The Top 100 Novels, Reviewed.

Doug Reviews The Top 100 Novels

In 1999, the editorial board of the Modern Library came up with their list of the "Top 100 best English language novels of the 20th century." It turns out the list was derived pretty idiotically. A bit of web-research will reveal exactly how the list was derived. When the list came out, I turned to my friend, John Hall, and said, "I think I'll read them all." Hence this site.

Rating Scale

    

(Reviewed before 1999)        (Reviewed in 2002)           (Reviewed in 2006)
I did not like it.      (Reviewed in 1999)     (Reviewed in 2003)     (Reviewed in 2007)
I liked it.      (Reviewed in 2000)     (Reviewed in 2004)     (Reviewed in 2008)
I thought it one of the Best Novels of All Time      (Reviewed in 2001)     (Reviewed in 2005)     (Reviewed in 2009)
  
1.  Ulysses, James Joyce Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/25/01
2.  The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
3.  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
4.  Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 7/21/01
5.  Brave New World, Aldous Huxley Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)   9/16/98
6.  The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 10/25/99
7.  Catch-22, Joseph Heller Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
8.  Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/9/01
9.  Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
10.  The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
11.  Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/3/04
12.  The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/5/03
13.  1984, George Orwell Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
14.  I, Claudius, Robert Graves Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 1/30/03
15.  To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) / Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 10/25/00
16.  An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser

17.  The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 3/14/02
18.  Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
19.  Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 11/23/99
20.  Native Son, Richard Wright Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 7/12/99
21.  Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 2/20/02
22.  Appointment in Samarra, John O’Hara Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 9/10/01
23.  U.S.A. (trilogy), John Dos Passos

24.  Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 12/20/02
25.  A Passage to India, E.M. Forster Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 2/24/00
26.  The Wings of the Dove, Henry James

27.  The Ambassadors, Henry James Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/11/05
28.  Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/7/00
29.  The Studs Lonigan Trilogy, James T. Farrell

30.  The Good Soldier, Ford Maddox Ford Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 11/23/05
31.  Animal Farm, George Orwell Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/14/98
32.  The Golden Bowl, Henry James

33.  Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 7/14/03
34.  A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/7/00
35.  As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/6/03
36.  All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren

37.  The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 6/6/00
38.  Howards End, E.M. Forster Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 1/5/05
39.  Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 12/1/05
40.  The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 6/10/03
41.  Lord of the Flies, William Golding Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/15/98
42.  Deliverance, James Dickey Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 12/16/03
43.  A Dance to the Music of Time (series), Anthony Powell Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)/Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 10/27/06
44.  Point Counter Point, Aldous Huxley Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 1/19/07
45.  The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 3/9/00
46.  The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad

47.  Nostromo, Joseph Conrad

48. The Rainbow, D.H. Lawrence

49.  Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 2/4/02
50.  Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/19/98
51.  The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer

52.  Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth 4/19/03
53.  Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/16/98
54.  Light in August, William Faulkner

55.  On the Road, Jack Kerouac Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/06/04
56.  The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 12/22/99
57.  Parade’s End, Ford Maddox Ford

58.  The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 3/26/07
59.  Zuleika Dobson, Max Beerbohm

60.  The Moviegoer, Walker Percy Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/30/99
61.  Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather

62.  From Here to Eternity, James Jones

63.  The Wapshot Chronicles, John Cheever

64.  The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/16/98
65.  A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/16/98
66.  Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/16/98
67.  Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 6/29/99
68.  Main Street, Sinclair Lewis Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 10/22/03
69.  The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 4/7/03
70.  The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell

71.  A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 6/20/00
72.  A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul

73.  The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 11/7/01
74.  A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/4/05
75.  Scoop, Evelyn Waugh

76.  The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 12/3/99
77.  Finnegans Wake, James Joyce

78.  Kim, Rudyard Kipling Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 6/17/01
79.  A Room With a View, E.M. Forster

80.  Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

81.  The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/30/00
82.  Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner

83.  A Bend in the River, V.S. Naipaul

84.  The Death of the Heart, Elizabeth Bowen

85.  Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad

86.  Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 9/29/99
87.  The Old Wives’ Tale, Arnold Bennett

88.  The Call of the Wild, Jack London Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/16/98
89.  Loving, Henry Green Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 9/7/06
90.  Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

91.  Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 6/19/07
92.  Ironweed, William Kennedy Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 8/1/07
93.  The Magus, John Fowles Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 2/1/00
94.  Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 2/4/05
95.  Under the Net, Iris Murdoch Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 5/5/07
96.  Sophie's Choice, William Styron Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 7/20/00
97.  The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles

98.  The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 2/7/02
99.  The Ginger Man, J.P. Donleavy Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 6/28/00
100. The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes)Graphics/star.gif (1012 bytes) 9/7/03

 

I don't pretend to know anything about Literature, and I wouldn't be egotistical enough to think that I could add any deep insight to books that have been discussed extensively by literature scholars. I have included my subjective comments on these books, for the simple reason that I like to. There are spoilers aplenty, so be careful.  If you are moved to comment, please email me! I would like to know your thoughts.

One more thing: Independent bookstores rock.  They are the places you should go to buy books.  You will find books there that you will never find in other places, you get to browse, and you may even meet someone very attractive of the appropriate gender that likes reading as much as you do.  Given the choice between buying these books at a real store, or amaz*n.com, I would strongly urge you to buy them at the independent bookstore. 

Oh - and don't forget the library. They rock.

 

In the years since I've started walking on this road, I have been pleased to encounter other fellow-travelers.

A web-denizen, Orrin, is also reviewing these books.  He's reviewed all of them, and read all of them but Ulysses, and perhaps Finnegan's Wake.  His perspective is very different than mine, and his page is worth a look-see. I got a message from Tim, who said I inspired him to do his own top 100 review site, and you may want to check out his page as well. Another reviewer of Great Literature is Eric, and his page is worth looking at, too.

I received an email from the father of one of my good friends, Dr. Karl S. He is also walking alongside me, and we've had some nice conversations about these books. A student at my University, Chris, is also on the journey. I've also received notice from fellow travelers Dave F., Mary W., James T., Ron D., Tomo, Cat G., Charles W., Sara P. and Hal P. If you are also going through the list, and would like me to mention you as well, let me know. If you are also reviewing the top 100, I'd be glad to give you a link.

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