finish reading all 100 of The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels

The next book will be “Tropic of Cancer” by Henry Miller… definitely more my style. I love the 1st person, and the naked honesty. Just what I need to cleanse my palette. :)

Well, this is going to take a longer time than I thought if all of the books are like the first! It took me almost three months to read it… I can’t help it, I’m more of a non-fiction girl. I actually read four books in less than two weeks that weren’t on the list (and of course, were non-fiction). I still think it’s a worthy goal, if no other reason than to challenge myself to broaden my horizons.

So, 1st book down: Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald. Pretty good, definitely got me learning a few new vocabulary words.

Plus, I’ve read quite a few of the list already, and I’ve decided to ignore those that have been read. No need to do it twice. There’s only so much time one has!

Okay- so now, what’s next? Hmmmm….

I got my first selection: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I thought I’d start with that since I enjoyed The Great Gatsby so much. So far, it is just beautifully written. I can’t wait to finish it! And of course, to really delve into the others. I almost started with Ulysses by James Joyce, since I once met the screenwriter who adapted it to an Academy award winning film in the 1960’s. But considering the amount of vocab in that one, I might just get a notebook just to write in (and learn) all the words I don’t know. That should be a major education in and of itself! I figured if I read one book a month, it would take me about 8 years (+ 2 months)... but I am a very fast reader, so likely will be much quicker. I hope. Either way, I’m going to enjoy every second of it. :)

Going to start with the first 15. The ones I have read are in in plain text. The ones I haven’t read are in bold. I need to get reading!

1. ↓ Year ↓ Title ↓ Author ↓
   1. 1922 Ulysses James Joyce
   2. 1925 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
   3. 1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
   4. 1955 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
   5. 1932 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
   6. 1929 The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
   7. 1961 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
   8. 1940 Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler9. 1913 Sons and Lovers D. H. Lawrence10. 1939 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck11. 1947 Under the Volcano Malcolm Lowry12. 1903 The Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler
   13. 1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
   14. 1934 I, Claudius Robert Graves
   15. 1927 To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf

Books I’ve Already Read:
2: The Great Gatsby
4: Lolita
7: Catch-22
19: Invisible Man (one of my favorites)
33: Sister Carrie
35: As I Lay Dying
41: Lord of The Flies
45: The Sun Also Rises
46: The Secret Agent (wrote my senior thesis on this)
53: Pale Fire (one of my favorites)
55: On The Road
56: The Maltese Falcon
64: The Catcher in The Rye
67: Heart of Darkness (my favorite book ever)
85: Lord Jim (one of my favorites)

Books I Own But Haven’t Read…
1: Ulysses
3:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
5: Brave New World
6: The Sound and The Fury
13: 1984
15: To The Lighthouse
18: Slaughterhouse-Five
31: Animal Farm
36: All The King’s Men
47: Nostromo
54: Light In August
65: A Clockwork Orange
74: A Farewell to Arms
94: Wide Saragasso Sea

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

Check it out, I think I’ll leave Ulysses until the end!

This may take awhile! I actually got this book as a Christmas gift, because there was no way that I could check it out of the library. I would have to keep checking it out over and over again because it is so long. I endured alot of kidding over wanting it ~ my sister read some pieces of it and asked me why in the world I would want to read such a thing…

However, I’m feeling brave enough to take it on ~

:-)

I just finished reading William Faulkner’s “Light in August”, which was a very good book. It had many deep, complex characters, which made it interesting. It would definately have to be read again to catch all of the different layers…

Finally returned to the library today after a long absence! Busy with the new school year, I haven’t had time to move on with this goal, but I feel settled in now and ready to tackle another book!

I checked out “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley and “Light In August” by William Faulkner. Don’t know which one I will begin first, but they both seem to be interesting. Has anyone else read these books and have an opinion?

Just finished “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCuller. It was a great book with very complicated, intricate characters ~ very interesting and a good read. I enjoyed it!

I checked out William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” to read next!