Wednesday, August 19, 2009

How Well Read Are You - Modern Library Classics?

I lied, I am going to post one more list. I love lists (if you can't tell). It helps me to think about books I might not have thought about before and add them to my giant reading list. We looked at this modern library classics list in one of my old book clubs. I think it is interesting - especially the board list versus the readers list!

X = Read Book
M = Watched Movie

The Board's List
1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald (X) (M)
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner (I've tried to read it three times!!)
7. CATCH-22
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck (X) (M)
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell (X)
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser (X) (M)
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers (X)
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (X)
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster (X)
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James (M)
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald (X)
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James (M)
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner (X)
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster (X) (M)
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding (M)
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway (X)
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac (X)
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton (X) (M)
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather (X)
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger (X)
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis (X)
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton (X)(M)
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway (X) (M)
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster (X) (M)
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh (M)
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington (X) (M)

There is a definite lack of women author's on the boards list. I do not approve.

Books Read = 20
Movies Watched = 13

The Reader's List
1. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
2. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
3. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
4. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien (X) (M)
5. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee (X)(M)
6. 1984 by George Orwell (X)
7. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
8. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
9. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
10. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
11. ULYSSES by James Joyce
12. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
13. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald (X) (M)
14. DUNE by Frank Herbert (X) (M)
15. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
16. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
17. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
18. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
19. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger (X)
20. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
21. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
22. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck (X) (M)
23. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (X)
24. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell (X) (M)
25. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding (M)
26. SHANE by Jack Schaefer
27. TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
28. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving (X) (M)
29. THE STAND by Stephen King (M)
30. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles (M)
31. BELOVED by Toni Morrison
32. THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
33. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
34. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
35. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
36. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
37. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
38. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
39. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
40. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
41. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
42. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac (X)
43. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
44. YARROW by Charles de Lint
45. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
46. ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
47. MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
48. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
49.THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
50. TRADER by Charles de Lint
51. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams (X) (M)
52. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers (X)
53. THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
54. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
55. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
56. ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
57. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
58. GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
59. ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card (X)
60. THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
61.THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
62. STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
63. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway (X)
64. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
65. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
66. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
67. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner (X)
68. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
69. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
70. THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
71. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
72. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
73. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
74. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
75. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
76. AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
77. FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
78. ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
79. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
80. NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
81. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy (M)
82. GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
83. THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
84. IT by Stephen King
85. V. by Thomas Pynchon
86. DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
87. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
88. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh (M)
89. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
90. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey (X) (M)
91. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway (X) (M)
92. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
93. SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
94. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather (X)
95. MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
96. SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
97. MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
98. ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
99. THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
100. THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

There is still a lack of women author's on the "reader's list." I want to know who these readers are anyway . . .why do they love Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard so much?

Books Read = 19
Movies Watched =13

I actually do better on the critics list!

Top Five Books I've read from these Lists:

1. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
2. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
3. Dune by Frank Herbert
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Top Five I'd Like to Read:

1. The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
2. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
3. Atlas Shrugged by Ann Rand
4. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
5. The Stand by Stephen King

If you post this on your blog, please put the link back here in the comments - I love to see what others are reading!

5 comments:

  1. How very embarrassing. I've only read four from the Board's list and eight from the reader's list. Of course, most of the women who got their book listed (Harper Lee, Margaret Mitchell), that's one of the books I read!!

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  2. Why is there such a lack of women writers? It's not like there aren't great women writers on the Pulitzer Prize winners list or even in the entertainment weekly "new classics" list. It seems like women writers often get the "shaft" critically, but I must admit I on average, enjoy women authors better than men.

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  3. These lists are really eye-opening to me! I got 2 for the Board's list and 8 for the Reader's! Wow!! I guess I'm not really that well-read!! :(

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  4. I am running a blog where I chronicle reading the Modern Library's Board's list Top 100. 1.5 books down, 98.5 to go!

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  5. I have read 20 books from the Board’s List, 24 from the reader’s list. (The books by Ayn Rand are on there because they are great literature.)


    Not on either of these lists are the following, almost all of which used to be on lists of books to read when I was in high school and college (age 63), and which I have read:

    1. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
    2. Notre Dame de Paris - same
    3. The Man who Laughs - same
    4. The Toilers of the Sea - same
    5. The Scarlet Letter - Hawthorne
    6. The Three Musketeers - Dumas
    7. Twenty Years After - Dumas
    8. The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Dumas
    9. Louise de la Valliere -Dumas
    10. Ten Years Later - Dumas
    11. The Man in the Iron Mask - Dumas
    12. The Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
    13. The Black Tulip - Dumas
    14. other series of novels by Dumas
    15. Pride and Prejudice - Austen
    16. Emma - Austen
    17. Persuasion -Austen
    18. Mansfield Park - Austen
    19. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Orczy
    20. Babbitt - Lewis
    21. Tom Jones - Fielding
    22. Joseph Andrews - Fielding
    23. Victory - Conrad
    24. It Can’t Happen Here - Lewis
    25. Camille - Dumas
    26. Tom Sawyer - Twain
    27. Huckleberry Finn - Twain
    28. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court - Twain
    29. Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
    29. The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky
    30. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
    31. Demons - Dostoevsky
    32. War and Peace - Tolstoy
    33. Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
    34. Barometer Rising - McKennan
    35. Any works by Agatha Christie/Mary Westmacott
    36. Any works by Dick Francis
    37. Quo Vadis - Sienkiewicz
    38. Gulliver’s Travels - Swift
    39. Moby Dick - Melville
    40. Jane Eyre - Bronte
    41. Wuthering Heights - Bronte
    42. Madame Bovary - Flaubert
    43. Little Women – Alcott
    44. Pere Goriot – Balzac
    45. The Little Minnister – Barrie
    46. The Good Earth – Buck
    47. Cervantes – Don Quixote
    48. Shogun – Clavell
    49. Tai-Pan – Clavell
    50. The Moonstone – Collins
    51. The Last of the Mohicans – Cooper
    52. David Copperfield – Dickens
    53. Oliver Twist – Dickens
    54. Bleak House – Dickens
    55. A Tale of Two Cities – Dickens
    56. Typhoon – Conrad
    57. The Red Badge of Courage – Crane
    58. Robinson Crusoe – Defoe
    59. Rebecca – du Maurier
    60. The Forsyte Saga – Galsworthy
    61. From the Terrac – O’Hara
    62. Dr. Zhivago – Pasternak
    63. Scott – Ivanhoe
    64. The First Circle – Solzhenitsyn
    65. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Stevenson
    66. the Palliser novels – Trollope
    67. The short stories of O. Henry
    68. Ninety-Three - Hugo


    And why are there no plays on the list?
    Shakespeare
    Schiller
    Rostand
    Shaw
    Corneille
    Moliere
    Maeterlinck
    Ibsen
    Coward
    Rattigan

    Unlike the reader’s list, there is very little on this list of what would be called pop fiction (which is valuable too, up to a point). But they are all worth reading.

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