List of 40 books to read before one dies. Do you agree?

[Anonymous]

hot tip for those who want to read all of the classics. Most of the texts are freely available at the library and on e-readers and sometimes audiobook form at Gutenberg press:

https://www.gutenberg.org/

You're welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)

Love Kundera and Dostoevsky. I could spend hours pondering one gorgeous sentence. Also, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)

Of course! Unbearable Lightness of Being was so good. As for the Russians, Turgenev was always my favorite, but he's less-well known. Fathers and Sons was beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)

Of course! Unbearable Lightness of Being was so good. As for the Russians, Turgenev was always my favorite, but he's less-well known. Fathers and Sons was beautiful.

Agree, loved Fathers and Sons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a good place to start. Especially if you don't recognize most of the titles.

I like this list of novels by modern library. A bit more varied.

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

Hmmm. There are some good ones in there but I think that list lost credibility with me by listing three Joyce novels. I’d rather stick pins in my hand.

+1.
Portrait of an artist...; holy hell that was one dull book

[Anonymous]

In case you can't/don't want to click through:

Pride and Prejudice
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 [haven't read]
Catch-22
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Things Fall Apart
1984
Great Expectations
To Kill a Mockingbird
The God of Small Things
Wolf Hall
Frankenstein
Lord of the Flies
Midnight’s Children
Jane Eyre
Middlemarch
The Secret History
Americanah
Cold Comfort Farm
Beloved
Brideshead Revisited
Dune [haven't read it]
Wuthering Heights
The Great Gatsby
A Clockwork Orange [haven't read it]
Lolita
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Heart of Darkness
Dracula
The Catcher in the Rye
The Big Sleep
Vanity Fair
The Bell Jar [haven't read it]
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Anna Karenina
Dangerous Liaisons
100 Years of Solitude
The Trial
Rebecca
The Leopard

I've read nearly all these books, and I think it's a fine list, but hardly definitive. The fun of these lists is arguing about who should have been on it in addition to/instead of the books listed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised neither of those lists had anything by Milan Kundera on it. Or Dostoevsky. Also seemed light on Latin American authors (how about Kiss of the Spider woman? Or House of Spirits? both of which are amazing.)

Love Kundera and Dostoevsky. I could spend hours pondering one gorgeous sentence. Also, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison.

Toni Morrison is on the list.

Louise Erdrich should have been on the list--she's a beautiful writer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a good place to start. Especially if you don't recognize most of the titles.

I like this list of novels by modern library. A bit more varied.

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

Varied? It is almost entirely a list of books by white men.

Ok, so that's your definition of varied, I suppose. I'm not threatened by the idea that a lot of white men have written really good books. Why are you?

I'm not, I've read most of them, but let's not pretend that is a variety of literary voices.

I've read lots of dead-white-man novels, and many of them *are* great, but lists that are that heavy on them tell me that the creator has a pretty narrow view of what's good, or isn't looking very hard for a variety of voices. There are fantastic female and POC writers, who produce works that are absolutely the equal of (or better than) the books on that list. And they aren't on the list because the people who write the list aren't looking, or have exclusive preconceptions about what makes a "great novel."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are my comments for what they are worth, lol:

Read and Agree:
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

I should probably read:
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
1984, George Orwell
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (My husband loves this book)
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie (My husband also loves this book)
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

Read and didn't really care for (but probably because I was forced to read in school):
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

Didn't Read, No opinion:
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, Sue Townsend
Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Code of the Woosters, PG Wodehouse
Middlemarch, George Eliot
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
Dune, Frank Herbert
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K Dick
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
Dangerous Liaisons, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

I suggest reading P.G. Wodehouse when you are little bit down. He always perks me up.

[Anonymous]

I've read only 1 or 2 on the list, but I have heard of almost all and have an idea that they are about.
I'd suggest short stories to non-readers. Tchekhov's short stories are so good that I feel like each one was actually a book.

[Anonymous]

Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie should be on it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP:

I am so tempted to tell you which to avoid in my opinion...but I won't unless you ask.

Clockwork Orange was nearly impossible to read. It's got a glossary in the back and fake words throughout. The movie is really disturbing.

Joseph Conrad LOVES to describe shit. Seriously, I think heart of darkness has two pages devoted to describing a hill with a tree on it.

I found some books that I hadn't read. Secret History looks entertaining.

The "fake words" in A Clockwork Orange are almost all Russian words or variations on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are my comments for what they are worth, lol:


Didn't Read, No opinion:
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, Sue Townsend -- I also didn't read, sorry
Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy -- depressing as hell, there's an early 80's movie
The Code of the Woosters, PG Wodehouse -- haven't read this but he wrote terrific comedies, also movies and Broadway shows including Anything Goes (along with Cole Porter)
Middlemarch, George Eliot -- long but great
The Secret History, Donna Tartt -- haven't read but The Goldfinch, which she wrote, is amazing
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons -- there is a movie if you don't want to read the book, which is hilarious
Dune, Frank Herbert -- absolute classic, also a classic sci-fi file
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K Dick -- this is what Blade Runner was based on
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler -- another great book that is also a great movie with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
Dangerous Liaisons, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos -- haven't read the book but I hope everyone has seen the movie!!
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

-- haven't read it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP:

I am so tempted to tell you which to avoid in my opinion...but I won't unless you ask.

Clockwork Orange was nearly impossible to read. It's got a glossary in the back and fake words throughout. The movie is really disturbing.

Joseph Conrad LOVES to describe shit. Seriously, I think heart of darkness has two pages devoted to describing a hill with a tree on it.

I found some books that I hadn't read. Secret History looks entertaining.

The "fake words" in A Clockwork Orange are almost all Russian words or variations on them.

I didn't know that. Gives the book more depth. I wasn't assigned it in school but went through a dystopian phase where I tried to read it...and failed.