Top 100 English Language Novels - How Many Have You Read?

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

As a reader and aspiring writer I have been wanting to make the rounds of reading those books which fall into the must-read category. My goal here is not to start some sort of pissing contest with regards to how many of these books people have read but since I was interested to find out myself I thought I'd see about you folks as well. I suppose thoughts on books you feel should be on the list or ones you feel should have been left off would be interesting as well. If our new mod or anyone else feels this should juts be in the Book thread or somewhere else I'll gladly go there with my tail between my legs. If not, discuss.

Edit: I've added a new list and updated mine, if anyone cares to do the same.

The Time Magazine List (http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html)
Random House List (http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html)

I've currently read(from the Time list):

Animal Farm
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
The Crying of Lot 49
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Mrs. Dalloway
1984
On the Road
Slaughterhouse-Five
Things Fall Apart
Watchmen

That's 13/100. Hmmm. Got some reading to do.

From the Random House List, the ones not included in the Time list that I've read are:

Brave New World
Winesburg, Ohio
As I Lay Dying
Heart of Darkness

[TJ Wells]

6/100

Watchmen
The Great Gatsby
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

[*crying stars*]

Fix the link, FYI. There's an extra http://

7/100 (Well, that's not good.)

Animal Farm
The Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
1984
Slaughterhouse-Five
To Kill a Mockingbird
Watchmen

I haven't heard of half of those novels. Also, I think it's weird that they list a Margaret Atwood novel which is NOT A Handmaid's Tale.

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

Fix the link, FYI. There's an extra http://

7/100 (Well, that's not good.)

Animal Farm
The Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
1984
Slaughterhouse-Five
To Kill a Mockingbird
Watchmen

I haven't heard of half of those novels. Also, I think it's weird that they list a Margaret Atwood novel which is NOT A Handmaid's Tale.

Thanks for letting me know. Should be fixed now. I hadn't heard of a good bit of them either.

[Cuddleworthy]

that is a pretty lame list

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

that is a pretty lame list

Because of what is on it or what is not?

[Cuddleworthy]

Because of what is on it or what is not?

both. too many off high school reading lists nationwide, and no ulysses? seriously? hah

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

both. too many off high school reading lists nationwide, and no ulysses? seriously? hah

I can see that. And I was surprised not to see Ulysses. If you know of a more reputable list I'd love to see it. I admittedly did a quick search.

[Neo Cassady]

Read:
The Catcher in the Rye
A Clockwork Orange
The Great Gatsby
1984
On the Road
Slaughterhouse-Five
To Kill a Mockingbird

Sitting on my/fiancee's bookshelf unread so far:
Are You There God?
Catch-22
Gone With the Wind
Lord of the Flies
Ragtime
The Sound and the Fury
Things Fall Apart

Been meaning to read:
Animal Farm
The Grapes of Wrath
Lolita
Naked Lunch
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Sun Also Rises

[Cuddleworthy]

I can see that. And I was surprised not to see Ulysses. If you know of a more reputable list I'd love to see it. I admittedly did a quick search.

i prefer this list by random house--http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html (the board's list, not the reader's). not perfect, but much better than the one by Time.

[Scrandon]

both. too many off high school reading lists nationwide, and no ulysses? seriously? hah

Or maybe high school reading lists are based off the general perception of top novels. Hello

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

i prefer this list by random house--http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html (the board's list, not the reader's). not perfect, but much better than the one by Time.

cool. I'll add it to the first post.

[yellowhouse]

Out of both lists that you posted, I've read:
1984
All The King's Men
Animal Farm
As I Lay Dying
Blood Meridian
Brave New World
The Call Of The Wild
Catch-22
The Catcher In The Rye
A Clockwork Orange
The Corrections
Ender's Game
Farenheit 451
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
Lord Of The Flies
The Lord Of The Rings
Mrs. Dalloway
Naked Lunch
On The Road
Slaughter-house Five
Things Fall Apart
To Kill A Mockingbird
Tropic Of Cancer
V.
Watchmen
Watership Down
White Noise
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

Reading rocks.

