci Code. Ridiculous, especially at #5!
I would add Brave New World by Aldous Huxley & 1984 by Orwell, which I grant you are similar but also very different, and also The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I am so excited that two of my favorite books are on here! (My Sister’s Keeper and Gone with the Wind) I am slightly depressed that I have only read 12 of these books though
I guess I better get busy reading “the greats”. I have to agree w/ Kelly though that Tuesdays with Morrie should for sure be on that list!
September 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
The DaVinci Code but no Les Miserables? The DaVinci Code and no Tale of Two cities? The DaVinci Code and no Mutiny on the Bounty? the DaVinci Code?
September 10th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
what?!?!? No Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine?!? But seriously, i wonder if the fact that the poll was done by the London Telegraph has anything to do with the choices? I also would think that something by Hemmingway would make the list…but i DID love To Kill a Mockingbird. Who doesn’t love Atticus Finch??
September 11th, 2008 at 2:10 am
This list seems to be equal parts Bestseller and wonderfully written material. I always wonder what is the process of creating a list like this, what criteria did all these books meet? That they are constantly for at bookstores and libraries? Required reading in High School? Challenged or banned materials? These lists always seem to be lose-lose, because there is no complete list, nor is there any list that will please everyone.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Hey Adam,
I was reading that novel list, and I had to say that I HATE Catch22! I had to read it in high school (along with a lot of those other novels), it made absolutely no sense, but again, people love it. Also, glad to know that I didn’t miss anything by not getting in on all the “DaVinci Code” rage. Great job on the blogging, it’s enjoyable to read. And say hi to Mikah for me!
Nikki
September 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Hi Adam,
Thanks for inviting me to check out your blog. I think making a list of top 100 books is a personal thing, I haven’t even read 100 books. For instance when I read Odd Thomas the ending made me so sad, so of course I love that book, but its not on that list. Its all subjective. I suppose the list could be created from a standpoint of literary achievements like best use of symoblisms etc. But that just makes me think that a lot of my favorite songs are not written to be very technical, they are just straight to the point and they touch your heart.