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Top 10 Books Without Pictures

#1

I posted this on Facebook but it occurred to me that I should post it here, as you lot are sadly more literate than most of my friends and family . . .

Due to my occupation (English teacher) and the fact that I’m not getting any younger, I’ve recently been thinking about the greatest novels of all time and which ones I have and haven’t read. I have been looking at different critical lists trying to determine what most people think are the top 10 greatest novels. This is what I came up with, in random order:

  1. Great Gatsby
  2. Huckleberry Finn
  3. Hamlet
  4. Moby Dick
  5. Anna Karena
  6. War and Peace
  7. Lolita
  8. Ulysses
  9. In Search of Lost Time
  10. Middlemarch
    I have read 1-4, but not the rest. I want to try to complete the whole list, starting with War & Peace, since my son has a copy of that already. Thoughts? What have you read? What do you think should or should not be on the list?
#2
  1. The Invention of Morel

…the rest will be in random order

  • Catch 22
  • 2666
  • The Sirens of Titan
  • The Great Gatsby
  • Pale Fire
  • Don Quixote
  • Infinite Jest
  • The Portrait of Dorian Gray
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame
#3

Bioy Casares in da house!

I feel you man.
The Invention of Morel is one of the greatest Novels… Period.

If you like it. I recommend you “El perjurio de la nieve” (I don´t know how it´s called in English).
You will enjoy it very much.

#4

#3 isn’t a novel. :wink:

#5

Ok. Books without pictures (Not all of them will be Novels).

1- The Aleph. Jorge Luis Borges.
2- The Sound and the Fury- William Faulkner.
3- Hamlet- William Shakespeare.
4- Don Quixote- Miguel de Cervantes.
5- Misteriosa Buenos Aires- Manuel Mujica Lainez.
6- El llano en llamas- Juan Rulfo.
7- Las intermitencias de la muerte. Jose Saramago.
8- Cronicas del Angel Gris- Alejandro Dolina.
9- Martian Chronicles- Ray Bradburry.
10- The Long Goodbye. Raymond Chandler.

It was more difficult than i tought it would be.

#6

Don Quioxote was on a lot of lists and would have made #11 on my combined lists.

I know Hamlet is a play but it was on a lot of lists. Probably due to the fact that all critics, including myself, agree that the Bard should be included on any list of great writing.

I have never heard of the Invention of Morel.

#7

It’s a fantastic novel.
Possibly the best novel ever written about obsession, futility, and coping.

#8

Objective best is a weird thing but I personally feel that The Stranger is the best novel ever written

And while I disagree with @Christian on many things, I am fairly sure he agrees with me on this, and that makes us brothers.

#9

Borges/Bioy Casares = Morrison/Millar?

#10

In a Way.

Yeah, i can se that.

#11

No Dickens or Austen?

#12

Here’s the thing about Russian literature and writers in general: it’s entertainment. As good entertainment rather in a Game of Thrones sense, it takes a lot of time to wind through the complexities. Now we have added time passing and several governments changing so there is little - other than geography - to really tie to modern times and events. The trick is to simply take your time. and let it entertain you in the old way, building pictures in your mind and hearing the characters in your ears.

#13

I think it’s criminal to omit The Grapes of Wrath. (The obvious thing to drop for it would be Ulysses, which is the Worst Book Ever Written.)

And I’m surprised at the inclusion of Middlemarch rather than something by Dickens or Hardy.

Plus, you’ve forgotten Alan Moore’s Jerusalem :wink:

#14

The definition of Russian Literature: “Nothing happens for 700 pages and then somebody’s aunt dies” :wink:

#15

You get about a billion bonus points from me for including 2666. One of my all-time favorites.

#16

No love for Jack London?

I really liked “La voz de la sangre” The Reverse “White Fang”.

#17

Let’s see on my top 10 books. Shooting from the hip, not giving a ton of thought.

  1. The Stranger by Albert Camus
  2. The Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne
  3. The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor
  4. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
  5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
  6. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
  7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  9. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
  10. American Pastoral by Philip Roth

And bonus round, my five favorite non-fiction:

  1. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests by Tom Wolfe
  2. Just Kids by Patti Smith
  3. The Big Payback by Dan Charnas
  4. Only Life by Roger Ebert
  5. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
  6. On Writing by Stephen King

And my favorite books by women (since I just realized I only had one on my top list)

  1. The Passion by Janette Winterson
  2. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  3. Collected Stories by Grace Paley
  4. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
  5. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
  6. My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates