Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

There are some great lists out for classic reads or books that everyone needs to read.

Use this thread for those that you find.

These Amazing Classic Books Are So Short You Have No Excuse Not To Read Them

by Albert Camus
by Mary Shelley
by Franz Kafka
by George Eliot
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
by Nella Larsen
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
by Kate Chopin
by Joseph Conrad
by Jane Austen
by Henry James
by Willa Cather
by Raymond Chandler
by Edith Wharton
by Arthur Conan Doyle
by Robert Louis Stevenson
by Oscar Wilde
by H.G. Wells
by Herman Melville
by Charles Dickens
by John Steinbeck
by Truman Capote
by George Orwell

Read the article online: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12...)

What kind of lists do you mean?

Well here is one that I made (here): 100 books every Finn should read before dying. They were listed by one Finnish newspaper in 2010. Although I don't really agree with all of them, so I am hoping people would vote and drop The Da Vinci Code to the last place...

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

The Greatest Books (http://thegreatestbooks.org) has 43 book lists. The creator has complied these into two huge lists (fiction and non-fiction) that can be filtered by year. If you create a username you can also use it to keep track of the ones you have read or would like to read. It is a nice, clean-looking site.

Thanks Iris. I'll check this one out.

If you go under the book section of listchallenges.com
they have all sorts of book related lists, including classics. Be warned, it's a bit addicting! There's one list called 1000 books to read before you die (or something along those lines) that's fun to look at.

THE NEW CANON: 15 MODERN CLASSICS YOU SHOULD READ RIGHT NOW

1) by Jeffrey Eugenides
2) by Jonathan Franzen
3) by Jonathan Lethem
4) by Marilynne Robinson
5) by Zadie Smith
6) by Roberto Bolaño
7) by David Mitchell
8) by Joseph O'Neill
9) by Haruki Murakami
10) by Michael Chabon
11) by Mark Z. Danielewski
12) by Jennifer Egan
13) by Yann Martel
14) by Junot Díaz
15) by Cormac McCarthy

(Source: http://qwiklit.com/2013/03/26/the-new...)

Seems to me, that a book needs to be a few years older to be considered a classic. How else can we be sure that it will stand the test of "time?"

“A classic usually expresses some artistic quality--an expression of life, truth, and beauty. A classic stands the test of time. The work is usually considered to be a representation of the period in which it was written; and the work merits lasting recognition. In other words, if the book was published in the recent past, the work is not a classic. A classic has a certain universal appeal. Great works of literature touch us to our very core beings--partly because they integrate themes that are understood by readers from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of experience. Themes of love, hate, death, life, and faith touch upon some of our most basic emotional responses. A classic makes connections. You can study a classic and discover influences from other writers and other great works of literature.”
(Source: http://classiclit.about.com/od/basics...)

The rest of the article is a nice description of what the author considers a "modern classic."

The New Classics from Entertainment Weekly

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)
(Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207...)

Sorry, this time I was too lazy to type in all the books titles into the GoodReads format.

I love these book lists. I managed to read most of the classics during high school. Although I still can see that I have to improve :D

I love the lists, too, Lorena :) They're quite interesting.

Am I the only person who hated The Road? :)

Yeah, these lists always have some surprises on them for me. But mostly I look at them to get an idea of possible future reads.

I love lists - have got more than i can ever hope to complete. Started with the BBC big read list and now it has got out of hand !

Links to lists of books from Cindy's challenge:

The 100 Best Books of All Time

The 20th Century’s Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction

All-TIME 100 Novels

Book Riot's Top 10 of the best top 100 book lists:

1) TIME’s List of of the 100 Best Novels
2) Book Riot’s 100 Greatest Novels 1893-1993
3) The Guardian’s Top 100 Bestselling Books of All Time (in the UK)
4) The Entertainment Weekly 100 Greatest Novels Ever
5) The 100 Most Influential Books of All Time
6) The 100 Favorite Novels of Librarians
7) 100 Major Works of Modern Creative Nonfiction
8) The Modern Library Best 100 Novels of the 20th Century /a>
9) Goodreads Top 100 Literary Novels Of All Time
10) Top 100 Works In World Literature

Source: http://bookriot.com/2013/07/10/the-10...

Duane wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Book Riot's Top 10 of the best top 100 book lists:

You're good...."


Thanks to your suggestion!

Duane wrote: "This is the book list that I have been working on,
www.thebest100lists.com/best100novels/"

That is a really good list!

Kathy wrote: "Book Riot's Top 10 of the best top 100 book lists:

1) TIME’s List of of the 100 Best Novels
2) Book Riot’s 100 Greatest Novels 1893-1993
3) The Guardian’s Top 100 Bestselling Books of All Tim..."
My TBR just keeps swelling with all this lists...

I love the new Group Bookshelves! Awesome and lots of work. Thanks.

Kathy wrote: "I love the new Group Bookshelves! Awesome and lots of work. Thanks."

