Read Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels

So…I’ve only read 5 out of these 100. So very, very sad. 22 months ago

I’m attempting this goal as my new year’s resolution, and blogging about it as I do it. Check it out: reading100.wordpress.com 2 years ago

What I read:
1 American Pastoral Philip Roth
2 The Assistant Bernard Malamud
3 Atonement Ian McEwan
4 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood
5 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
6 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
7 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
8 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen
9 Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather
1 0A Death in the Family James Agee
11 The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing
12 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
13 Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson
14 I, Claudius Robert Graves
15 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis
16 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
17 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien
18 Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie
19 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf
20 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
21 1984 George Orwell
22 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey
23 Portnoy’s Complaint Philip Roth
24 Possession A.S. Byatt
25 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
26 Rabbit, Run John Updike
27 Ragtime E.L. Doctorow
28 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates
29 The Sportswriter Richard Ford
30 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
31 To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf
32 Watchmen Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
33 White Teeth Zadie Smith

one third.. not bad!
What was your fave so far? 2 years ago

Finishing my first book for this goal made me feel good about adding it to my 43 things. It was extremely embarrassing that I had only read 8/100 before setting the goal. I guess that’s why I set the goal, so I won’t be too hard on myself. Anyway, I plan to read those again at some point in time. Anyway, 1/100 is better than 0/100. Feels good!!! :) 3 years ago

1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
6. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
7. Native Son by Richard Wright
8. 1984 by George Orwell

1. Atonement by Ian McEwan -12/13/08

1. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
2. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
3. American Pastoral by Philip Roth
4. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
5. Animal Farm by George Orwell
6. Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara
7. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
8. The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
9. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O’Brien
10. Beloved by Toni Morrison
11. The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
12. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
13. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
14. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
15. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
16. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
17. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth
18. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
19. The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
20. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
21. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
22. A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell
23. The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
24. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
25. A Death in the Family by James Agee
26. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
27. Deliverance by James Dickey
28. Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
29. Falconer by John Cheever
30. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
31. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
32. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
33. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
34. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
35. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
36. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
37. The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
38. Herzog by Saul Bellow
39. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
40. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
41. I, Claudius by Robert Graves
42. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
43. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
44. Light in August by William Faulkner
45. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
46. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. Loving by Henry Green
48. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
49. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead
50. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
51. Money by Martin Amis
52. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
53. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
54. Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
55. Neuromance by William Gibson
56. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
57. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
58. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
59. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
60. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
61. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
62. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
63. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
64. Possession by A.S. Byatt
65. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
66. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
67. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
68. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
69. The Recognitions by William Gaddis
70. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
71. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
72. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
73. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
74. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
75. The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
76. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
77. The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
78. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
79. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
80. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
81. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
82. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
83. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. Ubik by Philip K. Dick
86. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
87. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
88. Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
89. White Noise by Don DeLillo
90. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
91. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 3 years ago

are those books? I really have to learn how to read again… Maybe, it will help me communicate better. My grunting sounds and hand gestures are not making me a popular person at work. Speaking in words will work a lot better than expecting people to understand my silly facial expressions. 3 years ago

I have 3 books that have been staring at me everyday. They are taunting me and begging me to stop wasting my time procrastinating and to start reading them. Two of them are from the list. I’ll try to start reading one before I go to bed tonight. :) 3 years ago

I have decided to read whatever catches my fancy! 4 years ago

I’m reading number 7 and have 8 ready to go after. 4 years ago

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
4. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
5. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
6. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
8. 1984 by George Orwell
9. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
10. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 4 years ago

The Adventures of Augie March
Saul Bellow

All the King’s Men
Robert Penn Warren

American Pastoral
Philip Roth

An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser

Animal Farm
George Orwell

Appointment in Samarra
John O’Hara

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

The Assistant
Bernard Malamud

At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O’Brien

Atonement
Ian McEwan

Beloved
Toni Morrison

The Berlin Stories
Christopher Isherwood

The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler

The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood

Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy

Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn Waugh

The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder

Call It Sleep
Henry Roth

Catch-22
Joseph Heller

The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger

A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess

The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron

The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen

The Crying of Lot 49
Thomas Pynchon

A Dance to the Music of Time
Anthony Powell

The Day of the Locust
Nathanael West

Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa Cather

A Death in the Family
James Agee

The Death of the Heart
Elizabeth Bowen

Deliverance
James Dickey

Dog Soldiers
Robert Stone

Falconer
John Cheever

The French Lieutenant’s Woman
John Fowles

The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing

Go Tell it on the Mountain
James Baldwin

Gone With the Wind
Margaret Mitchell

The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck

Gravity’s Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Handful of Dust
Evelyn Waugh