[And Hours Pass]

Out of both lists that you posted, I've read:
1984
All The King's Men
As I Lay Dying
Blood Meridian
Brave New World
The Call Of The Wild
Catch-22
The Catcher In The Rye
A Clockwork Orange
The Corrections
Ender's Game
Farenheit 451
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
Lord Of The Flies
The Lord Of The Rings
Mrs. Dalloway
Naked Lunch
On The Road
Slaughter-house Five
Things Fall Apart
To Kill A Mockingbird
Tropic Of Cancer
V.
Watchmen
Watership Down
White Noise
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

Reading rocks.
You've inspired me to read more.

Between both lists I've read:

Animal Farm
Are You There God
Catch 22
Catcher in the Rye
Great Gatsby
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lucky Jim
Naked Lunch
1984
On The Road
Slaughterhouse Five
The Sun Also Rises
To Kill a Mockingbird
Brave New World
As I Lay Dying
The Maltese Falcon
A Farewell to Arms

I'm way behind on my reading.

[yellowhouse]

You've inspired me to read more.

Between both lists I've read:

Animal Farm
Are You There God
Catch 22
Catcher in the Rye
Great Gatsby
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lucky Jim
Naked Lunch
1984
On The Road
Slaughterhouse Five
The Sun Also Rises
To Kill a Mockingbird
Brave New World
As I Lay Dying
The Maltese Falcon
A Farewell to Arms

I'm way behind on my reading.

I am glad I could do that for you :-)

[ChaplainTappman]

11/100 on times. of those, i read 3 for school assignments
animal farm
catch-22
the great gatsby (school)
things fall apart (school)
watchmen
the lion the witch and the wardrobe
the lord of the rings
the lord of the flies
1984
one flew over the cuckoos nest
to kill a mockingbird (school)

brave new world (on randomhouse's) is the only one i've read that isnt listed above already
edit: missed call of the wild on randomhouse, read that one too

[ChaplainTappman]

Out of both lists that you posted, I've read:
1984
All The King's Men
Animal Farm
As I Lay Dying
Blood Meridian
Brave New World
The Call Of The Wild
Catch-22
The Catcher In The Rye
A Clockwork Orange
The Corrections
Ender's Game
Farenheit 451
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
Lord Of The Flies
The Lord Of The Rings
Mrs. Dalloway
Naked Lunch
On The Road
Slaughter-house Five
Things Fall Apart
To Kill A Mockingbird
Tropic Of Cancer
V.
Watchmen
Watership Down
White Noise
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

Reading rocks.
i salute you, good sir.

[yellowhouse]

i salute you, good sir.

Haha, thanks man!

[yeknom]

read 24 total from both lists.

edit: didn't count the readers list. Rand's two fucking paperweights as 1 and 2?

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

read 24 total from both lists.

edit: didn't count the readers list. Rand's two fucking paperweights as 1 and 2?

Ha. I know shes important and all but 1 and 2? There isn't an author who has written the first and second best novels of all time. Foolish. Though I suppose depending on how they compiled that list it could make sense how it happened.

[zachff]

Out of both lists that you posted, I've read:
Ender's Game

mother.fuck.yes.

probably my favorite book. have you read any of the (new) sequels or shadow novels?

[zachff]

I can't believe that no one has commented about Battlefield Earth being #3 on the Readers List

[MikeAL4W]

I dunno if you guys can get Ebooks on your phones, but on my old Trio I used to download tons of free novels off this site, It's been years but I'm sure it still works. http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top I have a shitty old phone now but let me know if it works. I'm sure alot of those books from the lists are up on that site for download.

[MikeAL4W]

Also, these lists are just the combined OPINIONS of a bunch of intellectuals. I could make a fucking gnarly list of my top 100 books. So of course they're gonna miss a bunch of great books, but it doesn't really bother me.

