The Modern Library 100 Best Novels Challenge discussion

The Board List= done and finished *= favs

2. The great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
*4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
6. The sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
7. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
8. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
*10. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
13. 1984 by George Orwell
15. To the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
16. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
*17. The heart is a lonely hunter by Carson McCullers
18. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
19. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
24. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
31. Animal Farm by George Orwell
*33. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
*34. A Handful of dust by Evelyn Waugh
*35. As I lay dying by William Faulkner
39. Go Tell it on the mountain by James Baldwin
*41. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
*42. Deliverance by James Dickey
45. The Sun also rises by Ernest Hemingway
49. Women in love by D H Lawrence
52. Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
54. Light in August by William Faulkner
55. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
58. The age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
61. Death comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
*64. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
*65. A clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
67. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
*69. The house of Mirth by Edith Wharton
73. The day of the Locust by Nathanael West
74. A farewell to arms by Ernest Hemingway
76. The prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
80. Brideshead revisited by Evelyn Waugh
*82. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
86. Ragtime by E L Doctorow
88. The call of the wild by Jack London
*93. The Magus by John Fowles
94. Wide Sagrasso Sea by Jean Rys
98. The postman always rings twice by James M Cain
100. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington |read 12/09


Up Next:
16. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser 2/14/10
42. Deliverance by James Dickey 10/12/10
24. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 1/28/11
67. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 2/26/11


The Readers' List = done and fini

*1. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
2. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
4. The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien
*5. To Kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. 1984 by George Orwell
12. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
13. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
14. Dune by Frank Herbert
16. Stranger in a Strange land by Robert A Heinlein
*17. A town like Alice by Nevil Shute
18. Brave New Word by Aldous Huxley
*19. The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
20. Animal Farm by George Orwell
*22. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
23. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
*24. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
*25. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
26. Shane by Jack Schaefer
*27. Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute
*28. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
*29. The stand by Stephen King
30. The French Lieutenants woman by John Fowles
31. Beloved by Toni Morrison
33. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
34. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
42. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
43. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
45. At the mountain of Madness by H P LOvecraft
46. One lonely night by Mickey Spillane
48. To the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
51. The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
*52. The heart is a lonely hunter by Carson McCullers
53. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
*55. A clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
*56. On the Beach by Nevil Shute
*59. Ender's GAme by Orson Scott Card
63. The sun also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
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
69.Invisible man by Ralph Ellison
70. The wood wife by Terri Windling
*71. The Magus by John Fowles
75. The call of the wild by Jack London
77. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
*79. Watership Down by Richard Adams
82. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton
*84. It by Stephen King
88. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
89. Light in August by William Faulkner
*90. One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
91. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
*94. My Antonia by Willa Cather
95. Mulengro by Charles de Lint


Up next
46. One Lonely Night Mickey Spillane 3/17/10
26. Shane by Jack Schaefer 9/24/10
55. A clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess4/19/11
43. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 2/26/11

Finished by Theodore Dreiser

3stars
This was the story of Clyde, his life growing up and trying to make something of himself. I found book one and two to be the most interesting and book three to be drudgery but maybe that is because it was the most real. I think I would rate this story higher if not so long and wordy.

Finished by Mickey Spillane

I started out thinking this was going to be a 3 because it is the old hard boiled sort of tough guy detective that Mike Hammer portrays but as the story goes on he has a vulnerable side. The story is sometimes laugh out loud funny because of the rainy window scenes, dark single bulb lighted rooms, woman perfumed and lipstick covered, dark back alleys and hokey touch private eye who always gets the girl and the criminal but...it was an interesting plot (though pretty unbelievable).
4 stars

Finished Shane by Jack Schaefer

I guessed this would be sort of sleepy little story with some moral or some statement to it. I was not far off. The story is about Shane a quiet man with a past. He runs into a well meaning family settled in wild country where there is little law and lots of trouble. He helps the well meaning farmer and learns about himself.
3.5 stars

Deliverance by James Dickey

I found this story hard to put down. I was intrigued by the writing and how the characters came to develop. Later when the action was happening even objects became characters like the mountain and the tree, the bow and the river.
4 stars

Stranger in a Strange Landby Robert A. Heinlein
Not sure I can say much about this other than I just barely want to give it 2.5 stars. It was a struggle after the first half which I kind of liked and thought was relatively normal. Then it went somewhere I don't quite know where and it lost me.

The Wood wife by Terri Windling

at first I was not sure if this book was fro me but I kept at it and it became an almost ethereal experience. The story has art,poetry and shapeshifting creatures taken from those arts. I liked it 4 stars

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

I am not a fan of short stories but I did like, once I got into some of the characters, that they came back in the stories. Most were depressing to me and I times I felt for George and others I wanted him to get on. The ending few stories made me think of rating this higher than I was going to so 4 stars.

Heart of DarknessHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is on both lists. #67 on board list; #43 on readers

The author did a wonderful job of conveying the dark and dank jungles, the natives and the struggles of the souls of the main characters. Was it riveting? not really but there were times you felt you were there with them. 3.5 stars

Ragtime by E L Doctorow is 86 on the board list.
This book really gives you the feel of the times and the people that make up the world. I was loving the way the author was layering events and people but then it all came to an end that was unsatisfying. Maybe because it is still ongoing but I wanted more. 3 stars

A clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Still reeling after this one. I started listening to it then got out the book and read along. I really want to start over and read it again now that I picked up on most of the language. Strange Strange book but 4.5 stars

Mulengro by Charles De Lint.
Not my kind of book really. I hope his other books are different from this type. 3.5 stars

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellsion
I listened to this one and there were moments it was very powerful. 3.5 stars