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers

The Heart of the Matter
Graham Greene

Herzog
Saul Bellow

Housekeeping
Marilynne Robinson

A House for Mr. Biswas
V.S. Naipaul

I, Claudius
Robert Graves

Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace

Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison

Light in August
William Faulkner

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

Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov

Lord of the Flies
William Golding

The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien

Loving
Henry Green

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis

The Man Who Loved Children
Christina Stead

Midnight’s Children
Salman Rushdie

Money
Martin Amis

The Moviegoer
Walker Percy

Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf

Naked Lunch
William Burroughs

Native Son
Richard Wright

Neuromancer
William Gibson

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro

1984
George Orwell

On the Road
Jack Kerouac

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Ken Kesey

The Painted Bird
Jerzy Kosinski

Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov

A Passage to India
E.M. Forster

Play It As It Lays
Joan Didion

Portnoy’s Complaint
Philip Roth

Possession
A.S. Byatt

The Power and the Glory
Graham Greene

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark

Rabbit, Run
John Updike

Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow

The Recognitions
William Gaddis

Red Harvest
Dashiell Hammett

Revolutionary Road
Richard Yates

The Sheltering Sky
Paul Bowles

Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut

Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson

The Sot-Weed Factor
John Barth

The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner

The Sportswriter
Richard Ford

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
John le Carre

The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston

Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe

To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee

To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf

Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller

Ubik
Philip K. Dick

Under the Net
Iris Murdoch

Under the Volcano
Malcolm Lowry

Watchmen
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

White Noise
Don DeLillo

White Teeth
Zadie Smith

Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys 4 years ago

Decided to give this one a re-read, and it was a good thing that I did. I’d forgotten a huge chunk of what happened including the ending, which was very sad.

Going to try and read Housekeeping as my next Time Magazine read, but I have about a million other things that I need to get to first. 4 years ago

It was okay. I like the actual adventures part, but entire chapters where they’re just yakking about their philosophies on life? Oy. 4 years ago

This will give me a fun, measurable goal to which to aspire!

http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html 5 years ago

The Sheltering Sky

One of the more interesting books I’ve read for the challenge so far. This makes 10 finished for 2006, not too bad but if I don’t step up the pace a little it will take 10 years to finish.

Next up Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. 5 years ago

• The Adventures of Augie March
• All the King’s Men
• American Pastoral
• An American Tragedy 5 years ago

So far: 33/100

1. The Adventures of Augie March
2. Animal Farm
3. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
4. Beloved
5. The Big Sleep
6. Brideshead Revisited
7. Catch-22
8. The Catcher in the Rye
9. Gone With the Wind
10. The Grapes of Wrath
11. The Great Gatsby
12. A Handful of Dust
13. Invisible Man
14. The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe
15. Lolita
16. Lord of the Flies
17. The Lord of the Rings
18. Naked Lunch
19. Native Son
20. 1984
21. On the Road
22. A Passage to India
23. Play It As It Lays
24. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
25. Rabbit, Run
26. Slaughterhouse-Five
27. The Sun Also Rises
28. Their Eyes Were Watching God
29. To Kill a Mockingbird
30. Tropic of Cancer
31. Watchmen
32. White Noise
33. White Teeth 5 years ago

I’m going to keep going with this challenge, but only because I’ve amassed so many of the books for it. I keep telling myself they have to get better. So far I’ve only liked one or two of the books I’ve read, and this wasn’t one of them.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4228862 5 years ago

while these may or may not be “great” novels (and i have a problem with ranking/applying quantitative standards to art…blah blah blah…find it very limited in scope and lacking in spotaneity…whatever) they are still worth reading. and i’m supposed to be a literature concentrator, but the more coursework i do, the more i realize that i’m not well-read. at all. so…yeah…i’m choosing this list as a starting point for this summer.

Initially I had read:

1.All the King’s Men
2.Atonement
3.Catch-22
4.The Catcher in the Rye
5.The Crying of Lot 49
6.The Great Gatsby
7.The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
8. Lolita
9.Mrs. Dalloway
10.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
11.Slaughterhouse-Five
12.Their Eyes Were Watching God
13.To Kill a Mockingbird
14.White Noise
15. White Teeth

And I’ve since read:
16.A Handful of Dust
17.A House for Mr. Biswas
18.Play it As it Lays
19.Portnoy’s Complaint
20.The Sun Also Rises
21.Things Fall Apart

I guess that’s not too bad. 5 years ago

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

Too florid and prose dominated for my liking. I prefer a simpler style of writing which depends on plot instead of adjectives. 5 years ago

I really enjoyed this book. I was a little worried, of course, because it’s known as quite as sensational book, and purportedly purposefully. I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf since high school (for those wondering, that was 7 years ago). I remember talking to my english teacher at the time about it, asking if she had read it. She told me that she didn’t read things that were written purely for the controversy they would cause. Whether that’s true or not about this book, I don’t know. I believe it was James Baldwin who wrote a damning piece about Wright’s novel, stating that he fed into stereotypes about black people that probably shouldn’t be perpetuated.