My pleasure :)

With all our new members, I was seeking to aid navigation, and make it more intuitive. About half our books linked up with folders and threads, when you clicked on "View Activity", so I went through and hooked up the rest of the books to folders, and threads to books. While accomplishing this, I edited the descriptions and folders at the same time.

Let me know if I missed any!

I did read a post somewhere of any interest in a non-fiction classic group.... Was there any interest? Anyone still interested?

Great independent list from one of the best and largest independent bookstores in the US.

http://www.powells.com/listmadness.html

I am jealous of all of you who live in Portland!

Duane wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Great independent list from one of the best and largest independent bookstores in the US.

http://www.powells.com/listmadness.html

I am jealous of all of you who live in Portland!"

..."

I agree about the Modern Library's selection process being suspect and that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is an all time classic that is worthy of any list.

But some books are classics whether one likes them or not. So it doesn't surprise me that "Atlas Shrugged" is on the list at all (very influential in 20th century economic, well written albiet controversial) -- but I didn't like "Middlemarch" or "Walden", but acknowlege they are classics.

Joseph Conrad is one who is often left off the lists -- I put him as one of the greatest writers of all times (though difficult).

The Radcliff list puts "To Kill a Mockingbird" (one of my favorite) in the top 5 -- but then so is "Great Gatsby" which is good, but not in the same class.

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

Cathy wrote: "...But some books are classics whether one likes them or not. So it doesn't surprise me that "Atlas Shrugged" is on the list at all (very influential in 20th century economic, well written albiet controversial) -- but I didn't like "Middlemarch" or "Walden", but acknowlege they are classics. "


Neither of the Rand titles are on the Modern Library list, Cathy. Duane was referring to the reader's list, over at Modern Library. Actually, all four of the Rand titles, PLUS Battleship Earth by L Ron Hubbard make the top ten by Modern Library's reader's poll, so I DEFINITELY don't give weight to their collective judgement ;-).


edit to add link: This is the Modern Library's list, and the Modern Library's Reader's list, side-by-side. All four Rand titles, and THREE L. Ron Hubbard titles populate the Reader's list top ten:

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

Samantha wrote: "I did read a post somewhere of any interest in a non-fiction classic group.... Was there any interest? Anyone still interested?"

I am.

MK wrote: "edit to add link: This is the Modern Library's list, and the Modern Library's Reader's list, side-by-side. All four Rand titles, and THREE L. Ron Hubbard titles populate the Reader's list top ten:..."

The thing with the online polls is that someone can sway the results by posting about the poll on different websites with an agenda to get some biased voters to change the results - in this case, I'd guess on right-wing and Scientology folks were recruited.

For that matter, with the amount of sci-fi on the list, I'd assume it got posted to a sci-fi/fantasy forum as well. Some of those Heinlein books could be votes from the same group that selected Rand, but I don't think that's all of the story.

Anita Blake?! On a list of best novels? Surely they jest.
And half of Charles de Lint's works are on there too. Don't get me wrong, I love de Lint. But that's too much.

So, yeah, with this list I'd ignore the reader's half of the poll!

Yes, someone/place, or multiples, were definitely stacking that poll. It's silliness.

Melanti wrote: "MK wrote: "edit to add link: This is the Modern Library's list, and the Modern Library's Reader's list, side-by-side. All four Rand titles, and THREE L. Ron Hubbard titles populate the Reader's lis..."I'm sorry.I don't know Anita Blake.

I just wanted to find some friends.

Lale wrote: "I just wanted to find some friends."

Hi Lale! Welcome, glad to have you join the group :)

Lale wrote: "I'm sorry.I don't know Anita Blake. ."

I couldn't find her name on the list either. Melanti?

lol

It's pretty obvious you guys aren't big urban fantasy/paranormal romance fans!

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton is the first book in a series about Anita Blake. This is one of the series that made the "vampires and werewolves are sexy" style of urban fantasy so popular. The first 5 or so are decent but after that the series goes downhill quickly. It starts off as a detective series with a romance subplot but by book 10 or so, they're mostly soft-core porn.

ahhhhhhh ... !

No, I guess I haven't read too much of that genre!

huh, the readers voted that one of the top 100 novels .... ??

Kathy wrote: "These Amazing Classic Books Are So Short You Have No Excuse Not To Read Them

by Albert Camus
[bookcover:Frankenstein..."

I have read some of these books, so I'm happy lol

Kathy wrote: "The New Classics from Entertainment Weekly

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Ma..."

I have read less than 5 of these, hahaha :S

Melanti wrote: "It's pretty obvious you guys aren't big urban fantasy/paranormal romance fans!

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton is the first book in a series about Anita Blake. ..."
Blakes' works has not translated into Persian.

If they are sexy they wont translate

Lale wrote: "If they are sexy they wont translate"

Have you tried written by Richard Bach??

I think that it has been even translated to Arabic.

