Time Magazine's Top 100 Novels

[ragandbone]

Originally Posted by amber

*checking in as an actress geek!*

yup. We need a thread.

Originally Posted by amber

It's so nice that my semi soulmate is right here on the ledge!!!

I am thrilled. Who knew!

Originally Posted by amber

if you are a fan of the "super defining performance that may be over the top".
It's like Davis's "All About Eve" or her "Jezebel", if you see what I'm saying.
So, god willing, you will find it, is my point.

I *am* a fan of that(SDPOTT), and I *will* find it...soon!

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by amber

mmm....From what I've seen of her, which is some interviews and a biographical documentary...and I've read a few things...she seems really smart. And no, I don't agree with her philosophy as a political system.
What's the part about her being a bitch? What do you mean, specifically? I know she cheated on her husband or something, but meh.

Oh, she was an incredibly smart woman, clearly. Objectivism is a remarkably well-thought out system drawing from all kinds of influences, from Aristotle to Nietzsche.

Specifically... well, now I can't think of any examples off the top of my head - I'll see if I can look up some stuff later. But she was just a terribly mean and heartless person, which doesn't have to be what objectivism is all about by any means.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by David

Let me retract that injunction, then, because I think that reading "Ulysses" without consulting criticism, analysis or other explanation is certainly preferable to not reading it at all, & even very satisfying to some people, as you say it was to you. But to the thousands of others who have found Joyce's language, themes & references to be too great a strain on their attention or endurance, I'd say that Stuart Gilbert's book (written with Joyce's assistance) is just about the best aid a reader could find.

I taught undergrads at U.C. Davis as a graduate assistant, & we all read "Ulysses" along with Gilbert's book, & I think without Gilbert, the students would have been quite lost -- little sheep wandering among Joyce's towering crags. Gilbert helped us all understand the structure & symbolism of "Ulysses," as well as its thousands of literary, political, scientific, aesthetic, metaphysical & even anatomical references. For example, I remember how useful the discussion was of the "Oxen of the Sun" episode in the hospital, with its esoteric parody of the various phases of literary style -- from Anglo-Saxon to mediaeval Latin to Middle English to 17th century to 18th century . . . echoes of Carlyle, De Quincey, Malory, Browne, Pepys, Swift, Addison, Walpole, etc. etc. Even if we had been capable of recognizing these stylistic allusions, I think we'd have still been totally unaware of what it all had to do with the development of an embryo. And we'd have been fairly lost in the great "Nighttown" sequence, with its black magic & animism & specters & more arcane references, this time to Balaam's ass or Flaubert's "Saint Antoine" or God-knows-what-all.

"Ulysses" is so chock-a-block full of life & art & knowledge that to anyone who tells me he or she wants to read it, I just habitually recommend starting with the Gilbert book -- or even reading it in tandem with Joyce. It's actually set up so you can do that. It's still in print in a good Vintage paperback, & it will unlock so many treasures in "Ulysses" for you that you're bound to find your "voyage to Ithaca" so much richer for it.

What David said. It's really awesome that you read it on your own and enjoyed it, but I think for most first-time readers it can be very frustrating trying to get through it knowing that there's so much stuff going on that you're just not grasping because you're not catching the allusions or the style shifts don't make sense.

I will occasionally read Ulysses, or parts of it, without any extra literature, but I almost always keep my Gifford annotations handy. I just get so much more out of reading it if I have the opportunity to look up some notes on an allusion or reference that isn't totally clear.

One of my more recent favorite quotes from Ulysses; somehow I didn't get the joke until my third time reading, I think:

"If you see Kay
Tell him he may
See you in tea
Tell him from me."

Naughty Joyce.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by David

Let me retract that injunction, then, because I think that reading "Ulysses" without consulting criticism, analysis or other explanation is certainly preferable to not reading it at all, & even very satisfying to some people, as you say it was to you. But to the thousands of others who have found Joyce's language, themes & references to be too great a strain on their attention or endurance, I'd say that Stuart Gilbert's book (written with Joyce's assistance) is just about the best aid a reader could find.