I have a tendency to read not so exciting books – not in the sense of “not good” but just not with a lot of action, so this book kept my attention, particuarly in the first half. I knew, however, starting out what Bigger Thomas was going to do, and the outcome of those actions is pretty predictable. But I often find that knowing the outcome of a story will make it more intreguing (and less annoying – I’m someone who hates surprises!) because rather than wondering what is going to happen, I’m wondering how. Anyhoo, I thought that it was good.

I particularly liked certain social commentaries that are added to the narrative: Mr. Dalton appears to be the wonderful philanthropist, giving money to black causes and hiring black labrorers, donating ping pong tables to boys clubs on the South Side of Chicago (where the novel takes place), etc. But what is the use of all that when we find that he is the owner of a major real estate company that not only refuses to rent apartments to blacks outside of the “designated area” so to speak, but he also charges ridiculous rents for the apartments in the south side which are basically rodent infested fire traps. Though Mr. Dalton and his wife are dedicated to having their “Negro” laborers get an education, they then do not hire them after they are educated. The second commentary that I enjoyed —wait, spoilers ahead – just warning you!—was at the inquest for Mary Dalton’s murder. They use Bessie’s body as evidence. Nobody cares that he killed Bessie (who was black), except for how they can use her body and death to show Bigger’s guilt in the murder of Mary (who was white). Sometimes, particular points or scenes from novels stay with you for a lifetime, and I feel that those will be two that will remain with me.

I thought the last part of the novel (“Fate”) was a little drawn out, but while that might bother me in other books, for some reason it didn’t bother me with this one. I suppose I felt that the speeches fit the narrative, and the action in the first two parts was balanced out by the lull in the end.

I did tear up a bit in the end when Bigger is sitting in his cell thinking about how he is going to die (this was before Max visited him). Even though Bigger really was despicable, it somehow made me a little sad. I was glad, though, that the story ended when Max left. I really didn’t want to read about Bigger being led to the electric chair (images of “The Green Mile” came to mind…along with how ill that movie made me).

All in all – good. I would say, A- :-) 5 years ago

1. Animal Farm – George Orwell
2. Appointment in Samarra – John O’Hara
3. The Bridge of San Luis Rey – Thornton Wilder
4. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
5. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
6. Deliverance – James Dickey
7. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
9. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
10. Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
11. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
13. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
14. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
15. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
16. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Currently Reading:
Native Son – Richard Wright

To Be Read This Year:
All the King’s Men – Robert Penn Warren
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers
The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller 5 years ago

Ubik by Philip K. Dick

I’ve never been a huge fan of Dick’s work. It’s not that he’s a bad writer far from it, there’s just something that doesn’t click for me. 5 years ago

Finished last night.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I’m not sure what’s up next, I just got a bunch of the books on the list from my St. Patrick’s Day secret pal, so I have too many choices. 32 to be exact. :)

I’ve decided to re-read any that I feel like, since I read most of them so long ago that I don’t really remember. 5 years ago

Finished this last night. I’ve been sidetracked by having several books to review for Armchair Interviews, so my personal reading has fallen by the wayside.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I’m not sure what’s on the pile next, I have one more book to review first though. 5 years ago

Don DeLillo’s White Noise which is quite good. 6 years ago

So far: 30/100

1. Animal Farm
2. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
3. Beloved
4. The Big Sleep
5. Brideshead Revisited
6. Catch-22
7. The Catcher in the Rye
8. Gone With the Wind
9. The Grapes of Wrath
10. The Great Gatsby
11. A Handful of Dust
12. Invisible Man
13. Lolita
14. Lord of the Flies
15. The Lord of the Rings
16. Naked Lunch
17. Native Son
18. 1984
19. On the Road
20. A Passage to India
21. Play It As It Lays
22. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
23. Rabbit, Run
24. Slaughterhouse-Five
25. The Sun Also Rises
26. Their Eyes Were Watching God
27. To Kill a Mockingbird
28. Tropic of Cancer
29. Watchmen
30. White Teeth 6 years ago

I don’t know if the one I’m reading now is on the list, I’ll have to check, it is “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” 6 years ago

This will probably have to be put off until summer. I get a lot of reading done at work. Because now, I haven’t read anything that isn’t required, and don’t think I will be. 6 years ago

I just finished it :) 6 years ago