Time List

Animal Farm
Catcher In The Rye
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Rings
1984

[yellowhouse]

mother.fuck.yes.

probably my favorite book. have you read any of the (new) sequels or shadow novels?

Sure haven't.

Good stuff?

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

I can't believe that no one has commented about Battlefield Earth being #3 on the Readers List

Not to be a snob, but I kind of dismissed the Readers list.

Also, these lists are just the combined OPINIONS of a bunch of intellectuals. I could make a fucking gnarly list of my top 100 books. So of course they're gonna miss a bunch of great books, but it doesn't really bother me.

Time List

Animal Farm
Catcher In The Rye
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Rings
1984

Exactly. I find it interesting to look at these lists and try to read the books on them simply because these are the books "you have to read." I feel like I should have an opinion on them.

[zachff]

Sure haven't.

Good stuff?

Really, really good. Rereading the shadow series books from the beginning now.

Not to be a snob, but I kind of dismissed the Readers list.


That's fine, but if you're not familiar with Battlefield Earth it's by the founder of Scientology and is regarded as a campy, terrible novel.
Just goes to show Scientologists will spam any list to get their message out there

[yellowhouse]

Really, really good. Rereading the shadow series books from the beginning now.



That's fine, but if you're not familiar with Battlefield Earth it's by the founder of Scientology and is regarded as a campy, terrible novel.
Just goes to show Scientologists will spam any list to get their message out there

Cool, I'll check it out.

Also, don't forget the movie version of Battlefield Earth, starring John Travolta, and regarded as one of the worst movies of all time.

And it is. Ugh.

[Pat k]

Time List
American Pastoral
Animal Farm
The Catcher in the Rye
A Clockwork Orange
The Corrections
Falconer
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
Lord of the Flies
1984
On the Road
Rabbit, Run
Slaughterhouse 5
The Sound and the Fury
Things Fall Apart
To Kill a Mockingbird
White Noise

[lightupthesky]

can i count it if i was supposed to read it, but didn't, but listened in on class discussions well enough to get an A on the exam?

;D kidding.
8 from time
11 from random house, including overlaps from time.

[Smash Adams]

read 10 total
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Grapes Of Wrath
Invisible Man
Things Fall Apart
1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World
The Great Gastby
Lord Of The Flies
Naked Lunch

[Pat k]

A lot of the same books popping up. Not a bad thing, but it makes me want to see what the others are all about!

[s.t.e.v.e.n.]

Really, really good. Rereading the shadow series books from the beginning now.



That's fine, but if you're not familiar with Battlefield Earth it's by the founder of Scientology and is regarded as a campy, terrible novel.
Just goes to show Scientologists will spam any list to get their message out there

Oh yeah I'm familiar ha.

[SlappedActor]

19/100 on the Time list. 16 from the Random House critic's list. 23 from the Random House readers' list.

Obviously a lot of those were the same books, though.

[lindZ629]

Time:
Animal Farm
Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby (currently reading)
Invisible Man
On the Road
To Kill a Mockingbird

Sad.

[ActionActionFan]

Has anyone read Tobacco Road (it's on the randomhouse list)? I have been meaning to get to it for a while.

[cshadows2887]

Time (15):
Animal Farm
The Catcher in the Rye
Go Tell it on the Mountain
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
A Light in August
The Lion, the Witch anf the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
On the Road
The Slaughterhouse Five
The Sun Also Rises
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Things Fall Apart
To Kill a Mockingbird

[Nimby]

Animal Farm
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lord of the Rings
1984
Howards End


I love reading so I'm now really ashamed of myself, ha.

[HelpMeSleep]

7 from the Time list:

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
The Catcher In the Rye
The Great Gatsby
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lord Of the Flies
Things Fall Apart
To Kill A Mockingbird

I read the majority of those in school. On The Road and 1984 are ones I've been meaning to read. and totally not on the list, but when I think of books I've been meaning to read I always think of A Child Called It but I've never actually read it.

[KidRobot]

Animal Farm
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
1984
The Sun Also Rises
To Kill a Mockingbird