MK wrote: "huh, the readers voted that one of the top 100 novels .... ??"

My reaction exactly! She has a ton of really enthusiastic fans and hits the bestseller lists with practically every book, but she by no means should ever be counted in the top 100!

Lale wrote: "Blakes' works has not translated into Persian. "

Don't worry, you're not missing much unless you happen to be a paranormal romance fan! I bailed on the series around book 8 or so.

Melanti wrote: "MK wrote: "huh, the readers voted that one of the top 100 novels .... ??"

My reaction exactly! She has a ton of really enthusiastic fans and hits the bestseller lists with practically every book,..."

Have you read Ulysses? I wish to read it.I love Joise's short stories.

Lale wrote: "Have you read Ulysses? I wish to read it.I love Joise's short stories. ..."

I'm way too intimidated by everything I've heard about it to give it a try!

Gina wrote: "Lale wrote: "If they are sexy they wont translate"

Have you tried written by Richard Bach??

I think that it has been even translated to Arabic."No I haven't.Of course Arabic is diferent from Persian.

Gina wrote: "Lale wrote: "If they are sexy they wont translate"

Have you tried written by Richard Bach??

I think that it has been even translated to Arabic."

Kathy wrote: "“A classic usually expresses some artistic quality--an expression of life, truth, and beauty. A classic stands the test of time. The work is usually considered to be a representation of the period ..."

A list is a list -- that is all. Opinions. Actually it can be likened to the star rating on Goodreads. I just read Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca" absolutely amazing five star classic!!!)and noticed a review that only had 2 stars. The writer rated it low because she was expecting "VC Andrews" I can't imagine using du Maurier and VC Andrews in the same sentence.

If you want old classics -- I recommend the tried and true Harvard Classics. I've always coveted owning complete set!

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Harvard...

But I also think it is possible to have Modern Classics -- not defined by genre -- Was Charles Dickens not worthy of being a classic in his lifetime? "A Wrinkle in Time" was only 10-15 years old when I first read it -- it is considered a classic now. Perhaps instead of "Modern Classics", we should title it "classics in the making"

Note --I love old books. Charing Cross Road area in London is practically my favorite place in the entire world!

Duane wrote: "While you may be right concerning the readers list of Modern Library, Ayn Rands two major novels appear on many other "best 100 lists", even the 100 favorite books of librarians. The point being, whether you like her or not, she had a significant impact on 20th century literature. ..."


I don't think you'll find many lists with all four of her novels - along with three L Ron Hubbard's - in the top ten ;-).

I'm not sure Rand had a significant impact on 20th century literature. I do think she had/does have a significant impact on 20th/21st century US politics.

Duane wrote: " In 1991 a survey conducted for the Library of Congress, asking the respondents what books have had the biggest impact for them, Atlas Shrugged was second only to the Bible. ..."


I am enjoying it too, Dwayne :)

The above quote I've seen before, and I don't dispute it. I just contend that the area that it has impacted has been politics, rather than literature.

On your last, I agree. I read them blind the first time, I didn't know they were supposed to be political texts. I just enjoyed the stories.

Duane wrote: "Forgetting the political views and taken as a work of fiction, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are very good novels. ..."

I don't think it's possible to take the political views out of either of those and still have a novel left over - especially Atlas Shrugged. That John Gault speech alone is a 50 page explanation of her philosophy -- and from what I could tell, it didn't say anything at all that the rest of the book didn't already say.

I'll side with M.K. with this one -- I wouldn't say that the books had a big influence on literature. Politics, definitely! Literature, no. Yes, it's an influential book - which is probably why the survey turned out as it did - but it's not influential based on literary merit.

7 million books is a lot in the book industry, but it is far from a record breaking number. Some of the Harry Potter books sold over 100 mil copies each, and A Tale of Two Cities sold 120 million, and I don't see either of those on the list. In fact, I don't see any Dickens at all, and that's a travesty. I can't stand him, personally, but he deserves to have a place.

Still, I agree that Rand does have a place on lists - I'm actually shocked it's not on Boxal's 1,001 Books list - but not all four of her books in the top 10! Compared to the nearly 200,000 ratings her other books have gotten, We the Living only has a mere 16,000. That's a far from an influential novel.

Dwayne, I was thinking about what I posted while I was brushing my teeth.

I think the distinction I am meaning to try and get across, is that I don't think Rand's fiction had a significant impact on literature that came after she published; I think Rand's fiction - along with her non-fiction - had a significant impact on US politics, though (and still does have).

So, I think it IS significant literature. I don't think it had a significant influence ON literature. If that makes sense...

Melanti wrote: "I'll side with M.K. with this one -- I wouldn't say that the books had a big influence on literature. Politics, definitely! Literature, no. Yes, it's an influential book - which is probably why the survey turned out as it did - but it's not influential based on literary merit. ..."


Ahhh, typing at the same time! You said it better. That's what I was trying to say. Thankyou, Melanti :)