A Resolution to Start Reading ------More Literature

United States
April 11, 2008 11:40am CST
I found a website that has a top 100 list of novels, its a Random House website and they have a BOARD'S LIST and READER'S LIST. READERS TOP 10: 1) Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), 2)The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand), 3)Battlefield Earth (L. Ron Hubbard) 4)The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) 5)To Kill A Mockingbird 6)1984 7)ANTHEM (Ayn Rand) 8)We The Living 9)Mission Earth (L. Ron Hubbard) 10)Fear (L. Ron Hubbard) *11)ULYSSES (James Joyce) I have to admit it was a still strange that it consisted so much of Objectivism and Scientology but can't complain since I am a fan of Ayn Rand even though I have only read her non-fiction. I did do some surfing and found a few articles comparing Hubbard and Rand so maybe its not strange, Rand has her share of critics too. BOARD TOP 12: 1) ULYSSES .................(James Joyce) 2) The Great Gatsby ...............(F. Scott Fitzgerald) 3) A Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man ...(James Joyce) 4) Lolita........................... (Vladamir Nabokov) 5) Brave New World...................(Aldous Huxley) 6) The Sound and the Fury............(William Faulkner) 7) Catch-22..........................(Joseph Heller) 8) Darkness At Noon..................(Arthur Koestler) 9) SONS AND LOVERS....................(d.h.lawrence) 10) The Grapes of Wrath................(John Steinbeck) 11) Under The Volcano..................(Malcom Lowry) 12) The Way of All Flesh...............(Samuel Butler) Perhaps your curious to know the 100 spot, BOARD voted for: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington and 'Reader' voted for: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie hmmm.....so good for my Swiss Family Robinson...Withering Heights?? The website is called THE MODERN LIBRARY: http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html ------------------------------------------------------------ I Went Through OPRAH's List and came up with this: 1) NIGHT (Elie Wiesel), 2006 2) As i Lay Dying (William Faulkner), 2005 3) The Sound and the Fury, 2005 4) A Light In August, 2005 5) The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (Carson McCuller, 2004 6) Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy), 2004 7) One Hundred Years of Solitude, GABRIEL GARCIA MARQEUZ (note: 2007, Love in the Time of Cholera, same author) 8) The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck 9) East of Eden, John Steinbeck, 2003 10) Cry, The Beloved Country, Alan Paton, 2003 11) SULA, Toni Morrison,2002 12) Fall on Your Knees, Anne-Marie MacDonald, 2002 13) We Were The Mulvaneys, Joyce Oates Carol, 2001 14) Icy Sparks, Gwyn Hyman Rubio, 2001 15) A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry, 2001 16) Cane River, Lalita Tademy, 2001 17) House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III, 2000 18) While I was Gone, Sue Miller, 2000 19) The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver, 2000 20) Drowning Ruth, Christina Scwhartz You can find the complete list at: http://www.oprah.com/obc/obc_landing.jhtml or OPRAH.COM ----What is your literature reading resolution? ----Any of these you been able to read or recommend? ----Whats up with that 'READERS' list?? Hey, I might find I love scientology LOL, just like me ----I just went out and bough Swiss Family Robinson to start off slow and then I went to the library and read the first chapter of WITHERING HEIGHTS (Emily Bronte), and found I really like it, but more because the writing really challenged me and I took the KAPLAN version out because there are one too many words that went right over my head. ----Some people dont even approach a classic or book of literature after gradeschool, probably because of time, but did you ever WANT to? I think I might be finding my niche in FICTION because I prefer Nonfiction because I feel like it challenges me with information thats new to me but I think literature might offer me the same satisfaction, still, the time issue does worry me, Just how many classics could i cover by end of summer AHHH!
1 response
@paid2write (5201)
11 Apr 08
Thanks for posting those lists. I have read most of the first list and some on the second list. I love reading classic literature and modern literary fiction. I really enjoyed reading One Hundred Years of Solitude and We Were the Mulvaneys. I would have British writers like Iris Murdoch, A. S. Byatt, Ian McEwan and William Boyd, and Australian writer Peter Carey, all of whose works I have read in the past year.
• United States
12 Apr 08
interesting, how did you find about the authors you suggested?
12 Apr 08
Those writers are all well known in the U.K. where I live. I do read some American authors but I am more aware of the British ones.
• United States
13 Apr 08
Are you familiar with "Giants In The Earth" by O.E. Rolvaag, I found his book in a goodwill but I put it back (Im almost certain it will still be waiting) because I wanted to find more about the author. Im not sure what his nationality is.