I taught undergrads at U.C. Davis as a graduate assistant, & we all read "Ulysses" along with Gilbert's book, & I think without Gilbert, the students would have been quite lost -- little sheep wandering among Joyce's towering crags. Gilbert helped us all understand the structure & symbolism of "Ulysses," as well as its thousands of literary, political, scientific, aesthetic, metaphysical & even anatomical references. For example, I remember how useful the discussion was of the "Oxen of the Sun" episode in the hospital, with its esoteric parody of the various phases of literary style -- from Anglo-Saxon to mediaeval Latin to Middle English to 17th century to 18th century . . . echoes of Carlyle, De Quincey, Malory, Browne, Pepys, Swift, Addison, Walpole, etc. etc. Even if we had been capable of recognizing these stylistic allusions, I think we'd have still been totally unaware of what it all had to do with the development of an embryo. And we'd have been fairly lost in the great "Nighttown" sequence, with its black magic & animism & specters & more arcane references, this time to Balaam's ass or Flaubert's "Saint Antoine" or God-knows-what-all.

"Ulysses" is so chock-a-block full of life & art & knowledge that to anyone who tells me he or she wants to read it, I just habitually recommend starting with the Gilbert book -- or even reading it in tandem with Joyce. It's actually set up so you can do that. It's still in print in a good Vintage paperback, & it will unlock so many treasures in "Ulysses" for you that you're bound to find your "voyage to Ithaca" so much richer for it.

OMG - I have such a loathing for Joyce due to a traumatic experience with an a$$hole professor in college who thought too many of Joyce's works were really about The Crusades :ee: But, joyce was brilliant.

[catinthedark]

Originally Posted by David

I'm sorry you don't like it! Did an English class ruin it for you, by any chance?

You got it! It was SUCH a struggle - painful, painful. I struggled through my paper, hating every minute of it - was so relieved when it was done.... and then my English teacher gave it back to me and said, "I want you to redo this. This is a 75% paper. You don't write 75% papers. Bring me back a 98% paper." SO I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN!!!!

Pure and utter hell.

An aside about the list - I was happy to see at least one Canadian author there - Margaret Atwood. I think there were more - was Graeme Greene there? But I don't think the Blind Assassin is by any stretch Atwood's best novel (and I have read them all). Also, there are so many more Canadian authors missing from that list (not to mention other nationalities). I think Time should have called it the Top 100 American novels of all time.

One of this country's best authors: Ann-Marie MacDonald. If you've never read Fall On Your Knees or As The Crow Flies, run to your nearest bookstore! Also, Carol Shields, Margaret Laurence, Michael Ondaatje, Alistair McLeod....

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by catinthedark

Also, there are so many more Canadian authors missing from that list (not to mention other nationalities).

Outside of Britain and Ireland, how many other nationalities boast novelists who write in English?

I just realized Brave New World isn't on the list, is it?

[hayley]

I had a customer at Borders last night bitching about this list because the DaVinci Code wasn't on it. I did a mental *facepalm*.

[dissention]

I'm glad "The Sheltering Sky" is on it, that's one of my favorite novels. Don't let the awful movie turn you off, the book is in a class all it's own.

[golddustwoman77]

Here are all the ones that I have read. My favorites are On the Road, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser

Animal Farm
George Orwell
Read the Original Review

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Judy Blume


Beloved
Toni Morrison
Read the Original Review


The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
Read the Original Review

A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess
Read the Original Review




A Death in the Family
James Agee



Gone With the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
Read the Original Review

The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Read the Original Review


The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Read the Original Review


The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis


Lord of the Flies
William Golding


Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf


1984
George Orwell
Read the Original Review


On the Road
Jack Kerouac
Read the Original Review

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey
Read the Original Review




The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner



The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
Read the Original Review


To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Read the Original Review

[David]

Originally Posted by dissention

I'm glad "The Sheltering Sky" is on it, that's one of my favorite novels. Don't let the awful movie turn you off, the book is in a class all it's own.

Harold Bloom called "Blood Meridian" by Cormac whatsoever is one of the best novels of the modern era. Is that on the list?

[cliffdweller]

Glad to see Phillip Roth got two on the list. I just finished American Pastoral and it is AMAZING!!

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by David

Harold Bloom called "Blood Meridian" by Cormac whatsoever is one of the best novels of the modern era. Is that on the list?

Yes. It's Cormac McCarthy, and Blood Meridian is part of his "Border Trilogy" which as absolute greatness. And as much as I HATE to admit this (because I think Bloom is a pompous ass) he's right about Blood Meridian. It is one of the greats for sure

[catinthedark]

[QUOTE=Jyqm]Outside of Britain and Ireland, how many other nationalities boast novelists who write in English?QUOTE]

Besides Canada? Oh, quite a few. There are a number of African writers who write in English. One of my favourite writers is French (from France) and writes in English (Nancy Huston). I'd imagine Australians write in English. Many writers from India. Honestly, I just thought this list was very United States-centric - which is FINE. Time just should have presented it as such. The 100 Best American Novels of All-Time.